Team Melli U-22 faltered against Australia in its second match of the AFC Asian U-22 championship as they went down 1-0 in Muscat’s Royal Police stadium.

The performance of the team was in sharp contrast to the first game against Japan when they showed grit , and skills against the opponents.

Against an organized Australian team , Team Melli U-22 was facing a physically strong , highly organized and motivated players. The Iranians were poorly disciplined tactically and by conduct , played emotionally and insisted on individual plays rather than team work. There was far too many dribbles, even the goalkeeper Biranvand dribbled like his teammates. Despite having a better percentage of ball possession , there was far too many shortcomings in the team to produce a winning performance.

With this result , which qualifies Australia, it looks like Team Melli is in a precarious position. Even a win against Kuwait in the last match of the group , which is by no way a forgone conclusion , might not be enough for the team to make it to the next round.

In the other match of the group , Japan and Kuwait drew 0-0.

Muscat: A goal from Petros Skapetis put Australia into the quarter-finals of the AFC U-22 Championship with a 1-0 victory over Iran in Group C at Royal Police Stadium on Tuesday.

The Australian forward latched on to a loose ball on the 56th minute and fired home after Iranian goalkeeper Ali Reza Beiranvand could only parry defender Curtis Good’s header following a corner kick.

And although Iran threw on two more forwards in an attempt to restore parity, they were unable to breakdown a very organised Australian side, who might have scored again through midfielder Stefan Mauk in the final minutes of the match.

“We knew it would be a hard and physical game but I’m happy with the performance of my players” said Australia coach Aurelio Vidmar.

“We need to get a bit more composure, especially through the midfield, as the game got very stretched at times. But overall, I’m very pleased.”

While Iran welcomed back defender Vahid Esmaeilbeigi and midfielder Morteza Pouraliganji to the side from suspension, Australia coach Vidmar swapped almost his entire starting line-up from the 11 that began the 1-0 over Kuwait on Sunday.

“Every team has the same amount of players, our philosophy is to give everyone an opportunity.

“we wanted everyone to each get a full game, and we’ve achieved that so far,” explained Vidmar.

“There’s no first team or second team, I’m just trying to build one team.”

In a tight first half with chances at a premium, one of Vidmar’s changes, striker Adam Taggart, had his side’s first effort on goal inside the first 10 minutes as his free-kick from just outside the penalty area went narrowly over the crossbar.

Taggart was the most likely source of a breakthrough for Australia in the first period and on the 23rd minute he sent another curling shot drifted wide.

In between those strikes by the Australia forward, Mehdi Shiri went close for Iran with a deflected effort that goalkeeper Aaron Lennox pushed out, and a swerving long range effort that was just off target.

Australia came out fired up for the second half, however, and in the first minute after the restart Andrew Hoole’s penetrating run down the right side was followed by a shot from the right winger that needed to be punched clear by an alert Beiranvand at his near post.

Centre-back Good was then forced to leave the field for treatment to a nasty gash above his eye following a clash of heads, and with the big centre-back off the field, Iran had their best chance to open the scoring as Kaveh Rezaei slipped in Benham Barzay for a low shot from inside the penalty area that was parried wide by Lennox in the Australia goal.

But with Good back on the field sporting a mass of white gauzing around his injured forehead, it was Australia who took the lead.

Awarded a free-kick in a central area on the 55th minute, Hoole skimmed a low shot off the turf that was pushed out for a corner by the Iranian custodian.

But from the resulting set-piece, a hurtling blur of bandages in the form of Good powered a header on target that Beiranvand could only parry as far as the waiting Skapetis, who hooked the ball into the gaping net.

In a bid to seek an equaliser, Iran brought on strikers Arsalan Motahhari and Seyed Miri and it was the former who had his side’s best chance with a low shot into the arms of a sprawling Lennox following good work from Rezaei.

Australia dominated possession for the remains of the second half, although Motahhari had time for another effort at the death but this time his shot from the edge of the penalty area went wide of Lennox’s right-hand post.

With a lengthy seven minutes of stoppage time added due to Good’s extended treatment, Maulk could have put the game to bed, but a good save from Beiranvand prevented the second half substitute from doubling the advantage.

“It was a physically demanding game and we can say a game of small differences. Australia is a great team, very organised with a fighting spirit,” said Iran coach Human Afazeli.

“A big difference was that Australia used almost 11 new players, and we couldn’t do that as we have only 20 players in our squad and three of them are goalkeepers.

“I want to praise my players, they showed fantastic effort. I am satisfied with their efforts, they did a good job.”

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AFC U-22 CHAMPIONSHIP 2013
FINAL ROUND

14-01-2014 17:00 GST
Royal Oman Police Stadium, Muscat, OMAN
[Attendance]     250
IRAN     0     1     AUSTRALIA
0      Half time    1
MVP: SHAHRYAR SHIRVAND
Referee:     KIM JONG HYEOK (KOREA REPUBLIC)

Lineups
IRAN: 1 ALI REZA SAFARBEIRANVAND , 2 VAHID ESMAEILIBEIGI , 3 SHAHRYAR SHIRVAND (C), 5 MOHAMMAD AMIN HAJMOHAMMADI, 13 AHMAD ZENDEHROOH, 23 MEHDI SHIRI [16 FARDIN ABEDINI 62′], 6 MORTEZA POURALIGANJI, 14 SHAHAB KARAMI, 19     BEHNAM BARZAY [11 SEYED PEYMAN MIRI 71′], 20 EHSAN PAHLAVAN [17 ARSALAN MOTAHHARI 84′], 9 KAVEH REZAEI
HUMAN AFAZELI (Head Coach)

AUSTRALIA: 1 AARON LENNOX ; 3 CURTIS GOOD (C),4 CONNOR CHAPMAN , 6 JOSHUA BRILLANTE , 8 RYAN EDWARDS [17 JAKE BARKER-DAISH 80′],13 SCOTT GALLOWAY, 16    REECE CAIRA,21 ANDREW HOOLE, 23    PETROS SKAPETIS [9 DYLAN TOMBIDES 90′], 10 ADAM TAGGART [7 STEFAN INGO MAUK 86′], 11 CONNOR PAIN
AURELIO VIDMAR (Head Coach)

Yellow Cards: CHAPMAN (AUS) 23′, HAJMOHAMMADI (IRI) 38′, GOOD (AUS) 49′, KARAMI(IRI) 78′

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Teams	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
AUSTRALIA	2	2	0	0	2	0	2	6
JAPAN	2	0	2	0	3	3	0	2
I.R. IRAN	2	0	1	1	3	4	-1	1
KUWAIT	2	0	1	1	0	1	-1	1