Doha
Team Melli U 23 won the 11th Friendship Football Tournament in style after beating Turkey 3-2 in the final match of the tournament. Turkey and Qatar were second and third after drawing lots. Team Melli , finished at the top with maximum points after erlier beating Morocco 1-0 and then Qatar 2-1.
In a continuation of their passing and slick football , Team Melli once again dominated the match against Turkey. The German-born striker of Turkey Cenk Tosun put his side in the lead when he rose to head a second minute goal. Despite the early goal from a header that Turkey scored, the answer was swift as Payam Sadeghian lobbed a beautiful goal past the Turkish Goalkeeper to make it 1-1 in the 5th minutes.
Sadeghian scored his second goal at the 26th Minute after a quick counter attack initiated from deep inside Iran’s own half by Bakhtiyar Rahmani , who released Sadeghian on the left flank, in turn Sadgehian played a one two with Jahanbakhsh that resulted in a stylish goal with the Turkish goalkeeper stranded and nowhere near the ball that passed him.
The first half ended 2-1 for Iran.
While Turkey needed to attack and win the match to lift the title, it was Iran that took the initiative in the second half with series of attacks. On the hour mark there were couple of glorious misses by Iranian players that could have sealed the match early. Jahanbakhsh , Mosallman and a clear header at open goal by Khanzadeh all went astray. The Turkish keeper was at top form when he successfully saved two more scoring opportunities from Iranian players.
Eventually Team Melli scored the third goal to ease the pressure. On Alireza Jahanbakhsh assit , Mohsen Mosallman received the ball and calmly slotted the ball far away from Turkish goalkeeper reach . With a 2 goal margin cushion and the team easing the pressure on the Turks and with Mansourian starting his substitutions , the Turkish team pounced on the opportunity and managed to score their second late in the match. However , Team Melli steadfastly defended and no serious threat to the goal was attempted by the Turkish U 23 team which engaged in some rough and un-gentlemanly playing tactics. The coach of the Turkish team was also involved in a fracas with an Iranian player on the touchline, which should have resulted in him being ejected from the game.
With 3 wins out of 3 Iran also enjoyed a clean sweep of the individual honors as Payam Sadeghian won the top scorer award, Piravand winning the best goalkeeper and finally the MVP of the tournament went to Iran’s Captain Mohsen Mosallman.
“I am a happy man today as we have won the trophy,” Iran coach Ali Reza Mansourian said. “It is a proud moment for me as all the individual awards were also won by my players,” added the former Iran player.
Match Details
IRAN vs. TURKEY 3-2
Half time (2-1)
Iran : Alireza Piranvand ; Amin Hajmohammadi, , Mohammadreza Khanzadeh, Milad Gharibi, Saeid Lotfi , Vahid Esmarilbeigi [91′ Zendehrouh] , Shahab Karami, Mohsen Mosalman , Alireza Jahanbakhsh [81′ Kaveh Rezaei], Bakhtiyar Rahmani [66′ Omid Alishah], Payam Sadeghian [72′ PouraliGanzj]
Scorers: Payam Sadeghian (5′ , 26′), Mohsen Mosallman (81′)
Yellow Card: Payam Sadeghian