JP/16/SOCCER
JP/16/SOCCER
Unlucky Thais held by Iran
BANGKOK (Agencies): Iran hung on for dear life to remain
unbeaten in Asia's World Cup qualifying tournament with a 0-0
draw against Thailand here on Saturday.
The France 98 qualifier was second best against a Thai side
that showed it had put its 4-0 loss at the hands of Iraq two
weeks ago behind it with an impressive display in both attack and
defense, as reported by AFC official website.
Thailand proved it will be no pushover, on home soil at least,
in the quest for a place at next year's World Cup with a
performance that should have earned it the full three points.
Miroslav Blazevic's Iran lacked any inspiration and creativity
without the services of Ali Karimi, missing due to a cold, and
its one-dimensional approach play was easily dealt with by the
steadily improving Thai defense.
But it was in attack where Peter Withe's side turned out to be
the better of the two teams as Kiatisuk Senamuang and Sakesan
Pituratana proved a handful for the cumbersome Iranian defense.
The combination between the pair almost brought the opening
goal after just 10 minutes when Kiatisuk glided down the right
wing and cut the ball back sharply to Sakesan. But before the
Sinthana striker could pull the trigger, Zahman Rezaei had put
the ball behind for a corner.
It was more of the same in the second half. Tawan Sripan
should have opened the scoring for the Thais soon after the
resumption but the Singapore-based midfielder saw his low effort
pushed around the post by Ebrahim Mirzapour after scything
through the Iranian midfield and defense.
Then, with 18 minutes left on the clock, substitute Sutee
Suksomkit headed straight at Mirzapour with his first touch of
the game from a corner by Dusit Chalermsan as Iran continued to
look brittle at the back.
Sutee's fresh legs and pace confounded the Iranians again four
minutes later as he latched on to Kiatisuk's perfect angled ball
but this time he fired across goal.
UAE coach resigns
In Abu Dhabi, Abdullah al-Saqer resigned as coach of the
United Arab Emirates on Saturday, a day after his side crashed to
2-0 home defeat to Qatar in their Group B final round of Asian
World Cup qualifiers.
Sheikh Said bin Zayed al-Nahyan, president of the Emirati
soccer federation, will hold a meeting on Sunday "to take the
measures necessary to face up to the situation created by this
resignation," the federation said in a statement.
The UAE won its opening game of the qualifiers for the 2002
World Cup in Japan and Korea 4-1 against the Uzbeks but then lost
3-0 to China. It faces Oman away on Sept. 14.
Saqer took over the coach's post from Frenchman Henri Michel,
who was fired in May after a 2-1 loss to Yemen in an Asia Zone
group qualifier.
In the group's other match on Friday, China picked up an
important, 2-0 away win over Oman to stay on course for its first
ever World Cup finals appearance.
The victory for Bora Milutinovic's side maintained its 100
percent record in Group B of the final round of Asian qualifiers
while in Group A, Saudi Arabia notched up its first win by
clinching a 1-0 victory over bitter rival Iraq in neutral
Bahrain.
Only the two group winners in Asia are guaranteed places in
the finals next summer with the two runners-up facing each other
in a play-off.
The performance and the manner of China's win was best summed-
up by Oman's German coach Bernd Stange.
"It was a match between amateurs and professionals," said
Stange.
Elsewhere in Germany, dozens of English and German football
fans have been arrested ahead of the crucial match between the
two countries, police said.
Figures from German and English officials said a total of 91
supporters had been detained in Munich and Frankfurt since late
Friday.
Police, bidding to defuse a potentially volatile situation
where German fans taunted their English rivals at Marienplatz, in
the center of city, surrounded the supporters before taking them
into custody.
A police spokesman confirmed that the fans, many of whom had
tickets for the match, would be held until after the game.