Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tabriz: Iran defeated India 3-0 to go three points clear of the 2016 AFC Championship hosts and Bahrain, who put themselves back into contention with a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Lebanon in Friday’s other Group E encounter.
Iran kicked-off their qualifying campaign with a 3-1 win over the Lebanese and took the first steps on scoring three times for the second successive match when Mohammad Sharifi put the Group E hosts a goal to the good with 17 minutes at the Gostaresh Foolad Stadium played.
Amir Khodamoradi struck two minutes from the interval as Iran went into the break with a two-goal lead, which they extended 11 minutes into the second half as Mohammad Ghaderi (pictured right) sealed the victory that put Iran in pole position at the end of the penultimate round of Group fixtures.
Bahrain joined India in joint second place after the Gulf Kingdom come from behind to defeat Lebanon, as Khaled Abdulla cancelled out Jawad Abdullah’s 17th minute opener before going on to score what transpired to be the match winner six minutes into the second half.
For the second time in the qualifiers Bahrain finished the match with ten men when - having already had Abdulah Salem sent off in Wednesday’s 5-0 loss to India - defender Nawaf Jasim received his marching orders after receiving his second yellow card in the 70th minute of the all-West Asian match at the Yadegar Emmam Stadium.
Despite the numerical disadvantage Bahrain held out for the remaining 20 minutes to go third in the table behind India on goal difference ahead of their Match Day 3 meeting with leaders Iran as the curtain comes down on the qualifiers on Sunday.
Ten group winners and four best second-placed teams will join DPR Korea, who topped the already concluded Group H, and India in next year’s finals, with the tournament hosts receiving an automatic qualification.
Should India finish top of their qualifying group or among the four best second-placed teams, the fifth best second-placed nation will qualify for the final competition.