Soccer-Azmoun to lead Iran attack against Iraq

By Julian Linden CANBERRA, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Sardar Azmoun was given the nod ahead of Reza Choochannejhad to lead Iran's attack in Friday's Asian Cup quarter-final against bitter rivals Iraq at Canberra Stadium. Azmoun was named as the starting striker after scoring the winner in Iran's Group C win over Qatar last week with Choochannejhad remaining on the bench. Choochannejhad came on as a substitute and scored the winner in stoppage time in the final, decisive group match against United Arab Emirates and Iran coach Carlos Quieroz has again decided to keep him fresh. Quieroz made four changes to the team that started against UAE, naming the same experienced lineup he picked against Qatar. Ehsan Hajisafi, Masoud Shojaei, Vouria Ghafouri and Ashkan Dejagah were all recalled to the run-on team with Soroush Rafiei, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Vahid Amiry and Khosro Heidari returning to the bench. Emotions are always high when Iran and Iraq meet on the football pitch with the political history between the two Middle Eastern neighbours always providing both teams with added motivation. A vocal crowd was in full voice at Canberra Stadium before kick off and with a place in the semi-finals against South Korea at stake, both teams have urged their players to keep a cool head. "The main thing, the most important thing, is to be focused and concentrate on our duties and our tasks. We know what to do, fight, play and enjoy the game," Quieroz said. "From a preparation point of view, we are ready. Fortunately, from an injury point of view, all the players are perfect and we don't have any restrictions in terms of disciplinary issues." Iraq, Asian Cup champions in 2007, made one change to the team that started in their last Group D match against Palestine, which they won 2-0 at Canberra. Alaa Abdul Zahra, who missed the last match because of suspension returned at right wing for Amjad Kalaf. "It's a strong match between two strong teams and we're at a stage in the competition where both the sets of coaching staff know each other's team very well," said Iraq coach Radhi Shenaishil. "It's not going to be an easy match between the two teams but hopefully we can produce something." Lineups: Iran - 1-Alireza Haghighi; 11-Vouria Ghafouri, 4-Jalal Hosseini, 8-Morteza Pouraliganji; 23-Mehrdad Pooladi, 14-Andranik Teymourian, 6-Javad Nekounam (captain), 21-Ashkan Dejagah, 7-Masoud Shojaei, 3-Ehsan Hajisafi; 20-Sardar Azmoun. Iraq - 12-Jalal Hasssan; 23-Waleed Salim, 2-Ahmed Ibrahim, 14-Salam Shakir, 15-Dhurgham Ismail; 21-Saad Abdul Amir, 5-Yaser Kasim, 17-Alaa Abdul Zahra, 8-Justin Meram, 9-Ahmed Yasin; 10-Younis Mahmoud (captain). (Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)