Match №34

The match № 34, play-off, match for 5th place

January 29th, 2012, Saint-Petersburg, Peterburgsky SCC, 100 spectators

Lithuania – I.R. Iran 0:4 (0:0)

Referee: Miroshnichenko, Shimarygin, Saf'yan

Lithuania: Brazhinskas, Jarmalavichius, Miskinis, Ubaitis, Juozaitis (Nakrosius, 46), Zhulpa (c) (Sendzhikas, 74), Urbelis (Petkus, 70), Laukzhemis (Brokas, 56), Snapkauskas (Pilypas, 46), Paulius, Novikovas (Beneta, 90)

Head coach: Vitaliyus Stankevichius

I.R. Iran: Naseri, Kanani, Moradmand, Heydarieh, Zare (Heidari, 31), Esmaeli, Daneshgar (Abdollahzadeh, 62), Barzay (Jahan Kohan, 58), Pahlavan (Alipourghara, 74), Choopani (Azmoun, 46, Engashte, 81) Jahan Bakhsh

Head coach: Akbar Mohammadi Argi

Goals: Azmun (53), Dzhahonkohan (67), Alipurgaro (75), Esmail (85)

Yellow cards: Miskinis (15)

Red card: Miskinis (55, 2 y.c.)

Best players: Jarmalavichius, Esmaeli

Comments

Head coach of Lithuania team Vitaliyus Stankevichius:

– I really didn't want to have Iran as our opponent but we played against them again. It's complicated to compete with this team: each of the players is a very strong player; they have good technique and very active during the whole game. Iran played on a very high speed and our second yellow card messed us up. It's not easy to play 10 players against the team who always run. Though in the first half of the match we could stand our ground and didn't let Iran to score. Their next substitution has changed the whole match. After that we missed two more goals. We also had some scoring moments but players are young and not experienced enough. Such tournament gives them an opportunity to get it. They grow as professional sportsmen. So I will go to congratulate guys, they showed good game at the tournament, though we didn't win. But it is football.

Head coach of I.R. Iran team Akbar Mohammadi Argi:

– Today's match is a small consolation. Yes, we won, but got only the fifth place. It's not quite fair. We have the best attack line, best defense line and midfielders in this tournament. We scored sixteen goals, and missed only one. We had to play in the finals. But this is football. And it is a great lesson for me. You can be the best at every thing, but losing a single match you can lose everything. Today I made three substitutions and these three players scored. This tactics worked not only today. In all matches those substitutions were right for the team game. We discussed substitutions with coaching staff every time, we know all the players very well, so no wonder we did a great job.