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ABU DHABI, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Striker Ali Daei returned from suspension
to help Iran to a 3-0 victory over the United Arab Emirates for a 4-0
aggregate success in Wednesday's World Cup Asian Zone qualifier.
It was an excellent performance by Iran, who had Pejman Jamshidi sent off
after eight minutes, and earned them another two-legged playoff against
Ireland for a place in next year's World Cup finals.
UAE created several good chances but failed to take them and their hopes
faded once Jaleel Abdulraham was sent off for his second booking in the 53rd
minute.
Daei, who missed last week's first leg victory in Tehran after picking up
two bookings, wasted no time in stamping his authority on the match with a
superb curling free kick after seven minutes.
Karim Bagheri, who scored Iran's goal in the first leg, added the second
in the 75th minute and Mehrdad Minavand made it three four minutes later.
Ten-man Iran set up showdown with Ireland after playoff
win
ABU DHABI, Oct 31 (AFP)
Iran advanced to a showdown with the Republic of Ireland for a 2002 World
Cup berth here Wednesday after wrapping up a 3-0 Asian playoff win against
the United Arab Emirates.
The Iranians, who had fluffed their chance of an automatic World Cup spot
after losing to Bahrain earlier this month, completed a 4-0 aggregate win
over the UAE with goals from Ali Daei, Karim Bagheri and Mehrdad Minavand.
Striker Daei, who missed last week's 1-0 first-leg victory in Tehran
through suspension, set up the win with a seventh minute free-kick which
flew into the Emirates net past Mutaez Abdallah.
The Iranians were put on the back foot a minute later however when Pejman
Jamshidi was sent off by Japanese referee Turo Kamicao.
The red card fired up the Emirates, who launched a series of attacks on
the Iranian goal as they sought to press home the one-man advantage. But
the UAE's Dutch coach Tini Ruijz could only watch in frustration as his
side failed to make any inroads into a solid Iranian defence.
Iran, knowing that their opponents needed to score three goals to go
through, were happy to sit back and defend confidently. Early in the
second half their task was made easier when the UAE had a player sent off,
Jalil Abdurrahman seeing red for a second bookable offence.
Abdurrahman's dismissal was quickly followed by Iran's second goal which
killed off the match, former Charlton Athletic midfielder Bagheri slamming
an unstoppable shot into the UAE net.
Not to be outdone, Minavand got in on the goalscoring act with a
spectacular effort four minutes later, a 35-metre shot ripping into
Abdallah's goal.
Veteran Zouhair Bekhit was denied a consolation goal for the Emirates in
the final minute of the match after it was disallowed for offside.
Iran, who have qualified for the World Cup twice before in 1978 and 1998,
now face Mick McCarthy's Republic of Ireland over two legs on November 10
and 15 for a place in next year's finals in Japan and South Korea.
UAE coach Ruijz was philosophical in defeat. "The lack of experience of my
players shone through - we had about seven or eight chances but missed
them all," Ruijz said.
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