{"id":11034,"date":"2010-03-03T18:09:51","date_gmt":"2010-03-04T02:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2010\/03\/03\/nekounam-header-eliminates-thailand\/"},"modified":"2010-03-03T18:09:51","modified_gmt":"2010-03-04T02:09:51","slug":"nekounam-header-eliminates-thailand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2010\/03\/03\/nekounam-header-eliminates-thailand\/","title":{"rendered":"Nekounam eliminates Thailand [VIDEO + PHOTOS]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"neku-scores-jordan\"<\/p>\n

PFDC – TEHRAN, Despite already being certain group winners ahead of the last Asian Cup qualifier, Iran, unlike the AFC in the FIFA World Cup qualification, respected the values of fair play and managed to defeat Thailand 1-0 thanks to a last-minute goal by Javad Nekounam.<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n

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The guests needed a win to certainly qualify for the final tournament next January and at least a draw to keep their hopes alive, while Jordan and Singapore were hoping that Iran would take the game seriously.<\/p>\n

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Afshin Ghotbi did so and fielded his strongest players, as usually relying on the 4-2-3-1 formation. Lone striker Masoud Shjoaei should be supported by the offensive trio Ali Karimi, Mehrzad Madanchi and Mohammad-Reza Khalatbari. Khosro Heydari and Ehsan Hajsafi, as offensive minded fullbacks, were supposed to assist the attack regulary as well.<\/p>\n


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Iran dominant from the start<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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The flexible offensive plan worked quite well and Iran very soon took full control over the proceedings and created a couple of opportunities thanks to much rotation upfront. Still most chances either came after setpieces or were efforts from outside the box, also due to Thailand defending very deeply, making it hard to create openings inside the penalty area.<\/p>\n

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Especially returnee Ali Karimi appeared to be in good mood today and definitely inspired Iran’s play throughout the 90 minutes. The skipper almost broke the deadlock himself after twelve minutes with a header, but saw his effort going just inches wide.<\/p>\n

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Thailand created a big chance in the 29th minute, but Iran were lucky that the unmarked striker hammered the ball over the target from half-left position.<\/p>\n

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Madanchi came close to mark his ninth international goal ten minutes before the break, when his good shot from far out went narrowly past the post.<\/p>\n

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Javad Nekounam should have added his name to the scoresheet shortly afterwards when he got to the ball after a Hajsafi freekick, but failed to get his diving header on target at the far post.<\/p>\n

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But also Thailand remained dangerous on counter attacks and the guests were able to test Rahmati with s shot from outside the area after a turnover in the Iranian build-up and Hadi Aghily’s cautious defending after 40 minutes.<\/p>\n

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Nekounam, presenting himself not in the best shape today, had another chance to score the opening goal, but headed a corner kick over the target.<\/p>\n

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Madanchi then should have finished off Iran’s best attack of the first interval when Karimi started a solo run like in good old days, getting past three defenders before inscening the leftwinger in the box, but the winger curled the ball into the sidenet.<\/p>\n


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Thailand defending the draw<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Iran started the second half in an even more dominant manner, but often failed to deliver the final pass to create real big scoring chances.<\/p>\n

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Nekounam tried his luck from outside the box ten minutes after the restart, but was denied by the goalkeeper.<\/p>\n

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Somehow Madanchi then failed to convert a so called 100%er after finding himself alone in short distance to goal after a good serving from Karimi, but needed a bit too long to control the ball and so his shot could be defelected over the bar.<\/p>\n

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Thailand, a bit surprisingly, stuck to their defensive destructive gameplan, although Jordan were already leading against Singapore and the South-East Asians now desperately needed a win to qualify for the Asian Cup.<\/p>\n

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Although he had been one of the better offensive players, Ghotbi decided to replace Shojaei by youngster Karim Ansarifard after 63 minutes, who overtook the Osasuna man’s centre forward position. Nine minutes later the today disappointing Khalatbari had to make space for Gholamreza Rezaei.<\/p>\n

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The changes almost paid off when Rezaei’s cross found Ansarifard in the box, who’s header beat the keeper but not the woodwork with ten minutes remaining on the clock.<\/p>\n

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Two minutes later Jalal Hosseini looked like finally breaking the deadlock with a thunderous header, but an amazing reflex by the goalkeeper kept the scoreline even.<\/p>\n

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Who else?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Five minutes from time Ghotbi pulled his final offensive option, bringing on Milad Zanidpour for the lively Madanchi.<\/p>\n

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But as often it was up the Javad Nekounam to rescue Iran. The probably best Asian midfielder of our time headed Heydari’s cross into the net to finally score the overdue winning goal.<\/p>\n

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Due to the loss, Thailand failed to qualifiy to the 2011 Asian Cup and Jordan grabbed the last ticket after a 2-1 victory over Singapore instead.<\/p>\n

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Iran – Thailand 1-0 (0-0)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Asian Cup Qualifier, Grup E<\/p>\n

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Goal:<\/strong> 1-0 Nekounam (90′ \/ Assist by Heydari)<\/p>\n

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Iran:<\/strong> Rahmati – Heydari, Aghily, Hosseini, Hajsafi – Teymourian, Nekounam – Khalatbari (72′ G. Rezaei), Karimi, Madanchi (85′ Zanidpour) – Shojaei (63′ Ansarifard)<\/p>\n

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Iranian players booked:<\/strong> Teymourian, Ansarifard, Madanchi<\/p>\n

Full Highlights on PFDCTV:<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NkKceFAYCMM<\/a>\n




























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PFDC – TEHRAN, Despite already being certain group winners ahead of the last Asian Cup…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22614,"featured_media":11033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c13-team-melli-news"],"views":6874,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22614"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}