1978 IRAN vs FRANCE - Arguably our best game of the Golden 70ies!

[Adesor Vafaseya]

You may have wondered, when you talk to oldies and people who were big enough at the time to watch football, everyone says the height of Iran's golden 70ies generation was 1976-1978, and most point out to this game Iran vs France (1978) and Iran vs Argentina (1977) friendlies!

In 1976 Iran reached the quarterfinals of Olympics in Montreal, and according to Mohajerani, Iran's coach of the time, that was the height of our football.
2 years later we qualified as the only Asian team to WC for the first time and played preparation games vs Argentina and France, and we played some of our best football there.
There was no vid or anything available, until Amoo Adessy found this yesterday.

If you look at the game, you see absolutely no difference between our level of football and France's, who was a powerhouse with stars such as Platini, Henry Michel, Lacombe etc etc..
We didn't defend, we attacked and played beautiful football, we were on par with France both technically and tactically.
When you see the vid you don't see a difference between the teams in terms of football level.

We lost that game 1:2 but we were equal in many aspects of the game.
Game's pace was much slower back then since the ball was much heavier (anyone remembers those classic balls from 70ies and 80ies? lol) and the pitches were nowhere near today.
Anyway, I thought I share this vid with you, down the memory lane...

enjoy

[KC McElroy]

The only reason France won was because on their second goal our players were waiting for the ref's whistle to restart the freekick while France chose to quickly play their freekick. That's what Hejazi was complaining about. The goal was legitimate but not as a result of France being better but rather our misunderstanding of the rules of the game.

[Irandoust]

This game and along with the games against Poland and USSR in the 1976 Olympic, against Argentina in 1977, and against Scotland and Peru in the 1978 world cup. were indeed among the best games that our National team performed in its golden era of the seventies.

[Adesor Vafaseya]

This game and along with the games against Poland and USSR in the 1976 Olympic, against Argentina in 1977, and against Scotland and Peru in the 1978 world cup. were indeed among the best games that our National team performed in its golden era of the seventies.

Yes, and thanks Iran Argentina was in 1977 (not 1978) for the Real Madrid's 75th anniversary tournament, where Iran was invited.

will edit the first post.

[Kavian]

Thanks for sharing. Brings back memories!!!

..and for those of you who are wondering why the grass looked the way it did. Apparently the night before the game some members of the then called "Iranian student confederation" - an opposition group to Shah, entered the stadium and using white spray wrote anti regime slogans on the grass. French security tried to obscure the slogans by spraying green paint on top.

[persianballer]

Life was good, everything was progressing, and then people do a revolution and no WC for 20 years

[OFFSIDE_1]

Thanks for sharing. Brings back memories!!!

..and for those of you who are wondering why the grass looked the way it did. Apparently the night before the game some members of the then called "Iranian student confederation" - an opposition group to Shah, entered the stadium and using white spray wrote anti regime slogans on the grass. French security tried to obscure the slogans by spraying green paint on top.

Iranians who followed the MAO doctrine

[Adesor Vafaseya]

^ & ^^
lets keep this thread "footbally" plz. thanks

I couldn't find any vid on Iran vs Argentina 1977, if anyone has plz post. These games along with the players must never be forgotten.
And Heshmat Mohajerani even left some of our good players out for WC 1978, such as MOHAMMAD REZA ADELKHANI, who played many years in German Bundesliga in early 70ies and was a great forward.
lol same complaints we have with player selection today, we had also back then. But Mohajerani brought in younger players to be part of the WC roster to gain experience for the future.

What followed the golden 70ies, should and must have been the golden 80ies, where a lot of great players came to the scene but due to Iran Iraq war and all the financial problems and not participating in WCQ etc etc... they couldn't shine on world stage but only in Asia. Those generation should also never be forgotten.
Thanks to KC for keeping the memory lanes of great 80ies alive!

Anyway if anyone finds that Iran Argentina (1977) game, Amoo will give him a positive rep.

[Damavand]

Iran - Argentina was never televised live in Iran. If my memory serves me well only brief highlights were shown on Iranian TV. From the reports TM played one hell of a game against the Team who would win the WC the following year.

[Roozbeh-G2006]

The only reason France won was because on their second goal our players were waiting for the ref's whistle to restart the freekick while France chose to quickly play their freekick. That's what Hejazi was complaining about. The goal was legitimate but not as a result of France being better but rather our misunderstanding of the rules of the game.

And their first goal was the result of bad pitch as the ball bounced away from Hejazi. You can clearly see that.

[teammelli91]

Ahh yes. The days when defenders passed back to the goalkeeper to pick up the ball.

Such a talented squad we had in Asia. We should’ve qualified in 74 but it wasn’t easy as only one team from Asia went through to the finals. We could’ve had a few legionnaires as well. Manchester United after Naser Hejazi.

[Rooyintan]

1976-1980 was Iran's peak in football, had the people in charge of Iran Football kept remnants of those squad and not sideline them forever and bringing in new generation, for the rest of the 1980s Iran would have done well. Both Iran's losses to Poland and Soviet Union at the 1976 Olympic Games were good encounters too.

Key points.

1. From 1950-1969 the only national team from Europe our Team Melli played was Turkey. The only other European national teams that Team Melli faced apart from Turkey in that period were Romania and East Germany both at the 1964 Olympic Games and those matches are considered not "A" internationals by FIFA.

2. The first real encounters with European teams were back in 1972 during the Brazil Independence Tournament which were Ireland and Portugal.

3. The first European team (apart from Turkey) to travel to Iran to play a friendly was Czechoslovakia in 1974. That was the beginning of encounters with European teams in "A" internationals and was followed by visits by Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Wales and Soviet Union all from 1975-1978.

4. No European national team has set foot in Iran since November 2009 when Team Melli hosted Macedonia in a friendly in Tehran.

[Omids]

Thanks for this Vid amoo jan 😀

Both goals were very soft, the 1st was a complete fault of the keeper. 2nd was just soft. I saw also a counter attacking football being applied by Iran in the game.

[O-ZoNe]

Agreed! Modern times France 98 was our best team ever. I firmly believe if Abedzadeh could have started the Yugoslavia match instead of Nakisa we would have come away tied and 4pts in our group. Nakisa was so nervous the entire game it was unfortunately a lost opportunity...

Sent from my ME173X using Tapatalk

[KC McElroy]

^ & ^^
lets keep this thread "footbally" plz. thanks

I couldn't find any vid on Iran vs Argentina 1977, if anyone has plz post. These games along with the players must never be forgotten.
And Heshmat Mohajerani even left some of our good players out for WC 1978, such as MOHAMMAD REZA ADELKHANI, who played many years in German Bundesliga in early 70ies and was a great forward.
lol same complaints we have with player selection today, we had also back then. But Mohajerani brought in younger players to be part of the WC roster to gain experience for the future.

What followed the golden 70ies, should and must have been the golden 80ies, where a lot of great players came to the scene but due to Iran Iraq war and all the financial problems and not participating in WCQ etc etc... they couldn't shine on world stage but only in Asia. Those generation should also never be forgotten.
Thanks to KC for keeping the memory lanes of great 80ies alive!

Anyway if anyone finds that Iran Argentina (1977) game, Amoo will give him a positive rep.

Two other huge omissions from this team was Mazloomi and Ghelichkhani.