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Iran, who have won this tournament four times in succession, again showed the gulf in class between themselves and the chasing pack as Mohammad Ansarifard’s side trounced Kuwait 10-2. Kazem Mahammadi (2), Vahid Shamsaee (2), Hamid Shandizi (2), Saeid Abdollahnejadian (2), Maged Raise and Mohsen Zarei scored for the Iranians as they added six second-half goals to the four they scored in the first period. Adel Hussain and Fawzi Al Mass scored for Kuwait. Japan booked their place in the final after a narrow - and controversial - win against Thailand, who topped Group D. Thailand went ahead in the fifth minute when Sermphan Khumthinkaew crossed from the right and Lertchai Issarasuwipakorn scored. Japan equalised five minutes later through Kenichiro Kogure and then went ahead with a goal from Yoshifumi Maeda to give last year’s finalists a 2-1 half-time lead. In the second half, Thailand poured forward in search of the equaliser and eventually managed to level things in the 35th minute thanks to a long-range effort from Anucha Manjaroen which fored the game into golden-goal extra-time. Japan had the first real chance when they were awarded a penalty but Kogure's shot hit the post. Then the Iraqi referee controversially gave Japan another penalty with just 50 seconds left when he ruled that Anucha had committed a foul. This time Yoshifumi Maeda scored from the spot, sending the Japanese into the final. Thailand team manager Adisak Benjasiriwan said: "We played much better than the Japanese team but we lost because of bad decisions by the referee which is hard to accept." "From day one I was hundred percent sure that we would face Iran in the finals," said Japan coach Mishito Harada after the game. "I don’t think we have demonstrated our real potential in this tournament so far but hope we can do so in the final." Thailand and Kuwait meet in the third/fourth place play-off before this evening final, which takes place at 18.00 local time in the Azadi Stadium.
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