18th years now, RIP Captain Ghayeghran..

[Iran_19]

Tomorrow will be 18th years sad anniversary of losing our national team captain, Sirous Ghayeghran and his little beloved son due to terrible car accident.
Sirous was one of the best central midfielders i witnessed in 30 years following our national team in regular base, great person, great and down to earth leader on and off the field.
In an interview after his death his wife said Sirous was preparing himself for a call from IVIC for WC 1998, as IVIC was inviting some veterans like Zarincheh and Nader MohammadKhani for WC 1998 and Ghayeghran despite being 36 was still in decent shape and had a hope to make the roster maybe.
Rouhesh Shaad va Yaadash Gerami

[KC McElroy]

The best captain TM has ever had. May he rest in peace.

[Sly]

One of the best ever!

RIP to both him and his son!!!

[persepolisfan]

The best captain TM has ever had. May he rest in peace.

What was he like? What were his qualities that made him such a good captain?
He seems to be a good guy from the looks of it. Just haven't seem him play ever.

[Iran_19]

What was he like? What were his qualities that made him such a good captain?
He seems to be a good guy from the looks of it. Just haven't seem him play ever.

Sirous was very quiet guy, loved by all players in room, a bit like Nekounam but Nekounam was a vocal guy, Sirous led by example on field, he had great vision, great shooting ability, could play as defensive midfielder, offensive midfielder behind striker. He scored Iran winning goal against South Korea in 1990 in semi final, in that time beating South Korea was really really HUGE, they were in another class compare to rest of Asian teams, Saudi also were in their glory years, Japan wasn't yet a power in Asia.

[KC McElroy]

The late Sirous Ghayeghran was one of the most complete soccer players our country has ever produced. An inspirational captain for both club and national team, Sirous, commonly known as Sia Sia by the Anzali locals, controlled the midfield, blasted long range shots at goal, threaded pinpoint passes for forwards, crossed from both sides, encouraged his teammates, hustled, tackled, saved children from burning buildings….sorry got carried away. He started his career with Esteghlal of Anzali and then Malavan, before he got lured to Tehran by Keshavarz. Ghayeghran certainly had his ups and downs with the IFF, but his ups clearly outweighed his downs. Our national team suffered a major setback as a result of his absence from our crucial game against China due to an IFF suspension (allegedly for going out for a drink while in the Soviet Union) and part of the reason for our elimination in the first round of the 1990 World Cup qualifiers could be attributed to the apparent lack of a midfield maestro.

He was originally penciled in as one of the many players that resigned from the national team after the 1986 Asian Games in protest to the management of the team, however, Sirous still managed to make the best of this scenario. While his name was originally included on the list, he never actually put his signature on it, thus leaving him with enough leverage to lean either way, depending on what would work out best.

Sirous achieved many honors during his soccer career, but there are a few that stand out more than others. After the mass exodus of our established players and the emergence of young and inexperienced players such as Abedzadeh, Zarrincheh and Namjoo Motlagh, Sirous took charge and became the gel that kept the individuals together as a unit. He masterfully captained the team during the 1988 Asian Championship to a bronze medal. It was during the ill fated game against South Korea, a 3-0 loss, that Ghayeghran emerged as one of the few bright spots demonstrating his thunderous long range shots, forcing the Korean keeper into 3 acrobatic saves. It was only fitting for Iran to end the tournament with Ghayeghran’s perfectly placed spot kick to give us the win on PKs.
Taking away the captaincy is a major blow to any soccer player, yet in early 1990 when Parvin brought Panjali back to the national team, Sirous made no Klinsmann-Matthueus-ish fuss and accepted his new role. He played a major role in our march to Asian Gold in 1990 and avenged our 1988 loss to the Koreans. In the semifinals in overtime a perfectly timed run and chip of the Korean keeper enabled Sirous to get the only goal of the game. Once again he took part in the deciding PKs and scored one of our 4 goals in our shootout victory over North Korea in the final.

But perhaps Sirous’s greatest accomplishment in my mind was not at the international level, but rather at the club level with Malavan in 1990. During the 1990 National Championship Malavan faced Persepolis in the semifinal round. The return leg in Tehran had ended 2-1 in favor of Persepolis, thus a 1-0 victory would have been sufficient for Malavan to advance. Early in the 1st half Malavan earned a freekick that was clearly in Sirous’s territory. The calm and collected run-up towards the ball and the placement in the upper corner of the goal beyond Ghilich’s outstretched hand was pure magic. The one goal lead would have been enough for Malavan but not Ghayeghran. Ten minutes later the Malavan and Persepolis players tangled outside the box for a loose ball that ended up bouncing ahead of Ghayeghran. He charged at it and fired it one touch with one of his trademark thunderous shots that once again ended up in the back of the net (see below). Malavan would win the match 2-0 and advance to the final against Esteghlal, a game Malavan would win in a shootout where once again Sirous emerged as a winner on PKs by converting his team’s first kick after a 0-0 draw. However going back to the semifinal, after the game Sirous truly showed his class and humility. When asked how he managed to nail those picture perfect long range shots, rather then boast about his skills or bash his opponent’s weaknesses, he simply shrugged, smiled and said, “it was luck.” (شانسی بود).

A true humble gentleman and leader on the field, we can never have a true history of our soccer without the mention of Sirous Ghayeghran. May he rest in peace.

I wish I knew which game this picture was from. Judging by the uniforms and weather conditions, I'm tempted to say it's a 1989 World Cup qualifier away to Bangladesh.

[persepolisfan]

From the looks of it he was a very humble player, too bad finding videos of him is so difficult.

[KC McElroy]

An awesome picture of the best defender, midfielder and forward that TM has ever had.

[Iran_19]

Thanks Ken for great writing about Sirous, i doubt is Bangeladesh game, Iran used to wear this green jersey between 86 to 90 if i am not wrong but i don't think is Bangeladesh game, are you talking about Bangeladesh game which we won 1-0 with Samad Marfavi's goal?

[KC McElroy]

Thanks Ken for great writing about Sirous, i doubt is Bangeladesh game, Iran used to wear this green jersey between 86 to 90 if i am not wrong but i don't think is Bangeladesh game, are you talking about Bangeladesh game which we won 1-0 with Samad Marfavi's goal?

No the other leg that we won 2-1. The stadium doesn't look like Azadi and Bangladesh used to wear an all white uniform. Plus the weather kinda looks like it's winter.

[KC McElroy]

Thanks Ken for great writing about Sirous, i doubt is Bangeladesh game, Iran used to wear this green jersey between 86 to 90 if i am not wrong but i don't think is Bangeladesh game, are you talking about Bangeladesh game which we won 1-0 with Samad Marfavi's goal?

The green jersey indicates it is between 1986 and 1989. The captain's armband further narrows it down to 1988-1989. It's a packed stadium so I doubt it is a meaningless friendly. Here are the possibilities:

Asian Cup qualifiers against Hong Kong, Syria, North Korea and Nepal. I'm not even sure Sirous was captain then. He may have been picked for the Asian Cup but not the qualifiers. I doubt there would have been a packed house for Iran as all the games were in Nepal. And for our game against the hosts they were wearing blue. So I don't think it's any of these games.

Asian Cup against Qatar, Japan, UAE, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and China. The only opponent who wore all white against us was UAE. I highly doubt this is that game due to the size of the crowd. For the 1988 Asian Cup there were always cars parked around the pitch which would be given away to a fan just to encourage people to attend the games which they wouldn't anyway.

Friendly against Japan. Although Japan wore all white I rule it out as this does not look like Azadi.

1989 World Cup qualifiers. China and Bangladesh wore all white against us. Sirous was banned for the two China games. It could be Bangladesh although away as like I said this doesn't look like Azadi.

The next game we played was in the Peace and Friendship Cup where we switched to an all white uniform.

[Adesor Vafaseya]

Great Post KC on Sirus!
I enjoyed reading it.

It gets the official Adesorian Seal of Approval

[teammelli91]

Roohash shaad..

[Ghermez Agha]

such a sad and terrible story....may he RIP

where do the older members rank him on the all time list? he is probably the player im least familiar with of all of our greats because of a lack of footage ive found and also TM's lack of success during his era - was he on the same level as daie, azzizi, kia, nekounam, karimi, daneifard, parvin, etc.?

[KC McElroy]

such a sad and terrible story....may he RIP
where do the older members rank him on the all time list? he is probably the player im least familiar with of all of our greats because of a lack of footage ive found and also TM's lack of success during his era - was he on the same level as daie, azzizi, kia, nekounam, karimi, daneifard, parvin, etc.?

He was known for his long range shots, accurate free kicks and great distribution skills. I find him overall similar to Marco Etcheverry or Michel Platini.

His suspension along with that of Moharrami is probably why we were eliminated on goal difference in our World Cup qualifying group. No way would we have lost to China wirh them on the field.