The gold favorite beat Turkmenistan 4-1 in its opening at the Guangzhou University City Stadium in China on Monday.
Iran defender Jalal Hosseini had a brace in the match. He gave the lead to Iran in the 26th minute, but Guwanc Hangeldiyew equalized the match five minutes into the second half. Hosseini put the Iranian outfit ahead once again in the 62nd minute. Karim Ansarifard scored Iran’s third goal in the 85th minute, and Mehdi Daghaghele saw himself on the scoreboard in the injury time.
Iran U-23 football team, who has been drawn in Group B along with Turkmenistan, Bahrain and Vietnam, is scheduled to play Bahrain on Wednesday.
“I am satisfied with our performance against Turkmenistan. It was a good start for us in the competition. We could have scored more goals but our players didn’t take advantage of their chances,” Iran coach Gholamhossein Peyrovani said.
The top two of the six 4-team groups and the four best third-placed teams will advance to the last 16.
The 19-day football tournament is the longest event compared to the other events of the 16th Asian Games, which is to be officially opened on November 12.