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Asian Cup 2015

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    Asian Cup 2015

    Hello everyone

    This is my first post and I'm happy to be part of PDFC community. I wanted write about the recent Asian Cup in Australia. As you are all aware now, the whole Iranian community was united as one to support our team. Arab/Kurdish/Assyrian/Armenian Iranians and Christian/Jewish/Muslim/Atheist/Zoarastrian/Sobbi/Baha'i Iranians all came together as one voice to support Iran. What is quite remarkable is that the population of Iranians who live in Australia is about 40,000 and in the game in Melbourne over 17,000 people were in attendance and in Sydney over 22,000! that's more than half the population of Iranians in Australia.

    Just a quick comparison at this juncture, I have heard that the population of Iranians in Dubai is anywhere between 150,000-200,000 but if you look at the Asian Cup 1996 in Dubai the most number of attendance in the group game for Iran was 15,000 (against Iraq, where about half were Iraqis) which is quite disappointing given the number of Iranians who reside in Dubai and the close proximity of Iran to UAE.

    I had the opportunity to meet the team like many other lucky Iranians at their hotel and during training. Some players always made the effort to greet the fans, Javad Nekounam, Ramin Rezaian, Ashkan Dejagah, Reza Gucci, Sardar Azmoun, Alireza Haghighi to name a few. Regardless, all where very friendly and took the time out for photos and signatures. Sardar Azmoun would never say no to anyone who asked for a photo or signature, the guy was great to be around. In our conversation with the players, all seemed confident that they would advance to the final as they believed all the players were capable and unified under Carlos Queiroz guidance. What was quite apparent to all was the unity amongst the team and the respect of players towards the coaching staff. I had the pleasure to have a chat with the coaching staff and I must say that Dan Gasper is pure class. His love for Iran, its people and culture had no bounds.

    I had the opportunity to meet the Australian players who at one point were staying at the same hotel as Iran and they were all full of respect and praise of Iran and their players. I was happy that Australia won the Asian Cup as Australia was the second team I was cheering after Iran. It will be great if a few players from Iran play in the Australian league as they will receive plenty of support.

    I also have the contact information of one of the scouting individual of Iran's team (who I met during the Asian Cup) so if there are players who are in top division around the world please let me know. I am interested in players who play in top flights or at the least 1st division to pass on to my contact as many players in Iran are also capable to deliver.

    Finally, my wish is for Ararat Tehran to make it to the top flight again and its wonderful that Edmond Bezik and Edmond Akhtar are assisting the young team as they slowly climb there way back up again.

    #2
    Asian Cup 2015

    Bring Ghoochannejhad to A-League please?

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      #3
      Originally posted by Kiarash View Post
      Bring Ghoochannejhad to A-League please?
      You think he wants to leave Qatar? He is living the dream there with his Arab money.

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        #4
        Welcome to the forum.

        Organization of 1996 was terrible and at that time, there was no online ticketing system anywhere and you had to buy your tickets from the Iranian consulate in Dubai. Also the capacity of the stadiums in Dubai were 12,000 and that's where most of our games took place except the one against Saudi in the semi finals and Kuwait which was in Abu Dhabi and the capacity was around 60,000 so you can expect 100,000 people showing up. But I'm positive that in 2019 Iranians will fill the whole stadium.

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