Iran opens 2016 AFC U-19 Championship with draw against Qatar

Iran's national youth football team has started off its campaign at the 2016 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-19 Championship in Bahrain with a one-all draw against the defending champions Qatar.

On Friday evening, both teams began the Group C fixture at Bahrain National Stadium in the Bahraini capital Manama quite vigorously, before Qatari midfielder Tarek Salman ran the ball down the field and tried a powerful shot in the 3rd minute. His kick missed the right hand post though.

Team Melli Javanan, the name with which Iran’s team is known, and Qatar players then exchanged a number of speculative shots from distance, which went either high or wide and did not yield a goal.

Iran’s best chance of the first half came in the 28th minute, when midfielder Shahin Abbasian infiltrated through the right flank and volleyed deep to teammate Ali Shojaei. Shojaei, however, missed the target.

Moments later, forward Reza Karmollachaab, who was donning the captain's armband, hit a fine scissors kick, also known as an overhead kick or bicycle kick, toward the bottom right corner of Qatar’s goal. However, goalkeeper Mohammed Ahmed al-Bakari took a low dive and caught the ball.

Iran was left to rue in the 38th minute, when defender Abolfazl Razzaghpour deflected a header by Qatari captain Abdullah Abdulsalam into his own goal.

Iran’s hopes of reversing the course of the match suffered a nasty blow three minutes after the interval, when Mohammad Soltanimehr awkwardly brought Abdelrahman Moustafa down just outside the penalty area.

Chinese referee Fu Ming did not hesitate to act in response, book the Iranian midfielder’s second offence and give him the red card.

After that, the 10-man Iranian team left no stone unturned to net the equalizer and avoid defeat.

Razzaghpour finally erased his earlier mistake in the 58th minute and brought the score level at 1-1.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is drawn in Group C of the group stage of the 2016 AFC U-19 Championship, and is drawn with Qatar, Asian powerhouse Japan, and Yemen.

The hosts are drawn in Group A, and have joined the 2012 champions South Korea as well as Saudi Arabia.

Group B constitutes of the 2014 runner-up North Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Vietnam. Australia, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan form Group D.

The 2016 AFC U-19 Championship, which is the 39th edition of the tournament, started on October 13 and will finish on October 30.

The championship acts as the AFC qualifier for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea, with the top four teams qualifying.

Since South Korea has already qualified automatically as the AFC U-19 Championship host, the fifth-placed team will also qualify for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup if the South Korean team finishes in the top four.

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