Tehran, Jan 4 (IANS): The Iranian national football team defeated Iraq 1-0 in a friendly match held at the WIN Stadium in Sydney, Australia, Sunday.

The Iranian team created a couple of chances in the first half but failed to score though they had superior ball possession, reports Xinhua.

In the 56th minute, Russian football club Rubin Kazan's striker Sardar Azmoun scored the only goal of the match for Iran.

Iraq put pressure on their opponents and created chances to equalise after they were 0-1 behind but failed to score.

Just after the hour mark, Iraq earned a penalty, but the team captain Younis Mahmoud missed a penalty to level the scores. Iraq also came close to extending the lead five minutes later but they were denied by the bar.

The two teams played the friendly as part of their preparations for the 2015 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup, which will kick off in Australia Jan 9.

Iran have been drawn in Group C along with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.