Lebanon Upsets Iran 1-0 in WCup Qualifier

Lebanon stunned Iran 1-0 in a World Cup qualifier Tuesday to keep alive its hopes of reaching the tournament in Brazil.

Lebanon came out attacking early and went ahead when captain Roda Antar, returning from a knee injury that kept him out for three games, met a free kick from Mohammad Haidar and headed home from close range. That appeared to wake up the Iranians, who pressed forward for the rest of the half.

The Iranians dominated possession in the second half and Mohammad Noori almost drew his team level when his header was just cleared off the Lebanon goal line in the 62nd minute. Noori had a second chance to equalize but his searing volley was stopped by Lebanon goalkeeper Abbas Hassan. The acrobatic Hassan then twice denied Javad Nekounam in the closing minutes — turning aside a powerful volley from just inside the box and diving low to keep out the Iran captain's header from the resulting corner.

It was the first victory for Lebanon over Iran in seven meetings and moves it into contention for one of two spots to automatically qualify for the World Cup from Group A. South Korea leads the group on seven points but now Lebanon is tied with Qatar and Iran on four points. Uzbekistan is last with two points.

"We had a good performance today and I'm happy with what the players showed in the game," Lebanon coach Theo Bucker said. "We showed that we are capable of getting good results and now we have a good chance after this win to qualify, although we must work hard. We now have to get some rest and prepare well for our next game against Qatar."

Iran coach Carlos Queiroz said Hassan's performance made the difference in the game.

"Congratulations to Lebanon who won with the least possible effort," Queiroz said. "We had a good match and had a great performance but Lebanon had a good goalkeeper who had a great game and denied us a lot of times."

Queiroz insisted his team's bid to advance to the World Cup for the first time since 2006 remained very much alive despite the loss.

"We are still in the competition although the situation is now complicated," he said. "We missed several players today and Lebanon showed good fighting spirit."