Iran defeated Uzbekistan 1 – 0 in the friendly international match held in Tashkent. The only goal of the match was scored by substitute Mehdi Torabi on the 67th minute of the match.

This was Iran’s first match after the world cup. Queiroz opted to stick with the same players who served him well in Russia with the addition of two new faces, one of them Sadegh Moharrami , made his debut as a substitute.

Team Melli was more adventurous in this friendly game and ventured forward quite a bit without compromising the defense. The young Uzbek team under new coach Hector Cuper, was not able to get any change from the Iranian defense and what reach the keeper Amir Abedzadeh was dealt well by him. Abedzadeh played the whole game and apart from one or two errors in his timing for crosses, he did quite well.

In the second half, the intensity of the game increased as both teams were looking for a winner. It was obvious however, that Iran was the more likely to score than the host team.

The goal was scored by Torabi from a clever penetrating pass from Saeid Ezatollahi from the left side after nifty exchanges involving  Ali Gholizadeh. Eventually it was a simple tap in for Torabi as the Uzbek keeper was stranded and nowhere near the ball.

It was a pretty good test for Iran and more of this is needed between now and January 2019 when the AFC Asian Cup will start. There are still some work to be done especially up the front where the finishing is week and last touches are poor. While the build up and counter attacks by Team Melli is all nicely executed the final ball left a lot to be desired. Ansarifard drew an isolated figure and had little of the ball. Jahanbakhsh was not prominent in the match, while Mehdi Taremi who was substituted in the second half could have done much better to put Iran ahead.

Queiroz keeps using Saman Ghoddos sparingly. This player need s a full match to blend in. His cameo appearance once again was fruitless.

Overall, there was much more positives to be take from this match. If Iran has any ambitions to win the Asian Cup again, they need stronger more potent offensive plan which can score goals.