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FIFA - Iran boosted their 2010
FIFA World Cup™ hopes by inflicting a 2-1 defeat on Korea DPR at the Azadi
stadium.
Iran went into this game with the psychological edge, having defeated the
North Koreans twice in qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Eintracht
Frankfurt's Mehdi Mahdavikia headed the hosts' into a ninth-minute lead when
he picked up a pass from Iran side Esteghlal's Mojtaba Jabbari from outside
the penalty area.
Javad Nekonam, who plays his club football for Osasuna, doubled up in the
65th minute when he latched onto team-mate Masoud Shojaei's pass, this time
from inside the penalty area. Korea DPR's consolation goal came from a
70th-minute header from Jong Tae-Se.
The match was watched by more than 40,000 spectators in Tehran's Azadi
stadium and the reslt upheld Iran coach Ali Daei's pre-match prediction of
taking all three points.
"As of today I am thinking about our match with the UAE," Daei said
referring to the away match to be played on 19 November. "I also thank our
spectators who cheered on for 90 minutes. North Korea is a big team and I
respect them, this was our most difficult match."
Group B "is a difficult group and if we can win in the UAE and then have
another win in home turf then we will distance ourselves from the rest of
the group," he said. The North Korean coach, Kim Jong Hun, told reporters
after the game that "a draw in Tehran would have been a fair result."
"Iran is a powerful team, and we had a difficult situation here," he said.
"Unfortunately we could not harness our chances, but game by game we will
become better."
Iran have an unbeaten record over Korea DPR, winning 10 times and drawing
three.
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