3/29/2006
Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

This article was originally written for World Cup Blog.

You know, now that everyone is following Euler’s lead, I can not be left out! I did write a list, but it was my Brazil list (I am a big fan of Brazil). But after reading Mexico, Croatia, Portugal, and Paraguay bloggers write their own team’s top 5 memories, I can not let Team Melli drag behind!

But, as most of you know Iran has been to the World Cup only two times prior to this; Argentina 1978 and France 1998. So I’ll have to cheat a bit and include World Cup qualifiers.

5) Iran 0:3 Netherlands (Argentina 1978) – Iran’s first ever game in the World Cup and it was against Netherland. I was in my early teens back then. My family and a bunch of friends were watching the game at our house.

Iranian players were in awe of the Dutch team which they had watched lose to Germany in the final, four years earlier. They were no match for the Dutch, and we all knew it. But a few minutes into the game one of the strikers (I can not remember who it was) broke free by some freak accident and ran straight at the Dutch goal, only to waste the chance. For those few seconds some of us were frozen in a state of disbelief, and others were jumping up and down yelling and screaming.

That was Iran’s only serious threat to the Dutch who won 3:0. Two of the goals came from the spot. Thinking back, I am glad they did not score that goal because I am sure the Dutch would have been pissed and scored even more goals on us!

4) Iran 1:1 Scotland (Argentina 1978) – This was Iran’s second game. An own goal in the first half had us down 1:0. In the second half, Iranian midfielder Iraj Danaeifard, who was marking Archie Gemmill, received a cross from fellow midfielder Mohammad Sadeghi, held off Gemmill for a few yards, and shot past Scottish goalkeeper Allen Rough from an impossible angle. That was Iran’s first ever goal in the World Cup stage. Iran 1, Scotland 1!

3) Iran 0:1 Yugoslavia (France 1998) – We were back on the big stage after 20 long years. This was our first game of the tournament. All of us were nervous. But to our pleasant surprise the boys held the Yugoslavs to a goalless draw for 72 minutes, and then came the free kick.

Our number one goal keeper Ahmedreza Abedzadeh was injured so his backup was in the goal for this game. As Yugoslav free kick specialist Sinisa Mihajlovic lined up to take the shot, we all saw (on TV) that the right side was open. We were all yelling at the TV screen, “Move to the right! Move to the right!” And then BANG! It hit the net! Iran lost 1:0, but played one hell of a game.

2) Iran 1:3 Bahrain (Japan/Korea 2002 WCQ) – Iran made it to the second stage of the AFC World Cup qualifying round and was in Group A along with Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Bahrain, and Thailand. We had a good team, but it was one that could not dominate opponents. Every single game was enough to give you an ulcer. In the last game of the group, we had to beat Bahrain in Manama or the Saudis would win the group and go to the World Cup.

We were sure that this was going to be a walk over. But to our surprise, Team Melli sleep- walked the first half and Bahrain took a 2:0 lead. In the second half the Bahrainis started their time wasting tactics which included faking injuries. This is no exaggeration; they would fall on the pitch two at a time every time an Iranian player got close to them. I have watched that game over and over. In one scene, three of them fell down at the same time, twisting and turning in agony as if they had every bone in their bodies broken. A friend of mine who watched the taped game on his VCR with a stopwatch in his hand, claimed that he clocked between 15 to 20 minutes of wasted time, and all of it associated with Bahrainis’ fake injuries.

Anyway, Bahrain won 3:1. Time wasting tactics not counting, they deserved it. Saudi Arabia won Group A and got their tickets to Korea/Japan.

My unforgettable moment #2 came right after the final whistle.

In a disgraceful show of un-sportsmanship, Bahraini players started their victory lap waving Saudi Arabia’s national flags! Yes, Saudi, and not Bahraini, flags.

I will never forget that moment and because of it Bahrain will always be on my black list.

1) Iran 2:2 Australia (France 1998 Qualifying playoff match) – The game was in Melbourne. The first leg in Tehran ended in a 1:1 draw. We needed a win or at least a 2:2 tie to go through.

Since the game was in Melbourne, that made the airtime early in the morning (2:00 or 3:00 am) Pacific time. I was sure that we were going to lose to the Aussies and I did not want to watch the game and be devastated. By late afternoon, my family who were in San Diego, talked me into flying over to watch it with them. So I took a flight at 10:00 pm from San Francisco and got picked up at the airport by my family. From there we drove to a restaurant that was showing the game via satellite. The place was jam-packed by other Iranians (This is at 2:00 am folks!).

Aussies were relentless from the start. They came close so many times in the first ten minutes of the game. But back then we had lots of luck and a damned good goalkeeper on our side. His name was Ahmadreza Abedzadeh*, the team captain. The man was very charismatic and as cool as a cucumber. Everyone on the team respected him.

Aussies jumped ahead 2:0 and it looked hopeless for Iran. Then a crazy Aussie fan ran on the pitch and dove on Iran’s net ripping it from end to end. The game had to be stopped to fix the net. Abedzadeh took advantage of those 15 minutes and pulled the team together. Later, we found out that he was even cracking jokes to make them laugh and release tension. To this day, I believe that was the reason Iran got back into the game. But that is not my moment.

My moment came in the second half. I was close to tears by then, but the guy next to me (some stranger) kept telling me that this is exactly where we wanted to be! “All we have to do is to tie the game and we are through!!” he kept repeating. I wanted to deck him and make him shut up!

Then with 15 minutes to go, Iran pulled one back. All of a sudden there was a glitter of hope. Four minutes later, Iranian star striker Khodadad Azizi cut loose from 30 yards out and beat the Aussie goalkeeper one-on-one to score the tying goal!

The next thing I remember, I was on one of the tables, with five or six other guys, jumping up and down, screaming and hugging! All the other tables were also covered with frenzied fans! The stranger I mentioned kept yelling at me, “Didn’t I tell you?! Didn’t I tell you?!”

The restaurant manager had to drag us down from his tables. Iran barely held on for another 15 minutes or so and off to France we were!

*An interesting sideline about Abedzadeh: a true story to which my brother was a witness at the stadium. In one of the Tehran derbies in Azadi stadium, the 100,000 strong Perspolis FC (The club for which Abedzadeh played) fans started nasty chants against a player in the other team. Abedzadeh walked to the stands and quietly raised his arms to the crowd asking them to stop. Within seconds a hush fell over the entire stadium as the nasty chants stopped, and did not pick up for the rest of the game. That is how charismatic and respected he was.