Its 2004...Asia Cup..Ali Karimi redux!

[Spyder]

Boy we will never see another Number 8 like that again. Once in a generation player. Twinkle toes! Its a shame because if he went to Europe in the early years instead of wasting away in the UAE he couldve become potentially a global sensation.

Its funny coz still to this day my Asian friends in China, Japan and Korea talk about him. Respect!

[Spyder]

And this also.....classic Japanese commentary

[AminGP]

And this also.....classic Japanese commentary ]

I was in stadium that day and what a night. What was truly amazing with our fans that day was that after we conceded the goal the japanese fans started cheering (about 5000 of them) and then in order for their voices not to be heard our fans started immediately cheering for Iran and it was truly incredible moment.

[PersianLegion]

This is still the best performance (quality wise) by team melli against a worthy opponent and I will never forget Ali Karimi. He will be remembered by thousands if not millions of Iranian for another generation to come. He is our equivalent of Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller, Michel Platini, Zinedine Zidane, Eusebio, Luis Figo, Roberto Baggio, George Best, Bobby Charlton, Ryan Giggs,... The only other Iranian football player who can come close to him is Ali Parvin.

[Spyder]

I was in stadium that day and what a night. What was truly amazing with our fans that day was that after we conceded the goal the japanese fans started cheering (about 5000 of them) and then in order for their voices not to be heard our fans started immediately cheering for Iran and it was truly incredible moment.

I wasnt there but I do remember many Japanese fans were injured with stupid TM fans throwing stones and bottles at them. One poor girl had her nose and skull broken by these scumbags It was big news in Japan for a long time and really squashed what Japanese sports fans thought of Iran after that. Shameful as they are the fairest Asian team by a long way.

[AminGP]

I wasnt there but I do remember many Japanese fans were injured with stupid TM fans throwing stones and bottles at them. One poor girl had her nose and skull broken by these scumbags It was big news in Japan for a long time and really squashed what Japanese sports fans thought of Iran after that. Shameful as they are the fairest Asian team by a long way.

From what I remember our own fans were injured and even killed due to the exit doors being closed or something but I personally do not remember or see any TM fans throwing anything at them since they were sitting behind the goals and I was bit far from there. That's truly shameful if anyone did that and cause Japanese fans are truly respectful and I've been to their country and truly incredible and respectful people.

[naderb94]

I am always blessed to have grown up watching Ali Karimi play. I remember being 12 years old in Iran at the time watching the Japan game along with the Bahrain game then going out into the streets to celebrate.
I would say Ali Karimi is quite easily our most talented player in our country's history.
I know TM is doing great under the guidance of CQ but I don't think TM will be ever as good those 2004-2006 team under the guidance of Branko. We just had too much talent on that team that easily destroy today's team.
Having Daei, Hashemian, Karimi, Mahdavikia, Nekounam, and young Ando was amazing to watch. I will say the defense we have today under CQ is easily better tho.

[Spyder]

I am always blessed to have grown up watching Ali Karimi play. I remember being 12 years old in Iran at the time watching the Japan game along with the Bahrain game then going out into the streets to celebrate.
I would say Ali Karimi is quite easily our most talented player in our country's history.
I know TM is doing great under the guidance of CQ but I don't think TM will be ever as good those 2004-2006 team under the guidance of Branko. We just had too much talent on that team that easily destroy today's team.
Having Daei, Hashemian, Karimi, Mahdavikia, Nekounam, and young Ando was amazing to watch. I will say the defense we have today under CQ is easily better tho.

We had Rezaei!!

[Ata]

we said the same think about azizi but Ali Karimi came, Karimi is the best in our history but I hope there will be another Karimi.

Boy we will never see another Number 8 like that again. Once in a generation player. Twinkle toes! Its a shame because if he went to Europe in the early years instead of wasting away in the UAE he couldve become potentially a global sensation.

Its funny coz still to this day my Asian friends in China, Japan and Korea talk about him. Respect!

[Z Joon]

And this also.....classic Japanese commentary

Lol that time when having long hair was as mainstream/fashionable as having short hair shaved on the sides today

Literally almost every player on that pitch, Japanese or Iranian, had long hair

[PersianLegion]

Lol that time when having long hair was as mainstream/fashionable as having short hair shaved on the sides today

Literally almost every player on that pitch, Japanese or Iranian, had long hair

Bar Hashemian. He had always his own style.

[naderb94]

Lol that time when having long hair was as mainstream/fashionable as having short hair shaved on the sides today

Literally almost every player on that pitch, Japanese or Iranian, had long hair

The long hair days were amazing. Literally everyone on the team (expect for Daei, Hashemian, Kaebi, Rezaei, etc) along with the entire country had the long hair. The best hair ofcourse belonged to the great Javad Kazemian!
Nowadays, its all about the short, cut to the side kind of hair similar to Saeid, JB, Ramin... Sorta wish the long hair style comes back!

[Tehranto]

The long hair days were amazing. Literally everyone on the team (expect for Daei, Hashemian, Kaebi, Rezaei, etc) along with the entire country had the long hair. The best hair ofcourse belonged to the great Javad Kazemian!
Nowadays, its all about the short, cut to the side kind of hair similar to Saeid, JB, Ramin... Sorta wish the long hair style comes back!

Styles come in cycles. It will come back.

[Z Joon]

The long hair days were amazing. Literally everyone on the team (expect for Daei, Hashemian, Kaebi, Rezaei, etc) along with the entire country had the long hair. The best hair ofcourse belonged to the great Javad Kazemian!
Nowadays, its all about the short, cut to the side kind of hair similar to Saeid, JB, Ramin... Sorta wish the long hair style comes back!

Vala Ramin changes hairstyle as frequently as he changes his underwear, one match long hair, one match short

[KasraKhan]

The man that made watching Team Melli fun, exciting, and prideful. I would show my non-Persian friends highlights of him as a way to gloat about our talent.

I don't know if we'll ever see another like him again, but once thing's for sure, we haven't seen anything remotely similar.

#8