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Goal - Iran welcomes World Cup finalists Germany to the Azadi Satdium on Saturday evening for the first meeting between the two sides since the 1998 World Cup finals in France.
BACKGROUND
Billed by the local media as the first visit of a footballing power to the Islamic Republic since the revolution of 1979, the game represents an opportunity for Germany coach Jürgen Klinsmann to judiciously experiment while building a squad capable of challenging for the World Cup in Germany in 2006. Similarly, the game presents the Iranian national side with a rare chance to test themselves against top rank European opposition.
The third game of the Klinsmann era is also the second on the road, and heralds the first Asian destination in an itinerary that will see visits to South Korea, Japan, and Thailand before the end of the year. A 3-1 win in Vienna against neighbouring Austria in August earned Klinsmann his first win as teamchef, and a creditable 1-1 draw against World champions Brazil in Berlin followed in September, restoring a sense of belief to German football. Stuttgart striker Kevin Kuranyi scored all four goals in the two games, but will be missed in Tehran having picked up an ankle injury in UEFA Cup action in Hungary last month.
While results on the field have been positive, Klinsmann is faced with a more negative challenge off the park. The simmering rivalry between the regularly obnoxious Jens Lehmann and recognised number one Oliver Kahn has continued via the press this week, with the Arsenal custodian resorting to his usual provocation in a bid to talk his way into the side on a permanent basis. While Kahn has been rested for this game as previously agreed, Lehmann has taken the opportunity to mischievously suggest Bayern Munich as a future destination in spite of Kahn's current ensconcement in Bavaria. In an interview with the respected Kicker Sportmagazin this week, Lehmann suggested that he was competing against "Kahn, the legend" rather than "Kahn the player" in the eyes of the nation, and revealed that Kahn's loss of the national team captaincy makes the Bayern skipper vulnerable to a "fairer" challenge.
All well and good, except he then proceeded to lambast legendary goalkeeper Sepp Maier for bias towards Kahn, and accused the 1974 World Cup winner of knowing "nothing about football." Given the fact that Maier is Bayern goalkeeper coach, and has been employed in a similar role for the national team by the DFB, such comments serve only to paint Lehmann as a troublemaking loose canon, consumed by bitterness. Maier responded by telling Lehmann to "forget 2006, as Kahn is better." Klinsmann was furious at the row, and added: "Obviously we are going to have to have a talk about it. But we have got to get our priorities right and that is clearly the match on Saturday." Kahn responded on Friday, saying: "Lehmann is constantly provoking and he’s been doing it for years," referring to previous outbursts that went beyond sporting rivalry and became personal attacks on the Bayern man and his well-publicised private life. Kahn continued, seizing the moral high ground: "I don’t have any problem with a rivalry, but it should be carried out on the pitch and not verbally. Perhaps he wants me to quit or maybe he wants Sepp Maier to quit. The direction we’re headed isn’t good at all. It’s insane."
Frankly, given the personal nature of Lehmann's shrill attacks, Klinsmann has walked himself into this mess. The goalkeeping anarchy is likely to destabilise team-spirit if not quelled soon. Lehmann has unwittingly put himself in grave danger of total exclusion, for a poor performance against the Iranians would give the coach enough scope to dispense with him if pressured into making a clear choice between the two men. In an interview with Bild on Friday, Kahn suggested that a clear choice needs to be made on who is the number one, with the other man leaving the squad. It's ironic, but all of this could yet see both lose out in favour of the younger, more placid Timo Hildebrand, many pundits' choice for 2006.
Meanwhile, Iran meet European opposition at the Azadi for the first time since the World Cup play-off with the Reoublic of Ireland in November 2001. A 1-0 win on the night was not enough to blaze a path to the Orient, and the Irish safely negotiated the frenetic, often wild atmosphere in a stadium that holds 100,000 people for prestige encounters. Given the welcome the German team got on arrival this week, it is safe to say there will be a full house again, though one that will not contain Iranian women, who are banned by law from attending football matches.
TEAM NEWS
Iran name two Bundesliga exiles in their starting eleven, with the mercurial Mehdi Mahdavikia of Hamburger SV adding his usual wing flair to a side that also boasts Bayern Munich's former Bochum striker Vahid Hashemian. Ali Karimi pulls the strings in midfield as usual, and wins his 63rd cap on Saturday night.
Andreas Görlitz is likely to replace Andreas Hinkel in the German defence, with two Premiership-based players, Robert Huth of Chelsea and Aston Villa's Thomas Hitzlsperger earning their third and first caps respectively. Fabian Ernst of Werder Bremen is likely to earn his 10th cap as defensive holding player, while club-mate Miroslav Klose has a chance to take his excellent club form onto the international stage.
PROBABLE TEAMS
Iran: Mirzapour; Kaabi, Golmohammadi, Rezaie, Badavi; Mahdavikia, Nekounam, Karimi, Nikbakht; Hashemian, Azizi.
Germany: Lehmann; Lahm, Huth, Wörns, Görlitz; Ernst; Hitzlsperger, Ballack, Schneider; Asamoah, Klose.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Ali Karimi (Iran)
Flamboyant 26-year-old midfield hero of Iran, Ali Karimi is one of Asia's premier talents, a creator as well as a scorer of goals.
Fabian Ernst (Werder Bremen)
The time is coming for the Werder Bremen star to take his club form on to a higher stage, and Saturday is the time to make a claim for future squad inclusion. Superb in Bremen's march to the domestic double last season, he was guilty of being dispossessed in the move that led to Ruud van Nistelrooy's equalising goal for Holland at Euro 2004, and Germany's campaign went rapidly downhill as a consequence. The task now is to remove suspicions that, while effective at club level, he is short of international standard. |
