TEHRAN – Uzbekistan and Iran have settled for a goalless draw in their AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to 26 Group A tie.
The Central Asian derby saw Iran going down to 10 men in the second half following Saleh Hardani’s sending off but there was to be no winner in the evenly-matched contest as the two sides moved up to seven points.
Forward Mehdi Taremi and Eldor Shomurodov, who both play their club football in Italy, had a subdued first half with neither seeing much of the ball.
The match took a turn in the 57th minute after Australian referee Shaun Evans referred to the pitchside monitor, which led to a straight red card for Hardani for a studs up challenge on Shomurodov.
Uzbekistan seized the opportunity to increase their tempo with two chances just after the hour mark, Abbosbek Fayzullaev dragging his shot just wide before Masharipov ballooned his attempt over the bar after being teed up by Shomurodov, the-afc.com reported.
There was drama in stoppage time when Evans awarded a penalty to Iran after the ball seemed to have struck Rustamjon Ashurmatov’s hand but upon a VAR review, the decision was reversed as the sides shared the spoils.
Uzbekistan will host the United Arab Emirates next on Tuesday while Iran will meet Qatar.