The Australian men's under 23s have secured a valuable point in their opening Stage 2 Olympic qualifying match with a scoreless draw against Iran in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium overnight.

There were few chances for either team in the match played in cold conditions with snow falling in the Iranian capital the day prior to the match.

Iran started strongly and had their best opportunity of the match after just seven minutes with Iranian left-winger Milad Meydavoudi unable to beat Australia's goalkeeper Danny Vukovic in a one-on-one situation.

Newcastle Jets striker Mark Bridge fired a fierce shot over the crossbar just on half time, while fellow forward David Williams also came close on the hour mark with an attempt on goal.

Australia were without influential Newcastle United midfielder Stuart Musialik who returned prior to the match with a recurrence of a shoulder injury.

Australia will now meet Jordan in their second Group D match to be played at Adelaide’s Hindmarsh Stadium on Wednesday 14 March.

In the other Group D match Saudi Arabia beat Jordan 1-0 in Amman. 

Australia defeated Chinese Taipei 12-0 on aggregate earlier this month to qualify for the second qualifying stage.

The 24-team second round qualifying, which has been split into six groups of four, runs through February 28 to June 6, with the top two teams in each group advancing to the final round to be played in three groups of four teams each.

The final home and away round will be held from August 22 - November 21, with the three group winners representing Asia at the Beijing Olympic Games.

Football Australia