Sensational Salmani sends Iran’s Omid Team to Finals

the-afc.com

Iran qualified as group winners, while Tajikistan face a nervous wait to learn their fate after Group B of the AFC U23 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2022 qualifiers concluded on Sunday.

Team Melli Omid ran out 3-2 winners in the final, group-deciding clash against Tajikistan to book their place, leaving the group hosts as potential qualifiers as one of the best placed runners-up, while Lebanon defeated Nepal 4-0 in the earlier match.

IRAN 3-2 TAJIKISTAN

A sensational hat-trick from captain Yasin Salmani took Mehdi Mahdvikia’s side all the way to Uzbekistan 2022 after a thrilling Group B final ended in 3-2 Islamic Republic of Iran’s favor.

The Sepahan youngster bagged all three goals in a dizzying first half, where the teams traded five goals in the space of 35 minutes in front of a vibrant Central Republican Stadium crowd.Iran’s win sends them back to the continental Finals, but Tajikistan will have to wait to see if they will join them as one of the four best placed runners-up after they missed their chance to win the group on the night.

Mubin Ergashev’s side got off to a flying start, and the Dushanbe crowd erupted when Islom Zairov fired home a terrific volley in the 10th minute, but they were silenced when Salmani beat goalkeeper Shohrulh Qirghizboev with a low free-kick just three minutes later.

Salmani gave Iran the lead when he benefited from an error by Naimdzhon Ibrogimzoda in the 19th minute, but Tajikistan were level once again when Ehson Panshanbe converted a penalty to make it 2-2 after 22 thrilling minutes.

Iran’s captain continued his one-man mission when he scored a superb header to make it 3-2 in the final minute of the first half, meaning Tajikistan – who needed only a draw to seal their place at the finals – played catch-up after the break.

Yasin Salmani, the captain of Omid team, was the star of the show with his hat-trick in the 13th, 19th, and 44th minutes, becoming one of the top scorers in the group stage. Henanov also scored for Tajikistan in the 10th and 22nd minutes (penalty) on Thursday.

In this match, Aria Barzegar was sent off in the 86th minute after receiving a direct red card, and Mahdavikia’s players played with one player short for about 10 minutes.

Omid team lineup was : Reza Kakhsaz, Younes Akbarpour, Milad Kerr, Saman Fallah, Mehdi Hasheminejad, Mohammad Khodabandeh Lou, Yasin Salmani (captain), Hossein Nokhodkar, Mehdi Lamouchi, Amir Ali Sadeghi and Sobhan Khaghani.

In the group standings, Iran with 9 points, Tajikistan with 6 points, Lebanon with 3 points and Nepal without points are in the first to fourth places. Thus, the Iranian national U23 team qualifies to the finals of AFC U23 Championship, and Tajikistan, as the second team in the group, has to wait for the end of the games in the other 10 groups of this stage. The top 11 teams, the four best second placed teams as well as Uzbekistan (host) are qualified for the Final tournament in June 2022.

In their previous games, the Omid team had defeated Nepal by 4 goals and Lebanon by 2 goals

They had their chances to equalize in a second half that was no less entertaining despite the relative paucity of goalmouth action.

Panshanbe narrowly missed with a free-kick, while Rustam Soirov saw an effort cleared off the goal-line just prior to a flurry of near-misses for the hosts, but Iran held on to secure a crucial victory in one of the most entertaining games seen anywhere across Asia this week.