TEHRAN – Korea Republic and Iran settled for a goalless draw in their AFC U23 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026 opening Group C match on Wednesday.

The 2020 champions Korea Republic will face debutants Lebanon on Saturday while Iran will have their hands full against 2018 winners Uzbekistan.

The teams started strongly but play soon turned scrappy, with Korea Republic thinking they had opened the scoring in the 19th minute but midfielder Bae Hyun-seo was ruled to have scored from an offside position. 

Iran could have broken the stalemate in the 35th minute but an unmarked Reza Ghandipour – with only keeper Hong Seong-min to beat – fumbled his close range header.

Lee Chan-ouk headed over the bar in the last minute of time added on as Korea Republic failed to turn their dominance into goals with Iran not having a single shot on target going into the break, the-afc.com reported.

Lee again started the second half by heading over the bar from the edge of the box after latching on to a cross from Kim Do-hyun.

The Korea Republic strike force seemed unable to get their game together, with an unguarded Kim Tae-won ballooning his shot from outside the area in the 66th minute.

At the other end, Ghandipour found space in the middle of the 18-yard box but his diving header to the right was way off target before Mohammad Khalifeh pulled off a superb save from Hong Seong-Min in the dying minutes to close out the match.