Tasnim - Iran national team head coach Carlos Queiroz said they won a difficult match against Qatar.

Iran defeated Qatar on Thursday evening in its opening World Cup qualifier match thanks to two injury time goals from Reza Ghoochannejhad and Alireza Jahanbaksh.

“We had a very difficult game,” said Queiroz. “It was a tense and highly tactical match. It was obvious that Qatar was looking to take advantage of our weaknesses in the first half, therefore we had a difficult first half.

“We tried to open up the game in the second half and put Qatar under more pressure. We had better scoring chances in the second half and we really played better during the half.”

“This Qatari side is a really good team because it is organized and they have good players,” the Portuguese coach added. “To be able to win the match, we had to fully focus and keep our opponents under pressure until the very last moment. We forced them to retreat.”

“I think the goal we scored revealed the truth about the game and if one of the teams deserved a win it was definitely Iran. The second goal came so naturally since Qatar had nothing to lose and they were looking for a draw,” Queiroz concluded.