Reuters - They call him the "Wizard of Tehran"
and the "Asian Maradona" and Iran are pinning their World Cup hopes on the
midfield magic of Ali Karimi.
A nation trembled when Karimi, 27, picked up an ankle injury playing for
Bayern Munich in early March. State television repeatedly showed the
talismanic playmaker being helped from a snow-dusted pitch.
However, he is expected to have regained full fitness by the start of he
finals and Asia's "Player of the Year 2004" will present the biggest
headache to first-round opponents Portugal, Mexico and Angola.
Karimi is a balletic dribbler, dancing through robust defences, and is armed
with a sharp instinct for finding the back of the net. He was the top scorer
in the 2004 Asian Cup and scored on his Champions' League debut with Bayern.
He told the Bayern Munich website his best was still to come, but remained
realistic about Iran's World Cup prospects.
"We want to put on a good show for the large Iranian community in Germany
and go back with our heads held high," said the flair player who was first
head-hunted while playing street football in an industrial satellite town
west of Tehran.
"I do not mean we will win the trophy, I am not that unrealistic, but
getting through the group stage would be a fantastic achievement," he added.
Karimi is perhaps the closest thing Iran have to a superstar. He looms down
from huge motorway billboards advertising cooking utensils, offering a
little wizardry in the kitchen.
