Hamedan:
Mohsen Godarzi scored a cracking decisive in the 40th minute as Iran edged Saudi Arabia 1-0 to enter into the semi-final of the AFC U-14 Championship as Group A runners-up.
The Saudi players gave a good fight to the hosts and after Timor-Leste scored an equaliser elsewhere at the Mofateh Stadium against DPR Korea, Iran had to suffer an anxious ending of the match.
The failure of Timor-Leste to win combined with Saudi’s inefficiency in front of Iran goal ensured that the hosts progress as group runners-up and wait for the opponents from Group B as their potential foe for the semi-final. Both the matches of Group B will be played on Saturday.
Compared to previous matches, Saudi were much better on Friday as they came close twice early in the match including a chip from midfielder Aldhuwayhi Abdulaziz which rattled the cross bar.
Iran’s midfielder Mohammad Sharifi also struck the side bar just before the half time.
As both the sides were playing entertaining football, Godrazi’s individual brilliance separated the sides after he connected a powerful leftfooter from the edge. He dribbled past two Saudi defenders before unleashing the shot which left Saudi goalie Alshamrani Anas Ibrahim clueless.
“Iran against Saudi match is always an important match and today was no different,” Iran coach Heidar Sharifi said after the match.
“We (Iran and Saudi Arabia) are considered as traditional powerhouse of Asian football and we respect each other very much.
“We knew that it was not going to be easy task against a Saudi side who are under the vigil of a master tactician Omar (Abdulla).
“But we were also determined to win and the credit goes to all the players and technical staff for this great win.
“I don’t have any preference on my semi-final opponent, whoever is our opponent we will play to win,” he added.
His counterpart Abdulla was also magnanimous in defeat.
“The good sign is that we continue to improve and that is what my objectives were in the tournament,” said the Saudi coach.
“These players are still very young and have a lot of football ahead of them so this tournament was a good learning experience for them.
“They will be much better in next AFC U-16 Championship in 2016.