{"id":35073,"date":"2019-01-17T12:31:15","date_gmt":"2019-01-17T20:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/?p=35073"},"modified":"2019-01-17T21:52:19","modified_gmt":"2019-01-18T05:52:19","slug":"beiranvand-eyes-knockouts-after-ir-iran-achieve-group-stage-target","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2019\/01\/17\/beiranvand-eyes-knockouts-after-ir-iran-achieve-group-stage-target\/","title":{"rendered":"Beiranvand eyes knockouts after IR Iran achieve group stage target"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

AFC – Dubai, Alireza Beiranvand has admitted that Islamic Republic of Iran fans wanted victory against Iraq to make up for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup defeat after the sides played out a 0-0 draw in their final Group D match of the 2019 edition at Al Maktoum Stadium on Wednesday.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having each won their first two matches, the teams went into the \ngame with their places in the last 16 secured but, level on six points \napiece, top spot remained up for grabs, although it was Iran who led on \ngoal difference to mean a draw would see them finish in first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But much of the talk in the build-up centred on the incredible 3-3 draw in the quarter-finals of the 2015 competition \u2013 a game that Beiranvand watched from the bench \u2013 when Iraq prevailed 7-6 on penalties in what was one of the most memorable matches in the tournament\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carlos Queiroz\u2019s side started the brighter at a vibrant Al Maktoum \nStadium and Sardar Azmoun was off-target with an early header, before \nAlireza Jahanbakhsh \u2013 making his first appearance of the tournament \u2013 \nblazed over shortly before half-time as Iran failed to take advantage of\n their superiority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\n there was less goalmouth action after the interval and the longer the \ngame went on, the more Iran seemed happy to settle for the point that \nwould see them top the standings, although Beiranvand had to make a fine\n save to deny Alaa Abbas\u2019s header with 13 minutes remaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end the deadlock would not be broken as Team Melli advanced to the knockout rounds having yet to concede a goal. Next up the three-time champions will head to Abu Dhabi, where they will play one of the highest-ranked third-placed finishers in the last 16 on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe knew Iraq didn\u2019t want to lose to Iran. We should have taken our \nopportunities in the first half but, unfortunately, we didn\u2019t,\u201d added \nBeiranvand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut\n both teams will be happy, because neither of us lost in our last game. \nThankfully, we\u2019re done with the group stage, have qualified and have \nperformed well in our games \u2013 something the players really strived for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\n might be the only team that has made four or five changes every game. \nThis proves that we have two teams; everyone plays for the national team\n and gives their best.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AFC – Dubai, Alireza Beiranvand has admitted that Islamic Republic of Iran fans wanted victory…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35075,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,175,84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c17-asian-competitions","category-asian-cup","category-c47-featured-news"],"views":1155,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35073","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35073"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35078,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35073\/revisions\/35078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}