Dhaka, Sep 24: Two late strikes by substitute Ghashieh Samaneh and Adeleh Karimi helped Iran come from a two-goal deficit to edge past Jordan in a five-goal thriller and ensure their first time entry into the second round of AFC U-19 Women’s Championship 2011 Qualifiers here at Birsreshta Shahid Sepoy Mostafa Kamal Stadium, Kamalapur today.
After Zahara Sarbali’s first-half goal reduced the arrears for Iran to 2-1 at the break, the Persians struck twice in the last five minutes to emerge as the Group B champions with the 3-2 victory that took their tally to maximum nine points. Earlier Iran beat India 4-2 and hosts Bangladesh 6-0.

Jordan’s first match treble star Shahnaz Yaseen’s solo effort put her team ahead in the 15^th minute. She penetrated in Iran’s danger area dodging past two rival defenders on a counter attack and netted with a strong grounder.

 The nimble Shahnaz doubled the lead capitalizing a Sara Ibrahim forward pass in the 25^th minute. She entered through the right-flank and finished with her favorite right foot for her fifth goal in the competition.

Jordan kept dominating the field until Zahra brought Iran back in the game by scoring in the 37^th minute from a Sayeda Tanin square pass from left.

Iran had a better possession in the second half but the Jordan defenders were vigilant enough to keep their opponent away from scoring before Ghashieh finally equalized in the 86^th minute. A deflection from Jordan skipper Ayah Faisal gave Ghashieh the opportunity to put the ball on the net.

Ghashieh’s cross helped Adeleh to score the wining goal just in the minute before the final whistle. Ghashieh disturbed the back-net with a powerful twenty yarder.

Jordan coach Maher Lutfi Abdullah congratulated the Iran team for their qualification. He blamed the humid weather for this loss. “We were struggling because of the humid weather. Our players became exhausted at the end and Iranians took the advantage of that,” he remarked.