Iran open their Asian Cup quest with a victory

In the opening game of their AFC Asian Cup 2007 qualifying campaign Iran defeated Chinese Taipei by the score of 4:0 in Tehran’s Azadi stadium.

Coach Branko Ivankovic fielded a number of domestic league players who are usually over looked in favor of the European based players.

The most noticeable home based absentee was injured goalkeeper Ebrahim Mirzapour who was replaced by Vahid Talebloo.

Iran’s first goal was scored by Anderanik Teymourian in the first half. Mehrzad Madanchi added two in the second followed by the a fourth by Captain Ali Daei with less than ten minutes to go.

Korea Republic too opened their qualifying campaigns with a victory over Syria, setting up the stage for an interesting match up with Iran.

Iran leads the group due to a better goal difference.

Iran: Vahid talebloo (GK), Hossein Kaebi, Yahya Golmohammadi, Mohammad Nosrati, Sattar Zare, Javad Nekounam, Mojtaba Jabbari, Seyyed Mohammad Alavi (46. Mehrzad Madanchi), Anderanik Teymourian (76. Javad Kazemian), Ali Daei, Rasoul Khatibi (65. Seyavash Akbarpour)

Goals: Teymourian (35), Madanchi (48, 61), Daei (81)