News / Sports

Hosts beat Iran football squad in China tournament

Wednesday, 11 May 2016 1:59 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 12 May 2016 2:49 AM ]

Iran's national under-17 football team, more commonly known as Nojavanan

Iran’s national under-17 football team, more commonly known as Nojavanan, has suffered a loss at the Jiangyin Zhouzhuang Cup CFA International Youth Football Tournament 2016 in China, slumping to the hosts.

On Tuesday, the Iranian squad saw its chances of winning the match staged at Jiang Yin Sports Center Stadium in China’s eastern city of Jiangyin restricted following Mohammad Davari’s sending off after just 22 minutes.

The names on the initial roster of Iran squad included Me’raj Esmaeili, Taha Shariati, Aref Mohammad Alipour, Mehrdad Zarei, Mohammad Davari, Amir Hossein Khodamoradi, Mohsen Goudarzi, Mohammad Sharifi, Saeed Ahani, Mohammad Ghaderi and Mohammad Qabishavi. Iran’s under-17 football outfit is under the tutelage of Hamid Alidousti as the head coach.

Mohammad Alipour substituted Zarei, and Goudarzi was replaced with Vahid Namdari in the 46th minute.

The Iranian outfit finally sustained a narrow 1-2 defeat from the Southeast Asian side. Amir Hossein Hosseinpour scored Iran’s consolation goal.

“Our team continued its campaign with ten players after the 22nd minute. Therefore, our players were under great duress with nearly 10,000 spectators in attendance,” Alidousti said after the match.

He added, “Even though Iranian soccer players were on average 1.5 years younger than their Chinese counterparts, they could exhibit a neck-and-neck and solid performance.”

The national Iranian under-17 football team will play against Uzbekistan in its second fixture on Thursday evening.

The Jiangyin Zhouzhuang Cup CFA International Youth Football Tournament 2016 kicked off in Jiangyin, China, on May 7, and will run through May 16.

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