Iran players sing anthem and salute at Women's Asian Cup / Photo: Izhar KHAN - AFP
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Iran players sing anthem and salute at Women's Asian Cup
Iran's players sang the national anthem and saluted before their defeat to Australia in the Women's Asia Cup on Thursday, after staying silent before their opening game.
When Iran had faced South Korea on Monday, their players had stood motionless, two days after the US and Israel had begun a war against their country.
After that match, Iran coach Marziyeh Jafari said her team had "so much concern" about their families at home as the conflict raged and that players felt "fully disconnected" from their loved ones.
On Thursday, all the Iranian players saluted and sang the anthem on Queensland's Gold Coast.
In the match, they were easily beaten 4-0 by host nation Australia, who joined South Korea in the quarter-finals.
Australia joined South Korea -- who beat an outmatched Philippines 3-0 -- on six points in Pool A.
From the kick-off it was clear the Matildas were far too strong for their opponents, who resorted to time-wasting to try and disrupt their flow.
Australia opened the scoring after just nine minutes when Amy Sayer put in what looked like a cross, only for it to loop over the head of goalkeeper Maryam Yektaei.
Manchester City's Mary Fowler doubled the lead after 27 minutes with her 17th goal for the Matildas when Yektaei spilled the ball and Fowler poked it home.
Alanna Kennedy scored eight minutes later with a lovely strike from inside the box after being teed up by Sam Kerr.
Australia would have expected to continue their scoring in the second period, but apart from Kennedy's second goal in the 58th minute, they had nothing more to show for their dominance.
South Korea, who knocked Australia out of the 2022 tournament, top the group on goal difference and will meet Australia in their final group match in Sydney on Sunday.
"At the back of our minds that's always there," Australian midfielder Kennedy said of the 2022 result.
"But at the forefront is us building into this tournament -- we want a better performance than we had tonight."
The South Koreans, runners-up to China in 2022, scored two goals in the first half and one in the second to book their place in the final eight.
The Philippines tried to take the game to South Korea, but never really looked like scoring.
By contrast, the South Koreans looked dangerous every time they attacked, and were rewarded in the 12th minute when Jeon Yu-gyeong got the ball in the box, turned sharply and fired low past goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel.
They made it 2-0 three minutes later, Park Soo-Jeong finding space outside the box and sending a left-foot rocket past McDaniel into the top right hand corner.
The Philippines did well in defence to snuff out the South Korean chances, but 16 minutes into the second half, Mun Eun-ju took advantage of a scramble in the box to volley home from close range and seal the match.
Z.Kontos--AN-GR
