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Friendlies: China beaten convincingly by Iran

September 3, 2010
By ESPNsoccernet staff

Goals in each half from Andranik and Mohammad Gholami helped Iran beat China 2-0 in a friendly at Zhengzhou Hanghai Stadium.

China and Iran tussle for the ball on Friday
GettyImagesChina and Iran tussle for the ball on Friday

Yang Xu came close to breaking the deadlock in the 36th minute but he put Yang Hao's dangerous cross over the bar. China's inability to clear their lines two minutes later handed the visitors the opener. Yang parried out Khalatbari's close-range shot and Feng directed the ball into the path of Andranik, who stabbed home from 15 yards.

Gholami then evaded China's offside trap in the 57th minute and calmly rounded the onrushing Yang before firing the ball into the empty net.

''The defeat made us aware of our real strength and our position in Asia,'' said China coach Gao Hongbo. ''We need to play more Asian rivals of different styles so as to assess whether China are still one of the top teams in the continent.''

Qatar and Bahrain drew 1-1 in an international friendly at Al Sadd Stadium. Faouzi Aiash put Bahrain in front after 21 minutes, but Majdi Siddiq levelled after 39 minutes.

New Australia coach Holger Osieck had a missed penalty and the heroics of Mark Schwarzer to thank as the Socceroos earned a goalless draw with Switzerland in St Gallen.

Kuwait saw off Syria 3-0 in an international friendly match. Kuwait, who are preparing with their opponents for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup finals, opened the scoring after only eight minutes through Khaled Khalaf who gave his side a 1-0 lead in the first half.

Kuwait continued their dominance in the second period and they added a second goal through Bader Al Motawaa with a powerful lob past the Syria goalkeeper with five minutes left on the clock.

Oman cruised to a 3-0 win against Malaysia in a friendly match which was held at Soud Abdulrahman stadium.

In South America, Colombia won 2-0 away to Venezuela thanks to a powerful first half strike by Juan Guillermo Cuadrado and second half sealer from Dayron Moreno.