Iran National Football Team Stopped by Turkmenistan in First Step

The Iran national football team was held to a 1-1 draw against Turkmenistan in its first match of the 2018 World Cup qualifying rounds from Asia. In this match, Iran scored early in the third minute through Sardar Azmoun, which promised a high-scoring victory for Andranik Timotian's teammates, but the game unfolded differently. Turkmenistan managed to equalize in the first half with a goal from Ruslan Mingazov, earning a sweet point. This team had previously lost 1-0 to Guam. Thus, Guam sits at the top of the group table with six points, while the top-ranked Asian team in the FIFA rankings currently has one point in this group. Oman is in second place with three points. In another match in this group, Guam defeated India 2-1. Iran's next match will be against Guam at Azadi Stadium. The group also includes India and Oman. The points and standings of these matches will be calculated for both the World Cup qualifiers and the 2019 Asian Cup. Carlos Queiroz fielded several young players in this match, whose inexperience and haste were evident in most moments of the game, especially during attacks. Numerous opportunities were wasted one after another. Taremi and Azmoun could have increased Iran's goal tally several times, with Azmoun even hitting the crossbar on one occasion. The Iranian national team lineup included Alireza Haghighi, Pejman Montazeri, Hossein Kanani, Ehsan Hajsafi, Khosrow Heydari, Andranik Timotian, Masoud Shojaei (46- Omid Ebrahimi), Voria Ghafouri, Vahid Amiri (67- Reza Ghoochannejhad), Mehdi Torabi (46- Mehdi Taremi), and Sardar Azmoun. Iran has played Turkmenistan seven times so far and has failed to win in five of those matches, except for the first two matches held in 1993. Iran's two victories over Turkmenistan occurred in the ECO Cup when Turkmenistan had just gained independence and was not yet a FIFA member. Then, in the Hiroshima Asian Games, the two teams drew, leading to Turkmenistan's advancement and the elimination of Stanko Poklepovic's students. In 1996, the students of Mohammad Mayeli Kohan were defeated by Turkmenistan in Ashgabat and Tehran. That team included stars of the 90s Iranian football such as Ali Daei, Khodadad Azizi, Hamid Estili, Ahmadreza Abedzadeh, and Karim Bagheri. In the post-match press conference, Carlos Queiroz stated: 'Today, three teams were fighting on the field: Iran, Turkmenistan, and the refereeing team. Only Iran and Turkmenistan did their job.' Queiroz noted: 'The referee should have added 10 minutes of stoppage time, but my attackers were not scoring. My concern is the lack of internal motivation among the players.' The head coach of the Iranian national team continued: 'If the game had continued for six more hours, we wouldn't have been able to score. We had more than 15 goal opportunities but failed to score. This is not good for my team.' Iran's draw was not the only surprise in these Asian qualifiers. Japan also drew 0-0 at home against Singapore. Australia narrowly defeated Kyrgyzstan 2-1 in a tough match. The UAE struggled against East Timor and won with a single goal in the 80th minute. Afghanistan's victory over Cambodia was another noteworthy result on Tuesday.