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With a total of 17 matches they had the longest programme of any of the
32 World Cup teams as they claimed the last available place. Their route
had its high points, such as playing at home in front of 120,000 spectators,
as well as its low ones, like losing to Japan in the Asia group play-offs,
where a golden goal from Okano in the last minute meant more games to play.
Iran has been in the shadow of other teams in their confederation for many years, but in 1996 they began to attract attention as they reached the semi-final of the Asian championships in the United Arab Emirates. In the quarter-final they beat Korea 6:2 and only lost to eventual tournament winners Saudi Arabia on penalties. During their World Cup qualifying matches they set a new team scoring record in beating the Maldives 17:0, with striker Karim Bagheri claiming an individual record with seven goals in a single match, a record shared with Australia's Gary Cole.
By booking their ticket to France a dream has come true for this Asian team. However, for Bagheri, Azizi and the third "German" professional in their ranks, Ali Daei (Arminia Bielefeld), the World Cup will be business as usual; they have two European teams in their group, Yugoslavia and, as fate would have it, Germany. The fourth team is the USA.
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| TEHRAN (Reuters) -- Iran sacked Croatian coach
Tomislav Ivic on Wednesday just three weeks before the start of the World
Cup finals after the national team lost 7-1 to Italian club AS Roma.
"Following the crushing defeat of the Iranian national soccer team in the friendly match against AS Roma on Tuesday night, the Croat head coach of the team Tomislav Ivic was dismissed and replaced by Jalal Talebi," the official news agency IRNA said. Talebi was a member of the Iranian team in the early 1960s and coached Indonesia's Olympic team in 1996. He was appointed technical adviser to the World Cup squad earlier this month, IRNA said. Ivic, 64, was appointed in January on a six-month contract to succeed Brazilian Valdeir Vieira, who took Iran to only their second finals by winning the final World Cup qualifier against Australia in November. Vieira was only in charge for two months after the previous coach had been sacked. Ivic coached Paris St Germain, Olympique Marseille and Ajax Amsterdam in a career which saw him serve as vice-president of Hajduk Split, the club with which he achieved his first major success in the 1970s. But Iran were jeered off the field in Tehran after
Ivic's first match -- a 2-0 loss to Hungary -- and the Croatian increasingly
failed to satisfy Iran's soccer-mad fans and its politically charged soccer
federation.
Last week he predicted Iran would beat either Yugoslavia or Germany in group F at the finals and said Iran was like a diamond that just needed to be polished. But Tuesday's defeat was too much for his federation even though Iran was without midfielder Karim Bagheri and striker Khodadad Azizi, who play in the Bundesliga. It decided that, despite Ivic being an experienced and highly competent coach, he could not show the necessary "efficiency" in the time available, federation head Mohsen Safaei Farahani said. "Therefore, we came to the conclusion that in the World Cup he cannot coach the Iranian team in a satisfactory manner," IRNA quoted Farahani as saying. It had been decided the national team should be coached by an Iranian who was more familiar with the players and their morale. Farahani apologised for Iran's crushing defeat by Roma and said: "People must rest assured that we will not spare any effort to back up the national soccer team, a sign of which is replacing the head coach." Iran's next pre-Cup match is against Inter Milan in Milan on Saturday. One person who will not be disappointed by Wednesday's news is Ivic's wife. She was told in January she might as well stay home in Croatia as he expected to work "like a miner" until after the World Cup. |
TEAM HONORS
Second Appearance in the World Cup Finals (1978, 1998)
Three time winner of Asian Championships (1968, 1972, 1976)
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GROUP FW L T GF GA Pts Germany 0 0 0 0 0 0 Iran 0 0 0 0 0 0 United States 0 0 0 0 0 0 Yugoslavia 0 0 0 0 0 0Sunday, June 14 At Saint-Etienne, France Yugoslavia vs. Iran, 11:30 a.m. Monday, June 15
Sunday, June 21
At Lyon, France
Thursday, June 25
At Nantes, France
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 Height: 186 cm Position: Midfielder Club: ArmInia Bielefeld (Germany) Weight: 78 kg |
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