Tashkent.
A last minute injury time goal by substitute Mohammad Reza Khalatbary, ensured all the three points of the match against Uzbekistan the first match of the group.
In a lackluster performance , the two teams failed to impress and the match was scoreless until the dying seconds when a counter attack and a brilliant pass by Karim Ansarifard , found Khalatbary on the far side. The Al Wasl forward slotted the ball calmly on the far right of the Uzbek goalkeeper.
The first half started with Iran having most of the play and controlling the pace , but that quickly changed as Uzbekistan took control and created two serious chances both saved by Mehdi Rahmati in Iran’s goal.
The second half continued on a similar pattern to the first with the host pressuring Team Melli into defense and even managed to put the ball past the goal line but the Japanese referee was unable to spot that and the game continued .
Despite the host creating most of the chances, there finishing left a lot to be desired while Team Melli managed one shot only from the disappointing Nekounam during the 90 minutes.
With the three points in the bag , Iran will be facing Qatar in Azadi with a huge confidence . however , the performance of Carlos Queiroz was feeble and disorganized. The lineup , has raised a few question marks. The Portuguese will be hoping to get it right next Friday and with a near capacity crowd expected , there is very little margin for error.
Saturday 3rd June 2012
Uzbekistan 0 – 1 Iran
Goal : Khalatbary (90+4)
Tashkent
JAR Stadium
Referee: Yuichi NISHIMURA (JPN)
Uzbekistan
Ignatiy NESTEROV (GK); Anzur ISMAILOV, Islom INNOMOV, Jasur KHASANOV Out (68′ Lutfulla TURAEV), Azizbek HAYDAROV,Odil AHMEDOV,Stanislav ANDREEV, Alexander GEYNRIKH, Timur KAPADZE, Jasur HASANOV Out (87′ Ulugbek BAKAEV ),Victor KARPENKO Out (50′ Marat BIKMAEV )
Coache: Vadim ABRAMOV (UZB)
Iran
Mehdi RAHMATI ; Ehsan HAJI SAFI (61′ MohammadReza KHALATBARI), Seyed jALAL HOSSEINI, Pejman MONTAZERI ,Pejman NOURI, Hossein MAHINI , Javad NEKONAM , Andranik TIMOTIAN , Mojtaba JABARI (75′ Karim ANSARIFARD) , Ali KARIMI, Mohammad EBRAHIMI (45′ Khosro HEYDARI)
Coaches:
Carlos QUEIROZ (POR)