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GOAL – Despite the turmoil,
both leaders Persepolis and challengers Sepahan keep winning in the Iranian
Premier League.
The midseason break for the Iranian football meant:
- Major snow storms cancelling team practices
- A national team still without a head coach and two cancelled friendly
matches
- Major clubs with turmoil even unprecedented for Iran’s football.
Persepolis and Sepahan, one-two in the table, went through difficulties that
typically should mean disaster.
At Persepolis, Afshin Ghotbi, continues to be this season’s most successful
club coach in Iran. Perspolis is at the top of the table and marching
forward but the house is not in order. During the break, when Ghotbi tried
to fire his second assistant coach due to insubordination, club president
stepped in and overruled him.
Then a few of the five players who have been vocal against Ghotbi for months
went on several interviews criticizing their head coach. Many expected the
club President to step in and punish the players but no action was taken
against them.
Ghotbi finds himself in a situation that with every tie or loss a mountain
of criticisms would be directed against him by those who either plan to take
his place or find themselves not on Ghotbi’s arrangement on the field. As
long as Perspolis wins, this uncomfortable co-existence of the two sides
will remain but if the Reds find themselves in a slump, many expect to see
Ghotbi’s first assistant to engineer a change behind the scenes to replace
his boss.
At Sepahan the situation is not much better. Sepahan finished second in the
Asian Champions League. The team then in December participated in the FIFA
Club World Cup. Back home, Sepahan played Perspolis as the last match of
2007. During the match, fans threw objects at the field and at each other.
As a result, a solider, acting as a security guard at the stands, was
injured and lost eye sights in both eyes. Sepahan was penalized with a
five-point deduction points.
Within the club, key players including Capitan Navidkia criticized their
coach. Bonacic quickly then ended up at UAE’s Al-Nasr. In thirty days,
Sepahan lost her head coach, five points and left a trail of bad memories
behind.
Perspolis won at home when no fans were allowed in to the stadium as a
punishment for fans behavior of the past. The Reds managed to defeat Sanat
Naft for the third time this season. This time, the score was 1 – 0.
Sepahan had to play a home game outside of home in Tehran as a punishment
yet the team defeated the last place Pegah 3 – 1.
On the road in Ahvaz,
Estaghlal faced Esteghlal of Ahvaz. Despite the fact that these two clubs
share the same name and have some common histories, bad blood was evident.
Just weeks ago, Esteghlal of Ahvaz head coach resigned his post and joined
the Tehran BLUEs. Esteghlal defeated Esteghlal of Ahvaz 2 – 1.
Sixth place Barg lost their coach to the national team. Yavari is now the
General Manager of the national team but despite of that, Barg salvaged a
tie at home against Paykan and remained in top six.
Ali Daei’s Saipa is still struggling and at home tied Rahahan 2 – 2 on a
91st minute goal.
Mes has a new head coach. Amir Ghalenoi formerly the interim head coach of
the national team now coaches the 14th place Mes. In his first game as a
coach, Mes defeated Pas 2 – 0.
RESULTS
Here are the results of week 18:
Home teams are noted first
Perspolis 1 – Sanat Naft 0
Sepahan 3 – Pegah 1 (the game was played in Tehran as a punishment for
Sepahan)
Saipa 2 – Rahahan 2
Shirin Faraz 0 – Moghavemat Sepasi 1
Esteghlal of Ahvaz 1 – Esteghlal of Tehran 2
Saba Battery 0 – Abumoslem 1
Mes 2 – Pas 0
Bargh 1 – Paykan 1
Malavan - Zobahan (Due to weather condition, the game was postponed)
TABLE RANKINGS
1 – Perspolis 39 points
2 - Sepahan 32* (Five points deducted as penalty)
3 – Saba Battery 29
4 – Malavan 27
5 – Esteghlal 26
6 – Barg 26
…
13 – Saipa 20
BEHIND THE NUMBERS
0 for 2 – Perspolis and Sepahan each hosted a match with no fans.
They were both penalized for fans’ violence.
5 – Number of points
deducted from Sepahan for the fans problems during week 17 against
Perspolis.
5 out of 19 – New Brazilian player of Mes, Paolo Roberto Zaltron,
scored two of the five goals scored by foreign players in the league.
19 – It took 19 months for the Iran Football Federation to have a
President.
20 – We are entering month 20 of the national team without a
permanent head coach. World Cup qualifying matches are only a weeks away.
Kaveh Mahjoob
www.lastkick.com
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