Tag: Reza Karimi

Iran U16 out of the competetion

Bangkok: DPR Korea secured a semi-final meeting with Australia at the AFC U-16 Championship after edging out fellow former champions Iran 4-2 on penalties following a goalless draw in their quarter-final at Muangthong Stadium on Sunday.

 

Han Kwang-song, Kim Wi-song, Kim Ye-Bom and Ri Kuk-hyon all scored for 2010 champions DPR Korea in the shootout.

But after Hesam Soltanpour and Reza Karimi had converted for Group D winners Iran, both Nima Daghestani and Reza Shekari blazed high and wide to hand DPR Korea the semi-final berth and qualification for the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile.

The game had made a slow start with the first shot on target coming in the 14th minute after DPR Korea midfielder Kim Ye-bom dispossessed Soltanpour in the middle of the park before firing his shot straight at Iran goalkeeper Farid Nejatpashaki from 20 yards.

Iran finally created their first chance of note in the 20th minute as midfielder Karimi tried to curl his shot into the top corner from 25 yards only to see his effort easily held by DPR Korea goalkeeper Ri Chol-song.

Han, who scored in each of DPR Korea’s three outings in Group C, then took down a tricky ball on the edge of the penalty area before turning to create space for the shot, only to find goalkeeper Nejatpashaki had narrowed the angle well and was able to block his goalbound effort.

But Iran created the best chance of the first half eight minutes before the interval as Soltanpour slipped an inch-perfect ball to Karimi, but as the striker closed in on goal, he was denied by a superbly timed tackle by defender Kim Wi-song.

DPR Korea started the second half the stronger and kept pushing for the opener as Han broke into the Iran area from the left and skipped past two challenges before Nejatpashaki saved well from eight yards in the 65th minute.

With 15 minutes to play, Han had yet another sight of goal but his first attempt from the edge of the area was blocked by defender Alireza Aghabarari, and when the ball rebounded to him, his follow-up effort was deflected over the crossbar.

Iran then had their first real sight of goal of the second half in the 77th minute, but Reza Shekeri’s powerful drive from 20 yards fizzed just past the right post.

Then in the last minute, substitute Nima Daghestani had his effort from distance well saved by Ri to send the tie to penalties.

Iran U16 qualifies to the next round after defeating Saudi Arabia.

Iran U 16 team qualified to the next round of the AFC Asian U 16 Championship Thailand 2014 after defeating Saudi Arabia 2-1 today.

The Saudi team went ahead late in the first half , when a clumsy pass by a defender was intercepted resulting in a counter attack and a fine header by midfielder Mashour Abdulla past Iran’s Keeper Farid Nejatpashaki to make it 1-0 for KSA.

In the second half , Iran were slowly losing the control of the match with the Saudi’s defending strongly and also threatening on the counter attack. As the confidence of the Arab team was on the rise, Iran struck with a fine header by the substitute Mohammad Shamsi who headed powerfully from a brilliant cross by Reza Karimi from the right. The frustrating Karimi , whose work thus far  was marred by eccentricity and selfish play , managed to dribble his way past several marker before crossing in the box , met by the rising Shamsi to score the equalizer.

One minute later,  the Saudi’s were stunned when Reza Karimi , this time turned from provider of assist to a scorer, when he chested a loose ball  into the empty net after some shoddy defending by the Saudi team and the goalkeeper.

The rest of the match had much more efforts by the Saudi team who were desperate to score at least an equalizer to keep their chances of qualifying alive, but it was not to be as the Iranian boys defending quite well , although at times quite nervously and chaotically.

Iran joins Australia, Japan, and South Korea all on 6 points after 2 matches as the qualifiers to the next round of the championship.

Saudi  Arabia U16 vs.  Iran U16

1    –   2

AFC U16 Championship Thailand 2014

Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok, THAILAND

9- September – 2014

Man of the Match :   Reza Karimi

 

Scorers : MASHHOUR ABDULLAH M ABDULLAH (KSA) 41’,      MOHAMMAD SHAMSI (IRN) 64′,  REZA KARIMI (IRN) 65′

Line Up Iran

1 Farid Nejatpashaki; 2 Mahdi Abdollahvand , 4 Alireza Aghabarari Darzinaghibi, 5 Mehrdad Pour Abolghasem , 21 Mehran Derakhshanmehr, 7 Vahid Aftari (C) [17 Mohammad Shamsi 52′], 8 Reza Shekari [11 Ali Khodadadi 90+3′] , 9 Reza Karimi , 10 Nima Mokhtari [20 Bagher Shamasbi 62′], 14 Hesam Soltanpour, 15 Reza Dehghani

 

Caution : Nima Mokhtari (IRN) 62′

 

 

 

Group D

 

Teams
P
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
PTS
I.R. IRAN 2 2 0 0 5 3 2 6
SYRIA 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 2
QATAR 2 0 1 1 3 4 -1 1
SAUDI ARABIA 2 0 1 1 1 2 -1 1

Team Melli U16 starts the campaign with a valuable win,

the-afc.com

Bangkok: Reza Shekari scored twice as former AFC U-16 Championship winners Iran edged out Qatar 3-2 on Sunday in a highly-entertaining Group D opener at Rajamangala Stadium.

 

Hassan Ahmad had handed Qatar the lead after just four minutes only for Reza Karimi to equalise midway through the first half before Shekari turned the tie in favour of an improving Iran just after half-time.

Ahmad did level the scores just before the hour mark, but 2008 champions Iran quickly responded through Shekari’s second to claim all three points despite the dismissal of defender Nima Daghestani with just under 20 minutes remaining.

“The first match in any tournament is important. In the first minutes we could not play well and could not perform due to a lack of concentration, but as time passed, we became the dominant team,” said Iran coach Mostafa Ghanbar Pour, who must now turn his attentions to Tuesday’s meeting with Saudi Arabia.

“By shifting the positions of the players on the field we could score the second goal, and by increasing the pressure, we could score the third goal.

“The sending off of our central defender created a lot of pressure on us, but even though it was not a beautiful match, we were able to get the three points.”

In testing afternoon heat, Qatar made the ideal start as Ahmad’s deflected shot from the edge of the penalty area squirmed past Iran goalkeeper Farid Nejatpashaki after the striker’s clever flick close to the halfway line had sent Abdulrasheed Umaru clear in space down the left before continuing his run and collecting a return pass from his strike partner.

Iran, though, looked for an instant response to the early setback and had the ball in the back of the net after 10 minutes only for the assistant referee’s flag to cut short celebrations after Vahid Aftari’s header had looped over stranded Qatar goalkeeper Mohammed Ibrahim.

The end-to-end nature of the contest continued as the half progressed, but with Iran increasing their dominance particularly in the final third, the scores were level after 21 minutes as Karimi raced clear of the Qatar backline before firing low across Ibrahim from inside the area.

And Iran finished the half on top as Karimi was denied by the legs of Ibrahim four minutes before half-time before Shekari headed over from the resulting corner.

But Shekari was not to be denied three minutes after the restart as the midfielder collected Aftari’s pass before scooping his strike past Ibrahim in the Qatar goal.

Qatar, though, drew level a minute before the hour mark as Ahmad beat the Iran offside trap and after showing calmness beyond his years, the 16-year-old expertly scooped the ball over exposed goalkeeper Nejatpashaki from the edge of the penalty area.

But Iran regained the lead just two minutes later as Qatar custodian Ibrahim failed to collect a high ball across the face of goal, and with the goalkeeper out of position as the ball was directed back across the face of goal, Shekari was on hand to head home despite the presence of two defenders on the goalline.

Iran’s task of holding onto their lead this time, though, was made significantly harder with 19 minutes remaining as Daghestani was sent-off after picking up a second yellow card.

But despite several nervy moments in Iran backline, Qatar were unable to find a response in the closing stages.

“Iran are a very strong team and it was hard for us. We did a lot of good things, but we made mistakes,” said Qatar coach Oscar Fernandez, who must now re-group his side to face Syria on Tuesday.

“We know we need to recover as we have another game in two days. We need to build on the good things and now is the time to rest and recover as we have another game.

“We had chances against a great team, one of the best teams here, and we played very well and had chances. Their goalkeeper made two or three good saves and we had a lot of corners as well.”