The Iranian national team escaped the trap of a draw against the North Korean national team, achieving a hard-fought victory with a score of 3/2 outside its rules, in one of the most exciting matches in the fifth round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.

Iran performed an amazing level during the first half by scoring 3 consecutive goals in its sweeping attack by Mehdi Qaidi and Mohammad Mohibi. However, everything changed in the second half when Tarctor Club defender Shojaa Khalilzadeh was sent off in the 52nd minute, turning things upside down, especially with... Iran's top star, Mehdi Taremi, played a very bad half after a perfect half that saw him score 3 goals.

Mahdi Qaidi, the star of the Emirati club Ittihad Kalba, opened the match's goals in the 29th minute after receiving a decisive pass in the defensive depth, which he shot with one touch under the defender's control and at the moment the goalkeeper came out, to the far left corner.

The Iranian national team made every effort to control and control the tempo of the game, with Mohammad Mohibi scoring the second goal in the 41st minute with a missile shot from inside the penalty area in the right corner after another through pass from Mehdi Taremi.

Mahdi Taremi returned to gift Mohamed Mohibi his second personal football and the third for Iran in the 45th minute, and this time with a wonderful clearance of the ball on the edge of the penalty area, the Russian Rostov club striker received it and shot with all his might from a distance of 19 yards, so that the ball hugged the far corner. The right hand of the goalkeeper.

Mahdi Tarmi.. from the best half to the worst half

In the second half, the match changed after Iran finished with 10 players due to the expulsion of Shoja Khalilzadeh.

North Korea scored the goal to reduce the difference to 3-1, just 4 minutes after Khalilzadeh was sent off, and the goal came with friendly fire for player Mehdi Taremi, who, like his team, began to realize that he had lost the focus he had in the first half.

Player Kim Yoo-sung ignited the atmosphere of the match by scoring a second goal for North Korea in the 59th minute, by successfully following up on a cross inside the six-yard area.

Doubt began to creep into the Iranian fans in the 67th minute when Mehdi Taremi missed a penalty kick with a bad shot in the middle of the goal that the goalkeeper blocked with his foot. Minutes later, a long shot bounced off the Iranian crossbar, making Mehdi Taremi breathe a sigh of relief, as he would have been accused of causing this fatal tie. .

With this result, the Iranian team continues to lead Group A with 13 points from 4 victories and a 3-point draw with Uzbekistan II (temporarily), until the end of Uzbekistan’s match with Qatar later in today’s matches. This group also includes the UAE and Kyrgyzstan.