“I’d like to thank all my players as we achieved victory, but we need to be more clinical, and I am a bit disappointed today,” he said. “Our players were quite nervous (in the opening stages), because this was our first match.” “Iran played with six defenders so we needed to stretch the play more and attack the half-spaces more (and I told them this at half-time). The time we have for preparation is really short during such tournaments, so we need to focus on video analysis meetings (and use them to improve).”

Despite defeat, Marziyeh Jafari was satisfied with the efforts of Team Melli Banovan, playing in only their second Finals, against an Asian power that has featured 14 times in the tournament and been to the FIFA Women’s World Cup on four occasions.

Putting their bodies on the line repeatedly, the Central Asians frustrated their opponents and Jafari pointed out that the three goals conceded were due to lapses in concentration. “We knew that we would have a tough game ahead as Korea is one of the toughest teams in Asia,” the 43-year-old said. “They played very well, so I congratulate them and I hope we can come back to the competition powerfully.

“We had a strategy for the second half and we put pressure (on them); we transitioned from defensive to offensive (tactics). We had an individual error for the penalty and also the set-piece (goal conceded) was one of our players’ fault. But I think the team performance was very good.” The lowest FIFA-ranked side in the group, Jafari knows that the odds will remain against them in their upcoming matches against Australia and the Philippines, but chose to embrace the situation.

“I know we had a tough game but this match is finished and (now) we have to put all our concentration into the next match,” she said. “But in my opinion, playing tough matches is enjoyable and the players can gain so much good experience for the future (and become better).”