Alireza Jahanbakhsh’s 57th minute strike gave  Iran a 1-0 win over Venezuela in an international friendly at the Goffertstadion in Nijmegen, Netherlands on Monday.

Iran, the first Asian team to confirm their berth for the FIFA World Cup 2018 Russia, beat Panama 2-1 in a friendly on Thursday and are enjoying a rich vein of form.

The win is a boost for Carlos Queiroz’s team as they prepare for next summer’s FIFA World Cup. 

In action later on Monday will be Saudi Arabia, whose latest Road to Russia friendly will be against Bulgaria.

Team Melli Line up: Alireza Biranvand (Mohammadshshid Mazaheri 46), Ramin Rezaiyan, Seyyed Jalal Hosseini (Omid Ebrahimi 61), Morteza Pourali Ganji, Saeed Ezzatollahi (Akbar Imani 46), Ali Karimi, Ashkan Dejagah (Saman Ghodous 46), Vahid Amiri, Ehsan Haj Safi, Alireza Jahanbakhsh (Kaveh Rezaei 61), Reza Ghokhannejad (Commander 61).

Venezuela team : Fariniz (Contreras 46), Hernandez, Avicadas, Chanslor, Annel, Figueira, Aranda, Aniur, Murillo, Rondon, Machies (Lucena 75).

First half report

Minute 2: Alireza Jahanbakhsh kicked off the right-wing at the very first minute, and with a good shot, Reza GhoochanNejad set a good goal, but Gucci kicked the ball high with a fierce shot.

In the 7th minute, Sa’id Ezatollahi’s shot from behind the penalty area was easily caught byFariniz.

In the 14th minute, the tactical work of Iran’s players on the right hand side of Venezuela took a great shape to reach HajSafi in front of the penalty area. HajSafi strong shot midway through the Venezuelan player’s way and did not reach the gate.

In the 18th minute, once again the tactical work of the Iranian players was answered, but again, Iran’s players were not very accurate in the final touch and the Venezuelan goal remained clean.

In the 25th minute, Ehsan Haj Safi’s well-rounded pass to Vahid Amiri resulted in the player taking the shot and the player snapped out a little away from the Venezuelan goal.

 31st minute, WBA player Rhondon Shoot traversed a distance of about 30 meters from the Iranian goal

In the 36th minute, a free kick to Venezuela and a cross from , saw Biranvand come out erroneously in no-man zone. The Venezuela player shot at the empty net ,  Seyyed Jalal Hosseini cleared the ball from the line

Second half report

In the 50th minute, on a team-run Venezuelan team, the team got a shotgun that embraced the striker Muhammad Mazhahi Mazaheri.

In the 55th minute, Saman Chandos’s center met by Pouraliganji who headed powerfully towards the goal, but the new goalkeeper sent the ball to the corner.

Goal: In the 57th minute, a sharp counter-attack of Iran’s players resulted in a Venezuela goalkeeper coming out of his box, and Amiri sent a deep pass through to Jahanbakhsh who was facing an empty goal and scored the first goal for Iran. Jahanbakhsh scored in a city whose first club in the Netherlands belongs to this city (Nijmegen).

In the 60th minute, the Venezuelan player’s cross and the acrobatic blow of the player crossed wide off target .

In the 63rd minute, Hajj Safi’s pass into the penalty area of Venezuela, where a rogue shot and one shot hit him on the net.

In the 66th minute, Wahid Amiri initially scored the test inside Venezuela’s penalty area, and after passing few players, he transferred the ball to Kaveh Reza’i who did not hit the goal with a deflected attack on the team.

In the 70th minute, after a dribbling PouraliGanji, Sotluled sent his own line to the Iranian goal where Rondon was unlucky to miss the target.

In the 72nd minute, the Venezuelan midfielder Rondon struck against Iran’s goalkeeper but struck him off Hajj Safi. The attack continued and Iran’s players made several mistakes at Rashid Mazaheri’s goal.

In the 76th minute, with the Venezuelan goalkeeper mistake, the ball reached Rezaei, when his center landed on PouraliGanji, but the opponent’s timely tackle prevented him from scoring the second goal for Iran.

At precisely the 77th, Venezuelan players lost ground on a quick counter-attack near the boxy, who lost their position on the carelessness of the players.

In the 88th minute, Sotoledo Shot with a very good reaction from Rashid Mazaheri who kept the Iranian goal clean.

The game ended with a one-nil  lead away for the Iranian national team. This was the second narrow win for Team Melli after the 2-1 win against Panama.