Last Kick » Blog Archive » Iran blow two-goal lead

KUWAIT CITY â€“ Kuwait came back from an early two-goal deficit to pick up their first point in Group Three of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers with a 2-2 draw against Iran at Al Kuwait Stadium on Wednesday.

Kuwait fell behind after only two minutes as Alireza Vahedi Nikbakht gave Iran the perfect start and Seyed Jalal Hosseini doubled the advantage for Ali Daei's side a couple of minutes later.

Ahmed Ajab pulled a goal back for Kuwait on 38 minutes before second half substitute Fahad Al Rashidi headed home the equaliser with nine minutes remaining to salvage a point for the home team.

Iran enjoyed an impressive start and had a 2-0 lead after only four minutes.

They opened the scoring after 90 seconds after a deep free-kick by Seyed Jalal Hosseini found Nikbakht.

With his back to the goal, the 27-year-old Perspolis midfielder stopped the ball with his chest before launching a bicycle kick past Kuwait goalkeeper Khaled Al Fadhli.

Hosseini went from provider to scorer two minutes later after a blunder by Al Fadhli gifted Iran a second goal.

Hosseini sent another free-kick into the Kuwait penalty box and it appeared that Al Fadhli had the ball covered but the 33-year-old bumped into his own defender, Hussein Fadel, and fell to the ground, allowing the ball to enter the empty net.

Kuwait should have pulled a goal back on eight minutes when Jarrah Al Ataiqi had a powerful shot from inside the area saved by Iran goalkeeper Seyed Mehdi Rahmati.

The home side had another chance seven minutes later when an acrobatic shot by Ajab from inside the area went wide while Hussein Fadel sent his header over the crossbar on the half-hour mark.

Kuwait eventually pulled a goal back in the 38th minute when Hosseini attempted to head the ball back to his goalkeeper but Ajab was faster than Rahmati and place his right-footed shot into the far right corner.

Kuwait went close again on 56 minutes when Mesaed Nadaâ€™s powerful free-kick went near the left upright and two minutes later, Bader Al Mutawaâ€™s shot from inside the area came back off the far post.

In the 65th minute, Al Mutawa found himself with only the goalkeeper to beat but Rahmati palmed his shot away for a corner.

Gacanin brought in Al Rashidi and the Al Hazm striker had the ball in the net in the 77th minute but the effort was disallowed for offside.

However, he was not to be denied on 81 minutes when Mohamad Jarragh crossed from the left for an unmarked Al Rashidi to score with a powerful header to the left of Seyed Mehdi Rahmati.

Iran could have regained the lead with four minutes remaining when Nikbakht met a cross from the right with a first-time volley that went wide.

Kuwait finished the game with only 10 players as defender Mesaed Nada was sent off in the stoppage time for a bad tackle on Ebrahim Sadeghisenjani.

Posted by Afshin Afshar @ 5:09 pm. Filed under Iran

[Comments (13)]

13 Responses to “Iran blow two-goal lead”

Ehsan Says:
March 27th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Sounds like we should kiss the next WC tournament goodbye and not build up any hopes
gholi Says:
March 27th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
We’l make the world cup all right. Then we lose to every team.
Afshin Afshar Says:
March 27th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Making it is too easy. The top two teams out of each group go to the next round (e.g. UAE and Iran from Group 5). Then in the next round they are put into two groups and then the top two out of each group (total of 4) will go to the South Africa; piece of cake!
Nima Says:
March 27th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
haha, this is just too funny. it’s just like footbalista where it took 2 full episodes for the ball to go from one end to another end. we just have to wait and watch every game, with tokhme and ajil.
Afshin Afshar Says:
March 27th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Yeah, and get pissed off and stressed over all the insanity rulling Iranian football these days
kia Says:
March 27th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Agree with gholi!!! At the end of the day we will qualify. But then what!!! We qualify because Asian football is pathetic not because we are really good…
Iran blow a dream start - Iran Says:
March 28th, 2008 at 12:00 am
[...] Iran surrendered a two goal lead to Kuwait and had to settle with one point in their second World Cup Qualifying match. [...]
Ehsan Says:
March 28th, 2008 at 6:39 am
Hey I wouldn’t be so cocky about qualifying from this group. So far they have not drawn two games and dropped four points.
Sina Fahidi Says:
March 28th, 2008 at 9:12 am
I Completely agree with Ehsan Joon, you are so right it’s not even funny bro! I want Ehsan as team melli coach than Ali Daei. Am not even joking! He is much more realistic minded, Ali Daei showed to us he has yet again no plan in defence and in attack. He won’t let Andranik Teymourian play his attacking style it’s so easy to see! Ali karimi has no one to feed him the ball. Madanchi is confussed and does not know what to do on the field because he has no guidance. Even if we had our top three players Javad Nekounam, Ferydoon Zandi & Javad Kazemian even if they were in our Roster what would be the point we don’t have a coach with any idea of what he is doing! It’s sad because we have a lot of talent with no proper guidance, it’s sad to watch sometimes. I hope us the best but to be realistic like Ehsan joon we will be lucky to pass this round or even to pass the next round to get to South Aferica world Cup 2010! before I go quote of the week maybe month makes me laugh everytime, “This is the best ever performance that I have seen from Kuwait,â€ said the Iranian legend. I wouldn’t let Ali Daei coach my 3 year old kid in Ping Pong let alone Football.

MERCI,
Nima Says:
March 28th, 2008 at 10:02 am
no offence Sina, but it seems to me that you have a thing for Zandi.
Afshin Says:
March 28th, 2008 at 10:25 am
(LOL @ Nima) In Sina’s defense, he has been very consistent and up front about his support for Zandi as his comment under this post testifies.

r.e. Ehsan’s comment about us getting cocky: I don’t think TM has a free pass, really, I don’t. I’ll be happy if they make it to the next round, especially now that after two rounds all four teams are still in a tight race. But, the fact is that the AFC has the easiest qualifying route if you consider the quality of the teams. I mean look at Africa and South America. They have a brutal qualifying tournament, yet their quality is far superioir to AFC. AFC may not even match CONCACAF in quality if you compare the AFC and CONCACAF teams’ performance in the last three or four World Cups.

But to your point, I think IRIFF is or was being cocky about our chances as evident in how relaxed they were about finding a coach.
Sina Fahidi Says:
March 28th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Nima bro, your right I do have a thing for Zandi! Are you happy! Loser! hahaha! Dude his my Favourite Iranian player do you have a problem with that! And how did you get that from my last comment??? You know what your Problem is you still wanna live in Iran and keep defending Ali Daei!! I think you have a thing for Ali Daei, what do think about that! Bro i play in a League every summer I want to know Nima, besides just talking trash do you even play the sport or just want to talk out of your ass!! Dude, one more other thing if you really read my last comment i said three names not just ZANDI! I think your insecure with your personal appearance because if you weren’t you wouldn’t care who I’d like or not on the national team! Your just a topical persian who’s jealous! Face it your ugly and you don’t like Ferydoon Zandi because of his skills and style! Your a sad case man!! hahaha!
Respect!
admin Says:
March 28th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Guys, please keep it fun and friendly.

I am closing this thread.

Thanks.