TEHRAN – Iran’s National Football Team defeated Iraq 3-0 on Tuesday night in the Asian Qualifiers for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
In a match that was held in Doha’s Khalifa International Stadium, Iran’s captain Alireza Jahanbakhsh opened the scoring three minutes into the game to disrupt Iraq’s defensive strategy for the rest of the match.
The first half ended with this goal as Iraq could not create threats in Iran’s box and Iran preferred keeping the ball possession.
24 minutes into the second half, Porto striker Mehdi Taremi doubled the scoring for Iran by slotting the ball between the goalkeeper’s legs after a good run with Sardar Azmoun’s long pass.
And in the 90th minute, Ali Gholizadeh scored the third goal for Team Melli.
The win added three points to Dragan Skocic’s team who now sit top of Group A table with six. Iran had defeated Syria in the first match of this stage of qualifiers.
In a press conference after the match, Skocic said he was “very satisfied” with the result. Emotions and excitement are too high in such matches but Iran could perform like a powerful team, said the coach, adding, “I think everyone agrees that we deserved the victory.”