Coach Ali Doustimehr hailed a team effort after Iran downed Syria 2-0 on Sunday to advance to the AFC U-16 Championship semi-finals.

Iran dominated for long spells of the quarter-final clash at Pakhtakor Stadium but failed to convert a number of chances until Kaveh Rezaei struck twice in the final 11 minutes to set-up a semi-final with the UAE and secure a place at next year’s FIFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria.

However, Iran will be without Iman Shirazi for Wednesday’s semi-final at Pakhtakor Stadium after he was sent-off with four minutes remaining when he was shown a second yellow card.

Doustimehr’s side have been together for five years and he refused to single out two-goal hero Rezaei, who took his tournament tally to four in four matches.

"Football is a team game," he said.

"We cannot talk about one player. I pay attention to players on the bench more than the players on the pitch. Football is not an individual sport like karate.

"Eighteen months ago when we started to collect the players for camps, I promised the players we would get to the World Cup. We tried hard as a team, as a family, and worked very hard for this success," he added.

"We have qualified for the World Cup but this is also because of the hard work of coaches in Iran."

Syria coach Kifork Mardakyan, meanwhile, insisted the future is bright for his young side despite the setback.

"Our team is good and is improving with every game," he said.

"It is a young team, most of them were born in 1993, but there is a plan from the Syria Football Association to continue with this team for the Under-19 Championship and future Olympics."

Iran dominated the first half but following a morale-boosting team talk from Mardakyan, Syria made their presence felt more after the break before Rezaei’s late heartbreaking double.

"They were surprised by the size of the Iran players and in the first half they had some fear but at half-time I told them to play football and they started to play in the second half," he added.

"We wasted two chances at the start of the second half which were 100% goals, if we had scored these the game would have been over."