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GulfTimes - KUWAIT CITY:
Even considering the inadequacies of youth this has been a performance
Qatar’s footballers and officials would want to forget in a hurry.
Sending the under-23 team for the West Asian Games with the avowed aim of
gaining experience is quite alright, but after suffering their third
straight defeat the thought that a couple of Qatar’s experienced senior
players would have served the team’s cause better must have surely
crossed the think-tank’s mind.
The trouble with young players is that they let their hearts do the
talking. Tactics take a back seat, mistakes creep into their game, often
unseen, and the rivals take full advantage of the situation.
This was the case yesterday - as it was throughout Qatar’s campaign - as
Iran chalked out a 2-1 victory to consolidate their position in the
five-team tournament.
Qatar can only hope to finish last now - indeed they have no choice
because Syria, whom they face in their last match, are no pushovers as
their 1-1 draw with hosts Kuwait a couple of days back indicates.
It must be said to Qatar’s credit that they managed to raise the level
of their game a couple of notches after two straight losses, but against
the strong Iranians it was to no avail.
The Iranians struck in the seventh minute after the unmarked Javed
Kazemian sneaked in from the right to finish off a good pass from Hamid
Kavianpour.
Qatar were once again done in by poor defending and when that happens one
is tempted to take the credit away from the scorers, but sport is all
about making fewer mistakes and Qatar finished second best on that count..
Initially, it appeared the Iranians would just stroll through to victory,
but Qatar did well to prevent that.
Qatar made a few forays and one such move, in the 22nd minute, fetched
them the equalizer, although the Iranian goalkeeper Ibrahim Mirzapour had
to be thanked for that.
The powerfully-built goalkeeper paid dearly for a weak clearance that
found the lurking Abdulaziz Hassan who coolly netted the ball. It happened
almost in slow motion and for a few seconds no one seemed to be
celebrating.
Qatar survived a few scares before the session ended, most notably when
Kavianpour found himself in perfect position with only goalkeeper Aamer
al-Kaaby blocking his path. But the Iranian striker inexplicably fired
over the bar from about five metres inside the penalty area.
There were spells of indiscipline by both teams in the second session
which had to be stopped several times as tempers frayed with advancing
time.
Iran had their best chance in the 74th minute when Mohsen Bayatina blasted
over the crosspiece from 10 yards when all he had to do was stay cool and
take his time before taking the shot.
Immediately afterwards, a brilliant Kavianpour free-kick saw goalkeeper
al-Kaaby going full stretch to thwart the danger. Then Rasool Khatibi
crashed a volley off a corner wide of the post.
The Qatari defence was hard-pressed to keep the Iranians at an arm’s
length and finally caved in five minutes from close when substitute Javed
Nekounan headed off a Kavianpour pass.
Iran’s Croatian coach Brank Ivankovic was understandably pleased with
his boys’ performance, although he gave Qatar credit for putting up a
good fight.
“It was a tough match, but we achieved our goal. We expected to win,”
he said.
“We created several chances and dictated the rhythm of the match. Our
wingers did well to penetrate deep from the flanks.
“Qatar were well-organized and played with great discipline, but we won
and that is important. We deserved to win, our morale was high and we had
absolute faith in ourselves.”
Qatar coach Alex Dupont also praised his team’s performance.
“It’s not easy to play so well after losing the first two matches,”
he said. “I think it was Qatar’s best game of the tournament even
though we lost.
“I don’t think we deserved to lose this match, a draw would have been
a just result.”
Dupont hinted Iran would win the tournament. “They are very tall and
strong and they can go on to win the gold medal.”
In another match, Syria beat Palestine 2-1.
FOOTBALL
Iran.......2 Qatar....1
Syria......2 Palestine...1
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