The match was never in doubt and Mehdi Taremi was man of the match as Iran dominated Yemen in a 5-0 victory.
Taremi had two goals and an assist and Iran led 3-0 after twenty-five minutes of play in Abu Dhabi.
A shot from Sardar Azmoun outside the penalty area was parried by Yemeni keeper Al-Sowadi and Taremi pounced on the rebound to slot the ball home.
Eleven minutes later Ashkan Dejagah’s free kick hit the post and the ball went off the back of Al-Sowadi and into the net to double the lead for Iran.
The goal was not credited to Dejagah and instead was credited as an own-goal.
I obviously do not agree with the scoring decision. Come on man! Give the goal to Ashkan, it was a nice free-kick and I am pretty sure I have seen similar goals in the past that were not ruled as own-goals.
Oh well, moving on now.
Taremi’s second goal will be watched over and over by Iranian football fans because it was an awesome header off a long cross from right-back Ramin Rezaeian.
In the second half it was great to see Azmoun and Ghoddos get on the scoresheet to complete the 5-0 victory for Team Melli, the national team of Iran.
It was great to see Taremi have a good game and recently I said more pressure should be on the shoulders of Taremi because of his finishing skills we saw the World Cup in Russia.
I am not going out of my way to be harsh on Taremi because I love the guy. He is a great player and his effort today was excellent.
But let’s face it: Yemen is nothing special and we want to see Mehdi Taremi continue to be an awesome finisher against bigger teams in bigger games.
Next up for Iran is a match against Vietnam on 12 January at Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
Vietnam has the youngest roster out of all Asian Cup teams, but I do expect Vietnam to be a better opposition than Yemen.
Prediction: Iran 3-0 Vietnam
This article was originally published on nationsleaguefootball.wordpress.com