|
FCBayern - Off the field of
play, Vahid Hashemian must be one of the most unassuming professional
footballers around. Bayern's summer signing politely greeted journalists to
Sunday's media conference at the Rottach training camp and even shook hands
when the time came to say goodbye.
But out on the pitch, the Iran international bristles with intent, amply
demonstrated by Saturday evening's first friendly of the new season as he
blasted four goals in the space of 20 minutes in Bayern's 11-0 victory over
district league side FC Rottach.
"He totally met my expectations," new coach Felix Magath said in praise, "I
like his attitude and he loves to go for goal, which is a great sign, and
he's a good lad. We won't have any problems with him."
The player himself was pleased with his first outing for Munich, albeit a
friendly against a lower league amateur side. After the rigours of the last
few days, "we just wanted to play football and enjoy ourselves."
Hashemian observed it did not matter to him how he scored, but "I just like
to see the ball on the other side of the goal line."
The 27 year-old said he was "not scared" by the intense competition for a
regular berth up front. "Every big club has excellent players," he declared,
admitting with characteristic modesty he had no guaranteed right to a place
in the starting line-up.
All he could do was try hard and push his claim in friendlies. "The most
important thing is to give your best. If that's not enough, then so be it
and I won't be upset."
The former Bochum hitman has not set any targets for his first season in
Bavaria. "The more games I play, the more goals I'll score," he remarked,
pointing to the last two seasons when he scored 10 and then 16 goals
respectively.
Coach Magath has not yet shown his hand in terms of tactics for the new
season, but Hashemian could well imagine pairing with world-class
goal-getter Roy Makaay. "That would be an advantage, if all the defenders
were distracted by Makaay, I could be scoring."
Another four weeks pre-season training lie ahead. "As long as we work hard,
we could do well in the Bundesliga," the player said, "and it doesn't matter
where you are, training camps are tough, and at a top club like Bayern, it's
even tougher."
The 1.82 metre tall, 78 kilogram front man revealed he could easily have
ended up in Stuttgart rather than Munich. Magath was coach at VfB last term
and the player received an offer at Christmas. "But I chose to wait and see
as I still had five months left on my contract in Bochum."
He was rewarded with an offer from Munich, "and if you get an offer from
Bayern, you don't think twice."
Reporters wanted to know how he had acquired the "Helicopter" nickname. "I
got it when I was at Hamburg, it's just what the players and the coach
called me. But you don't play better because of a nickname, you get a
nickname from playing well."
If Hashemian can keep up the form he showed against Rottach, he is
guaranteed no shortage of new nicknames in the future. |
