| By: Majeed Panahi
PLDC - With 5 more games left for each team in this season's IPL, the pressure
on the two leading teams is mounting. Neither Esteghlal, the leader nor Perspolis could achieve a result as they were both contented with
goal-less draws.
Perspolis and Pas started the ball rolling in week 21 in Azadi. The lackluster game ended in a goal-less draw in the first half. Both teams
were treading carefully and cautiously in fear of conceding a goal. Perspolis were missing Ansarian for his red card against Bargh Shiraz a
week a go, while Pas had Khodadad Azizi sitting out the match after being suspended for two yellow cards.
Azizi's absence had more of an effect on Pas as Khatibi, the lone striker of Pas, for all his huffing and puffing, could not penetrate
the solid Perspolis defense consisting of the trio Peyrovani, Rahbarifard and
Bahonar.
The game picked up in pace in the last 20 minutes of the game, but some horrific misses in particular from Reza Entezari denied Perspolis all
the three points. Pas , shy attempts lacked quantity up front. Khatibi continued his usual solo game as if no other Pas player was in the
field by insisting on his futile dribbling.
The only significant event of the game was the brilliant performance by Javad Nekounam, the young Pas and Team Melli midfield player , who
showed his class and skills in this match. While Reza Enteazari, Perspolis striker who started the season with so much promise and
finesse, continued his miserable run and left the field in tears for missing some glorious scoring chances. None more incriminating that the
missed chance in empty goal!
The game ended 0-0 with Perspolis loosing 2 valuable points which would have made them the top team and missing the chance to catch up the
Esteghlal in the table.
Esteghlal, did not fare much better than Perspolis a day later against their stubborn Khuzestani team from Ahvaz. Foolad, playing with purpose
and mixture of experience and youth fought a good battle with Esteghlal Tehran. They surely felt that they have done enough to grab all the 3
points, but the bar denied them after the powerful header from the joint-top scorer of IPL, Behnam Seraj after some neat work by Dehghani.
Esteghlal on the other hand, had another quiet game, although this performance was much better than their last week against Fajr. The
absence of Nikbakht and Navazi awas sorely felt, while Fraz Fatemi , the lone striker struggled to get pass the solid Foolad defense. Kaebi
continued his sterling performance, while Yahya Golmohammady's majestic presence in midfield and sometimes in withdrawn role in the defense was
the main reason for Foolad's good performance in the back. The scoring
chances of both teams were far and few, as most of the match concentrated in the midfield.
It was apparent from those two matches that Esteghlal and Perspolis are going through some kind of crises. In the last 4 matches of each team,
they have only managed a win each, hence achieving 50% or less of maximum points. Both teams played poorly and continued their run of
feeble results and performances, while in both cases the opposing teams
failed to exploit the weaknesses of Esteghlal & Perspolis to their advantage.
Capitalizing on the failure of the two Tehrani teams was Zob Ahan of
Esfahan, who wasted no chances by scoring a convincing 2-0 win against stubborn Fajr Sepasi of Shiraz. A goal in each half by Mostafa
Salehinejad and a brilliant strike by Reza Sahebi in the second half sealed it for the Esfahani team who maintained their good run and
challenge for the championship. After this win Zob Ahan is ranked in third place a point behind Perspolis and 3 points behind Estghlal the
leader.
In other matches, the only other win was achieved by Paykan in Tabriz against the bottom team Traktorsazi. Where Ali Asghar Modir-Rosta, the
veteran Paykan striker managed to score his 8th goal of the season to register a 2-1 win for the team from Tehran.
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