iran greatest generation not to make the world cup

[AIrani]

Politics and Religion have been part of our sports before the devolution of 1978 and more so after it.

I was reading that Kuwait's futsal got banned by FIFA recently because of government interference in sports. KFF tried to push several players who did not deserve to be in the Kuwait national team.

Always I was surprised WHY Khatibi was in 2006 team.

Iran has inserted politics through many ways, e,g, coaches, assistant coaches, players, etc.

Many years ago, I was sitting with a friend at Azadi hotel drinking tea. I did know it but Perspolis players came and sat next to us. It was the night before derby and Perspolis had its final dinner at Azadi hotel. Before anybody could enter the eating place, a Mullah was welcomed and served first. I had a good chat with Ali Karimi and he signed a book which I had with me. I met and chatted with most of Perspolis players. I was shocked that a Mullah was the team.

In Iran, religion, politics, meddle in everything, not just sports.

As someone said, every time that Iran missed any international games such as World Cup, and instead Arab teams were there, for me was painful to Aksept and foolow (LOL).

In life, we all will experience high and low points. The same goes for football players. Iraq war caused more damage than anyone can imagine. This war became part of our lives. We cannot use that not to perform or live. I lost good friends and few family members who fought for Iran.

Iranian players represent Iran. I have been supportive of Team-e Melli and that is why CQ has stayed as long as possible in Iran. He knows that fans care for performance and his standing to people such as Asadi are supported by Iranians fans both inside and outside of Iran.

[Kavian]

I remember how we missed 1974 ... We failed to beat our last opponent Australia. We lost 3-0 in Sydney with that one big one on one miss by Gh. Mazlomi (God bless his soul) on minute 85 which could have proved decisive given the 2-0 win in Tehran (two goals by P. Ghelichkhani, one off penalty) in the return game.

That said, the success that followed 1974 really had its roots in the work that had started in Iran in the early to mid 70s. Players like Hejazi; Nazari, Kazerani, Abdolahi, Eskandarian, Parvin, Ghassempour, Sadeghi, Danaifar, Faraki, Rowshan, and Jahani were the gems of our team in 1978.

I strongly believe if the "Akhound Uprising" of 1979 didn't happen, Iran could have been a real threat to any team during the 1982 world cup. We were the undisputed king of Asia. I say that was our BIGGEST MISS ever!

[kia]

In order, with the players deserving to shine on the world cup:

1. 1974 (Ghelichkhani, Jabbari, Kalani, Ashtiani, Adelkhani, Roshan, Gh.Mazloumi)
2. 2002 (Nikbakht, Khaziravi, Hasheminasab, Karimi, Kavianpour)
3. 1990 (Ghayeghran, Bavi, Pious, Namjoo, Zarrinche, Moharrami)
4. 1986 (Mohammadkhani, Panjali, Derakhshan)
5. 1994/2010/1982

Good thing we didn't qualify in 2002 if those were our "greatest".

[BacheLot]

2002 no doubt.
Loaded with legendary talents, most @ peak of their careers.
That was also our best chance to date of reaching the elusive 2nd round of WC, especially so, considering it was hosted in Asia.

[ramingeles2000]

Was nekounam a starter in 2002? Btw - Hashemian was not in that 2002 team, he was still "ghar"

[rugs]

2002. Ireland went to the next round and lost in PKs to a good Spain team.

We would have advanced.

[_Navid_]

Good thing we didn't qualify in 2002 if those were our "greatest".

These were the young talents who were amazing at a time. Don't look at their older years. In addition, we had Daei, Mahdavikia, Bagheri, Nekunam, Azizi, Samereh, Minavand, Rezaei in their peak.

[perspolis#1]

From what I remember we were very versatile in 2002. Nekounam was four times as fast as he is now. Daei was firing at all cylinders still. Karimi was a playmaker much like AbdulRahman is today. Mahdavikia offered a constant attack down the right side like Marcelo does on the left. Rezaei was scary in Serie A let alone in Asia. Golmohammadi was the slightly smarter, holder of the offside. Some might not remember but Dinmohammadi was also very good for us in those WC qualifiers. His speed and agility countered Daei's physical presence as well as Azizi's did.

[Damavand]

Was nekounam a starter in 2002? Btw - Hashemian was not in that 2002 team, he was still "ghar"

For the WCQ 2002 he was part of the team, but was sitting on the bench. I don't remember him getting any playing time.

[Damavand]

I remember how we missed 1974 ... We failed to beat our last opponent Australia. We lost 3-0 in Sydney with that one big one on one miss by Gh. Mazlomi (God bless his soul) on minute 85 which could have proved decisive given the 2-0 win in Tehran (two goals by P. Ghelichkhani, one off penalty) in the return game.
That said, the success that followed 1974 really had its roots in the work that had started in Iran in the early to mid 70s. Players like Hejazi; Nazari, Kazerani, Abdolahi, Eskandarian, Parvin, Ghassempour, Sadeghi, Danaifar, Faraki, Rowshan, and Jahani were the gems of our team in 1978.
I strongly believe if the "Akhound Uprising" of 1979 didn't happen, Iran could have been a real threat to any team during the 1982 world cup. We were the undisputed king of Asia. I say that was our BIGGEST MISS ever!

I was at Aryamehr stadium that day for the return leg against Australia. By min 31 we were up 2-0 and had 59 min to score one more goal. A goal in which unfortunately never came.

[ehsan singapore]

For the WCQ 2002 he was part of the team, but was sitting on the bench. I don't remember him getting any playing time.

we had good players, the 2002 really hurt more than 2010 to be honest

[KC McElroy]

[Babak]

Azizi wasn't a part of the 2002 team. He had a fall out with Blazevic early on and was left off the roster. Plus he was way out of form at that time.

[Rooyintan]

I liked the 1989 team but they were young players with little International Experience. This was my first experience watching Iran in WCQ on TV

I would say 1973, 2001, 2009 were all very good teams. 1973 lost to a better opponent at the time, 2001 got cheated in the group stage, 2009 was purely unlucky only needed 7 minutes to qualify Park Ji-Sung is at fault!!!

[Damavand]

I liked the 1989 team but they were young players with little International Experience. This was my first experience watching Iran in WCQ on TV
I would say 1973, 2001, 2009 were all very good teams. 1973 lost to a better opponent at the time, 2001 got cheated in the group stage, 2009 was purely unlucky only needed 7 minutes to qualify Park Ji-Sung is at fault!!!

I would not say Australia was better. The reason they won the first leg 3-0 was the coaching staff's fault. A few days before the match they took the team to play a useless friendly against New Zealand which only resulted in some of our key players like Parvin getting injured and missing the first leg.

Still we should have been able to settle the score back in Tehran but as I already mentioned, luck was not on our side that day.