Iran in their purposeful and tactical play took the African Champions, Gambia to the cleaners with good football and were rewarded with a 2-0 victory. The Africans occasionally rely on counter attacks as they tried to come out of their shells to match the Iranians but failed.
Their defence collapsed shortly when B. Samba was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 32nd minute. Barely 11 minutes after the incident Iran scored their opening goal as P. Sadeghian registered with a pile driver to beat the Gambian hardworking goalkeeper, O. Darboe hollow.
Gambia came out forcefully in search of an equalizer that never came until they went for the break.
In the second half Gambia sat back and failed to show the bites they exhibited in the first half. Their hopeful shot in the 83rd minute was blocked but K. Razaei utilized his own chance to score the second goal a minute later to assume superiority over the African Champions.
In Enugu Centre, Turkey defeated Burkina Faso 1-0 to complete the African woes on the second day of the World tournament.
Turkey maintained their first half lead to the consternation of fans, who were yearning for more goals. Their lone goal was scored in the third minute of the game through the Turkish captain, Muhammet Demir.
He pumped home the ball during a goalmouth melee. Poor marksmanship in front of goal was the main bane of the Burkinababes in spite of their mesmerizing attacking play. Although they mounted, reasonable pressure but their inability to convert the recurring chances was their undoing.
The 31st minute save by the Turkey keeper Deniz Mehmet was the closest the Africans went in the first half and the resultant four corner kicks were not useful. They wasted avalanche of chances in both halves to go home defeated.