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AFC - Iran coach Akbar Mohammadi brushed off the significance of his side’s 5-1 demolition of Oman in their AFC U-16 Championship opener at JAR Stadium on Sunday and quickly switched his focus to the defending champions’ remaining Group B fixtures.

The Iranians produced an assured performance with skipper Ali Fathian leading from the front to score two goals whilst Mahdi Mahdipour, Sardar Azmoun and Siavash Haghnazari also got their names on the score-sheet.

The victory sends Iran straight to the top of the standings where they will likely remain if they can maintain the same level of performance for the remainder of the group stage.

But Mohammadi reflected on the emphatic win over Oman as simply the first of seven steps to staging a successful defence of the title they won in Tashkent two years ago.

“We won the game and that is all,” he said.

“This is the first win for us and it is the first step. We have six more steps and we have to work hard.

“I believed we could win this game, not necessarily by this score but I am proud of my players for this result.

“Syria and DPR Korea will be difficult opponents and we know how we must play against those teams.”

The partnership of Fathian and Azmoun in Iran’s attack proved too much for the Oman defence to handle but Mohammadi warned he possesses players of a similar calibre that he has yet to unleash.

“Some of my players were injured for this match but I hope they will be available for the next game,” he added.

“Fathian and Azmoun are key players but we have other high quality players that we can show in the future.”

For Oman coach Boubacar Sarr it was a game to forget and the Frenchman admitted goals either side of half time by Mahdipour and Azmoun changed the course of the game.

“Congratulations to Iran but for my side it was a very difficult game,” he said.

“We started very well and tried to play good football and create good chances in the first half. We had the ball but we kept losing it and though we conceded one goal we tried to keep it this way until half time but they scored the second goal which made it difficult for my team.

“In the second half we tried to come back into the match and score one goal which may have made things different but we were not lucky as we conceded a third goal so quickly. After that it was as the players heads were down.”
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