Fox Sports Asia: Why no Iranian players in AFC Awards?
TEHRAN, IRAN - JUNE 12: players of Iran celebrate after the match during FIFA 2018 World Cup Qualifier match between Iran and Uzbekistan at Azadi Stadium on June 12, 2017 in Tehran, Iran. (Photo by Amin M. Jamali/Getty Images)
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Loading...FOX SPORTS ASIA – HONG KONG, John Duerden looks into the curious matter of why Iran have not been represented in Wednesday’s 2017 AFC Awards in Bangkok.
Talk to Iranian fans and there is huge pride in the achievement of the national team. It is not often that Asia has a clear number one, but at the moment, there is. And that team comes from Tehran.
A quick recap of performances in qualification shows that these Princes of Persia were dominant in Group A. That the other teams were not exactly impressive does not detract from going through it all ten games unbeaten. Only in the 10th match was the defence breached and, by that time, Iran had long qualified anyway.
Coach Carlos Queiroz had talked for some time of the achievement of being ranked number one in Asia according to FIFA. In the past 18 months or so, the table has been reflected by events on the pitch. There would surely be little disagreement anywhere on the continent.
There should be more recognition of the progress made. Fans in Iran are feeling a little annoyed that there doesn’t seem to be enough. A look at the short lists for the two main player of the year awards – that will be handed out by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in Bangkok on Wednesday – gives such feelings some justification.
One list covers Asian footballers playing in Asia and the other prize reserved for those playing internationally.
There is a very strong case to make that Iranians should be on both yet their names were conspicuous by their absence.
The game is about opinions and it is rare to have blanket agreement on anything but, in a year when Iran were by far the standout national team in Asia and some of the nation’s exports were shining in Europe, the lists came as something as a surprise.
In the domestic field, Mehdi Taremi should be heading to Bangkok at the end of the month. The Persepolis striker has had a very good year for club and country. In the Iranian league he was top scorer, helping the Reds to the title. In the AFC Champions League, he scored seven goals as Persepolis made the semi-final, only to lose to Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia.
The winner of the last two Iranian Footballer of the Year awards has also held his own for Team Melli, scoring goals and making things happen. This is despite – or perhaps because of – the competition for places in the Iranian attack with forwards impressing in some of the biggest leagues in the world looking for some international playing time.
When Iran needed a push along the road to Russia, Taremi was there. In the space of five days in March, Iran virtually ensured that there would be no holidays next summer with two 1-0 wins in the space of five days. If that moved the nation to within sight of Moscow, in the next game at home to Uzbekistan, Taremi got the goal that sealed the win and the whole deal. When his team needed him, he came through and delivered.
Overseas, there is Reza Ghoochannejhad. The fleet-footed forward ended up as the joint second-highest scorer in the Eredivisie last season. The Dutch league may not be one of the elite leagues in Europe these days but it is still one of the best in the world. It takes a good player to settle there and it takes someone special to score 20 goals, just one behind the leading striker. An Asian player breaking that barrier in a major league deserves plenty of praise.
It is not to disparage some of the names that did make it on the list but ‘Gucci’ has been one of the best players in a well-respected and high-level European league. Given his performances with the national team at the same time, he has had a fine year. There are others performing well such as Sardar Azmoun in Russia who has already established himself as one of Asia’s top strikers. Some would give higher praise than that but all would agree that the 22-year-old is something special.
If any of those three were to make the final shortlist it would not raise any eyebrow around Asia. For none to be mentioned is much more of a surprise.
That does not mean that there is an anti-Iran bias – as has been repeated many times over the years – but Iranian fans and some of their players are right to be feeling a little put out at the lack of recognition of a fantastic 2017 for Iranian football.
