The 2012 Hazfi Cup final was the 25th edition of the Hazfi Cup since 1975. The match between Esteghlal and Shahin Bushehr took place on 15 March 2012 at the Hafezieh Stadium. Esteghlal beat Shahin Bushehr 4–1 on penalties and qualified for the 2013 AFC Champions League.

Format The rules for the final was exactly the different as the one for the previous knockout rounds. The tie was contested over one legs. If the teams could still not be separated, then extra time would have been played with a penalty shootout (taking place if the teams were still level after that). Both teams have agreed Hafezieh Stadium in Shiraz as the final venue but it was announced that because of Hafezieh's ground qualify in winter, the final match will be transferred to the newly established Ghadir Stadium in Ahvaz. It was later denied.

Road to the finals

EsteghlalRoundShahin BushehrOpponentResultH/AEsteghlal goalscorersSecond stageOpponentResultH/AShahin Bushehr goalscorers Shirin Faraz Kermanshah 5–1 H Milad Meydavoudi(2), Mohsen Yousefi(2), Esmaeil Sharifat1/16 Final Nirooye Zamini 3–1 H Ivan Petrovic, Abbas Pourkhosravani Mehr Karaj 1–0 H Ali Ahmadi (OG) 1/8 Final Aboomoslem Khorasan 1–0 A Mehdi Noori Persepolis 3–0 A Mojtaba Jabbari(2), Esmaeil SharifatQuarter-Final Damash Gilan 2–1 A Mehdi Noori, Morteza Aziz-Mohammadi Shahrdari Yasuj 1–0 H Hanif OmranzadehSemi-Final Mes Kerman 2–0 H Mehdi Noori, Ivan Petrovic

Match + Match statistics Esteghlal Shahin BushehrGoals scored 0 0Total shots 15 19Shots on target 9 17Ball possession 49% 51%Corner kicks 3 6Fouls committed 4 6Yellow cards 0 1Red cards 0 0 Shahin was qualified for the first time to the final but it was Esteghlal's 9th final performance. The match was scoreless after 120 minutes but there had been numerous scoring chances on both sides. Mehdi Noori had a good chance in the first half and shot for the goal but was hit to the goalpostwas. In the second half, Fereydoun Zandi, Arash Borhani and Jlloyd Samuel had many chances but all of them was kept out with a one-handed save by Shahin goalkeeper Vahid Talebloo, a former Esteghlal player. Ali Ansarian's shot was forced saves by Esteghlal goalkeeper Mehdi Rahmati. The game was end 0-0 and was advanced to the extra times.

In the extra times, both team tried to have an aggressive play in order to scoring the winning goal. In 112, Milad Meydavoudi hit a free kick but was saved by defensive wall. Goran Jerković also had a chance but was out of the gate.

The Blues proved to be the superior side with all four of their penalty takers converting from the spot, while only one of the three Shahin players stepping behind the ball withstood the pressure and summoned the necessary composure to score. In the penalties, Mohsen Yousefi, a left foot Midfielder scored Esteghlal's first goal. After that Mehdi Noori's shoot was out of target. Then, Fereydoun Zandi, a German-Iranian footballer, scored the second goal for Esteghlal. Shokouhmagham was behind the wall but his shoot was saved by Mehdi Rahmati. Jlloyd Samuel scored Esteghlal's third goal. Ali Ansarian scored for Shahin the first goal but Goran Jerković converted the winning penalty and Esteghlal won the trophy 4–1.

Match details

Esteghlal: GK 1 Mehdi Rahmati CB 33 Pejman Montazeri CB 5 Hanif OmranzadehLB 3 Mehdi Amirabadi (c) RB 40 Ali Hamoudi DM 16 Meysam Hosseini CM 12 Jlloyd SamuelCM 32 Ferydoon Zandi LM 37 Esmaeil Sharifat RM 2 Khosro HeydariCF 9 Arash BorhaniSubstitutes:GK 22 Hadi Zarrin SaedDF 4 Hamid AzizzadehMF 29 Tohid GholamiMF 11 Mohsen Yousefi DF 31 Javad ShirzadFW 20 Goran Jerković FW 10 Milad Meydavoudi Manager: Parviz Mazloomi |valign="top"|

Shahin Bushehr: GK 30 Vahid Talebloo (c)CB 16 Lek KciraCB 8 Ali AnsarianLB 11 Mohsen IrannejadRB 3 Hadi Shakouri CM 6 Mehdi NooriCM 18 Amjad Shokouh MaghamLM 10 Abbas PourkhosravaniAM 21 Ivan Petrovic RM 33 Morteza Aziz-Mohammadi CF 27 Mansour Tanhaei Substitutes:GK 22 Majid GholamiMF 31 Saeid BayatDF 24 Babak Latifi MF 18 Mehrzad Rezaee MF 23 Mehdi Kiani MF 14 Hamid Reza SoleimaniDF 29 Bahman Shirvani Manager: Hamid Derakhshan

Assistant referees: Hassan Kamranifar Rasoul Foroughi Fourth official: Hossein Asghari

Match rules: 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary Penalty shoot-out if scores still level Seven named substitutes Maximum of three substitutions

Champions

See also 2011–12 Iran Pro League 2011–12 Azadegan League 2011–12 Iran Football's 2nd Division 2011–12 Iran Football's 3rd Division 2011–12 Hazfi Cup Super Cup 2012 2011–12 Iranian Futsal Super League

References