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Bring on the Irish Iran defeats UAE to earn World Cup playoff
Updated: Wednesday October 31, 2001 3:44 PM
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Iran beat the United Arab Emirates 3-0 in the second leg of an Asian Zone World Cup playoff Wednesday, setting up a two-game playoff against Ireland for a place in the 2002 World Cup. The Iranians advanced on a 4-0 aggregate score following their 1-0 win in the first leg in Tehran. They will face Ireland in Dublin on Nov. 10, with the return leg five days later. Ali Daei opened the scoring after seven minutes on a free kick. Karim Bagheri made it 2-0 in the 75th and Mehrdad Minavand sealed the match four minutes later. The Emirates went for an early goal but wasted chance after chance. Kazim Ali, Abdul Rahim and Mohammed Omar all spurned golden opportunities before the break. Iran's efficient game paid off in the seventh minute when Japanese referee Toru Kamikawa awarded them a free-kick right on the edge of the box after foul play from UEA defense. Iranian appeals for a penalty were turned down -- but it mattered little as Daei curled a brilliant free-kick around the wall and past UAE goalkeeper Mutaz Abdulla. Only a minute later, Iran was down to 10 men after Pejman Jamshidi was sent off for a second bookable offense. But the one-man advantage helped didn't help the Emirates, whose misery was compounded in the second half when Jaleel Abdul Rahman was red-carded in the 53rd minute for a bad tackle on Daei and Bagheri and Minavand fired home from distance. "We did well to protect out goal after Jamshidi's sending off and finally the experience of our players gave us a highly satisfying victory," Iran's Croatian coach Miroslav Blazevic said. The Emirates' Dutch coach Tini Ruijs said his team created a lot of chances but failed to score. "We created several good scoring opportunities. However, we couldn't score. That ended our chances of going further." Tens of thousands of flag-waving Iranians celebrated the win in the streets of Tehran, causing massive traffic jams. Police were deployed in large numbers but did not interfere as the celebrations were peaceful. Lineups UAE: Mutaz Abdulla, Abdul Rahman Ibrahim, Fahad Ali (Faisal Khalil, 20), Jaleel Abdul Rahman, Fahad Masoud, Sultan Rashid, Abdul Salam Juma (Zuhair Bakhit, 46), Abdul Rahim Juma, Basheer Saeed, Mohammed Omar, Kazim Ali (Subait Khatir, 68). Iran: Ebrahim Mirzapur, Rahman Rezai, Mohammedali Peyrovani, Yahya Golmohamdi (Behroz Rahbarifar, 70), Mehrdad Minavand (Sirous Dinmohammadi, 87), Kharim Bagheri, Hamed Kavianpour, Ali Karimi, Mujahed Khaziravi, Pejman Jamshidi, Ali Daei. Iranians complain of mistreatmentIran will complain to soccer's world governing body FIFA, claiming its players were forced to wait for three hours before being allowed into the UAE. "We were unfairly treated by Dubai immigration officers and kept for three hours, which was a very bad and unexpected thing," Iranian team manager Mohammad Ranjbar said Wednesday. "I think sports are something to bring people closer but I'm surprised that our friends in the Emirates are behaving in a way which does not promote friendship." Ranjbar, speaking to Iranian state-run radio, said he would "raise the issue with FIFA officials." The alleged incident took place after the Iranian team arrived at Dubai International Airport ahead of Wednesday's Asian playoff against the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi. The secretary-general of the UAE Football Association, Mattar al-Tayer, denied there was any mistreatment by Dubai airport officials. "It is not true," he said. "The whole issue was that the names of three people in the delegation did not match the names on the list provided to the immigration officials. After checking the names, the team was also allowed to proceed." Al-Tayer said there was no intent to delay the team, adding that airport officials are obliged to carefully check all visitors. "The head of the Iranian delegation was upset, and we apologized to him," he said. Iran won the first leg game in Tehran last week 1-0. The winner of the two-leg playoff will face Ireland for a berth in the World Cup finals next year. Arab Emirates 0 Iran 3 -- result First leg 0-1. Iran win 4-0 on aggregate. Scorers: Ali Daei 7, Karim Bagheri 75, Mehrdad Minavand 79 Red cards: Pejman Jamshidi (Iran) 8, Jaleel Abdulraham (United Arab Emirates) 53 Halftime: 0-1 -- - -- -
Iran will play Ireland for a place in the finals. First leg
to be played on 10 November in Dublin, second leg 15 November in
Iran.
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