Iranian fans at Stadium Australia in Sydney during the match Iran vs Qatar. Photo by Mostafa Azizpour used with permission.

Iran's 1-0 win against Qatar secured them a place in the quarterfinals, making the team one of the favourites to reach the Asian Cup 2015 finals.

Team “Melli” (Melli means “national” in Farsi) has not been playing a “beautiful” game but is being effective when it comes to putting the ball in the net. However, Iran created a couple of opportunities and could have scored at least one more goal in the 1 – 0 match against Qatar held at Stadium Australia in Sydney and counting for the 2015 edition of the football Asian Cup tournament. 

Portuguese national Carlos Queiroz, Iran`s coach during press conference at Stadium Australia. Photo by Mostafa Azizpour used with permission.

Carlos Queiroz`s squad started this Asian Cup 2015 with a 2-0 victory against Bahrain, taking its first three points. Iran plays in group C alongside with UAE, Bahrain, and Qatar.

Queiroz, a Portuguese national, has had a long career as coach for the Portuguese national team, Manchester United and Real Madrid, to name a few. The Professor, as he often called by the Portuguese media, took the challenge from Iran`s Football Federation leading the Persians to the last World Cup in Brazil where they faced colossal Argentina and didn`t  move on to the knockout stage.

The Asian Cup is an international competition of 16 football teams from Asia, run by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The winner of this competition automatically qualifies for the FIFA Confederations Cup.

Stadium Australia in Sydney has a capacity of 85K seats, of which more than 22.5K were taken and the majority by Persian fans including many women – Iranian women are fighting to overturn the ban to attend sports events in Iran:

#AsianCup2015 Sad that those fans who are powering #TeamMelli in Aust are banned from doing so in Iran. @RitaPanahi @JoshFrydenberg

— Vince (@gullibles) January 16, 2015

Josephine Kneipp noted the strong Iranian presence at the stadium:

We are in the centre of Iran tonight and it's fabulous! #AsianCup2015 #AC2015 #QATvIRN #straya @ ANZ… http://t.co/UUmHRRaPD9

— Josephine Kneipp (@kneipping) January 15, 2015

Australian photographer Keith McInnes tweeted a photo of Iranian fans who had come to the stadium to watch their football heroes live: 

Iran fans @ANZStadium warming up @Iran_Football @afcasiancup @sydney_sider @theturfau @TweetWhiteLine #AsianCup2015 pic.twitter.com/UoAf9J0TAX

— Keith McInnes (@KeithMcInnes) January 15, 2015

The Iranian fans were a lively bunch, Twitter users said: 

Crowd is electric at stadium Australia #Asiancup2015 @afcasiancup #qtrvsirn

— Daniel Wilson (@spudknot) January 15, 2015

It sounds like there is 50k Iranians at anz,what an atmosphere!!#IRNvQTR #goiran #AsianCup2015

— Michael Sgourdas (@mjsgourdas) January 15, 2015

A warm summer night only added to the match, already full of excitement. Final result: Team Melli beat Qatar by one goal. Sardar Azmoun booked Iran's passage into the Asian Cup quarterfinals by scoring the only goal of the match. Iran has now six points and is second on Group C, following UAE also with six points.

Poor defending but wonderful turn & finish by Sardar Azmoun for #Iran v #Qatar https://t.co/5vdqsTbb7Y #TeamMelli #AsianCup2015

— Eoghan mac Suibhne (@buileshuibhne) January 15, 2015

This year´s Asian Cup is hosted by Australia for the first time since they joined the Confederation in 2007. They are also favourites to win, as are Japan, Iran and South Korea.

The 2015 tournament is notable for the debut of the Palestine National Team. Palestine qualified after winning the AFC Challenge Cup, their first major trophy. They are placed in group D, alongside Japan, Jordan and Iraq.