Headline: Iran Overpowers Resilient India 3-0 in CAFA Nations Cup Clash

India 0 - 3 Iran
Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh 59'
Ali Alipour 89'
Mehdi Taremi 90' + 6'

In what was not a 3-0 match by any means, Khalid Jamil's India was beaten 3-0 by an Iran side that struggled to break down an obdurate defence for large swathes.

The first half was a study in Khalid-ball, India settling into a stubborn 4-5-1 shape that saw Iran get no time on the ball in danger areas anywhere. Sandesh Jhingan and Anwar Ali were superb in central defence, Rahul Bheke and Mohammed Uvais tough to beat on either side of them, the midfield trio of Suresh Singh, Danish Farooq and Nikhil Prabhu solid and tight and giving Iran no time to breathe centrally, Ashique Kuruniyan, Vikram Pratap Singh and Irfan Yadwad willing runners.

The front three had very little to do -- which is Ashique and Vikram folded into form a 5-man midfield -- but for all of Iran's possession (74% in the first half), they could not create much. The fact that they won 8 corners in that first 45 wasn't a worry for India because it merely showed how well they'd limited Iran in open play.

It was, though, quite concerning to watch how wasteful India were in the 26% of time they had the ball with aimless hoicks forward simply resulting in more stress being put on the Indian defensive shape. That, plus Iran amping up the number of crosses, seemed to play in Jamil's mind as he brought on Sana Singh and Jeakson Singh in the 55th minute, changing it from a 4-5-1 to a 5-4-1.

The change, though, saw Kanani Zadegan zip into some space in central midfield and lift a sensational early cross deep into the far post where Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh and Rahul Bheke got into a crap before the Iranian poked it on off a fluke rebound in the 59th minute.

Jamil immediately realised his error and subbed off Sana, 12 minutes after his entry, and introduced more attacking zip with Mahesh Singh, Jithin MS, Manvir Singh and a while later Lallianzuala Chhangte. This saw India gain some confidence and for the first time in the match, most of it was being played in the Iran half.

This sense of adventure, though, left spaces at the back and that meant late subs Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Mehdi Taremi were always going to trouble the defense. in the 89th minute, Taremi bullied his way past two challenges before poking it to Jahanbakhsh, whose shot was saved by Gurpreet. The rebound fell to Taremi who scuffed it onto he post, but it bounced right to Ali Alipour who tapped it in for the second.

Deep in injury time, Taremi had his goal too as he ran onto a delightful Jahanbakhsh ball from the right and calmly dinked it over an onrushing Gurpreet.

The ease of that finish, and the final scoreline, though, belied the pressure Iran were under to crack open the Indian defence for most of this game. Jamil, for one, will be keen to stress on that as he prepares for the final league game against Afghanistan in the CAFA Nations Cup.

You can relive all the action right here: