Iran crushes Indonesia in World Cup qualifier

TEHRAN, Nov. 16 (MNA) -- Iran took an important step towards advancing to the final round of the Asian qualifying for the 2014 World Cup on Tuesday with a 4-1 win over Indonesia. In the match held at the Utama Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia, Milad Meydavoudi opened the scoring for the Persians after seven minutes into the match, sending the ball to the far post. Mojtaba Jabbari doubled the lead in the 20th minute after receiving the sweet pass from Mohammad Ghazi and opened an empty net. Gholamreza Rezaei scored Iran’s third goal from a close range in the 23rd minute. Indonesia captain Bambang Pamungkas pulled a goal back two minutes before the interval; however Iran captain Javad Nekounam converted a penalty in the 73rd minute for the visiting team. Iran would secure a spot in the next round from Group E if Qatar earned at least a draw against Bahrain later Tuesday. Iran is in first place in Group E with 11 points followed by Qatar, which has 8 points, and Bahrain with five points. Qatar and Bahrain have a game in hand. Indonesia is in the fourth place with zero points. The winners and runners-up of the five groups will be drawn into two pools for the round-robin fourth stage, with the eventual top two in each section earning a ticket to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The two third-placed teams will then face each other for the right to contest an intercontinental play-off.