Iran win 4 - 0 on aggregate

ABU DHABI, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Iran will play Ireland for a place in next year's World Cup finals after beating the United Arab Emirates 3-0 in the second leg of their Asian Zone qualifier for a 4-0 aggregate victory.

Iran will travel to Dublin for the first leg on November 10 with the second leg likely to be in Tehran on November 15.

The matches will be the first between the two countries since Ireland beat Iran 2-1 in an invitational tournament in 1972 in Recife, Brazil.

Hertha Berlin striker Ali Daei returned from suspension to spearhead Iran to victory with a goal after only seven minutes while Karim Bagheri (75) and Mehrdad Minavand (79) added the others.

But both sides finished with 10 men. Iran had Pejman Jamshidi sent off after eight minutes, while the UAE had Jaleel Abdul Raham red carded eight minutes into the second half.

UAE created several good chances but failed to take them and their hopes faded once Abdul Raham was sent off for his second booking.

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 beyond Mutaz Abdulla after seven minutes.

But a minute later Iran were reduced to 10 men when Jamshidi was sent off by Japanese referee Toru Kamikawa for two yellow cards inside four minutes. Although that dismissal enabled the UAE to dominate possession they failed to turn their chances into goals.

FRUSTRATION

Abdul Rahman Juma twice shot wide while Mohammed Omar failed to beat Iranian goalkeeper Ebrahim Mirazpour from close range as UAE's Dutch coach Tini Ruijs was left throwing his hands in frustration and kicking the ground.

Iran kept cool in the face of repeated raids from the hosts and the game swung further their way in the 53rd minute when Abdul Rahman was sent off for a second booking - for his second foul on Daei.

Iran then launched a series of concerted attacks and struck twice in a five-minute blitz to finally snuff out home hopes.

Bagheri, who got the only goal in the first leg, scored after a goalmouth scramble in the 75th minute while Minavand complete the tally four minutes later with a powerful right-foot shot. Iran's Croatian coach Miroslav Blazevic attributed his team's victory to 'a brilliant team effort.

'It was a pretty satisfying result. I think the boys did a great job. Great in the sense that they rallied brilliantly after Pejman Jamshidi was sent off early in the match.

'The idea was to protect the goal after he was sent off. It was not easy to beat the UAE. They played very well like they did in Tehran.'

UAE's Dutch coach Tini Ruijs said his team created a number of scoring chances, but did not take them.

'I can't blame the players. They all did a good job, but we were not lucky enough to get an early goal. We beefed up our striking force by sending Faisal Khalil upfront. The idea of having three strikers was to exploit the 10-man Iran after Pejman Jamshidi was sent off.

'The plan worked, but we were distinctly unlucky not to convert the many scoring chances that we had.'