AFC U-19 Championship: Iran Qualify with Japan for Quarterfinals

A first-half free kick executed by Abolfazl Razzaghpour earned Iran a place in the knockout phase of the AFC U-19 Championship in Bahrain as they beat Yemen 1-0 on Thursday.

    Iran secured their first win of the competition after draws with Qatar and Japan to join the latter in the quarter-finals with a second place finish in Group C, setting up a meeting with the winners of Group D in the second round.

    Razzaghpour scored the only goal of the game in the 45th minute and was enough to take all three points despite a lack of clear cut chances throughout the 90 minutes for either side. "I'd like to thank my players because they played very disciplined and were well organized," Iran coach Amir Peiravani said after the match. "These players are all young, 18 and 17, and they had a lot of stress because they were thinking that if we didn’t win they would have to go home, so they were nervous."

Source: QNA