Iran's Football Team Again Stopped by Iraq

Iran's national under-23 football team finished second in Group C of the Olympic qualifying round after Iraq. The competition took place in Tehran, where Iran won 3-1 against Turkmenistan and 3-0 against Yemen, but Iraq advanced with a better goal difference. The group leader battle between Iran and Iraq ended in a goalless draw. Thus, after three consecutive matches where Iran's senior national team failed to overcome Iraq, the hopes of Iran also could not defeat Iraq in Tehran. After the match, Zlatko Kranchar's team waited for the results of other groups to see if they could qualify as one of the best second-placed teams. Hamid Estili, the manager of the hopes team, said, "All our players were crying in the locker room, but I said we might qualify." Zlatko Kranchar, the Croatian head coach of Iran's hopes, stated, "Luck was not on our side for our shots to score, and now we have to wait until eleven o'clock at night to see which team qualifies." About two hours after the match, which was filled with tears and anxiety in the Iranian camp, the AFC published the list of qualifying teams, and Iran managed to advance as one of the second-placed teams. Abdul Ghani, the Iraqi head coach, told reporters, "Even though we were missing several key players, we wanted to qualify as the first team. Taking the first place from Iran is our biggest victory. Most of our players were under 20 years old." Iraq has qualified for the Olympics twice in the last four editions and even reached the semifinals in Athens after topping their group. Iraq's hopes were also present at the Rio Olympics, where they failed to advance despite three draws against Denmark, Brazil, and South Africa. In the final stage, the top three teams from Asia will receive Olympic berths. Japan, as the Olympic host, has a direct quota from these competitions. The last appearance of Iranian football players in the Olympics was in the quarterfinals of the 1976 Montreal Olympics, where they lost 2-1 to the Soviet Union. If Iran qualifies for the Tokyo Olympics, it will break a 44-year absence from these competitions. Iran also qualified for the 1980 Moscow Olympics but was replaced by Syria due to a boycott initiated by Ayatollah Khomeini. Now, with the end of the group stage, 15 teams, including 11 group winners and four best second-placed teams along with Thailand, which is hosting the final stage, will compete in the final round. Four groups of four teams will face off in Bangkok to ultimately determine the first to third teams from Asia that will qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. The lineup for Iran against Iraq included: Miraj Ismaili, Omid Noorafkan, Alireza Arta, Mohammad Moslemi Pour, Hossein Saki, Sina Zamahran, Mehdi Mahdikhani (Abolfazl Razagpour), Reza Shakari (Vahid Namdari), Mehdi Ghoddusi, Reza Jabireh, Amir Roustaei (Mohammad Reza Azadi). Shakari is a member of Rubin Kazan in Russia, and Noorafkan has returned to Esteghlal from Charleroi in Belgium.