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A leg up Iran beats UAE 1-0 in World Cup playoff first match
Updated: Thursday October 25, 2001 1:33 PM
TEHRAN (Reuters) -- Iran beat the United Arab Emirates 1-0 in the first leg of their World Cup playoff on Thursday, making a new bid for the finals after a surprise failure to earn automatic qualification earlier this week. The home team dominated the first half, with Ali Karimi repeatedly causing problems for the UAE defense. Iran scored in the 45th minute through a long shot by midfielder Karim Bagheri. Iran's superiority continued into the second half, despite the absence of leading players Ali Daei and Mehdi Mahdavikia, but they missed a succession of good chances. About 50,000 fans turned up on a rainy day at Tehran's 100,000-capacity Azadi stadium. Iranian security forces were present to prevent a repeat of the riots that erupted after Iran's 3-1 loss to Bahrain in their final Asian group qualifier on Sunday. The defeat cost Iran an automatic place in next year's tournament in Japan and South Korea. Iran, who played in the last World Cup in France in 1998, are playing off over two legs against the UAE, with the winners going through to a playoff against the Republic of Ireland for a place in the finals. Ireland manager Mick McCarthy was at Thursday's match in Tehran. Iran heads off riots before UAE matchIranian leaders nervously moved to head off new riots ahead of the crucial World Cup playoff. Security forces were braced for similar violence involving angry youths to that which followed Iran's 3-1 loss to Bahrain in a World Cup qualifier on Sunday. Speaker of parliament Mehdi Karroubi, several other deputies and senior sport officials attended a training session of the Iran team late on Wednesday to boost their sagging morale. "Rely on God and strengthen your will and determination more than before so that you will achieve results your country deserves," Karroubi told the players. Iran's state radio and television have been running interviews with footballers condemning the violence and pleading with fans to behave. The authorities were gearing for unrest whether or not Iran won or lost the match against UAE. Last week, jubilant fans celebrating Iran's 2-1 victory over Iraq turned violent after police tried to disperse them. Meanwhile, reform-minded officials seem to be in disagreement with hard-liners on how to deal with the recent wave of hooliganism. The judiciary, dominated by religious conservatives, has threatened to get tough with the "trouble-makers," while the moderates want to see a more cultural approach. An Iranian juvenile court said it had started trials for about 1,000 minors arrested in the riots. Hundreds more who are above 18 years old will be tried by the feared Revolutionary Courts for acting against the Islamic state. "We cannot solve the problem through force. All those arrested are under the age of 23, meaning that they are all children of the [1979 Islamic] revolution," said reformist Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari. "We cannot see things in black and while; we have to analyze the issue to try to find out what has gone wrong," he said, quoted by Iran's IRNA news agency. Meanwhile, UAE journalists told Reuters in Dubai they had been refused visas to travel to Iran to cover the match. They said they had been told by the Iranian consulate in Dubai that the mission could not obtain security clearance from Iran's interior ministry. Iranian officials and embassy personnel were not available for comment.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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