11/17/2007
By Kaveh Mahjoob, lastkick.com

Sweet Victory for Perspolis!

With a 95th minute amazing goal, capping ten minutes of persistent attacks, Perspolis continued her string of successes in Iran’s Premier League. Khalili, a leading scorer for Saipa until last year, scored the golden goal, his eight goal of the season in the extra time so that Perspolis has another week without a loss. Afshin Ghotbi, Perspolis’s head coach, saw his team yet again come through a week of controversy off the field with a sweet victory. Over the last week, Perspolis’s General Manager resigned from the club and was asked to return, several players complained about lack of playing time and much was made of Ghotbi and his assistant, Estili, disagreements. At the end, the technical team regrouped and so did the club on the field.

For Saipa and coach Ali Daei, the loss was tough. Last year champion is now in 15th place and only 1 point ahead of the relegation zone.

Although Sepahan has played 5 games less than Perspolis, it is hard to imagine that they could win all of their postponed matches and get ahead of Perspolis. On Monday, Sepahan will make up this week’s postponed match against a tough Barg. This would be Sepahan’s first game after the Asian Champions League final when they lost in Japan. Sepahan has a solid and united team. Coach Bonacic will continue prepare his team for Iran’s league but his eyes will be also focused for the FIFA World Club later in December in Japan.

Esteghlal won for the second week in a row. Ever since Coach Hejazi was demoted to the position of “technical manager”, the club has won two games. Interestingly, the BLUES still don’t have a head coach.

Second place Saba Battery won on the road in Abadan. The game was played in an empty stadium as the host was punished for prior fans’ disturbances. Saba Battery will play Sepahan next in a match of the week.

Malavan continued to surprise with a road victory against Paykan in Tehran. Last season, his Caspian Sea team was almost relegated but this year they are contending for a top three position.

COACHING UPDATE

As it has been a norm, more changes have taken place over the last two weeks.

Esteghlal (6th place) – Hejazi became the technical director. The club management announced the head coach of Esteghlal of Ahvaz as their new head coach. They forgot to negotiate such change with the other club. As such, Esteghlal has been without a head coach for two weeks.

Esteghlal of Ahvaz (8th place) – As explained above, their head coach was ‘taken away” by the Tehran club. At the moment, this team has a new technical director in Majid Jalali. Jalali won the league with Pas a few years ago but had a couple of unsuccessful attempts since then.

Shirin Faraz (14th place) – The Serbian head coach left and Fekri, the team Capitan and elder is now acting as the interim head coach.

Zobahan (16th place) – Zolfagharnasab is now the new head coach.

RESULTS

Here are the results of the 14th week:

Home teams are noted first

Perspolis 1 – Saipa 0

Moghavemat Sepasi 1 – Esteghlal 2

Sanat Naft 2 – Saba Battery 3

Pas 1 – Zobahan 1

Pegah 0 – Shirin Faraz 0

Rahahan 2 – Esteghlal of Ahvaz 2

Abumoslem 1 – Mes 0

Paykan 0 – Malavan 1

TABLE RANKINGS

1 – Perspolis 32 points

2 – Saba Battery 25

3 – Malavan 23

4 – Sepahan 22 (five games in hand)

5 – Barg – 21 (one game in hand)

6 – Esteghlal 20

…

15 – Saipa 13 (one game in hand)

BEHIND THE NUMBERS

0 and 0 – In eight home games, Pegah has not scored a goal. This club also has not won a match the entire season.

2.3 – Average # of goals per game so far this season.

4 – It is hard to believe that in any league a team would be allowed to have 4 games in hand. Once Sepahan plays on Monday, they still have played four games less than most teams.

5 – # of goals scored from the minutes 89 – 95 in week 14.

7 – Number of head coaching changes in 14 weeks.

23 – Last time Pegah won a match was 23 matches and two and half years ago. The date was March 11th, 2005. Pegah relegated in 2005 and returned to the top league this year.

25 – Perspolis streak is still alive. The club has not lost for 25 consecutive league matches going back to last season.

70,000 – The fans are still showing in masses to watch Perspolis play at home. A typical home game brings in 65,000-75,000 fans to the Azadi Stadium.

Kaveh_Mahjoob@hotmail.com