Tayebi was quick to praise his team, stating that his teammates – many of whom are young and inexperienced at the continental level – can only improve as the tournament progresses.

“In my opinion, the whole team should be selected as the MVP. We are all following the coach’s guidance and I’m very happy with the result,” said Tayyebi.

“I would like to say that this is a different team, 90 percent of them are playing for the first time in this tournament. I’m very sure that we will get much better with every game.

“I insist that it wasn’t just me, but a team effort, I only had the chance to finish. This is the Iran team, scoring goals for Iran, which is our concept. However, we are young and moving forward in our defence of our title.”

Head coach Vahid Shamsaei hailed the veteran Iranian skipper for his leadership in guiding Iran’s new generation of players.

“Hossein is a really good leader for the team, and all the players respect him,” said Shamsaei.

“Hossein always tries to be the mentor among the players. He’s our international player, and that’s what we expect to see from him.”