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GOAL - Ali Karimi becomes the third Iranian to
join German giants, Bayern Munich but the 2004 Asian Player of the Year will
make a much bigger impact in Europe than his compatriots Ali Daei and Vasid
Hashemian, both of whom struggled to make the starting line-up.
When the 26 year-old finishes his contract with United Arab Emirates outfit
Al Ahli in June he will make a new home in Bavaria and the versatile
attacker has the talent to, first, win a place in the starting eleven and
then to show fans in southern Germany exactly what he is called the ‘Wizard
of Teheran.’
For Karimi is exactly that, a magician with a football who, on his day, can
cause headaches for any defence with his skill, pace and dribbling. South
Korean defenders may be able to provide a few pointers to their Bundesliga
counterparts as to what they may expect next season.
In the Quarter-final of the 2004 Asian Cup, the long-haired Iranian scored a
hat-trick in a 4-3 win over the 2002 World Cup semi-finalists South Korea.
Karimi ran amok against a defence that hadn’t conceded a goal in the
previous three games. The attacker’s mesmerizing performance in that game,
and the competition as a whole, prompted the Asian Football Confederation to
hand him the prestigious award as the continent’s best player.
The general feeling in Asian football circles is that it is time for the
striker to leave Asia. Whispers have been getting louder for some time that
the player, who started his career in his native Iran with Fath, before
moving to Teheran’s Pirouzi, was seeking a bigger stage than the one on
offer in the Gulf State on which to perform.
The lack of high-class opposition in the UAE means that it is difficult for
the Al-Ahli player to cure his weakness; inconsistency. The move to Bayern
and the Bundesliga should give the star the regular challenge that he needs
to kick his habit of disappearing from games and take his play to the next
level.
With the national team looking odds-on to qualify for the 2006 World Cup,
coach Branko Ivankovic will be delighted that another of his players is
moving to a competitive and challenging league.
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