AFC U-19 Championship: Qatar 1-1 IR Iran

Iran defender Razzaghpour was left to rue his misfortune at the Bahrain National Stadium as he deflected an Abdullah Abdulsalam header into his own goal in the 38th minute, after it initially looked to be going wide.

Despair turned to elation in the second half though, as Razzaghpour equalised with a thumping strike despite his team being reduced to 10 men shortly after the break.

Qatar started the game promisingly although Iran were giving as good as they got in the opening exchanges.

Tarek Salman surged forward in the 3rd minute for Qatar, leaving his marker on his backside as he fired in a powerful shot that just missed the right hand post.

This set the tone for the first half, with the two teams exchanging speculative shots from distance, the majority of which drifted high or wide.

Iran’s best chance of the half came in the 28th minute, as Shahin Abbasian made good headway down the right flank before crossing deep to the far post for Ali Shojaei to knock the ball down.

Reza Karmollachaab was facing the wrong way as the ball arrived but he pulled off an acrobatic bicycle kick that arrowed towards the bottom right hand corner of the goal, only for Mohammad Albakari to dive low to his left to keep it out.