The Iranian side may have only beaten Saudi Arabia’s Al Faisaly 1-0 but Foolad dominated from start to finish at the Al Thumama Stadium in Doha on Monday and Nekounam was delighted with their performance.

“I am happy for this win. I am also happy that my team is one of the best four teams in West Asia,” said Nekounam.

“I must congratulate my players as they played with the plan we had. We didn’t give any chance to our rivals and our players had the passion to win and they did.”

Captain Sasan Ansari’s 64th minute strike ultimately proved enough for Foolad to take its place to the quarterfinals in west.