TEHRAN - Iran earned a hard-fought 1-0 win against United Arab of Emirates in their AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to 26 Group A tie on Tuesday.

Mehdi Ghaedi was the hero for Team Melli, his goal late in the first half keeping Iran on maximum points after two matches. 

Paulo Bento opted for an unchanged UAE starting line-up while Amir Ghalenoei made four changes with Saleh Hardani, Saeid Ezatolahi, Hossein Kanani and Alireza Jahanbakhsh all starting for Iran.

Chances were few and far in between in the opening 25 minutes with neither Khalid Eisa in UAE’s goal nor Alireza Beiranvand for Iran being tested.

Iran had the ball in the net just after the half hour mark when Mehdi Taremi’s scuffed shot fell kindly for Mehdi Ghaedi to steer home but it was ruled out for offside, the-afc.com reported.

UAE thought they had a late opportunity to level proceedings from the spot after referee Kim Jong-hyeok pointed to the spot for a handball by Hardani but upon VAR review, it was overturned and with that, ended the Emiratis’ hopes of a comeback.