AFC Asian Qualifiers
Azmoun put his side two goals in front inside the opening 15 minutes at the Azadi Stadium before Mehdi Taremi added the third with three minutes remaining and Ramin Rezaeian curled in an injury time free kick for the fourth.
Azmoun put the home side in front in the 12th minute, scoring from close range after impressive work by Ehsan Hajsafi.
The veteran midfielder kept the ball in play after a wayward attempt at a cross field ball by Saman Ghoddos from the right looked destined to go out for a throw before Hajsafi slid in to keep the ball in play.
That released Mohammad Mohebi and his cut back from the bye-line found the AS Roma striker in position to put his side in front.
Three minutes later the Iranians were on target again, and it was Azmoun who was adding to Hong Kong, China’s troubles.
This time it was Mehdi Taremi who delivered the telling pass and once more Azmoun was left to apply the simplest of finishes, side-footing in from seven yards out.
Taremi could have increased the Iranians’ lead two minutes later, only for goalkeeper Tse Ka Wing to keep out the Porto forward’s strike from the edge of the penalty area as Amir Ghalenoei’s side were in danger of disappearing out of sight.
The visitors had few sights of goal on a difficult night in Tehran, with Mahama Awal seeing his rare sight of goal snuffed out just after the hour mark when Hossein Kanani raced across the penalty area to block his shot before the Awal pulled the trigger.
Moments later Azmoun missed the opportunity to complete his hat-trick when he poked the ball wide from inside the six yard box following Alireza Jahanbakhsh’s telling centre from the right.
The 28-year-old went closer still with 10 minutes remaining, Tse finger tipping the forward’s shot onto his own crossbar before the ball rebounded over for a corner that was eventually cleared.
It was Taremi who added his side’s third, sprinting onto Rezaeian’s ball behind the defence before sliding his left foot shot past Tse and into the far corner in the 87th minute while Rezaeian curled in a free kick from 25 yards two minutes into injury time to complete the win.
IR Iran will travel to Tashkent to face Uzbekistan next on Tuesday while Hong Kong, China will seek home comforts when they host Turkmenistan on the same day.
