TEHRAN: Some 2,000 women were among the pandemic-restricted 11,000 fans who saw Iran beat Iraq 1-0 and qualify for the finals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

This was only the second time in 40 years that Iran had allowed the presence of women after several weeks of doubt.

The tickets for the women were not put on sale and the authorities distributed them to associations and cultural groups at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran.

The scorer of the decisive goal was scored by Porto striker Mehdi Taremi in the 48th minute. The team coached by Croat Dragan Skocic leads Asia zone A with 19 points, 10 more than the United Arab Emirates, third, with three games to play.

Iran are the first Asian team to qualify and this will be the third consecutive World Cup in which it has participated and the sixth in its history.

This was the second match in which women have been allowed to enter stadiums in Iran since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

The ban was broken on October 10, 2019, with 3,500 women in attendance at the same 78,000-capacity Azadi Stadium.

The ban on attending matches led to many female fans sneaking into stadiums dressed as men and sometimes leading to their arrest.

The turning point was the death of the young fan Sahar Jodayari, who blew herself up in 2019 when she learned that she could be sentenced to six months in prison for sneaking into a stadium.

Her death prompted FIFA to pressure Tehran to allow women in 2022 World Cup qualifying matches and warned that Iran would face sanctions if they did not.

South Korea are one step away from qualifying for Qatar after beating Lebanon 1-0 in Sidon with a goal from Cho Gue-sung in Asian Group A.

The South Koreans, who missed injured stars Son Heung-min and Hwang Hee-chan have 17 points in 7 games.

Cho scored the only goal by converting a cross from Hwang Ui-jo. The brothers Alexander and Felix Melki hit the posts for Lebanon, led by Ivan Hasek.

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