Iran survived an early scare to beat Uzbekistan 2-1 yesterday and take a big step toward the Asian Cup knock-out stages, but the victory was soured when coach Amir Ghalenoei was sent off.
Normally unflappable defender Rahman Rezaei put the triple-champions in trouble with a first-half own goal before Seyed Jalal Hosseini leveled and substitute Javad Kazemian took the points with a late winner.
Combustible coach Ghalenoei lived up to his reputation when he was red-carded late in the match for throwing a water bottle.
"I was angry at one of our players who lost the ball very easily," said Ghalenoei, who appeared at the post-match press conference with a damp shirt.
"So I complained to him but the referee thought I was complaining at him [the referee], so I was sent off," he said.
"Thank God we started with a win," Ghalenoei said. "We didn't know much about Uzbekistan so we had to assess them in the first half. Also we were a bit nervous."
In front of a paltry crowd at Malaysia's National Stadium, Uzbekistan were the first to threaten when Timur Kapadze met a cross from the left and headed straight at Iran keeper Hassan Roudbarian.
Iran striker Vahid Hashemian, running on to an Ali Karimi ball, tested Uzbekistan's Pavel Bugalo at the other end with a left-footed effort in the opening exchanges.
But Rezaei put Iran in serious difficulty on 16 minutes when, under pressure from striker Ulugbek Bakaev, he nodded a hopeful bouncing ball over advancing keeper Roudbarian.
Despite the jolt Iran struggled to produce chances and it was Uzbekistan who almost doubled their lead when Kapadze headed wide from a free-kick hoisted in to the box by captain Server Djeparov.
Iran could have equalized near halftime but Al Emarat forward Rassoul Khatibi glanced his header wide from Hashemian's cross.
However, the regional heavyweights emerged from the break with renewed purpose and were back on equal terms within 10 minutes when defender Hosseini headed captain Mehdi Mahdavikia's corner down and into the net.
It was halftime substitute Kazemian who snatched it for Iran, running on to Andranik Teymourian's through-ball and finishing coolly with his right foot on 77 minutes.
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