Iran discovers group stage fate at 2018 AFC U-16 Championship

The Iran national under-16 football team has been drawn in Group C of the 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-16 Championship, which is scheduled to take place between September and October in Malaysia.

During the official draw ceremony at the AFC House in the Malaysian capital city of Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, the Iranian squad joined India, Indonesia and Vietnam in the preliminary round of the tournament.

The host nation, Japan, Tajikistan and Thailand form Group A in the upcoming biennial international sports event.

Jordan is drawn in Group B, and is pitted against North Korea, Oman and Yemen.

Group D consists of Afghanistan, Australia, Iraq and South Korea.

On September 24, 2017, the Iran national under-16 football team booked its spot in the 2018 AFC U-16 Championship after clinching four consecutive victories at the qualification tournament for the continental event.

The Iranian team beat the Kyrgyz squad 4-0 in a fixture played at the multi-purpose Enghelab Stadium in the Iranian city of Karaj, situated 35 kilometers west of the capital Tehran.

Amir Ja’fari scored his first goal of the match 16 minutes into the game, before Shervin Rezaei added a second for Iran 10 minutes later.

Later on, the Kyrgyz team mounted fine resistance against the Iranians and disallowed them to score more goals.

Abbas Chamanian’s boys finally succeeded in breaching the Kyrgyz defense, and captain Alireza Bavieh found the back of the net in the 72nd minute.

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