Iran edge past Oman in Asian Cup

Energy Sunday 20/January/2019 23:16 PM
By: Times News Service
Iran edge past Oman in Asian Cup

Muscat: Oman will play no further part in this year’s AFC Asian Cup, after the national team were defeated 2-0 by Iran in the round of 16 of this year’s tournament.
Although the Red Warriors are eliminated, the country can look back on their Asian Cup performance with pride: the Omanis made it through a tough group stage for the first time, and competed in their maiden knockout game of the tournament. A feat that is surely going to bring pride to the reigning Gulf Cup champions, and one they will definitely build on in future.
First-half goals from English Premier League midfielder Alireza Jahanbakhsh, who plays for Brighton and Hove Albion, and Askhan Dejagah, who formerly played for German Bundesliga side Wolfsburg, gave Team Melli a commanding 2-0 lead at half-time.
Things, however, could have been far different early on in the match: an early second-minute foul by defender Majid Hosseini earned him a yellow card, and Oman were awarded a penalty and a golden chance to take a priceless lead against one of the best teams in Asia. However, captain Ahmed Kano’s subsequent spot-kick was saved by goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand, and buoyed by his antics, Jahanbakhsh’s 22nd minute opener and Dejagah’s own penalty gave Iran the advantage going into half-time.
Iran dominated possession throughout the game: At the end, they had 59% of the ball and had created 12 scoring chances, compared to just 41% for Oman, who fashioned six chances of their own. The Iranians also had six corners to Oman's three
Manager Pim Verbeek decided to act quickly at half-time, and hoped striker Khalid Al Hajri’s experience playing for a club in the United Arab Emirates, where the tournament is being held, would bring balance to Oman’s front line, as he replaced Salaah Al Yahyaei.
However, that did little to bring the game back in Oman’s favour, as Iran, content with their lead, decided to sit back and allow the Omanis to come at them. Both sides swapped yellow cards in the second half, as Mohammed Al Musalami and Vahid Amiri both went into the book, but the team to the north of the Strait of Hormuz was firmly in control against the team to the south.
His work done, Jahanbakhsh was taken off by the former Real Madrid manager and Manchester United head coach Carlos Queiroz 21 minutes before time, to be replaced by the more defensive-minded Rouzbeh Cheshmi, as Iran were now happy to just see out the game.
Both sides withdrew their star strikers late on. Serdar Azmoun coming off for Iran was to rest him, Muhsen Al Ghassani being replaced by his namesake Mohammed was an attempt to spur on the Omanis, but to little avail, despite the best efforts of the Sultanate’s players.
The result means that Iran will now play China in the first quarter-final of the tournament on 24 January at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Vietnam are also through and will face either Japan or Saudi Arabia in the next round, after the South East Asians beat Jordan 4-2 on penalties.
Verbeek had of course expected a tough game on the horizon, and was content to see this Asian Cup as a relative success for Oman.
“Iran are ranked among the leading teams in Asia,” he said. “We knew that we had only one day for preparation and even the players had no doubts about this. Defeating Turkmenistan was a great moment for all of us. We scored in the final moments and we celebrated along with the players. All of us drank tea together, which is a good habit in the Middle East.
The national team has not much experience in international tournaments, but we still have more to learn,” added Verbeek. “Sometimes, we lose concentration, either in defence or attack, and this is only very natural. We have achieved an important milestone, which is reaching the last 16, but we must not stop at this level.”
Oman qualified for the knockout stages after being placed as one of the four best third-placed teams in the group stages. They’d narrowly lost to Uzbekistan (2-1) and Japan (1-0), but put in a stirring 3-1 win over Turkmenistan to book passage to their first-ever AFC Asian Cup knockout round.
The Sultanate’s fellow GCC nations Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are all still in the competition and will play their fixtures in the coming days.
National team captain Ahmed Kano Mubarak was also content to look back on a tournament well-played and gave special tribute to the fans who had travelled from Oman to the UAE to watch their team play, as did Al Ghassani, who scored two goals for Oman at the tournament.