PFDC - AMMAN, Iran, without the two La Liga players Javad Nekounam and Masoud Shojaei, suffered a well deserved 0-1 defeat to Jordan in Amman in an Asian Cup qualifier on Sunday.

Ridiculous, however, that a very obvious handplay by Alam Shah, who assisted the goal, was not spotted by the referee from the UAE.

After a very weak first half display by both sides, the spectators saw a more exciting second half with chances on both sides, however, the hosts had the clearly better scoring opportunities.

Mehdi Rahmati in Iran's goal was lucky twice when first the crossbar denied the opening goal for Jordan in minute 68, before Hossein Kaebi cleared the ball off the line four minutes later.

But there was noone to rescue Rahmati 11 minutes from time, when Alam Shah controlled a long ball with his left hand in best Thierry Henry-manner and sent in a cross from the left, which was tapped in at the far post by Jarrar. Iranian leftback Ehsan Hajsafi ahd been caught off-guard.

Six minutes later Rahmati denied a good header with a great reflex.

Iran couldn't create a single clear-cut scoring chance after falling behind, and deservingly suffered their first defeat of the Asian Cup qualfication campaign, however, remain on top of the group with seven points out of four games.

Jordan - Iran 1-0 (0-0)
Asian Cup Qualifier, Amman

Goal: 1-0 Amer Deeb (79')

Iran: Rahmati - Kaebi, Aghili, Nosrati, Hajsafi - Teymourian, P. Nouri - K. Heydari (78' Beikzadeh), Mobali (60' Meydavoudi), Khalatbari - Ansarifard (85' Borhani)


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