Iran produced a fighting performance as it went down 2-1 to Turkey in a 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia warm-up friendly match at the Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadium in Istanbul on Monday.
Cenk Tosun, of English Premier League club Everton, fired a brace but Carlos Queiroz and his players were pleased with their performance, the AFC reported.
Iran, Asia’s top ranked team, suffered an early blow as Tosun fired Turkey ahead after just six minutes, beating Rouzbeh Cheshmi before unleashing a powerful shot which found the back of the net.
Nine minutes later it was Yusuf Yazici attacking Beiranvand’s goal but his shoot was perfectly saved.
The national team fought back, with Alireza Jahanbakhsh setting up Ehsan Haji Safi but his shot was saved by Turkey’s goalkeeper.
After having conceded early in the first half, it was a case of history repeating itself as five minutes into the restart, Team Melli went down 2-0 with Tosun again inflicting the damage.
Iran, however, reduced the deficit after Turkey’s Omer Bayram was sent off for handling the ball in the penalty area in added time and substitute Ashkan Dejagah converted from the spot.
Clash After 45 Years
In the post match press conference Queiroz expressed the loss was nothing to worry about. He said despite the loss “we learnt about the weaknesses by the performance of each player”. The Portuguese also insisted that it was unfortunate that they could not hold more friendly games to have the chance of more analysis over the performance of the team.
The game was to be considered as the first clash between two teams after 45 years, since their last match in 1974.
Team Melli was planned to hold another friendly against Greece on June 2. But the Greek side has seemingly put the game down for good. Therefore, Iran now heads to Russia for the World Cup training camp and will play one more friendly against Lithuania on June 8.
Iranian veteran manager Majid Jalali believes that Queiroz aims to use the element of surprise against the rivals at the World Cup.
“Queiroz tries to cheat rival managers at World Cup,” said Jalali. “It was only in the final minutes (when substitutes came to the pitch) that I saw a combination close to my prediction of the main squad. I believe he (Queiroz) is going to use the main line-up in the clash behind closed doors against Lithuania.”
As said by Queiroz, Iran will meet Lithuania behind closed doors where it is supposed to be the first place for Queiroz to test his main squad.
Iran is drawn in Group B at the World Cup with Morocco, Spain and Portugal. In their fifth appearance at the event, Iran will open its campaign against Morocco on June 15 before facing Spain (June 20) and Portugal (June 25).
