I have been following this forum since my high school days over a decade ago. Initially I was about to post this under the Taremi thread but believed it deserved its own post. Hope that is okay with the moderators.
This past weekend I travelled to Lisbon from New York with the hopes of watching Taremi in person for the first time. Having packed my Porto jersey, I Spent 2 days in Lisbon before renting a car and driving to Porto following by Barcelos for the away game against Gil Vicente.
My seats were on the opposite side from the Porto supporters but everyone still repping blue and white colors. For those who watched the highlights. It summarized the game. A game with few chances and it was our superstar that was the difference maker in every threatening goal scoring chance except for maybe one or two.
It was after the match that made me proud. At least a couple hundred supporters lined up the street outside the stadium waiting for the players to board the bus. Mind you, it was an 8:30pm kick off and it was late at this point. One player after another came out of the garage and boarded the bus quickly with a simple wave to the fans. One player I didn’t recognize approached the fans for a few photos. Finally the man of the match exited the garage and was was heading to the bus. The fans cheered the loudest for him and maybe Pepe. There was a young Portuguese girl holding a print out of the Iranian flag. I moved up and stood behind her yelling “Aghaye Taremi” with my American Farsi accent. To my surprise he started walking over. The next few seconds I seriously think I blacked out. I couldn’t find the right words except for repeatedly saying “Dooset Darim”. In Farsi I told him that I travelled from America to watch him play. You could tell he was surprised. A supporter yelling his name in Farsi and he replied that if he had known, he would have given me his jersey instead of the young girl in front of me. He then proceeded to take a few minutes to take photos with the various fans lined up against the gate. He didn’t deny anyone a photo with him. A quite, humble, yet charismatic guy off the pitch.
I will be flying back home soon, but the amount of locals that have approached me or given me the thumbs up when Iwear my Taremi Porto jersey is unreal. Everyone in this country knows Iran because of this man. I hope he continues to reach higher and higher levels for his club and more importantly for us in Qatar in a few months time.
This past weekend I travelled to Lisbon from New York with the hopes of watching Taremi in person for the first time. Having packed my Porto jersey, I Spent 2 days in Lisbon before renting a car and driving to Porto following by Barcelos for the away game against Gil Vicente.
My seats were on the opposite side from the Porto supporters but everyone still repping blue and white colors. For those who watched the highlights. It summarized the game. A game with few chances and it was our superstar that was the difference maker in every threatening goal scoring chance except for maybe one or two.
It was after the match that made me proud. At least a couple hundred supporters lined up the street outside the stadium waiting for the players to board the bus. Mind you, it was an 8:30pm kick off and it was late at this point. One player after another came out of the garage and boarded the bus quickly with a simple wave to the fans. One player I didn’t recognize approached the fans for a few photos. Finally the man of the match exited the garage and was was heading to the bus. The fans cheered the loudest for him and maybe Pepe. There was a young Portuguese girl holding a print out of the Iranian flag. I moved up and stood behind her yelling “Aghaye Taremi” with my American Farsi accent. To my surprise he started walking over. The next few seconds I seriously think I blacked out. I couldn’t find the right words except for repeatedly saying “Dooset Darim”. In Farsi I told him that I travelled from America to watch him play. You could tell he was surprised. A supporter yelling his name in Farsi and he replied that if he had known, he would have given me his jersey instead of the young girl in front of me. He then proceeded to take a few minutes to take photos with the various fans lined up against the gate. He didn’t deny anyone a photo with him. A quite, humble, yet charismatic guy off the pitch.
I will be flying back home soon, but the amount of locals that have approached me or given me the thumbs up when Iwear my Taremi Porto jersey is unreal. Everyone in this country knows Iran because of this man. I hope he continues to reach higher and higher levels for his club and more importantly for us in Qatar in a few months time.
Roxanaz
Comment