Iran's Asian Games defence boosted by WAFF

AFC - Iran may not have been able to retain their WAFF Championship title in Syria, but coach Branko Ivankovic believes his Asian Games squad gained invaluable experience ahead of the Busan event which starts on September 27.

"We'll be ready for Busan and will use all the experience we gained in Syria. They are young players and they have grown up a lot over the past week, with four tough games," said Ivankovic.

"This has been a good trip. Maybe the people in Iran expected us to finish first as usual, but I think we've played better with each game here."

With Ali Karimi on his way back to the UAE following the semi-final loss on penalties to eventual champions Iraq, Iran took bronze after defeating hosts Syria on penalties in the third place play-off following a 2-2 draw after 90 minutes.

"I was very happy to win this game. I prefer third to fourth - it's always better to win than lose," said the Croatian, formerly assistant to Miroslav Blazevic.

"I'm so glad we finally did well from the penalty spot. It's not easy for the players to get it out of their minds that we missed three penalties in our group matches (one against Jordan and two again Syria) and also lost to Iraq from spot-kicks," Ivankovic said.

"We played very well against Syria and created a lot of opportunities. However, we must learn to concentrate all of the time, especially towards the end of a game, because I was disappointed we gave away a goal immediately after scoring our second."

Alireza Vahedinikbakht had put Iran 2-1 up with just two minutes of regulation time left only for Syria striker Anas Ssari, the tournament's joint top scorer, to head home the equaliser a minute later.

Iran won the shootout 4-2 after scoring each of their penalties, while Syria's Ahmed Azzam had his effort saved by Brahim Mirzapour and captain Tarek Jabban put his spot-kick wide of the right post.

In Busan, Iran will be attempting to defend the Asian Games title they won in Bangkok four years ago with a full national team. This year's Asian Games is for Under 23 teams, with three overage players.