Pakistan edged out by Iran in U17 qualifier

The Green-shirts come close to a late equaliser but Iran escape with a 1-0 victory

Pakistan played some superb football, showing grit and character in a narrow 1-0 loss to Iran in their AFC Under-17 Championship 2027 Group ‘D’ qualifier at the Laos National Stadium on Wednesday.
Having fallen behind in the ninth minute, Pakistan came back strongly at Iran, forcing their opponents on the back foot and creating several chances but they couldn’t find the back of the net.
Spearheaded by Muhammad Essa’s superb running on the right and Hasnain Ali’s tenacity on the left, Pakistan were the better team and were left aggrieved in the 89th minute of the match when they felt they had the ball over the goalline, only for the referee to deem it as no goal.
Iran opens the scoring in the ninth minute with Amir Mohamed Zarei slotting in after an attack down Pakistan’s right. 
Muhammad Habib’s side responded with Nadeem Hussain heading a corner straight at the goalkeeper after Hasnain had produced a dazzling piece of skill down the left.
Goalkeeper Samar Razzaq pulled off a superb save in first half injury time and Pakistan came back strongly in the second half.
Having opened with a 3-1 win over Sri Lanka, Pakistan produced waves and waves of attacks with Hazrat Abbas missing a one-on-one.
Pakistan brought on Haris Khan late on to push for the leveller but it didn’t arrive and they will now face Laos in their third match of the campaign on Saturday.