Zob Ahan wins Iran's knockout cup in penalty shootout
Iranian soccer club Zob Ahan has defeated Esteghlal Tehran in the penalty shootout to win the country's knockout competition known as Hazfi Cup.
The highly competitive final of the games was held at the 15,000-seater Nafto Gas Arvandan Stadium in the southwestern port city of Khorramshahr with both teams staying neck and neck throughout the match.
Zob Ahan soccer players were first to build up an attack. Just seven minutes into the game, the Isfahan-based team took advantage of a marvelous opportunity to net the opener. However, striker Danial Esmaeilifar simply squandered the chance and shot inches wide of the target.
Zob Ahan players found the net against through a corner and celebrated in the 10th minute, but the effort was disallowed by 38-year-old referee Alireza Faghani as the ball had crossed the touch line.
Zob Ahan forward Morteza Tabrizi mounted a counter-attack five minutes later and sought to dribble the ball past Esteghlal defender Hanif Omranzadeh, who aggressively brought him down and crushed his hopes of scoring the opener.
Tabrizi had to be taken off the pitch in the 18th minute since he could not resist the agonizing pain he was suffering from. Mohammad Reza Hosseini took his place.
In the 20th minute, Zob Ahan forward Danial Esmaeilifar penetrated Esteglal's crowded defense, and struck a shot that kissed the Blues’ net after having hit goalkeeper Mehdi Rahmati’s head.
Esteghlal then sought to level the score, and had plenty of chances which they simply missed.
In the 37th minute, Zob Ahan Captain Mehdi Rajabzadeh unleashed a shot that hit an Esteghlal defender, and ricocheted back into the field.
The rest of the first half was a particularly drab affair as both teams failed to produce any more goals.
Esteghlal soccer players built up pressure on their opponents’ goalpost after the break, and went close to score the equalizer but to no avail.
They were awarded a penalty for a foul on midfielder Yaghoub Karimi in the box in the 56th minute.
Midfielder Omid Ebrahimi made no mistake from the spot and sent Zob Ahan keeper Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri the wrong way to make it 1-1.
The game went to penalties after extra-time finished on 1-1, and Zob Ahan beat Esteghlal Tehran 5-4 in the penalty shootout to be crowned the champions of the Hazfi Cup for the fourth time.
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