Tasnim - Iran U-18 football team crashed Moldova 5-0 in the 17th edition of Valentin Granatkin Memorial on Friday.
Younes Delfi made a hat trick in the 31st, 65th and 81st minutes. Mohammad Ghaderi and Mohammad Ghobeishavi scored in the 60th and 89th minutes respectively.
Ghobeishavi was named as Man of the Match at the end of the game.
Iran started the campaign with a 2-1 loss to Zenit and was held to a 1-1 draw by Slovenia.
The traditional International Youth Football Tournament is underway on January 8-21, 2017 in Saint Petersburg commemorating the first FIFA Vice-President Valentin Granatkin.
Best players: Iurasco, Ghobeishavi
Post match comments
Oleg Fistican, Head coach of team Moldova:
– Five goals is a lot, of course. Iran scored two goals from set pieces. The main peculiarity of this team is the fast transition from defense to attack. On the contrary, we were playing slowly.
– Damascan and Iurasco were playing together today for some time. How would you assess their duo?
– We tried their duo in the second half. I think the team started to play better. Iurasco was playing central forward in the first half, although his usual position is right attacking midfielder. When Damascan went in, the players took their habitual positions.
– The group stage is over. Could you make any conclusions? Which teams were the most difficult to play against?
– I think Iran was the hardest to compete with. This is a very fast team. We couldn’t get them in a number of moments. Also the team of St. Petersburg burnt a lot of our energy. The Granatkin Memorial is a good tournament as there are no weak teams here. It is exactly here where we are able to watch how our players act under the pressure. Even when they’re playing in their club – “Sheriff” or “Zimbru” – they don’t face such an opposition. All the mistakes were revealed here. A number of players can handle only 25-30 minutes. After that they’re getting tired, and their eyes are losing bright sparkling. It is good that we can see this. We’ll come back home and we’ll work on this.
– How can you explain such a high final score?
– As I said, the opponent offered a very fast tempo, and we simply were not able to react that fast. I tried to make changes, but it did not help.
Abas Chamanian, Head coach of team Iran:
– First of all, let me welcome everyone here. I’d like to compliment Moldova, as this is a good team and their players have great technical skills. As for our performance, this was our third match on the tournament and we managed to adapt here and get used to the atmosphere. We also had an opportunity to study our opponents, including Moldova. So, it was much easier for us to play today. We had two game plans ready for this match – counter-attacking and also attempting to send the ball behind the back of the defenders.
– You surprised us a little today making your choice of the best player other than the author of a hat-trick. Can you explain why did you do this?
– In my opinion, the best player is not always the one who scores, even if he’s an author of a hat-trick. I think that it was Ghobeishavi who made the biggest contribution into our win today.
– Delfi scored three goals today. Could you tell more about this player?
– Despite he scored many goals, he was not showing his very best. In previous two matches the picture was the same. It was only in the second half today when he managed to show his full potential.