Kaveh Rezaei scored twice as Iran edged out Syria 2-0 at Pakhtakor Stadium on Sunday to secure an AFC U-16 Championship semi-final berth and a trip to the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

With the tight quarter-final contest heading for extra time, Rezaei rounded off a swift Iran counter-attack with 11 minutes remaining to give his side the lead.

And after Iran’s Iman Shirazi was sent-off, Rezaei sealed their berth in Wednesday’s semi-finals and a trip to Nigeria next year in the last minute.

Bahram Dabbagh could have handed Iran the lead after just six minutes but after skipping two challenges on the edge of the area, lifted his angled shot over the crossbar.

With Iran edging possession and territory, Syria’s Mohammad Ali tried his luck from the edge of the area midway through the half but scuffed his shot on the turn and comfortably rolled towards goalkeeper Iman Sadeghi.

Four minutes before the break, Sadegh Pourmohammaddoust’s long throw caused a scramble in the Syrian area but Rezaei failed to capitalise as he hooked the loose ball over the bar from outside the six-yard area.

Moments later, Rezaei fired straight at Abdula Al Sarut from the edge of the area before Mehrgan Golbarg blazed wide from distance as Iran ended a quiet first-half on top.

Syria’s first real chance of the contest came three minutes after the break as Mohammad Kalaa-Jei broke through two challenges inside the area and crossed from the byline but Hameed Medo sent a diving header over the crossbar from closer range.

Six minutes, later Sadeghi was at full stretch to pull Kalaa-Jei’s rising shot from the edge of the area out of the top corner as Syria started to assert themselves in the contest.

With 18 minutes remaining, Afshin Esmaeilzadeh tested Al Sarut from the edge of the area before Aghaj Imanighareh forced the Syria goalkeeper to make a low save from his drilled 30-yard strike.

But with the game seemingly heading for extra time, captain Rayam Sadeghian surged down the Syrian right as Iran launched a counter-attack and pulled back a low cross to the penalty spot for Rezaei to rifle home.

Shirazi was then sent off after collecting a second yellow card before Al Sarut failed to hold Sadeghian’s low drive which allowed Rezaei to finish from a tight angle to claim his fourth goal of the tournament.