February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Jay Mwamba
Ireland may be the overwhelming favorites to win the World Cup playoff series with Iran, whose first leg they host in Dublin this Saturday, but the Asian representatives are battle-tested survivors in crunch matches.
Iran confirmed their Lansdowne Road appearance by demolishing the United Arab Emirates 3-0 in the return game of their Asian zone third-place playoff in Abu Dhabi last Wednesday.
France ’98 veterans Ali D’i (7th), Karim Bagheri (75th), and Mehrdad Minavand (79th) scored to give the Iranians a 4-0 aggregate victory and the right to meet Ireland over two legs for a berth in next summer’s finals in Japan and Korea.
Like the Republic, who came up short against Belgium four years ago, it’s the second time around on the World Cup playoff route for Iran. They scrapped through to France ’98 after one of the most dramatic results in Asian football.
Drawn against a strong Australian side coached by former England manager Terry Venables and staffed by such English-based stars as Chelsea goalie Mark Bosnich, and Leeds United forwards Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka, Iran appeared in dire straits when they could only tie 1-1 in the first leg in Tehran.
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An Australian record 100,000 fans turned up at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the return game, which the home side led 2-0 after 75 minutes on goals by Kewell (32nd) and Aurelio Vidmar (48th).
Then the world turned upside down on the Socceroos. First Bagheri, then Khodadad Azizi beat Bosnich in the final quarter hour to force a 2-2 draw and put Iran in the finals on the away-goals rule.
Bagheri, the match-winner in Iran’s 1-0 squeaker over the Emirates on Oct. 25, will be one of the men to watch in the visiting side at Lansdowne Road. The midfielder, who had a stint with Charlton Athletic in England, played in all of the country’s three matches in France ’98, including the 2-1 decision over the United States in Group F.
Bagheri and Ali D’i are Iran’s primary strikers, and between them netted 19 goals in the Asian qualifiers.
D’i, a big forward with a delicate touch — he opened the scoring in Abu Dhabi with a curling free kick — accounted for 11 of those goals. The former Asian Player of the Year turns out for Hertha Berlin in Germany’s Bundesliga.
In midfield, Iran feature two highly talented and experienced performers in Minavand, the other scorer against the Emirates, and Mehdi Mahdvi Kia, another one-time Asian Player of the Year whose goal killed off the USA in France ’98.
Then there’s the bench where coach Miroslav Blazevic, the Croat who made a name for himself in France four years ago by leading his national side to a third-place finish on their World Cup debut, is perhaps Iran’s biggest asset.
Showing that he doesn’t lack a flair for the dramatic, Blazevic boldly threatened to commit suicide ahead of the return match with the U’ if he didn’t qualify Iran for the finals.
“If we do not qualify, I will take a rope and hang myself,” he was reported as saying.
Iran’s triumph over the Emirates ostensibly loosened Blazevic’s self-wound noose, but it remains to be seen whether he will stand by his words before Saturday’s first leg with the Republic.
Nonetheless, the 66-year-old is an astute tactician. There are no prizes for guessing that he’ll stick to the time honored tradition of minimizing the damage at Lansdowne Road, with the hope of going for broke in Tehran next Thursday.
At home, the Iranians can count on the backing of up to 100,000 of their often frenzied fans at the giant Azadi stadium, which really puts the onus on the Republic to get some sort of result in Dublin.
Iran are bidding to reach their third World Cup finals. They made their debut in Argentina ’78, finishing at the bottom, with a single point, in a group comprising Peru, Holland, and a Scottish side led by Kenny Daglish.
They lost 3-0 to Holland, picked up their only point in a 1-all tie with the Scots and succumbed 4-1 to the Peruvians.
Twenty years later, Iran returned to the finals in France, sandwiching the 2-1 victory over the United States with losses to Yugoslavia (1-0) and Germany (2-0).
Other World Cup playoff action in Europe this weekend features Slovenia vs. Romania, the Czech Republic vs. Belgium, Turkey vs. Austria and Ukraine vs. Germany.