Muscat
In a thrilling encounter Iran U-22 and Japan U-22 drew 3-3 in the Group C of AFC Asian U-22 championship.played in Oman Police stadium in Muscat.

Iran started the scoring through Behnam Barzay with a nice finish on he 5th minute, before Japan quickly responded with the equalizer two minutes later. Japan then took the lead on the on the half hour  for the teams finished the first half and going into dressing room with Japan leading 2-1

In the second half Kaveh Rezaei scored two quick goals , one from a penalty on the 49th minute , then the young Saipa forward scored a world class goal in the 55th, when he escaped his two markers while his back was to the goal and made a half turn before shooting in the upper left corner of the Japanese goal

Japan equalized 10 minutes later through Nakajuma by aiming at the far corner of Biranvand’s goal.

With this result , both teams shared the points while Australia managed to beat Kuwait 1-0 earlier in the day to lead the table with 3 points.

The match highlighted the two different schools of their respected countries football. The Japanese , organized , systematical and emphasis on teamwork, while Iran

came out as physically stronger , individually skillful and offensive minded. Iran managed to have control of the ball despite the Japamses trying to crowd the midfiled. Human Afazeli did a fine job varying the  tactics of the team from some free flowing football to route one , confusing the opponents and pressing them hard.

The fast paced game was full of action and to the credit of the two teams, none was content with a draw and both played offensive football. The Iranians were caught off guard several times by their over emotional football with some uncalled for tackles resulting in accumulation of yellow cards, the worst of was the one awarded to goalkeeper Biranvand.

While Iran was offensively strong , there was a few question marks on the goalkeeper and the defense. Biranvand , who was brilliant for his club in the league was guilty of ball watching on two of the 3 Japanese goals.

Match highlights

4′  Shehab Karami wastes a brilliant chance to score.
6′  Barzay scores  from a nice pass from the left 1-0
8′ Harakawa scores on the first Japanese offense. Poor covering from Biranvand left him ball watching 1-1

16′  Hajmohammadi shoots wide over the bar in front of an open goal from Kveh Rezaei nicely executed corner kick.
24′ Iismaelzadeh hits the bar after a string of beautiful passes.
30′ Japan scores after afrom and a brilliant individual run. Japaneses scorer passed Iran defenders with ease.

49′ Rezaei scores from a penalty 2-2
55′ fantastoc goal  by Kaveh Rezaei with 180 degree turn  shots to the ceiling of Japan’s , world class goal 3-2
56′ Shariyar Shirvand blopcs what seemed to be a certain Japan goal.
62 Pahlavan , the substitute , hits a ferocious shoot which the Japanese keeper parries with difficulty. .
65′ Japan scores. A diagonal  ball  from the left , leaves Biravand standing still watching the ball into the net.

 

 

JAPAN – IRAN
3 – 3

Half time score 2-1

12 January 2014
1st AFC Asian Championship
Royal Oman Police Stadium , Muscat
Attendance : 304

Referee:FAHAD JABER AL-MARRI (QATAR)

Scorers
BEHNAM BARZAY(Iran) 7′, HARAKAWA RIKI (Japan) 9′ , ASANO TAKUMA 30′ , KAVEH REZAEI 40′(Pen)& 55′, NAKAJIMA SHOYA 66′

Lineups
JAPAN    
1 KUSHIBIKI MASATOSHI ; 2 KAWAGUCHI NAOKI (13 YAJIMA SHINYA 60′), 3 YOSHINO KYOHEI,5 NISHINO TAKAHARU (C),6 YAMANAKA RYOSUKE , 7 HARAKAWA RIKI ,8 ISHIGE HIDEKI (4 MATSUBARA KEN 60′),9 SUZUKI, 10 NAKAJIMA SHOYA,16 ASANO TAKUMA (14 ARANO TAKUMA 78′), 20 UEDA NAOMICHI

EGURAMORI (Head Coach)

IRAN    
1 ALI REZA SAFAR BEIRANVAND ,3 SHAHRYAR SHIRVAND (C),5 MOHAMMAD AMIN HAJMOHAMMADI, 23 MEHDI SHIRI, 16 FARDIN ABEDINI, 13 AHMAD ZENDEHROOH, 10 AFSHIN ESMAEILZADEH (20 EHSAN PAHLAVAN 54), 14 SHAHAB KARAMI, 11 SEYED PEYMAN MIRI(17 ARSALAN MOTAHHARI 71′), 19 BEHNAM BARZAY,9 KAVEH REZAEI

HUMAN AFAZELI (Head Coach)

Yellow Cards:

Japan [1]: Matsubara 77′

Iran [6]: Abedini 21′, Shirvand 44′, Rezaei 55′, Shiri 86′, Biranvand 87′, Motahhari 90+1′

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the-afc.com

Muscat: An early contender for AFC U-22 Championship goal of the tournament from Shoya Nakajima was the pick of the bunch in a high-scoring encounter between Japan and Iran that ended in a 3-3 tie in their Group C fixture at Royal Police Stadium on Sunday.

Both sides were off the mark before the game had even reached the 10 minutes mark with Benham Barzay’s opener for Iran quickly nullified by a reply from Riki Harakawa.

Takuma Asano then put Japan ahead five minutes before the interval as the action continued at a furious pace.

The break did nothing to calm an appetite for goals with Iran striker Kaveh Rezaei bagging a brace within 10 minutes of the restart to restore Iran’s lead before Nakajima’s long range strike capped off the scoring in a thrilling contest.

“It was a tough but open game, we both scored a lot of goals and conceded a lot,” said Japan coach Makoto Teguramori, whose side will face Kuwait in his side’s next fixture on Tuesday.

“However, considering the lack of preparation, the ability of my side to score and give a tough game, was a positive factor.

“In terms of goals conceded we will need to make adjustments. My players had a good feeling and as we play more we’ll improve. The Iran coach said this was his B team, I don’t think it was a B team at all!”

Iran flew out of the blocks in the opening minutes, swarming over a tentative Japan right from the kick-off and it took forward Rezaei just four minutes to impose himself on the game.

He first played in Shahab Karami who blazed over, before playing a part in the move that led to Barzay’s opener, with the forward finding himself with space to turn and shoot in the penalty area with Japan’s defence all at sea in the seventh minute.

The goal shocked the young Blue Samurai into action as Iran’s lead lasted just two minutes as Harakawa stepped inside two challenges on the edge of the penalty area before curling the ball into the corner past an unsighted Ali Reza Beiranvand who was left motionless on his line by the ball’s vicious swerve.

From then on the match opened up into a pattern of pulsating back and forth attacks from both sides.

Nakajima shot wide when played through just after the 20 minute mark, while Iran reposted almost immediately with a deft combination between Afshin Esmaeilzadeh and Seyed Miri that resulted in the former slamming a shot against Masatoshi Kushibiki’s crossbar from 16 yards out.

With both sides attacking at will, space began to open up at the back and as Iran pushed forward in numbers, the ball broke to Asano who found himself one-on-one with Beiranvand and he clipped adroitly over the goalkeeper to give Japan the lead.

Musashi Suzuki had a good chance to add a third goal when put through on goal with under 10 minutes of the half remaining but the midfielder was denied by the Iranian custodian who dived bravely at his feet to avert the danger.

The second half continued much the same as the first period with both teams attacking with gusto and it took just two minutes after the restart before Iran restored parity as a coming together in the box between Japan captain Takaharu Nishino and Rezaei resulted in a penalty which the latter coolly converted high to the goalkeeper’s left.

And the irrepressible Rezaei then put his side in front after 55 minutes with a powerful shot from just inside the penalty area that curled into the top corner.

Although the Iranian number nine’s strike was a fine effort, it only took 10 minutes for the diminutive Nakajima to go one better with a spectacular shot from distance that arrowed into the top corner.

With the furious tempo the match had enjoyed for over an hour, it was understandable that the pace began to drop as a raft of substitutions took place, although there was still time for one final chance as a free-kick from substitute Shinya Yajima flew just inches wide of Beiranvand’s right-hand post.

“I think it was an acceptable start for our team, especially against a competitive and well-organised team like Japan, considering this was the first time this lineup played together,” said Iran coach Afazeli Human, who will take on Australia on Tuesday.

“For us, I think, the good starts we made to both halves are something we can build on. We didn’t come to draw, we wanted to win and so did Japan, that’s why it was so open.”