The Tehran Times reported on Sunday that defending champions Wuhan Jiangda of South Korea took the lead with seven points, three ahead of second-placed PFC Nasaf (Uzbekistan), while Bam Khatoon failed to advance to the finals with just three points.
Bam Khatoon goalkeeper Raha Yazdani brought her team into the match with a series of brilliant stops. In the 15th minute, he again denied Dai Chaein and made two solid saves to deny Kim Hye-ri and Song Fei’s long-range shots.
The breakthrough finally came in the added time of the first half, when Wuhan Jiangda capitalized on Mavis Owusu’s highest score and scored Song Fei’s accurate cross, which evaded Yazdani’s hands.
Bam Khatun were further behind in the 50th minute when Song Fei sent a pinpoint cross to Owusu, who calmly slotted the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal.
Iran tried to counterattack by forcing Mona Hammoudi to make a save from Wuhan Jiangda’s goalkeeper Ding Xuan, but the momentum did not change and they conceded another goal five minutes later.
Song Fei was once again the orchestrator, feeding Deng Menggui with a cross from the left after Yazdani went off the line to escape danger, and he headed into the empty goal.
Wuhan Jiangda clinched the victory in the 88th minute when Deng Mengxi hit the bar with a header and Zhao Jingyi converted the rebound to score from close range.
MNA