Ghoochannejhad: We are no less than Nigeria and Bosnia

Guardian – TEHRAN, Reza Ghoochannejhad celebrates scoring against Qatar in Doha in June 2013 – one of his nine goals in 11 games for Iran.

“As a child, you dream of living those moments. There were 110,000 people in the stadium, it was a very important game and we won. You look around and there were people crying in the stands because they were so happy. That does something to you; you’re standing there with goosebumps and everything. It’s like a dream come true – it’s actually happening and you’re there!”

No, Reza Ghoochannejhad is not referring to his debut for Charlton Athletic. Rather he is talking about the one for Iran, with whom he is going to the World Cup, thanks largely to his introduction to the national team.

It came at a critical time: by October 2012, Iran’s hopes of reaching a fourth World Cup were looking slim – they had eased through two preliminary qualification rounds but were finding things far tougher in the final one, beginning with a stoppage-time win in Uzbekistan before drawing 0-0 at home to Qatar and losing to Lebanon.

That made the next match against South Korea, with whom Iran has developed a strong and strange rivalry, one from which victory was essential. Tehran’s Azadi Stadium, one of the world’s biggest football arenas, was full and expectation was enormous. Ghoochannejhad, making his international debut at the age of 25, was in his element.

“It’s not pressure, it’s the reason you play football,” he says. “Other things are important, money and so on, but as a child what you dream of is playing in front of so many people and when you do it it’s just crazy and you really enjoy it. That’s what I’ve been doing all the time so I’m a happy man!”

Ghoochannejhad performed well even if he did not score in the 1-0 win that put Iran’s qualification back on track, though he did hit the decisive goal when Iran and South Korea met again in Ulsan nine months later, a victory that secured qualification for Brazil as well as settling an uproarious feud that had broken out between the South Korea manager, Choi Kang-hee, and his Iran counterpart, the former Manchester United assistant manager Carlos Queiroz.

An angry Choi had attributed the defeat in Tehran to poor hospitality and vowed to gain revenge by beating Iran in the return match, even though South Korea had already secured World Cup qualification. The outburst prompted Queiroz to accuse Choi of insulting the Iranian people and then pin a photo of the South Korea manager looking sad on his shirt, which he wore throughout the buildup to the match. Queiroz greeted Ghoochannejhad’s winning goal with an “up yours” gesture to the South Korea bench.

If that episode endeared the manager to many Iranian fans, so too has his selection of Ghoochannejhad, who has earned superstar status in Iran by scoring nine goals in 11 matches since becoming the latest example of Queiroz’s policy of tapping into the Iranian diaspora for talent.

Ghoochannejhad grew up in the Netherlands after his parents emigrated there when he was eight. In football terms, he is a graduate of the Dutch school and represented Holland at various youth levels after joining Heerenveen’s academy when he was 11. He spent 12 years there before the former Arsenal and Barcelona winger Marc Overmars persuaded him to join Go Ahead Eagles on loan. “I have a very good relationship with Marc Overmars, when I was young he always helped me,” Ghoochennejad says. “I was playing for Heerenveen when I came in contact with him and he wanted me to go to his team. I was 19 or 20 and I played for them a bit before I got a very bad injury, a ripped ACL [anterior cruciate ligament], and it took me a year or two to recover.”

While the injury was obviously a frustration, Ghoochannejhad is not a man who falls prey to boredom. He began a degree in law and also plays several instruments, though he insists that his violin-playing prowess has been exaggerated (“I had lessons for a couple of years, that’s all, don’t believe everything on Wikipedia. Ask Wikileaks, they know better!”).

Once fully recovered, he rejoined Overmars at Go Ahead, spending a season there before moving on to Cambuur, where he equalled a record held by Johann Cruyff by scoring within nine seconds of his debut. From there he joined the Belgian side Sint-Truiden and then moved on to Standard Liège, both clubs owned by Roland Duchâtelet, who bought Charlton last December.

Ghoochannejhad signed permanently at the Valley soon afterwards, unlike three other players who arrived from Standard only on loan. Thus he is preparing for the World Cup by fighting against relegation from the Championship.

“If we can stay in the Championship, it will be like winning the Champions League for us so we hope we can do something nice on Saturday,” says the striker as Charlton get ready to welcome Blackburn Rovers. Fail to win and they could need points from their remaining games against Watford and Blackpool.

That might be considered a comedown for a player who competed for the Belgian title while at Standard and began this season playing in the Europa League but he says the thrill of escaping relegation is similar to the buzz of challenging for higher honours. “You can compare it,” he says. “When you play at the top you play for a prize and now the prize is not to get relegated. I know that sounds stupid but it’s like that. We have a goal and that’s better than playing for nothing.”

Fighting against relegation has also compelled Charlton to make three points a priority, an approach he has found curiously rare in English football. “The philosophy is very different than where I used to play. First of all, it’s very physical.

In every game defenders try to rough you up so you have to make sure you are quick in your combinations. Second, in Holland when I played we always played to win. Here, my experience is that it’s more important not to lose than to win. But that’s also the Dutch school, they always try to play attacking football and concentrate less on defence. But it’s a very good experience for me to see it in this angle.”

His adaptation to English football has not been instantaneous but since José Riga replaced Chris Powell as manager in March, the club has sought to play a passing style more suited to the Iranian’s nifty technique. His winning goal against Leeds United earlier this month remains his only one so far for the club but he has made significant contributions, albeit from the bench in recent weeks.

That position on the fringes contrasts with his role for his country. He will spearhead Iran’s attempt to make it to the second round for the first time. That will entail emerging from a group featuring Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Africa champions, Nigeria. Iran’s preparation has not been ideal. Queiroz was exasperated earlier in the year about the inability to arrange friendlies.

“There were some countries we wanted to play but they had already scheduled something else so it was bad organisation,” says Ghoochannejhad, who scored his side’s goal in the only proper friendly that they country was able to arrange this year, a 2-1 home defeat by Guinea. “They were a really strong side and we didn’t play well but we will learn from it.”

Iran’s home-based players are on a tour of South Africa, which they kicked off with a 5-0 win over Moroka Swallows. Ghoochannejhad and other foreign-based players, such as Fulham’s Ashkan Dejagah, will meet the squad in Austria for a training camp before heading to Brazil, where they are convinced they can make an impact.

“We have a very experienced team, with players who played for many years in La Liga and other big leagues,” Ghoochannejhad says. “It’s a very talented group and very experienced, with a very experienced gaffer who is tactically very strong. Argentina are the top favourites: they will go through from the group for sure but the other three will battle for second and it could be us who gets it because I don’t think we are less than Nigeria and Bosnia.”