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Peykan| Piroozi 3-1 Sharjah: Karimi stars [VIDEO+PHOTO] |
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| Tuesday, 10 March 2009 18:15 |
 Former Bayern Munich midfielder Karimi opened the scoring midway through the first half before playing his part as Alireza Vahedi Nikbakht and Hadi Norouzi netted in six first half minutes to give the home side control of the contest. Sharjah, who qualified for the group stage with a play-off victory over India’s Dempo, pulled a goal back through Mishal Wahab at the start of the second half, but Piroozi had done more than enough in the first half to delight the home fans at the Azadi Stadium. Also in Group B are Al Gharafa, of Qatar, and Saudi Arabia’s Al Shabab. Karimi, a former winner of the AFC Asian Player of the Year Award, gave the Iranian champions the lead in the 27th minute when he fired low into the corner from 12 yards out as the Sharjah defence struggled to clear the ball. Just three minutes later, Piroozi made it 2-0 when the Sharjah backline was found wanting once more. On this occasion, Karimi used the attention afforded to him by the Sharjah defence to allow the ball to run through his legs and into the path of Iran international Alireza Vahedi Nikhbakht, who shot into the bottom corner. Two minutes later, Piroozi had put the result beyond any doubt with Karimi again underlining why he remains one of Asian football’s foremost talents. His diagonal, defence-splitting pass set the goal-scoring move in motion as Hadi Norouzi rose at the near post, beating two defenders to the ball and headed beyond Ahmed Rasheed. Sharjah came out for the second half with little to fight for but pride and, nine minutes after the restart, they did at least salvage a consolation goal. Wahab sent in a free kick from the left, which was missed by teammate Salem Saif as he leapt to meet the cross. However, Piroozi goalkeeper Mehdi Vaezi misread the flight of the ball allowing Wahab’s effort to cross the line. However, despite that momentary lapse, Piroozi took all three points to make the perfect start to their 2009 campaign.
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