Dubai , UAE
From Teammelli.com reporter:
Iran’s youth football team U-17 drew with Argentina 1-1 in their first match of FIFA U-17 World Cup tournament currently held in Emirates. The Group E match game played today, (Saturday) at Rashid Stadium in Dubai in presence of 18000 fans the majority of which were Iranian fans whose tremendous support and chants lifted the spirit of the young Iranian players.
While Doustimehr boys gained a point from this draw, it could have been so easily been 3 points if the Team Melli U-17 were more composed in front of the goal of their more famous opponents, Argentina.
The match started with a bang. As early as the first minute of the match, Mostafa Hashemi smashed the ball in the back of the Argentine net to score his and Iran’s first goal in the tournament.
The Latin Americans championship title holders were shocked. The early goal was scored when the Argentine defenders failed to clear a ball in their box. The loose ball reached Iran’s Mostafa Hashemi who was lurking just behind the box. He lashed at the ball with a ferocious drive from outside the penalty area to score a spectacular goal and stun the Argentines. The stadium stands erupted with joy while many Iranians fans were still drifting in to take their seats.
The shock that Argentine players felt put them on overdrive to recover from this early deficit, however, several opportunities were also gifted to Iran before their equalizer.
Karimi’s chance in particular when he shot from distance in the 13th minute, could have made it 2-0 for Iran, but the ball cleared the bar by inches. A minute after that , Argentina equalized. The equalizer was against the run of the play as Iran had more of the ball and control of the game. In fact, the goal scored was the first serious attack that Argentina has mounted. Sebastian was lurking between several Iranian markers who failed to notice him and the young Argentine received a diagonal ball neatly slotted the ball past Iran’s Keeper for the equalizer.
Iran continued playing a neat game with glimpses of individual skills from the youngsters. The Iranians always looked dangerous. In the 27 minutes, the fans were up celebrating ,when fierce shot by Ali Hazamy rattled the Argentine post. To the dismay of the Iranian fans who were all up waiting to celebrate the second goal, the ball bounced out of play instead of going in the net. Iran long range shooting continued with Jaffary trying a shoot from distance in 36th minutes, but the Argentine keeper was alert to it and parried it away.
Argentina however, refused to let Iran dictate thee game and take control. Their tactics was to attack from the flanks utilizing the speed and the skill of their wingers and half backs. Twice the players from the right flank created scoring opportunities, the first chance was a shot directly hit Iran’s keeper who collected it with a bit of an effort, while the next one cleared the goal post to safety. Argentina looked dangerous in attack.
Overall, it was an entertaining half with Iran having the better of Argentina playing with flair and poise. Chances were missed, however there were also some neat football played to the delight of the fans.
In the second half Argentina started as the better team. It seemed they were under instruction to score an early goal in this half and let the Iranians chase the rest of game. In the first five minutes of the half, they had the control of the ball as and several scoring opportunities , with Dousitmehr players saw little of the ball and control they enjoyed in the first half.
The pressure by the Argentine, resulted in two serious threats on Mehdi Amini’s goal. The first of which Amini had to save twice from the Argentine forward, while the second was cleared after several attempts from the def
enders. But the Argentine control soon faded as Iran regained the confidence and started distributing the ball once again in the midfield area. With the match progressing though, there were a series of bad passes by both teams. It could have been the effect of fatigue and the humid weather. Also this period saw both teams reverting to direct football which lowered the quality of the game. Both sets of players were playing cautiously and somehow it seems that they were content with the result.
on 61 minutes Iran’s Gholizdeh easily dribbled pass his marker and had only the goalkeeper to beat, but his shot was feeble and was easily saved. A good chance missed.
In response, in 64th minutes Jonathan Kanth , rolled a beautiful ball to Dryvsy which provided an opportunity for the creative Argentine forward to double his tally , but the Argentine goal scorer could not finish and a certain chance went up in the air. Two minutes later, the ball ended in the back of Iran’s net , but it was disallowed by the referee.
In the 81st minute, Argentine defender was sent off after receiving his second yellow and the South American champions were 1 man down for the rest of the match. That shortage, however, did not prevent them from attacking Iran’s goal. One chance went just over the bar.
The last few minutes, the players who were visibly tired, started passing the ball whenever they had possession with very little inclination to attack.
When the referee blew for the final whistle, it was clear that the Iranians were the happier team with this result , although the Argentinians did not seem to sad either.
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fifa.com
A first-half flourish featured the best chances for Argentina, who were reduced to ten men late in the second half, and Iran as the two sides fought to a 1-1 draw, earning each a point for their FIFA U-17 World Cup campaigns.
Mostafa Hashemi celebrated his 17th birthday in style by putting Iran ahead inside the first minute of the match with a delightful half-volley from distance that caught everyone in Dubai’s Sheikh Rashid Stadium, including Argentina goalkeeper Augusto Batalla, off guard.
Iran continued to attack and maintained heavy pressure in the early stages of the contest but Argentina found their equaliser in the 15th minute through Sebastien Driussi. The Argentine No9 received Marcos Astina’s cross near the top of Iran’s penalty area and did very well to make good contact to send the ball through traffic and past Iran keeper Mahdi Amini.
Midway through the first-half Ali Hazami hit a powerful strike from 35 yards out that had Batalla beaten, but fortunately for Argentina’s custodian, his effort crashed off the far post and away from danger. Enjoying the majority of possession, Iran were searching for the lead and Saeid Ezatolahi found himself with a clear look on goal for their best chance to go ahead before the break, but he should have done better with his opportunity as his volley harmlessly sailed over the crossbar.
The second-half started brightly with several good chances at both ends in the first ten minutes, though the second goal would remain elusive for both sides. While Iran looked to be stronger team in the first half, Argentina began to assert themselves better after the restart and seemed to be the likelier to break the deadlock. Substitute Crisitan Pavon nearly made an immediate impact upon entering the match when his header clipped the crossbar in the 78th minute, but a second Argentina goal wasn’t meant to be.
Three minutes later Lucio Compagnucci saw red as a result of his second caution for a rough challenge, but Argentina continued to attack despite their numerical disadvantage.
Iran began to use their extra man to cause problems for the Argentinian rearguard during stoppage time, but it was too little too late as the Group E competitors were forced to settle for a draw. Both sides will be in search of three points on Tuesday when Argentina face Austria and Iran take on Canada.
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FIFA U-17 WORLD CUP
IRAN vs. ARGENTINA
1 -1
Golas: Mostafa HASHEMI (1′) , Sebastian DRIUSSI (14′)
Referee: Pavel KRALOVEC (CZE)
Dubai , Rashid Stadium
Attn: 18,000
1 Mahdi AMINI (GK) 2 Mostafa HASHEMI 4 Komeil HAGHZADEH 5 Majid HOSSEINI (C) 6 Saeid EZATOLAHI 8 Mohammad BAZAJ (3 Sasan JAFARI 67′) 9 Amir MAZLOUM 10 Amirhossein KARIMI 11 Reza JAFARI (19 Yousef SEYYEDI 83′) 17 Ali HAZAMI (14 Ali GHOLIZADEH 59′ ) 18 Sadegh MOHARRAMI
Coach: Ali DOUSTIMEHR (IRN)
1 Augusto BATALLA (GK) 2 Emanuel MAMMANA 4 Nicolas TRIPICHIO 5 German FERREYRA 6 Leandro VEGA (C) 9 Sebastian DRIUSSI 11 Marcos ASTINA ( 13 Cristian PAVON 77′ ) 14 Lucio COMPAGNUCCI 15 Rodrigo MOREIRA 18 Luis LESZCZUK (7 Jonathan CANETE 60′ ) 20 Matias SANCHEZ ( 17 Joaquin IBANEZ 53′ )
Coach: Humberto GRONDONA (ARG)