After not singing the national anthem before their opening game, the Iran players sang and saluted before playing Australia and the Philippines
The Iran women's football team became "heroes" when they declined to sing the country's national anthem at the Asian Cup, says former Iran men's head coach Afshin Ghotbi.
Iran's players were silent for the anthem in their opening match against South Korea on 2 March. It came amid the wider context of escalating conflict following strikes by the United States and Israel on their homeland since 28 February.
Iran has launched missiles and drones towards Israel and four Gulf Arab countries which host US military bases - Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
During weeks of anti-government protests in Iran in December and January, at least 7,000 protesters were killed in an unprecedented crackdown by security forces, according to human rights groups.
