Early goal helped us to manage the match: Dragan Skocic
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Loading...Tasnim – DOHA, Iran head coach Dragan Skocic credited his side’s ability to manage the game for the 3-0 victory against Iraq on Matchday Two of the AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to Qatar Group A.
Team Melli ended the first window of the AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to Qatar with full marks, having beaten Syria 1-0 at Azadi Stadium on Thursday before adding a second victory on Tuesday, keeping clean sheets across both games to top the group at this early stage of the campaign.
Alireza Jahanbakhsh opened the scoring for Iran inside three minutes, heading home Mehdi Taremi’s pinpoint cross from the left. Taremi turned from provider to scorer in the second half, adding his side’s second before substitute Ali Gholizadeh rounded off the scoring late on.
“I am very satisfied with the performance and the result,” said Skocic.
“We had the mentality and the shape of a team. There is a lot of excitement and emotion in such games, but we were the better team in how we managed it. I thought we deserved this victory.
“It was very good for us that we scored early, because it gave us the opportunity to manage the game. In the first half, we played as expected, but in the second half we depended on counter attacks and were able to control Iraq’s attacks,” the Croat added.
