Iran’s national under-16 football team has thrashed Kyrgyzstan in its second showdown at the preliminary round of Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-16 Women's Championship 2017 Qualifiers.
On Monday, the Iranian squad, which had sustained a 3-0 defeated against Bangladesh two days earlier, routed the Kyrgyz contingent 9-0 in a Group C game staged at Bangabandhu National Stadium in the Bangladeshi capital city of Dhaka.
The Iranians started the match vigorously, and asserted their dominance from the beginning.
It was in the 18th minute that forward Fatemeh Ghasemi grasped a fine opportunity and placed the ball at the back of the Central Asians’ net to open up the scoring for the Persians.
Midfielder Maral Torkaman doubled Iran’s lead eight minutes later, and Fatemeh Makhdoumi scored the third goal for Iran in the 42nd minute.
Roghayeh Jalal Nasab netted the fourth goal of the day for the national Iran under-16 football team two minutes into the injury time.
After the interval, Iranians continued to exert pressure on Kyrgyzstan’s net, and Ghasemi scored a brace in the 54th minute.
Ghasemi was on the target in the 71st and 80th minute and made it 6-0 for the Iranian outfit.
Another goal by Makhdoumi in the 85th minute and Ghasemi’s fifth goal two minutes later took the score to 9-0.
Iran’s national under-16 football team is pitted against Chinese Taipei, Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, Kyrgyzstan and Singapore in Group C of the AFC U-16 Women's Championship 2017 Qualifiers.
Thailand, Myanmar, Jordan, Guam and Laos form Group A. Group B consists of South Korea, India, the Philippines, Malaysia and Northern Mariana Islands.
Uzbekistan, Australia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Palestine and Iraq are drawn in Group D.
Each group will play a one-round league. The winner from each group (total four teams) will qualify to the finals (eight teams in total).
If Thailand finish top of their group in the qualifiers, the second-placed team from the same group will also qualify to the final competition.