Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tehran: Iran may have booked their place in the last eight of the 2012 AFC U-16 Championship with a 4-1 win over Yemen but head coach Ali Doustimehr expressed his concerns over his side conceding a goal in the first few minutes of a match for the second game in a row.
After being breached by Laos with just two minutes of their Group A opener played, Iran were again playing comeback in their second fixture when Mohammed Al Dahi put Yemen 1-0 up with just three minutes at the PAS Stadium played.
Yemen were more than a match for the tournament hosts up until stoppage-time in the first-half when Yemen were reduced to ten men with the sending off of defender Alawi Fadaaq.
Iran made the most of their extra-man early in the second-half through Ali Rigi's equaliser before free-kicks from Saeid Ezatolahi (60th) and Sasan Jafari (65th) and a fourth from Reza Karmollachaab eight minutes from time comfortably sealed the hosts' place in the quarter-finals.
For the fans, a win is a win, and the four second-half goals will serve as a fillip for the young Iranian players but for Doustimehr alarm bells are already ringing.
"I must apologise to the Iranian fans and media because we didn't play well in the first-half and just as we did against Laos we conceded an early goal," reflected the Iran coach.
"Yemen are a very good team and I knew it would be a tough game and after we didn't play well in the first half I spoke to the players and was able to motivate them for the second-half and we scored four times.
"I agree it might be the pressure of the occasion because they are you players and they don't have much experience. But we need to talk about this issue of conceding early goals as this will cause greater problems for us during the later stages of the tournament when we are up against the much stronger teams.
"Football is like chess and the smallest of mistakes can cost the game. We are not thinking about Yemen, Kuwait or Laos and we will do what we have to do achieve our goal of qualifying for the World Cup."
Yemen's dreams of a place in the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup in the UAE are now out of their hands with 2002 runners-up needing Iran to defeat Kuwait in addition to a victory for them over Laos when Group A reaches its climax on Wednesday.
But before Yemen coach Ali Al Sunaini turns his attention to the must win clash against the ASEAN side that surrendered the lead three times and conceded two stoppage-time goals to lose 4-3 to Kuwait in Monday's earlier match at the PAS Stadium, he reflected on what might have been against Iran.
"As you saw we were leading the match and there is no doubt that the red card completely changed the game," he said, referring to Fadaaq's over-exuberant studs up challenge on Mohammadreza Bazaj that left his team-mates playing a man-short for the entire second-half.
"Our players didn't adapt to this situation as they don't have the experience.
"I don't think we deserved the 4-1 result and it wouldn't have happened if we didn't receive the red card but this is football and we have to accept everything that happens.
"We still have a chance to qualify and Inshallah we will but we don't know what will happen. Nobody expected Iran would score four times in 45 minutes in this match.
"We will look to recover from this game and do our best to qualify but nobody knows what will happen."
Group A concludes on Wednesday when Iran take on Kuwait at PAS Stadium while Yemen face Laos over at the neighbouring Rah Ahan Stadium with both games kicking-off at 1700 Tehran time.