A goal at either end for Abolfazl Razzaghpour gave Islamic Republic of Iran a 1-1 draw against defending champions Qatar in their AFC U-19 Championship Bahrain 2016 Group C encounter on Friday.

Iran defender Razzaghpour was left to rue his misfortune at the Bahrain National Stadium as he deflected an Abdullah Abdulsalam header into his own goal in the 38th minute, after it initially looked to be going wide.

Despair turned to elation in the second half though, as Razzaghpour equalised with a thumping strike despite his team being reduced to 10 men shortly after the break.

Qatar started the game promisingly although Iran were giving as good as they got in the opening exchanges.

Tarek Salman surged forward in the 3rd minute for Qatar, leaving his marker on his backside as he fired in a powerful shot that just missed the right hand post.

This set the tone for the first half, with the two teams exchanging speculative shots from distance, the majority of which drifted high or wide.

Iran’s best chance of the half came in the 28th minute, as Shahin Abbasian made good headway down the right flank before crossing deep to the far post for Ali Shojaei to knock the ball down.

Reza Karmollachaab was facing the wrong way as the ball arrived but he pulled off an acrobatic bicycle kick that arrowed towards the bottom right hand corner of the goal, only for Mohammad Albakari to dive low to his left to keep it out.

Qatar’s slick passing and constant movement were starting to tell and it was from one such move ten minutes later that they scored the opener.

Hassan Ahmad’s drive down the left side looked harmless at first given the two defenders tailing him, but a feint left one on the ground before he cut in and stood the ball up.

Abdulsalam’s header looked to be drifting wide, but Razzaghpour was charging in and unwittingly deflected the ball towards his own goal where Shahab Adeli got a hand to it but could not keep it out.

Iran’s hopes of fightback were dealt a blow three minutes after half-time, when a quick counter attack led to Mohammad Soltani clumsily bringing Abdelrahman Moustafa down just outside the box.

The referee showed no hesitation as the Iranian midfielder was given his marching orders for a second bookable offence.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, Iran then came up with an equaliser as Razzaghpour made amends for his earlier mistake.

Qatar had half-cleared a long throw in, but allowed Omid Norafkan to knock the ball back to Razzaghpour as the defender let fly a booming effort that gave Albakari no chance at all before hitting the back of the net.

Qatar coach Oscar Moreno
"We started the game very well; we were better and were dominating the game. We had the game under control until they scored a good goal. After that I could see both teams were tired because of the weather and a very competitive game.

"We know the first game in this type of tournament is a difficult game, so the important thing is we didn't lose the game."

Iran coach Amir Peiravani
"The first match is always so difficult. Our team had two problems. The weather was not good and we got a red card in the second half.

"My defenders did very well covering space and in the second half we were very good. I don't think we were lucky."

(Source:the-afc)