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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.
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