At 22:30 on February 1, 2022 Beijing time, the 8th round of Group A of the Round of 12 began, and Iran defeated the United Arab Emirates 1-0 at home, thus winning 7 wins, 1 draw and 0 losses, accumulating 22 points to rank first in Group A, and locking in the first place in the group early to advance to the World Cup. Although the UAE team was defeated, it still ranked third with a score of 9 points, and from the current situation, the UAE will most likely compete with Australia for another place to play in the play-offs.
In this game, Iran played very fiercely, receiving two yellow cards in the 22nd and 37th minutes of the first half. In the 43rd minute, Iran scored the only goal of the match by Taremi. But in the 48th minute of the second half, Muharami's second foul turned two yellows into one red. This sudden change made the UAE team see an opportunity for reversal. However, the strength of the Iranian team is indeed relatively strong, although after 66 minutes in the second half, the UAE team changed three people in a row, but also after wasting many opportunities, it finally hated the home of the Iranian team.
Iran's next two matches were against South Korea and Lebanon. Due to the consideration of the World Cup grouping, the South Korean team will also beat the Iranian team, and the Lebanese team will probably not lose the opportunity to compete for the third place in the last round. Therefore, the Iranian team will also face two fierce battles. And Muharami red card suspension, as the main defender of the team, although the value is only 800,000 euros, but it has been the main force of the Iranian national team in the round of 12, so the impact on the strength of the Iranian team is still relatively large.
From the post-match data, the UAE occupies a certain advantage, with 12 shots on goal and 4 shots on target, which is 1 more than the Iranian team. Including possession, the UAE is 55%, while Iran is only 45%. In terms of offensive data, the UAE team has 124 attacks, while iran has only 103 attacks. Therefore, it is a pity that the UAE team failed to take away the points at the home of the Iranian team this time.
This game also set three new records. First, Iran holds the unbeaten record of 11 matches against the UAE and has won five consecutive matches in the last five matches; second, Iran has maintained an unbeaten 18 unbeaten matches in Asian qualifiers since June 11, 2013; third, iran has now scored 22 points in this World Qualifier, which is the highest score during Iran's World Qualifiers.
Looking at the performance of the Iranian team, although it was a bit passive in the scene after the penalty, the team still revealed a championship temperament. The Chinese national team lost 1-3 to the Vietnamese team, in fact, the Chinese men's football team is higher than the Vietnamese team from any point of view. However, the "heart" of the Chinese team was lost, there was no self-confidence, no enterprising spirit, and there was no determination to fight to the end for the honor of the country. The current Chinese team has sunk to the lowest bottom of Chinese football. How much jinyuan football has hurt Chinese football includes delicate relationships like Chen Shuyuan and the General Administration of Sport. Just like the match when the Chinese men's football team lost 1-5 to Thailand, it was mentioned by many people as a "trap" afterwards. And tonight's game, I'm afraid it's also the benevolent, the wise see the wise.