TEHRAN - Iran produced a sparkling performance to defeat Chinese Taipei 5-0 in their AFC U17 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026 Qualifiers Group D tie on Monday.

Iran, who were not in action on Matchday One, got into the thick of things almost immediately with Amirmohammad Afrasyabi testing Chinese Taipei keeper Lin Cheng-En with a curling effort in the fourth minute, with Amirreza Valipoor then striking the bar moments later with a headed attempt off Mahan Beheshti’s cross.

Beheshti went close in the 10th minute after finding space at the edge of the box, only for his shot to be saved by a sprawling Lin, who later denied the Iran captain’s curling free-kick with Amirmahan Afrooziani hitting the woodwork on the follow-up, the-afc.com wrote.

The goal finally arrived for Iran in the 45th minute with Beheshti seeing his shot come off Gao Yu-Zhu and settling in the back of the net.

Iran stayed on top in the second half with Amirreza Valipoor collecting a long ball and tapping  past Lin in the 52nd minute with Jafar Asadi then weaving past the Chinese Taipei defense to slot home from close range two minutes later.

Chinese Taipei fell further behind in the 83rd minute with Mohammad Ghasemi lobbing the ball over a surging Lin before Beheshti closed their account in stoppage time from inside the area.