Iran completed a new humiliating low under Carlos Queiroz by being eliminated from the group stages of the 7th WAFF men’s football competition despite winning its last match against Yemen on Saturday.
The match ended 2-1 for Iran , but Bahrain defeating Saudi Arabia on the other group match played at the same time , meant the tiny Persian Gulf island heading the group with 7 points and joining Oman and Kuwait from Group A in the semi-finals.
In a lackluster half , Iran had a slight edge without creating serious scoring opportunity. Team Melli’s game was marred by erroneous passing and being caught offside on several occasions, Dehnavi being the culprit most of the times.
Despite Iran’s slight edge in this half , the offenses were not showing much serious threat on Yemen’s goal , a fact which encouraged the bottom of the group team to push forward and capitalize on the weak Iranian right flank.
Vahid Esmael-Beigi , the right back had problems controlling the Yemeni winger and had to resort to fouling to stop him. Esmael-Beigi eventually was awarded a yellow card for his efforts.
5 minutes before the end of the half , Omid Nazari pounced on a loose ball from outside edge of the box to score Iran’s first goal in the competition. However , the weakness on the right defense of Team Melli proved to be Iran’s downfall once again when Esmael-Beigi fouled the Yemeni winger to stop his progress. The debutant defender was lucky to escape a sending off by the Lebanese referee . Iran was , however, not lucky on the subsequent resulting free kick which ended in the Yemeni equalizer from a deflected header in the injury time of the first half.
First Half finished 1-1.
In the second half , the beleaguered Carlos Queiroz appeared on the bench , something that he has not done during this tournament. It appears that he wanted to take over and make drastic changes in order to win. The Portuguese appearance seems to be effective as Iran started the half with much resolve and plenty of desire. Waves of attacks resulting in the series of corners.
On 53rd minute , substitute Payam Sadeghian fed Dehnavi with a nice pass on the right. Dehnavi continued his run before sending an immaculate diagonal ball to the on rushing Karimi , who blasted the ball into the net. 2-1 for Iran.
Iran was still on the offensive with a few missed opportunities
Ouladi’s holding of the ball far too long , robbed the team from a golden opportunity meters away from the Yemeni goal.
On 74th minute, another weighted pass by Dehnavi was met by Sadeghian who beat the offside trap but blasted the ball skywards. Iran continued domination with flashes of brilliant teamwork and passing. However, there was no third goal and the result meant Iran, and for the first time in this tournament history, failing to qualify beyond the group stages.
Man of the match : Yaghoub Karimi.