09/30/2005
Afshin, lastkick.com

Round five of IPL provided a couple of surprises. Pas was defeated by Shamooshak in Noshahr and leaders Zob-Ahan managed to get only one point from bottom dwellers Fajr.

Friday, September 30

Fajr – Zob-Ahan 0:0

Playing in front of a small home crowed of only 3000 Fajr ended Zob-Ahan’s four game winning streak. Fajr looked more energetic and creative throughout the game and came close to scoring a number of times.

Sepahan – Bargh 1:0 (0:0)

To Bargh’s surprise Sepahan fielded three attackers for this game, something that they had not attempted all year. Bargh seemed to have recovered from the initial surprise as they stood up to Sepahan's constant pressur through the first half. However, in the second half Sepahan broke through as Seyyed Mehdi Seyyed-Salehi gave them the lead.

Mahmood Karimi of Sepahan was the best player on the pitch this day. Sepahan's Brazilian coach, Edson Tavares, went out of his way to praise Karimi’s performance during his post game interview. Sepahan now trails Zob-Ahan by only one point.
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9/29/2005
fcbayern.de

By far the most-asked question two days in advance of Bayern's Bundesliga meeting with VfL Wolfsburg was whether Michael Ballack would take to the training ground or not. The answer was visible out on the field of play. The Germany captain exited the professionals' quarters at 4 pm and joined his team-mates on the pitch. So, he is training, the gaggle of spectators and reporters thought. But a glance at the player's feet dampened the sense of relief, as Ballack was wearing running shoes.

The 29-year-old gently lapped the facility for some 30 minutes while the rest of the squad were put through their paces as normal. The bruised thigh which forced the midfielder off the field 10 minutes from time against Bruges on Tuesday was still causing him problems. However, he is expected to complete the squad session on Friday before a decision on his fitness to face the Wolves on Saturday.
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09/29/2005
Afshin, lastkick.com

Playing without injured Mehdi Mahdavikia (Muscle fiber tear), Bastian Reinhardt (Pulled thigh muscle), and Collin Benjamin (Knee) Hamburg SV extended their unbeaten streak to 18 games and secured a place in the UEFA Cup group stage by defeating FC København thanks to a stoppage time penalty by Rafael van der Vaart. 12 minutes into the second half Sergej Barbarez had an opportunity to give HSV the lead, but his penalty kick was saved by Copenhagen goalkeeper Jesper Christiansen.

09/29/2005
Afshin, lastkick.com

In the battle of the Blues the originals came out on top. Esteghlal of Tehran defeated Esteghlal of Ahvaz by goals from Reza Enayati (11’) and Syavash Akbarpour (89’). Although Tehran’s first goal came in early, the game had a very slow pace throughout the first half. Starting with the second half Ahvaz increased their pressure; however, their strikers could not convert on a couple of good opportunities. Tehran was content with their one goal lead and did not take many chances and mostly relied on counter attacking opportunities in one of which Akbarpour delivered the killer blow and put the game out of Ahvaz’s reach. The game was played in Abadan in front of 16,000 noisy Ahvaz fans.

In the other game Saba-Battery was defeated by Rah-Ahan. Rah-Ahan's loan goal was scored by Hadi Asghari on 49th minute. The game was played in Ekbatan stadium in Tehran.

More week 5 games are scheduled for tomorrow and Sunday.

09/29/2005
By Paul Hughes

TEHRAN (Reuters) – English soccer's most famous club, Manchester United, has taken centre stage in this year's hottest theatre production in Iran.

Extra seating had to be set up on the stage itself to accommodate the crowds who flocked to see Iranian writer-director Mohammad Rahmanian's F.A.N.S, which depicts a dysfunctional, soccer-mad family living in 1960s Manchester.

Now embarking on an international tour including Sweden and Canada, the play centres on the life of the Shelton family — Frankie, Agnes, Nancy and Sonny — whose first initials make up the play's title and its central theme.

"I had wanted to write about prejudice-induced violence for a long time until I hit on football (as the vehicle) and where on earth could be a better location for a football play than England?" Rahmanian told Reuters during a break in rehearsals.

"The research for this work took two years. I went to different Web sites, interviewed fans of several teams and all that made this play one of the toughest ones I'd ever written," said Rahmanian, who has never been to Manchester and has only briefly visited Britain.

Despite the play's foreign setting, it struck a chord in the soccer-mad Islamic Republic.

"I don't think it makes any difference where the story is happening when it's about football," said Taraneh Alidousti, who plays the part of Agnes.

The play's central character Frankie is played by Parviz Parastoui, one of Iran's foremost theatre actors and the lead in the 2004 smash-hit comedy film The Lizard, about a convict who dons a cleric's robes to escape the law.
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September 29, 2005
The Times
By Oliver Kay

SOMETHING about Chelsea is anathema to your typical Liverpudlian, whether it is nouveau-riche arrogance, the Cockney swagger of Frank Lampard or simply, as the Kop have been known to sneer, that they have “no history”.

After their fifth meeting in nine months and the first of two this week alone, though, accusations about a lack of dignity might be secondary to the first doubts to have emerged about Chelsea’s supposed invincibility as Liverpool claimed what the rest of the Barclays Premiership will desperately cling to as a moral victory.

José Mourinho might claim that there is no such thing in football and prefer to point out that his team drew at the home of the European champions — if indeed he is prepared to acknowledge Liverpool’s status as such — but Chelsea were made to look ordinary last night for the first time since their nervous opening-day victory over Wigan Athletic in the Premiership.
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09/28/2005
Afshin, lastkick.com

See the Daily News section for match reports.

Matchday 2 – September 28, 2005

E – Schalke – Milan 2:2
E РFenerbah̤e РPSV 3:0

F – Rosenborg – Lyon 0:1
F – Real Madrid – Olympiacos 2:1

G – Liverpool – Chelsea 0:0
G – Anderlecht – Betis 0:1

H – Internazionale – Rangers 1:0
H – Porto – Artmedia 2:3

Kevin McCarra
Wednesday September 28, 2005
The Guardian

The memories of Anfield in early May keep flaring up, particularly since those who were there still have a ringing in their ears from the sonic boom of the crowd. A unique occasion such as that return leg of the European Cup semi-final cannot, by definition, be restaged. No matter the result, the aftermath is bound to feel different whether or not Liverpool repeat their win.

This evening's victors will be chuffed; the losers will know that there is every likelihood that they are still bound for the knock-out phase of the tournament. Autumn teems with second chances. There is a mellowness even to the Chelsea players who decline to be haunted by the ghost goal from Luis García which decided the tie even though the ball probably did not cross the line.

A belated sportsmanship is in the air. "Looking back," said the striker Didier Drogba, "we realised quite quickly that Liverpool deserved to play the final." That is the nub of the matter.

The composed approach of Rafael Benítez's side at Stamford Bridge gave the first inkling that they could win the tournament and the ease with which, say, Dietmar Hamann could stifle Chelsea at Anfield exposed shortcomings.

The visitors, having clinched the Premiership title three days earlier, were trying to surf a wave of adrenalin, but soon looked all washed up on Merseyside. The recollections are so fresh that people overlook the number of changes Jose Mourinho has made since those semi-final games. Of the team that started at Anfield up to half-a-dozen players may not feature tonight.
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09/27/2005
Afshin, lastkick.com

See the Daily News section for match reports.

Matchday 2 – September 27,2005

A – Bayern – Club Brugge 1:0
A – Juventus – Rapid 3:0

B – Ajax – Arsenal 1:2
B – Thun – Sparta 1:0

C – Panathinaikos – Bremen 2:1
C – Barcelona – Udinese 4:1

D – Man. United – Benfica 2:1
D – Lille – Villarreal 0:0

09/27/2005
Afshin, lastkick.com

Week 5 matches are split between two days. There will be two matches on Thursday and six on Friday. The battle of the two Esteghlals should be the most interesting match up of this week, followed by Perspolis and Shahid-Ghandi.

Thursday, June 29

Esteghlal Ahvaz vs. Esteghlal (Abadan)

This must be the most intriguing game of this week. There are so many stories behind the story that one may actually forget about the real story, the game! For one, former Esteghlal star and coach Naser Hejazi who is now Ahvaz’ technical director has been trading jabs with Esteghlal coach Amir Ghalehnoei in public. Ghalehnoei who by no means can be considered a shy fellow has been taking some good shots back at Hejazi lately. Yesterday Hejazi made some comments that may be considered by some as a prevention tactic. He said that he was not involved in his clubs tactical and technical decisions and those responsibilities all rested with Armenian coach Martik Khachatourian.

Anyway, these two clubs are very evenly matched; however, Esteghlal has history on their side. Esteghlal may be without international Alireza Vahedi-Nikbakht and Siavash Akbarpour due to injury’s sustained in practice. It will be interesting to see what transpires on the field.

- Advantage Esteghlal of Tehran

Rah-Ahan vs. Saba Battery (Ekbatan)

If it was not for the fact that Saba-Battery will be representing Iran in next year’s AFC Champions League, no one would have cared about what goes on in their camp. They are just another one of the many Tehran based teams who have a hard time filling up the seats. Anyway, Majid Jalali is no longer the coach. He is keeping himself busy writing letters to the president these days. They have allowed a league high 10 goals and have had a hard time scoring. Jalali’s replacement, Mohammad-Hossein Ziaei will have a hard time pulling the team together after their humiliating loss to Ahvaz last week.

Having allowed a total of 4 goals, Rah-Ahan’s defense is not bad. The trouble is that their offense happens to be the lowest scoring in the league with only one goal to their name!

Just because Saba has the stronger roster that includes a few former and current internationals advantage must go to them

- Advantage Saba
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