{"id":50585,"date":"2024-02-03T19:56:12","date_gmt":"2024-02-04T03:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/?p=50585"},"modified":"2024-02-03T21:02:41","modified_gmt":"2024-02-04T05:02:41","slug":"iran-beat-japan-2-1-for-a-place-in-afc-asian-cup-2023-semifinal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2024\/02\/03\/iran-beat-japan-2-1-for-a-place-in-afc-asian-cup-2023-semifinal\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran beat Japan 2-1 for a place in AFC Asian Cup 2023 semifinal"},"content":{"rendered":"

aljazeera.com –\u00a0 Qatar, <\/strong> Iran, backed by their thousands of vociferous supporters, have knocked out favorites Japan and earned a spot in the semifinals of the AFC Asian Cup 2023 with a famous 2-1 win.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a match billed as an early final of the tournament \u2013 given both teams\u2019 history in the competition, their FIFA rankings and strong squads \u2013 Iran turned the tables on the four-time champions on a cool Saturday afternoon at Education City Stadium in Qatar.<\/p>\n

In a tournament that is now well-known for its late drama, Iran\u2019s captain Alireza Jahanbakhsh delivered one of the most famous goals in his country\u2019s Asian Cup history with a heart-in-mouths stoppage-time penalty that booked Team Melli a place in the second semifinal on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The opening minutes of the game saw Japan make several bursts towards Iran\u2019s goal but failed to convert their chances, much to the delight of the large Iranian contingent positioned behind it.<\/p>\n

Hidemasa Morita changed that with his goal in the 28th minute and the small groups of Japanese fans scattered around the stadium finally made their presence felt. However, it did little to deter Team Melli\u2019s supporters, who took up their synchronised clapping and chanting by a few more notches.<\/p>\n

\"Fans
Japan fans celebrate their team\u2019s goal [Showkat Shafi\/ Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The team, one of the oldest squads at the tournament, pulled up their socks after half-time and began a back-and-forth contest with the Samurai Blue as they sought an equaliser.<\/p>\n

Perhaps they were out to impress their coach, Amir Ghalenoei, who had slammed the team for missing several chances to score against Syria in their round-of-16 match on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really happy with the performance of a few players but I\u2019m very happy with the discipline we showed,\u201d Ghalenoei had said.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s first goal finally came 10 minutes into the second half as Mohammed Mohebi slotted Sardar Azmoun\u2019s through pass into the Japanese goal and sent their fans into a frenzy. Their unwavering support had finally paid off.<\/p>\n

\"Fans
Iran fans celebrate the equalising goal [Showkat Shafi\/ Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More than two-thirds of the spectators were either dressed in Iran\u2019s colours or carrying Iranian flags. Some, like Wafai Salar, had travelled from across the PERSIAN Gulf to back their team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must not doubt our team,\u201d Salar told Al Jazeera before the match.<\/p>\n

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The belief was reiterated by 72-year-old super fan Mohamed Mirza, who said the team did not feel the absence of their star striker Mehdi Taremi, who missed out on account of his two yellow cards in the game against Syria.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe have 24 Taremis in the squad,\u201d he shouted after the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been living in Qatar for decades and have seen three Asian Cups here, so now the team owe me a trophy,\u201d Mirza said before resuming his chants for Iran.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Ghalenoei\u2019s team showed they were up for the challenge against heavy favourites Japan by defending their goal and following it up with runs into the Japanese half. One of these, late into stoppage time, resulted in Iran winning a penalty.<\/p>\n

The late drama was too much for some fans, who turned their backs to the pitch before the penalty was taken by Jahanbakhsh. Once the ball was deposited in the top left corner, pandemonium broke out in the stands and on the pitch. Iran\u2019s substitutes ran onto the pitch to celebrate and their fans jumped out of their seats.<\/p>\n

\"Iran's
Iran\u2019s Alireza Jahanbakhsh celebrates after winning the match [Aijaz Rahi\/AP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three minutes later, the referee\u2019s full-time whistle confirmed Japan\u2019s dismissal. The Japanese fans seated behind their goal held their heads in their hands and shed tears of agony and disbelief.<\/p>\n

Across the aisle, nine-year-old Iran fan Ario was crying, as well. The dramatic last-minute penalty was too much to take for the young supporter.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI was so nervous before the penalty was taken, I peeled the skin off my fingers,\u201d he told Al Jazeera as tears fell down his cheek.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Ario, a Canadian Iranian citizen, has never been to the country of his parents\u2019 birth but would one day like to play for Team Melli.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get so excited every time I see them play, so I want to be like them one day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Iran
Iran football team fan Ario at Education City Stadium [Hafsa Adil\/Al Jazeera]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ghalenoei\u2019s men will give Ario and the millions of Iran fans the world over another chance to ride the wave of emotions when they take on the winner of the Qatar vs Uzbekistan quarterfinal in four days\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

For old-timers like Mirza, it may even be a case of third-time lucky if the three-time champions walk away with the trophy on February 10.<\/p>\n

\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/INTERACTIVE-AFC-Asian-Cup-past-winners-1704968769.png?w=770&resize=770%2C770&quality=80\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

aljazeera.com –\u00a0 Qatar, Iran, backed by their thousands of vociferous supporters, have knocked out favorites…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34468,"featured_media":50586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,175,86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c17-asian-competitions","category-asian-cup","category-c13-team-melli-news"],"views":1252,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50585","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\/34468"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50585"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50589,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50585\/revisions\/50589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}