Iran shattered China's Asian Games football gold medal hopes on Saturday with a marathon quarter-final penalty shootout win while Iraq's dream continued with a 2-1 extra-time triumph over Uzbekistan. In two dramatic matches, there were a total of four red cards and a whopping 26 bookings.
Defending champions Iran will now take on either Qatar or Thailand for a place in the final while Iraq, playing their first Asian Games for 20 years, face either North or South Korea.
China, who had led 2-1 at one stage despite playing the last 30 minutes with 10 men, saw their hopes come to an end when Zhao Ming clattered the 18th penalty-kick against the crossbar to hand Iran an 8-7 shootout win. Arash Borhani gave Iran a 39th-minute lead when he escaped China's offside trap and guided the ball around goalkeeper Wang Dalei for his fourth goal of the competition.
His confident finish won't have pleased the Chinese as he deliberately stopped the ball on the goal-line and waved his colleagues to join him in celebration before tapping the ball home. Iraq had the perfect start at Al Gharrafa against Uzbekistan when Karrar Muhamed gave them a 10th-minute lead.
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