A brace from Ehsan Haji Safi and goals from Sardar Azmoun and Alireza Jahan Baksh completed Iran’s rout of India as the visitors were consigned to an embarrasing 4-0 defeat.
First Half
Indian coach Stephen Constantine had noted the chill in the air as India landed in Tehran, and the reception at the Azadi stadium failed to warm Indian hearts further as Iran came out onto the pitch with an intimidating atmosphere backing the hosts. India however, had a rather small contingent of away fans.
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Team Melli responded right from the off, as they asserted their dominance by sending in multiple crosses from the right wing that had the visitor’s backline scrambling. Sardar Azmoun should have opened the scoring for the hosts in the 6th minute, but his far post header flew narrowly over the bar.
India had their backs to the wall as they struggled to keep possession, and required some last ditch defending from Aiborlang Khongjee and Sandesh Jhinghan as Azmoun was found in space in the box, but had his effort on goal blocked. Khongjee was replaced by Pritam Kotal soon after, as he suffered an injury.
A creditable rearguard action was wasted entirely minutes after the hour mark, as Bikash Jairu caught Saeid Ezatolahi with a high boot after a corner wasn’t cleared, and the resulting foul had the referee awarding a penalty. Iranian captain Ehsan Haji Safi stepped up and sent Gurpreet the wrong way, slotting the ball in the bottom right corner to give Iran the lead in the 33rd minute.
Iran had a couple of chances to score late in the first half, but Gurpreet was a colossus in the Indian goal, as he kept the scoreline at a respectable 1-0 going into the break.
Second Half
The Indian shot stopper had to be at his best as play resumed in the second half with Iran continuing to pepper shots at his goal, with Taremi cursing his luckas he ought to have scored when Azmoun played him through with a wnderful through ball on the hour mark.
India’s chances of salvaging a point from the game took a huge blow in the 61st minute, as Sardar Azmoun scored from Haji Safi’s corner after controlling the ball with his thigh and rifling into the net. 5 minutes, later the situation worsened, as Narayan Das conceded a penalty for a daft handball inthe box.
Haji Safi stepped up to take the penalty yet again, and the Iranian captain made no mistake, as he blasted the ball past Gurpreet to put Team Melli 3-0 up in the 66th minute. The Indian shot stopper made another save from Azmoun in the 73rd minute, as he thwarted the Iranians time and again as the half wore on.
Alireza Jahan Baksh made it 4-0 in the 78th minute, as the Iranian winger easily dummied his way past Narayan Das on the right wing, cut inside and slotted the ball across a despairing Gurpreet into the bottom left corner.
Udanta Singh was stretchered off late in the game to complete his miserable debut and as the referee called time on the game, India took a massive hit in their chances of qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup, with Guam losing their game 1-0.
