PLDC -
The hearts of millions of Iranian football
fans were broken when the Saudi player scored a winning goal in the 83th
minute against Iran U23 in Asia's Olympic Qualifiers.
The hosts took on the Iranians as the top team in the group after beating
Jordan away on day 1, while Iran had tied Australia at home two week
earlier.
The first half saw a balanced game with both
teams playing to keep possession of the middle of the field and occasionally
created chances on both ends.
With the start of the second half, the Saudis who were playing in front of
home fans started brighter and took the game to their visitors and came
close a few times, however the Iranian defense looked solid and organized in
most parts of the game.
Just as the game was moving towards injury time however, the Saudi pressure
paid off and the hosts scored 2 minutes from time to get a crucial win
against their rival in the group and leave the Persians with only 1 point
from two games at the bottom of the group of death that also consists of
Australia and Jordan who played to a 1-1 tie earlier in the day in
Australia.
Saudi Arabia leads the table with 6 points from 2 games, while Australia
sits seconds with 2 points and Jordan and Iran both follow the top two with
1 points each.
Iran U23 team will have another shot to get its first win of the qualifiers
in two weeks time against Jordan at home and they know that anything but the
3 points will give them a chance to finish top two and make it to the next
stage of the qualifiers.
On the same day Saudi Arabia will face Australia.
