TEHRAN – Iran defeated Afghanistan 4-0 in Group E of the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024 qualification on Saturday.

Mohammad Ghorbani opened the scoring for Iran in the 30th minute and Hossein Gudarzi made it 2-0 seven minutes later.

Allahyar Sayyadmanesh scored Iran’s third goal before the hour mark and Mohammadjavad Hosseinnejhad scored the fourth goal in the 75th minute.

Iran had started the campaign with a 3-0 win over Hong Kong on Wednesday.

Iran will play Uzbekistan on Sept. 12.

All the group winners, together with the four best second-placed teams overall, will form the final cast of 16 alongside automatically-qualified hosts Qatar at the sixth edition of the competition, set to be played between April 15 to May 3, 2024.