GOLD COAST, Australia — Zahra Ghanbari and her Iran team stood while their national anthem played at the Women's Asian Cup soccer tournament on Monday, a long way from the war that started on the weekend with a major attack by Israel and the United States.
Before the opening loss against South Korea, Iran head coach Marziyeh Jafari declined to comment on the military strikes or the death of her country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying the squad needed to focus on the tournament.
The mood was mostly sombre during the anthem, although there were some smiles to acknowledge supporters at the Gold Coast stadium. And then it was down to the business of football.
South Korea, runners-up at the 2022 Women's Asian Cup, won 3-0 despite the dogged defense of the Iranians anchored by goalkeeper Maryam Yektaei.
The South Koreans had 20 shots in the first half but only led 1-0 at the break on Choe Yu-ri's goal in the 37th minute. She swooped on the rebound when Jang Sel-gi's angled left-foot shot deflected off the post.
Kim Hye-ri converted from the penalty spot in the 59th minute and Ko Yoo-jin finished off the scoring with a well-timed glancing header in the 75th.
“We definitely could have scored a few more — missed a couple of chances — that's something we’ll definitely work on in the upcoming trainings,” South Korea substitute Casey Phair said. “But I think it was a really good starting point to start the tournament with three points.”
Ghanbari, the captain, was substituted off late in regulation. Her team had only 21% of possession in the game and had just three shots at goal compared with 32 for the South Koreans.
A small pocket of Iran fans chanted and waved red, white and green flags, including the pre-Islamic revolution flag.
One of the Iran team's biggest targets at the tournament is to secure a place in the Women's World Cup next year in Brazil, and that will require at least a quarterfinal run in Australia.
Iran will next play tournament host Australia on Thursday at the same venue on the Gold Coast, a beachside tourist destination in Queensland state.
A tournament record crowd of 44,379 attended the opening game in Perth on Sunday to see hometown star Sam Kerr score in Australia's 1-0 win over Philippines.
After that win, Kerr acknowledged the difficult circumstances for the Iranian team.
“They’re young girls and young footballers ... we’ll treat the game like any other game and show the team the utmost respect and prepare properly,” Kerr told the tournament's Australian TV broadcaster.
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