PFDC -  A depleted Iran team comfortably defeated Kyrgyzstan 6-0 in a friendly match in Tehran’s Azadi stadium on Tuesday.

Five days after the 3-1 win in Macedonia, Carlos Queiroz changed his team on no less than ten positions, with only Saeid Ezatollahi remaining in the lineup.

Iran was awarded an early penalty kick, when Masoud Shojaei took a solo run inside the area before seeing his attempted square ball being stopped by a defender’s hand. The veteran playmaker converted the resulting penalty with ease, to make it 1-0.

Mehdi Taremi doubled the lead when he first saw his header to a corner stopped, but managed to control and finish the loose ball after 25 minutes.

Four minutes later, Mehdi Torabi added a third, when he managed to keep the goalkeeper with a shot from tight angle.

Kyrgyzstan were struggling during the first half already, and only thanks to sloppy finishing, but also a well functioning offside trap and their goalkeeper managed to avoid a thrashing before the break.

Iran then looked a bit lacklustre for most of the second interval, with some changes after the hourmark finally bringing some fresh impulses.

Karim Ansarifard finally got his goal after 69 minutes, when he was perfectly inscened from Alireza Jahanbakhsh and only had the keeper to beat.

Jahanbakhsh again was the provider three minutes from time, this time serving Sardar Azmoun, who scored his 15th international goal in his 18th appearance.

Azmoun almost added his 16th, but saw his effort being deflected onto the goalpost by the keeper in the very last minute of the game. However, Ansarifard was there to score Iran’s sixth, his second of the day and his eleventh in total for Team Melli.

Iran’s next game will be the World Cup qualifying round 3 opener versus Qatar in Azadi stadium on September 1, before Queiroz’s men will travel to China for the second match five days later.

Iran – Kyrgyzstan 6-0 (3-0)
Friendly match, Azadi stadium

Goals:
1-0 Masoud Shojaei (6′ / penalty kick / handball)
2-0 Mehdi Taremi (25′)
3-0 Mehdi Torabi (29′)
4-0 Karim Ansarifard (69′ / assist by Alireza Jahanbakhsh)
5-0 Sardar Azmoun (87′ / Alireza Jahanbakhsh)
6-0 Karim Ansarifard (90′ / Sardar Azmoun)