Top 5 Iranian soccer heartbreaks

[Kavian]

Heartbreaks in football we have had many …

The following stands out for me;

1. 1974 - Loss to Australia on goal difference in the final qualification round for World Cup 1974. Iran lost 3-0 in Sydney and won 2-0 in Tehran. We came so close to the third goal on so many occasions, but it just wasn't meant to happen. Australia went on to beat S. Korea to the be the sole representative of OFC and AFC in W. Germany.
2. 1976 - Loss to Soviet Union in the quarterfinals of 1976 Montreal Olympics. Iran lost 2-1, but it was a very close game. Soviet Union advanced to semis and defeated Brazil 2-0 in the match for bronze medal.
3. 1979 --- This heartbreak is not directly related to football, but football was so impacted by it and still hasn't recovered. This was the second invasion of Arab army.
4. 1988 - Loss of 1-0 to Saudi Arabia in 1988 Asian Cup Semi-final. Saudi went to become the champion and Iran settled for third place.
5. 1996 - Loss to Saudi Arabia on penalties in the semi-final game. Iran had beaten Saudi 3-0 in the group stage. Saudi went to lift the cup which was deservingly ours.
6. 2000 - Loss of 2-1 in extra time to S. Korea in the quarterfinals of Asian Cup.
7. 2001 - Loss of 3-1 to Bahrain in the 2002 World Cup Qualifier. Bahrain waved the Saudi flag around the stadium in Riffa. *** this in my opinion was the most humiliating game Iran ever played ***
8. 2004 - Loss in penalty shootout to China in Asian Cup 2004. This was not only a heartbreak but the way China cheated its way through was another thing.
9. 2010 - With only one loss, but 2 wins and 5 draws we ended up as the 4th team in our group behind S. Korea, N. Korea and Saudi.
10. 2015 - Loss to Iraq in penalty shoot out of Asian Cup in Australia. That was one the biggest heartbreaks in our history, thanks to the referee.

[DJPedram]

1. IRAN loss against SPAIN in world cup.

[Sarbaze-Vatan]

My top 6:

1. Iran vs Bahrain 2001
2. Iran vs Republic of Ireland 2001
3. Iran vs Mexico 2006
4. Iran vs Yugoslavia 1998
5. Iran vs Spain 2018
6. Iran vs China 2004

[Sam van Dam]

5. iran vs Ireland 2001 - lost 2-1 on aggregate
4. Iran vs Argentina 2014 - messi's goal in stoppage time
3. Iran vs Portugal 2018 - taremi's missed shot
2. Iran vs China 2004 - ref gave us an underserved red, then gave a chinese defender a yellow for his tackle on karimi, who was on a breakaway. ali badaavi had a chance to win it at the end but missed the net. mobali hits cross bar in PK, yahya tried to chip it and got blocked.
1. Iran vs Iraq 2015 - ben fcking williams. CQ comptaient about him in our game vs bahrain so when AFC appointed him in iraq game i knew something was up. bs yellow on pooladi, the ref didn't even remember giving him the first one. at the end of overtime and iraqi kicked haghigi in the shoulder and did not get booked. most painful heartbreak because that AC was ours to win

[AIrani]

WHY to discuss our failures?

Not a good thread.

Let us focus on our successes and hope for better days for all of Iranian sports.

[diz]

Only top 5? I've had a different top 5 list every year since starting to follow TM in 2006!

[KC McElroy]

نمودی ما را. گه گاه چیزی نگو.

[mistermo]

The game against Suadi in Azadi in the 2010 qualifiers was reaaly bad too. I was 15, at my grandmas house in Iran and used her blood pressure device after. my blood pressure was 150/95

[taha]

China in AC04 and Iraq in AC 2015. Nothing else comes close. These two results imo stopped us being crowned champions of asia.

[PSGman#19]

Bahrain-Iran 2002
Iran-Spain 2018
Iran-Yougoslavia 1998
Iran -Mexico 2006
SK -Iran 2009

[MucizeLions1992]

Bahrain - Iran 2001 will stay forever the most painful memory. It was my first Teammelli game I watched. I started getting more into Football and I was so excited and also surprised to see that Iran was first in the table and hold the destiny in their hands. The game itself looked very fishy to me. Like Iranian players entered the pitch to lose. I heard later that there were romours that the players were forced by the government to lose. I don't think any of the players stated that but according to them it was because of all the "bad circumstances".
Nothing will ever come close to this Bahrain-Iran game.
I really thought that this team had a reasonable chance to pass the first round in Japan/South Korea. The playoff loss to Republic of Ireland showed that.

[KC McElroy]

To me it needs to fulfill at least a few of these criteria. It should be a game we expected to get a result. We end up not getting the result. It should be decided late in the game. The result should have an impact on advancing or not. There shouldn't be a chance (meaning another game afterwards) to undo this game's impact. The ref played a part in us not getting a result. With that being said, here's my list starting with the worst.

1992 Asian Championship: Going into our last game we just needed a tie against Japan to advance but the AFC did all it could to allow Japan to advance instead. We were constantly subject to uncalled Japanese fouls while the slightest of our contacts would get whistled. A simple bump lead to our first red card which was to be followed with 2 more red cards and suspensions to players who weren't even involved in the alleged red card offenses. A clear offside ball was called onside, allowing Japan to beat us with a 87th minute goal and eliminate us.

2015 Asian Championship: On paper we were the better team against arogh and showed it on the field as well up until Pouladi's red card which should have in fact been a yellow on the aroghi keeper for shoving Pouladi. Playing a man down we twice came back from behind, the second time with only 2 minutes left. It never should have gone to penalty kicks and our eventual elimination.

2004 Asian Championship: Much like the 1992 version, the hosts needed help from the ref in the form of a red card to eliminate us. Even worse was the red card that wasn't given to them after they chopped down Karimi from behind on his one on one breakaway chance. We were better on the field and should have advanced.

2001 World Cup qualifier: We held our own destiny and would have qualified had we beaten the grass rollers. Something happened to us, something that to this day I can't even figure out. We had beaten harder opponents and yet did everything wrong in the last match against inferior opposition. The loss eliminated us from direct qualification.

1984 Asian Championship: Leading the 8-0ers with just minutes remaining in a game that we were all over them from the beginning, we conceded a late own goal and eventually lost on penalties.

Honorable mention:
2014 World Cup: Iran 0 Argentina 1
1973 World Cup qualifier: Iran 0 Australia 3
2000 Asian Championship: Iran 1 South Korea 2
2018 World Cup: Iran 1 Portugal 1 (technically not a loss but felt like one)

I should change that to 1973 World Cup qualifier: Iran 2 Australia 0. After the first game we still had a chance in the return leg but in spite of our 2-0 win we were eliminated so it feels like a loss.

[_Navid_]

I still feel the pain of the four AC losses that broke my heart. We could have won all 4 AC's in my opinion.
1996 vs. Saudi
2000 vs. Korea
2004 vs. China
2015 vs. Iraq

On a club level, even though I was a die hard red fan, Esteghlal's loss in the final of 1999 was painful. Missing 20 good chances on home soil. I wanted Naser khan to win that tournament. 99 out of 100 they would have won that game.

[pajamNL]

^^ Also WCQ 2002 , WCQ 2010

[_Navid_]

^^ Also WCQ 2002 , WCQ 2010

True, although there the pain was more spread over a tournament rather than a single game or moment. In 2002 we missed so many chances in the first leg game vs. Bahrain and away against Saudi. Otherwise there wouldn't be any need for the cursed last game at all. 2002 team was head and shoulders more talented than 2010. Pity we missed the world cup.