“I will never ever forget the Melbourne match”: Khodadad Azizi
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Loading...Tehran Times – TEHRAN, Ex-Iran striker Khodadad Azizi says that he will never forget the match against Australia at the MCG in Melbourne.
On November 29, 1997, Iran advanced to the World Cup for the second time. Having drawn 1-1 with Australia in the first leg of its qualification play-off in Tehran, Team Melli trailed 2-0 in Melbourne with less than 20 minutes remaining.
Khodadad Azizi, indeed, set up Karim Bagheri to reduce the deficit on 71 minutes, before silencing the vast majority of the 85,000-plus fans with 75th-minute equalizer.
“I will never tire of talking about the match since it was a great day for all Iranians. We were motivated after the match hearing that the millions people came out to the streets to celebrate the team’s victory,” Azizi, who netted 11 times in 47 games for Iran between 1992 and 2005, told Varzesh3.com.
“We could have also qualified for the 2002 World Cup but we lost to Ireland in play-off. I am very happy to make the Iranian people happy and I will never ever forget the match,” he added.
At the club level, after playing for domestic giants FC Pas Tehran and Persepolis, he signed for Cologne in 1997, joining Daei and Bagheri among the Iranian trailblazers in the Germany Bundesliga. He went on to have a one-year spell with San Jose Earthquakes in the USA, and he still remains the only Iranian to have played in Major League Soccer.
After hanging up his boots, he embarked on a coaching career, leading his hometown team Abu Moslem before working as a technical advisor to a couple of Iranian clubs.
Azizi currently leads Iranian team Siahjamegan.
