Iran beat the United Arab Emirates 1-0 in the first leg of their World Cup playoff today, making a new bid for the finals after their surprise failure to earn automatic qualification earlier this week.
The home team dominated the first half, with Ali Karimi repeatedly causing problems for the UAE defence. Iran scored in the 45th minute courtesy of a long shot by midfielder Karim Bagheri.
Iran's superiority continued into the second half, despite the absence of leading players Ali Daei and Mehdi Mahdavikia, but they missed a succession of good chances.
About 50,000 fans turned up on a rainy day at Tehran's 100,000-capacity Azadi stadium.
Iranian security forces were present to prevent a repeat of the riots that erupted after Iran's 3-1 loss to Bahrain in their final Asian group qualifier on Sunday. The defeat cost Iran an automatic place in next year's tournament in Japan and South Korea.
Iran, who played in the last World Cup in France in 1998, are playing off over two legs against the UAE, with the winners going through to a playoff against the Republic of Ireland for a place in the finals.
Ireland manager Mick McCarthy was at Thursday's match in Tehran.