Lebanon’s national team lost 0-2 away to Iran on Tuesday at Imam Reza Stadium in Mashhad, in the tenth and final round of Group A competitions in the final round of Asian qualifiers – the way to the 2022 World Cup.
Sardar Azmoun (37) and Alireza Jahanbakhsh (72) scored the two winning goals for the Iranian team.
Also on Tuesday, the same group will meet Syria with Iraq at Rashid Stadium in Dubai, and the Emirates with South Korea at Al Maktoum Stadium in Dubai.
Iran temporarily topped the group standings with 25 points from ten matches, compared to 23 points from nine matches for South Korea, 9 for the UAE, 8 for Iraq, 6 for Lebanon and 5 for Syria.
Iran and South Korea secured the tickets for direct qualification to the World Cup, while the UAE and Iraq are competing for the participation ticket in the Asian supplement.
The Lebanese national team entered the match demanding to win, hoping that the UAE and Iraq stumbled in the two matches against South Korea and Syria, respectively.
The first half did not witness many chances, with the Iranian team more in control of the game.
The first chance for the owners of the land was through Sardar Azmoun’s shot, which passed safely outside the three blocks (5), and his colleague Ali Reza Jakhnbakhsh returned to make another attempt that passed next to the left post (19).
Then Hussein Kanani’s pass put his teammate Sardar Azmoun in the best position, and the latter managed to translate that into the first goal in the 37th minute.
The Lebanese team tried to modify and reached Iran twice through two shots by Muhammad Qdouh (41) and Hussein Zain (44), but without a change in the result until the end of the first half, with the Iranians advancing with a goal without a response.
Hilal Al-Helweh, the Lebanon national team striker, almost scored the equalizer with a special shot from outside the penalty area that passed near the left post (49).
The Iranian team responded through Jahanbakhsh’s floor shot from inside the penalty area, which was successfully blocked by Lebanon’s goalkeeper, Mustafa Matar (55).
Then Jahanbakhsh managed to score the second goal for Iran after he took advantage of a long pass from his colleague Hussein Kanaani and shot it perfectly to the left of the goalkeeper in the 72nd minute, to pass after that minutes until the final whistle.
Source: agencies