Iraq Daei a death but Thais stay alive

Iraq Daei a death but Thais stay alive
Agence France Presse

Beirut, October 19: Asian footballer of the year Ali Daei fired pre-tournament favourites Iran safely into the Asian Cup quarter-finals with a late goal to give his team a 1-0 victory over arch-rivals Iraq here on Thursday.

The result saw Iran top Group A with seven points, keeping them apart from a showdown with in-form Japan in the last eight. Iraq, who could have played bitter enemies Kuwait if they had topped the Group, claimed the second automatic berth after Lebanon and Thailand played out a 1-1 draw here.

The Thais were left kicking themselves as they let another one goal lead slip just as they did against Iran but can still dream of making the last eight as one of the two best third placed teams.

For the organisers though the specter of even sparser crowds looms as Lebanon exited after finishing bottom of the Group.

Hertha Berlin striker Daei pounced in the 77th minute, scrambling in a rebound from close range after team-mate Karim Bagheri had blasted a low-shot at the Iraq goal. ``The important thing is that we won and we came top of the Group,'' satisfied Iran coach Jalal Talebi said afterwards.

It was a far from impressive performance by Iran, who struggled to break down a compact Iraq team who appeared content to defend in numbers and wait for an opportunity to catch their opponents on the break.

Talebi's pre-match prediction that the bitter history between the two countries would not be a factor proved accurate in a largely passionless affair.

Thai star striker Sakesan Pituratana, who scored in a draw with Iran on Sunday, netted in the 58th minute and the Lebanese, who missed a succession of chances, finally levelled with seven minutes to go through Brazilian midfielder Luis Fernandez. ``It's frustrating because we didn't take all our chances just as we didn't against Iran,'' Thai coach Peter Withe said.

``It is a feature of South East Asian football that the finishing isn't the highest standard and we must aspire to be like Japan who showed against Uzbekistan (8-1 winners) how to put them away,'' he added. His Croat-born counterpart Josip Skoblar, formerly coach of elite Croatian side Hajduk Split, said that his side had suffered from lack of experience in playing in front of so many people.

Fernandez, who also had a golden chance to win the match in the dying seconds but saw his header sail over the bar, levelled the game when he was left free after goalkeeper Kittisak Rawangpa dropped the ball. Sakesan, leading scorer in the Thai league, put away the chance from rightback Anuruck Srikerd's superb curling cross which beat the outstrectched leg of Brazilian defender Jadir Morgenstern 'keeper Ali Fakih was stranded at the near post that set the goal up.