Iran Olympic Team earns goalless draw with Saudi Arabia in 2018 Asian Games

The Iran national under-23 football team, also known as Iran U-23 or Iran Olympic Team, has launched its campaign at the 2018 Asian Games in an acceptable manner, and earned a goalless draw against Saudi Arabia at the continental multi-sport event.

On Wednesday evening, the young Saudi sportsmen started the Group F match at the Wibawa Mukti Stadium in the Indonesian town of Cikarang in a better fashion.

Even though the Saudis fashioned a handful of scoring chances and threatened the opposite side’s goalpost twice within the opening minutes of the fixture, they could not bury the ball at the back of the net.

Iran's best chance to score the opener came in the 40th minute, when Mohammad Reza Azadi saw himself in front of the Saudi team’s unguarded net.

Saudi Arabia’s 21-year-old midfielder Yousef Al-Harbi, though, intervened effectively and did not let the Iranian soccer player take advantage of the opportunity.

Most of the second half was a particularly drab affair with both sides cautious and defensive and neither producing any real occasion. 

Saudi player Haroun Kamara, 21, finally penetrated Iran’s penalty area in the 73rd minute. Iran’s goalkeeper Mehdi Amini did not hesitate to come forward and pull off a crucial save.

In the 82nd minute, Iran’s Mohammad Moslemipour fired a powerful left-footed shot towards Saudi Arabia’s goal as he was in the opposite side’s 18-yard box.

Saudi goalkeeper Mohammed Rabee reacted sharply and parried the shot.

In the dying moments of the game, Saudi Arabia could have opened up the scoring, when they aimed a shot at Iran’s goal. The ball hit the upright though and the game remained scoreless. 

“Saudi Arabia was the better team in the first half but we controlled the game after the halftime. They had two scoring chances in the first half and we were lucky to come away without conceding a goal,” head coach of the Iran national under-23 football team Zlatko Kranjčar said in the post-match news conference.

He added, “We have a difficult task ahead since Saudi Arabia and North Korea have also a chance of qualifying for the next stage. We will have to defeat North Korea and Myanmar to advance to the next stage.”

“We played well-organized against Saudi Arabia and I am satisfied with the character we showed,” Kranjčar concluded.

Football at the 2018 Asian Games is held from August 14 to September 1.

Iran is pitted against Myanmar, North Korea and Saudi Arabia in Group F.

Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos and Palestine arte drawn in Group A. Bangladesh, Qatar, Thailand and Uzbekistan form Group B.

Group C consists of China, Syria, Timor-Leste and the United Arab Emirates. Japan, Nepal, Pakistan and Vietnam are in Group D.

Bahrain, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia and South Korea shape Group E.

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