► MATCH STORY | S. Korea 0-1 Iran → June 18, 2013

[Nariman]

Exactly 4 years ago we made the impossible possible - I will never forget that feeling when you make it against all odds - after so many fake plastic fans and experts wanted to tell us we won’t... This time CQ and TM made it too easy - kind of a boring WCQ, shame on them lol

Unfortunately YouTube banned our account - hence all videos were deleted. But I just uploaded the video on vimeo for you to watch again, enjoy:

[Abedzadeh]

Thank you for bumping this thread Nariman jan.

I believe we are currently the only team in the entire WCQ that is both undefeated, and hasn't conceded a single goal. To appreciate the significance of this accomplishment, it is really important to understand the obstacles that this team had to surmount over the years, and the match in Ulsan is a perfect example. TM never defeated SK in an official match in Korea since the 70s. We were missing our two best players (Ashkan Dejagah, and Mehrdad Pooladi), this was basically a must win match, and to top it off that weird creature (Choi, lol) thought he could get away with talking shit to someone of CQ's stature. Our players and coaching staff showed their heart, and character, and their tears of joy at the final whistle was just beautiful.

Toward that end, I also want to give a special thanks and recognition to two players in particular: Rahman Ahmadi, and Amir Hossein Sadeghi. Four years later, I think people may have forgotten about them, and their immense contributions, not to mention the pressure that was on them. Ahmadi was always in the shadow of other Goalkeepers during his career, and after Rahmati's ejection, the pressure was really on him. Same thing for Sadeghi; he hadn't played for TM since '06-'07, and after Aghili's ejection, he was brought back into the squad by CQ, and the pressure was on him too. Not all athletes can handle this type of pressure. They both were amazing, not just in this match, but also in the preceding two matches (against Qatar, and Lebanon). Sadeghi was also solid in Brasil against some of the best strikers in the world.

Mochakereem!!!!! Thank you TM, and thank you CQ and staff!!!!!

[AminGP]

I'm still surprised that no committee was created to investigate Qatar and Uzbekistan's game. One of the fishiest game of all time. Can you imagine if Rahman wouldn't have been able to save us with his double save?

[pres80]

Man I was pretty indifferent to who went through other than us up till now but watching this video makes me want Uzbeks to go through.

I've never seen a team so bent on eliminating another team even when it doesn't make a difference to their qualification.

[Karimi 8]

Now time for us to eliminate S. Korea's dreams of reaching the 2018 WC

[Karimi 8]

PS watched the video, very sad to see pics of Oladi, RIP

[Nariman]

All players, expect that prick Jabbari, were heroes - but there are players that need to be mentioned, as they haven’t been praised enough.

Rahman Ahmadi
There was huge pressure on him. Especially when you know your coach just removed the main GK to due disciplinary issues - huge risk right here - and chose YOU to replace him. Of course you don’t want to disappoint him or make him regret that he believed in you. One mistake and people will not only jump on you, but also on the coach. That kind of responsibility is hard to deal with!

Hashem Beikzadeh
With Pooladi injured, many were afraid that our LB will be our main weak point. Beikzadeh wasn’t trusted by many, and to be honest I was one of them and heavily questioned him - but damn he proved us all wrong and I take back everything I said. Even if he didn’t play at the WC, due to Pooladi recovering and Beikzadeh suffering an injury, we still have to give much credit for performing when it mattered in those 3 crucial games.

AmirHossein Sadeghi
As already mentioned, another hero suddenly coming for the rescue and heavily boosting our defense. I always loved his passion at Esteghlal and he totally played his heart out for TM. Will never forget his smile in the background behind that Korean player...that just showed how much he wanted it. Sadeghi later went on and continued his rock solid performance at the World Cup. Despite playing alongside key & proven players like Hosseini & Montazeri, he was on par on them.


...

I specifically mentioned these players, because they were not part of the team, until we needed them and they helped us at the most crucial time. And this was stunning to see how quickly they managed to emerge as new key players, despite not having much time to get used to the team in the first place.

Last but not least, rest in peace Mehrdad Oladi!

[Nokhodi]

Thanks for posting that again Nariman. I liked that clip so much I had it saved on my computer 4 years ago.

In addition to zende yad Oladi, its interesting to note how many of the players in those photos didn't make the final WC Squad a year later. Jabbari, Khalatbari, Rezaei, Nouri, Khalilzadeh, Ebrahimi, Hatami,...

That should be a lesson to all our players to not assume they have a spot just because they played or got called up for most of the qualifiers.

Also almost all of our coaching staff has changed. I had forgotten about our original assistant coach (Antonio Simoes). Great guy. I remember the players would always hug and pick him up after scoring.