Qatar leave out Khalfan for crunch Iran clash

By Nick Mulvenney SYDNEY (Reuters) - Qatar have left former Asian Player of the Year Khalfan Ibrahim out of their starting line-up for their crunch Asian Cup Group C clash against Iran at Stadium Australia on Thursday. The playmaker's absence was one of two changes to the side the Gulf Cup champions put out in their 4-1 hammering at the hands of the United Arab Emirates in their opener. Khalfan scored Qatar's only goal in that match, which leaves them needing a victory to keep alive their hopes of progressing from Group C, and his absence looks certain to be injury-related. Abdelaziz Hatim was also dropped to the bench with winger Boualem Khoukhi and forward Ismail Mohamad coming into the starting line-up. Algerian coach Djamel Belmadi has, however, kept faith with goalkeeper Qasem Burhan despite his woeful performance in Canberra. Iran coach Carlos Queiroz made just one change to his side, largely keeping faith with the starting line-up that won their opener 2-0 against Bahrain on Sunday. Sardar Azmoun replaces the more experienced Reza Ghoochannejhad up front. Queiroz had said that the lack of warm-up games before the tournament meant keeping continuity was more important for Iran than for other teams. "This will be an opportunity to establish and keep the core of the team because we have not been playing so much," the former Real Madrid manager said. "We played one game which was the first that most of the players played together, so I need to take advantage of the situation." Iran's win over Bahrain means a victory over Qatar will secure the three-times champions a place in the last eight for the sixth straight tournament. Teams: Qatar - Qasem Burhan; Almahdi Ali Mukhtar, Ibrahim Majed, Mohammed Abdullah Tresor, Abdelkarim Hassan; Mohammed Muntari, Karim Boudiaf, Boualem Khoukhi; Hasan Al-Haydos, Ismail Mohamad, Ahmed Mohamed Elsayed Iran - Alireza Haghighi, Ehsan Hajisafi, Jalal Hosseini, Javad Nekounam, Masoud Shojaei, Morteza Pouraliganji, Vouria Ghafouri, Andranik Teymourian, Sardar Azmoun, Ashkan Dejagah, Mehrdad Pooladi (Editing by John O'Brien)