Iran Question Arab Referee Pick for Asian Cup Match Against Qatar

Iran defender Saeid Ezatolahi has questioned the appointment of a Kuwaiti referee for their Asian Cup semi-final against hosts and holders Qatar.

Ahmad Al-Ali, who has taken charge of two group games and a last-16 tie at the tournament, is reportedly set to take charge of the February 7 match between the Iranian and Qatari teams in Doha.

"What is a little bit surprising for us is that the referee for tomorrow's match is from Kuwait, he's an Arab," Ezatolahi, who plays for Danish club Vejle, told reporters on February 6.

"But we are the Iran national team, we are a very big team. We have very good players, we are professional," he added.

Iran reached the semi-finals after beating pre-tournament favorites Japan 2-1, despite having only two days to recover after their last-16 tie against Syria went to extra time and penalties.

"In this tournament the players didn't have enough time to recover, specifically in the knockout stage," Ezatolahi said. "Many of the players came straight from their clubs and are under a lot of pressure here."

Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei took a shot at the Video Assistant Referees (VAR), saying: “I can say that VAR was not very kind to us.”

“We had a situation in the match against Japan that could have been a penalty on Sardar Azmoun, but VAR did not check it for us," the coach said. "But we have to be stronger than everything that is happening at this tournament."

Asked about the referee for the match against Iran, Qatar coach Tintin Marquez said he was "only focusing on my own team.”

The Spaniard, however, spoke about the lack of time for recovery, saying, "If we speak about preparation for tomorrow's game it was a very short time, we had only two days to prepare.”