Asian giants Iran took a huge step towards reaching the 2014 World Cup finals on Tuesday as they moved top of Group A in Asian Zone qualifying with a 4-0 thrashing of bottom side Lebanon in Tehran.
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In the febrile atmosphere of the Azadi stadium, the hosts never looked like giving Lebanon any chance.
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Dominating from the word go, it was surprising that it took them 39 minutes to score their first goal, but that just opened the floodgates and they were 3-0 up a minute after halftime.
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Javad Nekonam, who scored the second goal in tine added on of the first half, rounded off the scoring in the 86th minute. Iran's other scorers were Mohammad Khalatbari (39th minute) and Reza Ghoochannejhad moments into the second half.
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With the win, Iran now have 13 points from seven matches, two more than South Korea and Uzbekistan - the Koreans having beaten the Uzbeks 1-0 earlier on Tuesday - who have also played seven matches. Lebanon are already out of contention for a place in the 2014 World Cup in Rio, having garnered just five points from their eight matches.
Iran as a country can do more than they are doing right now. They still have a lot of excellence in them.