Article | مقاله

Saba Battery have given themselves a good chance of reaching the quarter final stage of the Asian Champions League (ACL) after a convincing away win over UAE champions Al Wahda while Foolad Khuzestan’s home defeat to Pakhtakor of Uzbekistan ended Foolad’s campaign abruptly.

Saba had to put two disappointing home results behind them having earned one point out of six against Al Karama of Syria and Al Wahda. Saba Battery seemed dead and buried after dropping the five points at home but a surprise win by Al Gharafa of Qatar over Saba’s conqueror Al Karama two weeks ago threw a life-line in for Saba who now trail Al Karama by two points with the return match between the two sides scheduled for May 17^th, Saba will take on Al Gharafe on May 3^rd while Al Wahda entertain Al Karama in the group’s other match, only the group winner will progress to the knock-out stage.

Al Wahda got off to a good start in the match and put Saba under pressure from the start, a draw would not have suited either side that were level on points at the start of the match, but Saba’s defence held firm with excellent performances from Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh and Saba’s Bosnian keeper Almir Tolja in particular. Just as in the home leg Saba took a 2-0 lead against Al Wahda scoring twice in 29^th and 33^rd minutes courtesy of Advic and Beigi. Disaster struck just before half time though when a Wahda free-kick taken from the left of Saba’s penalty area was desperately pushed away by Tolja’s finger-tips in the six yard box only for Golmohammadi to score an own goal, his second OG in two weeks this time in ACL. Things are not going Yahya’s way at the moment even though his performance showed improvement in the match against Wahda.

I was beginning to wonder if the nightmare of two weeks ago was about to repeat itself with Saba giving away a two goal lead against Wahda and settling for a share of the points, but Saba had learnt from their past mistakes and put the match beyond Wahda’s reach with two goals in 48^th and 52^nd minutes by Bakhtiarizadeh and Beigi, relentless pressure from Wahda in the last fifteen minutes of the match resulted in a consolation goal for the hosts but nothing more, Saba collected three valuable points and can qualify for the quarter finals should they win their remaining two matches against Al Gharafe at home and Al Karama away, Ironically Saba’s two wins have come from away matches, although they have taken the lead in both of the home ties they have let the lead slip losing one match and drawing another. Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh will have given his chances of being in Iran’s final squad for Germany 2006 a great boost with his fantastic performance in this match, he was effective in defence and made several vital interceptions, just for good measure Sohrab scored a goal in this match also, I remain unconvinced about Yahya Golmohammadi, world cup 2006 finals will be the stage for survival of the fittest where ‘No Mercy’ will be the order of the day.

In Foolad vs. Pakhtakor match the Uzbeks put the final nail on Foolad’s coffin and ended their miserable season. Foolad worked extremely hard in this match and at least emotionally they won my heart but not technically as their performance was poor, highlight of the game for Foolad was a fantastic run from left followed by a teasing Badavi low cross which went in between Pakhtakor defenders and keeper with Meysam Soleimani at the end of it to score the opening goal of the match in 34^th minute, but the second half belonged to Pakhtakor with 3 goals in eleven minutes, Iran’s national head coach Branko Ivankovic and Head of IFF Mr Dadkan were at Dastgerdi Stadium and watched this match, they will both be concerned with another poor performance from Team Melli number one keeper Ibrahim Mirzapour who should never have conceded the second goal, Mirzapour was less than convincing for me in this match, he will have to do a lot better if he is to guard Iran’s goal in the world cup, I was disappointed by Kaebi also as he too had a below average game, I can only hope that they will do better in Team Melli camp away from Foolad problems. Alavi who was substituted in the second half might have ended his hopes of playing in Germany with his poor show.

I would like to round the article up by pointing out that Foolad Khuzestan were forced to play their ACL home matches away in Tehran since Takhti Stadium in Ahvaz is undergoing renovation, this put Foolad at a great disadvantage having to play in Tehran’s colder climate with far fewer fans in the stadium than they would have had at home in Ahvaz. In today’s football the home fans are nicknamed the ‘twelfth player’ as they give a boost to home players, sadly Foolad were deprived of this advantage in ACL. In the match against Pakhtakor the climate was actually on the visitor’s side, it was a cold rainy day in Tehran; the cold suited the Uzbeks far more than our Ahvazi compatriots who are used to extremely hot weather in Khuzestan. The rain favoured the Uzbeks also as it hardly ever rains in Ahvaz, Foolad players struggled to cope with the slippery pitch and indeed conceded their first goal as a concequence of losing the ball on the edge of the penalty area courtesy of Alavi slipping just as he was about to clear the danger. Better facilities cannot come quick enough for the Iranian clubs that are suffering as a consequence in the mean time.