Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Goa: Coach Abbas Chamanian hailed Islamic Republic of Iran’s second-half performance as his side booked their place in the AFC U-16 Championship India 2016 semi-finals with a 5-0 quarter-final victory over Vietnam on Sunday.
Allahyar Sayyad gave Iran the lead just before the 30-minute mark at Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, before Mohammad Ghaderi added a second shortly after the restart.
Substitute Alireza Asadabadi and Amir Khodamoradi notched further goals and Sayyad’s second of the afternoon rounded off the scoring as Iran progressed to the last four and with it secured their passage to the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup in India.
“Vietnam were the better team in the first 20 minutes, forced us back and had chances to score, but after that we began to control the game,” said Chamanian.
“The first goal for us was very important, but after the substitution at half-time we were able to put on a much better performance.
“We identified our players after the 2014 tournament in Thailand and we have worked hard to get here. We are very, very happy with this result.”