cute
10-31-2001, 01:17 PM
IRAN produced a tremendous display to defeat United Arab Emirates 3-0 and book their World Cup play-off berth, where they will face the Republic of Ireland over two legs for a place at the finals in Japan & Korea.
Iran went into the game with a 1-0 advantage from the first leg in Tehran and expected a tough encounter in Abu Dhabi, but Miroslav Blazevic's men came through with flying colours as they registered a 4-0 aggregate win.
Iranian legend Ali Daei (pictured) opened the scoring after just 8 minutes when he curled home a wonderful strike to give his side the lead, but just moments later the away side were reduced to ten men when Pejman Jamshidi received his second yellow card.
U.A.E saw this as the perfect opportunity and went on to dominate the rest of the half with wave after wave of attacks, but Iran held firm and were happy just to counter-attack against the home side.
Iran's goalkeeper Ibrahim Mirzapour pulled of a string of great saves to keep the home side at bay until half time.
The second period saw a change of approach from Iran, with Karim Bagheri and Ali Karimi pulling the strings in midfield as they went looking for a second
Just minutes into the period, U.A.E were reduced to ten men when Mohamed Ahmed saw red - levelling up the sides, and effectively spelling the end of their World Cup campaign.
Iran then took control of the tie and with less than 20 minutes left they put the game beyond U.A.E with a second. Mehrdad Minavand swung in a dangerous corner and Bagheri was the only player to react as he blasted home to give Iran a priceless second goal.
U.A.E then gave up hope and it was no surprise when Iran made it three just 10 minutes from time when Minavand got on the end of Mojahed Khaziravi's corner to make it 3-0.
The Iranian's could have gone on to make it 4-0, or even 5-0, but three was good enough and now they turn their attentions to Dublin were they will travel to take on Eire in the first leg of their play-off on November 10
Planetfootball.com
Iran went into the game with a 1-0 advantage from the first leg in Tehran and expected a tough encounter in Abu Dhabi, but Miroslav Blazevic's men came through with flying colours as they registered a 4-0 aggregate win.
Iranian legend Ali Daei (pictured) opened the scoring after just 8 minutes when he curled home a wonderful strike to give his side the lead, but just moments later the away side were reduced to ten men when Pejman Jamshidi received his second yellow card.
U.A.E saw this as the perfect opportunity and went on to dominate the rest of the half with wave after wave of attacks, but Iran held firm and were happy just to counter-attack against the home side.
Iran's goalkeeper Ibrahim Mirzapour pulled of a string of great saves to keep the home side at bay until half time.
The second period saw a change of approach from Iran, with Karim Bagheri and Ali Karimi pulling the strings in midfield as they went looking for a second
Just minutes into the period, U.A.E were reduced to ten men when Mohamed Ahmed saw red - levelling up the sides, and effectively spelling the end of their World Cup campaign.
Iran then took control of the tie and with less than 20 minutes left they put the game beyond U.A.E with a second. Mehrdad Minavand swung in a dangerous corner and Bagheri was the only player to react as he blasted home to give Iran a priceless second goal.
U.A.E then gave up hope and it was no surprise when Iran made it three just 10 minutes from time when Minavand got on the end of Mojahed Khaziravi's corner to make it 3-0.
The Iranian's could have gone on to make it 4-0, or even 5-0, but three was good enough and now they turn their attentions to Dublin were they will travel to take on Eire in the first leg of their play-off on November 10
Planetfootball.com