Iran U-23 defeats Iraq 1-0 [VIDEO] (http://www.iranproleague.net/the-news/1-latest-news/6251-iran-u-23-defeats-iraq-1-0-video.html)
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PTV - Iran's Olympic football team has edged past Iraq in the second round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2012 Summer Olympics Football tournament in London.

The Iranian under-23 football team downed Iraqis 1-0 in a gripping match at Arbil's Franso Hariri stadium in Iraq on Sunday to secure the important away victory.

Mohsen Mosalman opened the net for the Iranian squad through a close-range shot from the edge of the box after the half jour mark.

The Malavan playmaker found himself unmarked inside the penalty aria after a neat one-two with Hamidreza Aliasgari, and tapped the ball in.

Alireza Mansourian's team possessed the ball and the field for most of the match, but they missed many clear-cut scoring chances, and finished the match with one-goal lead.

Sunday was an action packed day for the Asian qualifiers, when South Korea scored three second-half goals to defeat Jordan 3-1 in Seoul, Japan overcame Kuwait with the same result, Oman downed China 1-nil in Shanghai, Australia blanked Yemen with three goals, and United Arab Emirates beat North Korea 1-nil.

The second leg of the match against the Iraqi side is scheduled to be held on Thursday at Tehran's Azadi Stadium.

Iran edged past Kyrgyzstan 1-0 in the first leg of the preliminary round of the Asian qualifiers, and the two sides played to a goalless draw in the second leg. Iran advanced to the second round with an aggregate of 1-0.

Asia has three spots for automatic qualifiers and a spot for inter-continental play-off against the fourth representative of the Pre-Olympic Tournament in African zone.

The 12 winners from the second round will be drawn into three four-team groups, with the winner of each group advancing to the London Olympics, and the three runner-up teams advancing to the play-off round. The winner of the play-off round will advance to play the fourth-ranked African team in a play-off for a spot at the Olympic Games.

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Iran 0-2 Iraq (1-2 agg) [VIDEO] (http://www.iranproleague.net/the-news/1-latest-news/6257-iran-0-2-iraq-1-2-agg-video.html) http://www.mehrnews.com/mehr_media/image/2011/02/624555_orig.jpg

AFC - A brace from Amjad Radhi enabled 2004 Athens Games semifinalists Iraq overcome a 1-0 first leg deficit and qualify for the third round of 2012 London Olympics Asian qualifiers with a 2-0 victory over Iran on Thursday.

Iraq were looking eager from the start and were unlucky when a long shot from Ahmed Ibrahim hit the post.

Ten minutes before the break, Iran custodian Hamed Lak failed to collect a square ball and Amjad Radhi slotted the ball home at the far post.

Arash Afshin and Hamidreza Aliasgari had chances to equalise before half time but both efforts went wide.

Radhi doubled Iraq’s advantage three minutes after the hour mark to complete the victory.

The 12 winners from the second round will advance to the third round whose draw is scheduled for July 7 at AFC House.

The 12 teams will be divided into three groups of four teams each in the third round and play on a home-and-away format from September 21, 2011, to March 14, 2012, determining the winners who will represent the continent in the Olympics.

Three second-placed teams from the third round will clash in a playoff at a centralised venue from March 25 to 29, 2012, and the winners of this group will meet the representatives of CAF for a berth in the Olympics.

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U23: Iran used ineligible player in first leg (http://www.iranproleague.net/the-news/1-latest-news/6258-u23-iran-used-ineligible-player-in-first-leg-.html) http://www.mehrnews.com/mehr_media/image/2010/10/579880_orig.jpg


PFDC - TEHRAN, Alireza Mansourian explained his team's lacklustre performance in the Olympic qualifier today by pointing out he and the team had been informed prior to the match that the first leg was ruled 3-0 in favour of Iraq because Iran had fielded a suspended player.

Iran's U23 had won the first leg against Iraq in Olympic qualification round 2 1-0 in Arbil thanks to a Mohsen Mosalman strike, but lost the second leg 0-2 in Tehran after a disappointing performance and crashed out of the competition.

Coach Mansourian said in the post match conference that the Iranian football federation (IFF) had been informed months ago that midfielder Kamal Kamyabinia (http://www.iranproleague.net/index.php/teams?id=293&view=player) would be ineligble to play in Iraq after collecting two yellow cards in the two matches against Kyrgyzstan in the previous round, however, that the IFF had failed to communicate this to the new coaching staff.

Mansourian had brought on Kamyabinia in the very last minute of the first leg.

Today at 11:30 he and the team were informed about the mistake and the sanction, which put Iran in almost hopeless position and, according to Mansourian, completely broke the team's morale.

There are no excuses, Iran Olympic coach says (http://www.iranproleague.net/the-news/1-latest-news/6260-there-are-no-excuses-iran-olympic-coach-says.html)
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MNA - Iran Olympic football coach Alireza Mansourian said that he is responsible for the defeat against Iraq in the 2012 Olympic qualifier.

Iran, which Sunday had defeated Iraq 1-0 in the first leg in Arbil, suffered a 2-0 defeat against the team in the second leg on Thursday night.
“There are no excuses. Iran showed a bad performance against Iraq in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium and I am responsible for that,” Mansourian said.

Two goals by Amjad Radhi, one either side of halftime, put 2004 Athens Games semifinalists Iraq through to the third round of qualifiers.

“We were informed just before the match the Iraqi team was awarded a 3-0 victory in the first leg since one of the Iranian players should not have played as he has not been allowed to play,” Iran coach added.

Iran and Iraq have both qualified for the Olympics four times. Iran has not qualified for the Olympic since 1976.

Many of the 15,000 Iranian spectators walked out before the match ended. They shouted slogans against the head of the country's football federation Ali Kafashian, calling for his resignation.

Asia have 3.5 places at the 2012 Games, with the 12 winners of the second round clashes to be divided into three groups of four teams in the third round.

The three group winners will qualify while the three runners up will meet in next March for a three way tournament to decide who wins the right to face an African nation for a place in London.

<table bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><th colspan="2" dir="ltr" align="left">Iran fires football officials after big failure in Olympic qualifications </th> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" dir="ltr"> Source: Mehr News Agency (http://www.mehrnews.com/en/), Tehran Iran's three top football officials were fired for dereliction of duty on Sunday as the national squad suffered an early exit from the Olympic qualification race. The officials were involved in a curious incident in which Iran football Olympic team failed to qualify for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

<center>http://www.payvand.com/news/11/jun/Iranian-football-coaching-staff.jpg</center> Iran beat Iraq 1-0 in the first leg of the Olympic qualifiers on June 19 in Arbil but the coaches were informed just hours before the start of the second leg that Iraqi team had been awarded a 3-0 victory since Iran used a suspended player in the match.
Iran had to beat Iraq in Tehran's Azadi Stadium 4-0 to reserve a seat in the next stage but the disheartened Persians lost 2-0 to their neighbors.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) had already informed the Iranian Football Federation (FFI) about the suspension, but the AFC letter to the FFI was weirdly lost.
In the session held at the Iran Football Federation on Sunday, Ali Kaffashian, head of the football federation, sacked Fereydoon Moeini, the head of the national team management committee, Asghar Hajiloo, supervisor of Iran's Olympic team, and Davoud Parhizgar, member of staff over their lack of concern.
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Idiots!