Iran PL: Round Six Wrap

GOAL - Iranian Professional League’s Round 6 got underway after the international break. The most intriguing match-up of this round was undoubtedly the one between Tehran giants Perspolis and neighboring Saipa of Karaj.

It seems like whenever the former Perspolis and Team Melli great Ali Daei comes to town, he brings something extra out of the Perspolis faithful in the stands, and this week was extra special occasion because Daei was not only captaining the visitors, but he was also coaching them.

Less than two weeks earlier Saipa’s German coach Werner Lorant quit and left for a coaching position in neighboring Turkey. Left without a coach, Saipa’s front office gave their nod of approval to Daei who had expressed interest in a possible coaching career after his playing days were over.

Perspolis 2 – 2 Saipa

Playing on their home field in Terhran’s Azadi stadium in front of 60,000 noisy supporters, Perspolis put the heat on the visitors right from the starting kickoff. Five minutes into the game Hossein Badamaki should have given the Reds the lead, but Saipa keeper Rahman Ahmadi did well to save his header.

Halfway through the first period Perspolis were rewarded for their aggressive approach when Saipa defender Hamidreza Farzaneh put ball in his own net. But just before the half Saipa were awarded a penalty kick for a foul committed on their Captain Ebrahim Sadeghi. Ali Daei leveled the game from the spot.

In the second half Perspolis picked up where they had left off, but Hossein Badamaki missed two golden opportunities within the span of a minute. Ten minutes later Perspolis goalkeeper Farshid Karimi brought down forward Amir Vaziri in the box and was ejected from the game. But second string goalkeeper Alireza Haghighi stepped in to save Daei’s penalty attempt.

Inspired by the young goalkeeper’s save, and despite playing one man short, Perspolis pressed for the win and were unlucky to not take the lead when Badamaki and Madanchi missed good opportunities.

To the fans’ dismay Saipa took the lead against the flow of the game when Daei headed a Dariush Yazdani’s cross with less than 10 minutes to go. Having nothing to lose, Perspolis threw everything they had into attack in the search of the equalizer and nearly paid for it, but Saipa’s Sadeghi missed a great chance to put the game away on a counterattack.

The Sadeghi miss proved to be a costly one as three minutes into the injury time Badamaki made amend for all his misses and delivered the equalizer for the Reds.

Zob-Ahan 0 – 2 Sepahan

First edition of the Isfahan derby went to last year’s Cup winners Sepahan thanks to a first half goal by Mohsen Bengar, and a penalty conversion by Hadi Aghili in the second half.

Foolad 0 – 3 Fajr

Foolad were celebrating the reopening of their recently renovated home field in Ahvaz municipal stadium. The opening ceremonies were attended by 18,000 exuberant fans who were hoping to see their beloved team turn their fortunes around with a victory.

Unfortunately for them two minutes into the game the visitors took the lead on a goal by Hashem Beigzadeh. Foolad tried very hard to get the equalizer, but they seemed to run out of steam with ten minutes left and gave up two quick goals to Gholamreza Rezaei and Younes Graeili to end a less than desirable reopening night.

Abu-Moslem 2 – 1 Peykan

Nigerian Dani Olrom gave Abu-Moslem the lead early in the game. Iman Heydari leveled for the visitors halfway through the second period, but the hosts were not to be denied as minutes later Davood Danesh put them back in the lead for good.

Saba Battery 4 – 1 Mes

Bosnian Alan Avich scored a double braced by goals by Mohsen Bayat and Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh to give Saba a four goal victory. Mes’ consolation goal was scored in the injury time by Saber Mirghorbani.

Bargh 1 – 0 Esteghlal of Ahvaz

Mohamad Ali Ebrahimian’s goal in the first half was enough to give Bargh their second win of the season. After a promising start to the season, Esteghlal of Ahvaz seems to be struggling to prevent a free fall towards the bottom half of the table.

Rah-Ahan 1 – 2 Pas

Rah-Ahan jumped ahead thanks to a first half Davood Haghi goal, but Pas came roaring back after the break on goals by Hadi Shakouri and Mohammad Nosrati.

Malavan 0 – 1 Esteghlal of Tehran

Defender Ali Ansarian netted the only goal of the match off a penalty kick to give Esteghlal a single goal victory over Malavan in Port of Anzali. The three points put Esteghlal on top with 13 points. Saipa and Perspolis are in close pursuit with 12 and 10 points respectively.