In its second match of the WAFF competition , Team Melli failed to take advantage of Bahrain shortage from the 27th minute, and was held to a goal-less draw. The match held in Al Kazma Stadium was a drab affair in its first half until late in the half when a sending off changed the games pace.

With Team Melli needing all the 3 points of this match to ensure qualification to the next round , the coaching staff elected to field their strongest line up. In the starting period of the match, Iran managed to get a good grip on the match but without much serious moves on the opposition goal. Team Melli’s performance was marred by sub-standard passing and ineffective finishing.

The turnaround of the match was in the 27th minute when Veteran Bahrain player , Mohammed Salmin was shown the second yellow card for diving and subsequently sent off. Iran failed to capitalized on the numeric advantage as the first half ended 0-0.

In the second half , Team Melli desperate for the 3 points and sensing the advantage , went on all out attack. The majority of the second half was played in Bahrain’s half, The combination of Mehrdad Ouladi , Mohammad Hadi Nazari and Ahmad Hassanzadeh creted many offensive threats to Bahrain , but the post , excellent goalkeeping and some feeble finishing , prevent Iran taking a lead.

As the match went on , the Iranian players were looking more desperate. Amongst the few nice moves and quick passing , there were far too many shortcomings from this inexperienced line up. Ouladi was caught offside numerous times , so was Nazari. The Bahraini’s piling up the box took most of the shooting opportunities from Iranian players and the few that were actually not blocked by the Bahrain defenders , were easily handled by Bahrain excellent keeper.

Closer to the end , Team Melli forwards ran out of ideas and with the match reaching the end , there was a real scare when Iran’s keeper Haghighi , who was idle for the majority of the half , came out of his area and was nearly caught out by a long ball that missed the empty goal and was off target.

Bahrain is leading the group with 4 points, with Iran temporarily in second spot with two goalless draws.   The situation is becoming more critical as Team Melli’s fate would be in the hands of other teams since it has failed to take much out of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia will be playing Yemen right after this match. A win for the former will complicate Iran’s position and will most certainly mean the practical elimination of Team Melli even if they win their last match against lowly Yemen