The three-time AFC Asian Cup champions needed just four minutes to get on the scoreboard with Karim Ansarifard but any thoughts that there would be a repeat of the 9-0 mauling that Team Melli handed out when the two met in Tehran in the 1998 World Cup qualifiers were soon dispelled as the Indian Ocean islanders held out to just after the hour mark when the Saipa striker netted his and Iran’s second.
The second goal knocked the wind out of the Maldives’ sails and after Ali Karimi added a third in the 68th minute, Saeid Daghighi sealed the win with Iran’s fourth four minutes from full-time.
The return fixture takes place in Male on July 28
Iran - Maldives 4-0 (1-0)
2014 World Cup qualification Round 2, Tehran, Azadi stadium
Goals:
1-0 Karim Ansarifard (4' / assist by Mohammad-Reza Khalatbari)
2-0 Karim Ansarifard (62' / Hadi Aghily)
3-0 Ali Karimi (68' / Mohammad-Reza Khalatbari)
4-0 Saeid Daghighi (86' / Khosro Heydari)
Iran: Rahmati - K. Heydari, Hosseini, Aghily, Pouladi (62' Hajsafi) - Karimi, M. Zare (61' Ghazi), Hadadifar - H. Norouzi (82' Daghighi), Ansarifard, Khalatbari
Iranian players booked: Ansarifard, Zare, Karimi