Albion at the Asian Cup: Matchday Three Round Up

Alireza Jahanbakhsh made his return from injury in Iran’s dead rubber against Iraq in the final round of group games at the Asian Cup.

Brighton’s £16m record signing hasn’t played since picking up a hamstring problem in the 3-1 defeat away at Everton back in November, with Chris Hughton describing the issue as a “minor injury”.

Naturally, this meant that it has taken nearly 11 weeks to heal, ruling Jahanbakhsh out of seven of the Albion’s games before Christmas as well as Iran’s first two fixtures in the United Arab Emirates.

Carlos Queiroz’s side had won both of those, beating Yemen 5-0 and Vietnam 2-0 to book their place in the round of 16 and strengthen their position as second-favourites behind South Korea for the tournament. If you’d like to back Iran, then why not use this Matchbook sign up bonus code before placing your bet on them lifting a first Asian Cup since 1976.

Iraq had also triumphed in their two Group D matches, an injury time goal from Ali Adnan seeing off the Vietnamese 3-2 which they followed up with a much more straight forward 3-0 win against Yemen.

That meant that both nations were guaranteed qualification with top spot all that was at stake. As a result, Queiroz made four changes to his side, including handing Jahanbakhsh his first start of the tournament. The winger looked a little rusty but did well enough, although he really should have fared better when failing to even hit the target with a left footed effort after latching onto Sardar Azmoun’s deflected shot three minutes before the break.

It was a high-tempo contest but chances were few and far between, even when Queiroz turned to his bench and the in-form strike duo of Mehdi Taremi and Mahdi Torabi, the former replacing Jahanbakhsh just past the hour mark.

The result meant that Iran top the group and they will now face one of the best third-placed sides from either Group B, E or F on Sunday. Palestine have completed their fixtures to finish third in Group B with Jahanbakhsh’s other possible opponents being whoever wins their final group game by the biggest margin out of Oman and Turkmenistan in Group E or Lebanon and North Korea in Group F.

Australia’s stuttering form continued as they twice let opponents Syria back into their final Group B game before eventually triumphing 3-2 to join Iran in the second round.

The Socceroos’ shock 1-0 defeat to Jordan in their opening game meant that this final fixture was a must win and they certainly did it the hard way by relying on Tom Rogic’s 93rd minute wonder goal to secure the three points they needed to finish second in the table.

Awer Mabil gave Australia the lead three minutes before half time, curling a left footed effort from outside the box into the far corner but within two minutes Syria were level. Maty Ryan had done well to keep out Omar Kharbin’s initial header but the striker reacted quickest to slam the rebound past the Albion number one for 1-1.

Australia’s second wasn’t without controversy, Mexican referee Cesar Ramos ruling that Chris Ikonomidis’ shot had crossed the line before Omro Al Midani had managed to clear. For reasons that don’t seem to make sense to anybody, VAR is only going to be used in the tournament from the quarter finals onwards.

Syria’s mood wasn’t improved when they had a strong appeal for a penalty turned down after Mark Milligan virtually caught the ball in the box. They did eventually get a penalty, although it arrived in an even more farcical manner than Milligan’s handball, Omar Al-Soma falling over the leg of his own player leading to Mr Ramos to point to the spot with Al-Soma beating Ryan from 12 yards.

That set up a tense final 10 minutes as Syria poured forward looking for the goal that would give them a shot at qualification as one of the best third-placed side. Wave after wave of Syrian attacks followed but they couldn’t find a way past the Socceroos’ defence or Ryan before Rogic secured the three points with a classy strike from outside the area.

Ryan and Australia will now face either Japan or Uzbekistan in the second round although on their form so far, they’ll have their work cut out against either opponents which could mean Ryan returning to the Albion earlier than we’d first thought.