Iran lose to Tunisia just days before World Cup 2022 opener against England but Carlos Queiroz still has reason to smile
IRAN suffered defeat in their final warm-up game ahead of Monday’s opener against England with a behind-closed-doors clash with Tunisia.
Abulfazl Jalali was sent off for handling on the line in the 70th minute with Naim Sliti converting the resulting spot-kick.
AFPCarlos Queiroz still saw positives despite the behind-closed-doors defeat[/caption]
Ali Abdi then netted with ten minutes to go to wrap up a 2-0 win in Doha for the Tunisians, who themselves begin their own World Cup campaign against Denmark on Tuesday.
No fans or media were permitted entry in what was a glorified training session, with the game not being an official tier one friendly meaning no ranking points were at stake.
But Iran boss Carlos Queiroz was happy to see some of his European-based players get some action, including ex-Brighton forward Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Brentford’s Saman Ghoddos.
Ex-Manchester United assistant Queiroz said: “It was a good training day against Tunisia. We used all the players for 45 minutes.
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“It was the opportunity to see the players from Europe and also from abroad and make them be together after so long without training and playing together.
“Of course the result is not so good. We don’t like to concede goals, we don’t like to lose.
“But anyway, the most important is the conclusions that I made in order to prepare for England.”
Queiroz said on Tuesday his players would be allowed to protest in Qatar, so long no Fifa rules were broken.
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There have been mass anti-regime demonstrations since September in Iran sparked by outrage over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian who had been detained by police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.
Iran will play England on Monday.
Their Group B clash comes hours before Wales’ opening game against the United States.
