SARDAR AZMOUN and Mehdi Taremi were on target as Iran confirmed its spot in the 2018 World Cup finals with a 2-0 victory over Uzbekistan at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran on Monday.

It was Iran’s sixth win in eight matches in Group A which took the table-topper to 20 points, while South Korea is second with 13 ahead of its match against Qatar later.

Iran is still unbeaten in the third stage of qualifying and amazingly has not conceded a single goal during the campaign, thus underlining its credentials as one of Asia’s soccer giants.

On Monday, the side recorded its second win over Uzbekistan on the road to Russia, with Rostov forward Azmoun first finding the net in the 23rd minute with a right-footed shot from the left of the box following a through ball from Alireza Jahanbaksh.

Iran was clearly the dominant side in front of its home fans and could have easily emerged winners with an even more impressive scoreline but for some lackluster finishing.

In the 48th minute Taremi drew a foul from Akmal Shorakhmedov, but Masoud Shojaei fired the resulting penalty high over the crossbar.

The Uzbeks struggled for momentum and failed to break down the famed Iranian defense, eventually conceding their second goal of the match in the 88th minute with Taremi finishing from Azmoun’s pass.

Iran has played in the World Cup finals four times in the past — in 1978, 1998, 2006 and 2014.

The side joins host Russia and five-time champion Brazil in securing a place for the tournament, which runs from June 14 to July 15, 2018.(SD-Agencies)