Asian Cup: Iran show solidarity with Palestine before comfortable win

Iran beat Palestine 4-1 in their Asian Cup Group C opener on Sunday at the Education City Stadium, where a show of solidarity by Iranian fans and players was quickly followed by a football masterclass from the three-times champions.

Goals from Karim Ansarifard, Shoja Khalilzadeh, Mehdi Ghayedi and Sardar Azmoun gave Iran all three points while Tamer Seyam scored a consolation for Palestine, who are still seeking their first win at the Asian Cup.

Huge cheers greeted the Palestine squad before their national anthem was played as the Iranian fans showed solidarity with their Middle Eastern counterparts, with some holding the Iran flag side-by-side with the Palestine colours. A moment’s silence was also held before the game for the loss of lives in the Israel-Palestinian conflict which has raged on for 100 days and killed nearly 24,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza.

But after kick-off, Iran got straight down to business and opened the scoring in the second minute when Saman Ghoddos played the ball to Ansarifard, who curled his shot into the far corner.

Iran doubled their lead from a set piece with Ghoddos the provider yet again, his floating cross to the far post finding Khalilzadeh who smartly turned the ball into the net. Iran were technically and tactically superior to the Palestinians, who barely managed to get out of their own half at times, and they conceded a third before the break when Ghayedi found the bottom corner from a flowing move.

Palestine had failed to test Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand until the final minute of first-half stoppage time when they finally got on the board from a set piece where Seyam scored with a close-range header.

But Iran shut down any hopes of a comeback after the break when half-time substitute Azmoun made it 4-1 while VAR intervened late in the game to overturn a straight red card for Palestinian defender Mohammed Saleh who made a last-man tackle.

Although the Palestinians managed to mount a couple of promising attacks, Iran held firm to go top of the group while Palestine are bottom.

Earlier, the United Arab Emirates beat Hong Kong 3-1 thanks to penalties from Sultan Alamiri and Yahya al-Ghassani while Zayed Sultan also got on the scoresheet. Chan Siu Kwan was Hong Kong’s scorer.

Japan came from behind to beat Vietnam 4-2 in their dramatic Asian Cup Group D opener.

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Five goals were scored in the first half of a thrilling encounter at Al Thumama Stadium but Takumi Minamino’s double made the difference.

Japan took the lead through Minamino in the 11th minute but Vietnam shocked the four-times champions with two goals from well-worked set pieces where Nguyen Dinh Bac and Pham Tuan Hai found the net.

However, Minamino restored parity just before half-time with a calm finish from Wataru Endo’s pass before Keito Nakamura curled in a superb strike from the edge of the box to give Japan a 3-2 lead going into the break.

The second half was pretty much one-way traffic and though Japan took their foot off the gas, they put the game out of Vietnam’s reach when Ayase Ueda scored in the 85th minute to seal the three points for the Samurai Blue.