Tehran: Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi were on target as Iran confirmed their spot in the 2018 World Cup main draw with a 2-0 victory over Uzbekistan at the Azadi Stadium here.
It was Iran’s sixth win from eight matches in Group A which took the table-toppers to 20 points, while South Korea are second on 13 ahead of their match against Qatar to be played Tuesday night.
Iran are still unbeaten in the third stage of qualifying and amazingly have not conceded a single goal during the campaign, thus underlining their credentials as one of Asia’s football giants.
They recorded their second win Monday over Uzbekistan on the road to Russia, with Rostov forward Azmoun first finding the net in the 23rd minute with a right-footed shot from the left of the box following a through ball from Alireza Jahanbaksh.
In the 48th minute Taremi drew a foul from Akmal Shorakhmedov, but Masoud Shojaei fired the resulting penalty high over the crossbar.
The Uzbeks struggled for momentum and failed to break down the famed Iranian defence, eventually conceding their second goal of the match in the 88th minute with Taremi finishing from Azmoun’s pass.
Iran have played in the World Cup finals four times in the past – in 1978, 1998, 2006 and 2014.
The streets here were filled with thousands of Iranians celebrating the achievement, immediately after the final whistle. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani joined the celebrations, saying on Twitter: “Congratulations to the nation and our national team for qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. You made all of us proud.”