Iranian newspapers are reporting of a possible series of friendlies between the US and Iran to take place in November or December of this year. Iran the recent winner of the Asian Games gold medal in soccer just finished beating Korea and Japan in this under 23 tournament which took place in Korea. Boy would I love to see the US play Iran once again. They always play good football against one another. I hope this happens.
It would be interesting and a great learning experience for the younger players. Iran sure as hell beats Panama because I've heard rumours of that too.
Wow, I never heard of the Iran Panama match. Last time Iran came for a tour of the US, it played matches against Ecuador, Mexico, and the US. They ended up 1-1-1 against the three. I hope they come again for another set of friendlies. I doubt either side will field full teams, but it will be a good chance to see some of the younger talents of each nation.
Does anyone know anything about the Iranian players? didn't they have someone playing for Bayern Munich a few years back?
Ali Daei played for Bayern Munich. I belive he is still in the Bundesliga playing for Hertha Berlin. He is the best Iranian player of the last ten years, although he is now thirty three years old.
I was watching the Asian Football show and I thought they said he was playing for a Saudi club now. However, I really wasn't paying that much attention and I might be mistaken.
Iran and El Salvador seem like Crap friendlies. Considering how good the USMNT has been playing couldnt the USSF get a more meaningfull opponent ?
"Iran and El Salvador seem like Crap friendlies. Considering how good the USMNT has been playing couldnt the USSF get a more meaningfull opponent ?" Expect to see a lot of new young players get a look. Sort of like our C team will be playing in these games. The level of our play would not be the same as it was in the WC. I think Arena should consider a game against Iran like a game against Mexico. He should use new players sparingly for this match. I assume he is smart enough to know that Iran players conservatively. 11 behind the ball, and counter attack from that.
El Salvador always plays the US well and will be a good draw in DC. As for Iran, the US has yet to beat the Iranians and it would be a good predatory match. Also the large Iranian community in the Southern California would make the attendance for an Iran game very respectable. I think an MLS US national team would have a lot of trouble beating the U23 Iran team that just won the gold in Asia. This Iran team beat Korea in Korea and Japan in the finals. The Koreans had 5 of their national team players in this game. As for Ali Daie, he left Hertha Berlin after last season and transferred to the United Arab Emirates league. The UAE league has been signing a lot of Iranian and other international stars. It pays much better than the Iran league or MLS. Daie is still the Iranian captain and will stick around at least 2 more years. Daie is currently second on the all time international goals scored list and will stay with the national team until he breaks the record.
I do this with hesitation, but it has to be said. Given that Bush branded Iran a part of the Axis of Evil (and please, let's not digress into a discussion of the merits of that...take it to politics), does this seem like a good idea right now? To me, it's either a brilliant idea (soccer diplomacy a la' the ping-pong diplomacy with China 30 years ago) or a risky one (what if there's an incident? Is it worth the security costs? How might Joe SixPack here, who already thinks of soccer as a game played by foreigners and pinko sissies, perceive such a match?). I know what I wish were the case, given my politics. But right now, I just wonder about the politics of it.
Young Iranians took to the streets in massive pro-US, anti-ayatollah rallies after most of their WCQ matches. An Iran-US match might be just the catalyst needed to provoke an uprising. Alex
Actually as much as I would love to see this happen, I think superdave is right. Politics of the time probably will not allow this exhibition to happen. Anyways it was just a rumor I read on another soccer board. I hope the two countries get together again sometime soon if it does not happen in 2002. Football is about passion, not politics.
Our WC98 loss to Iran was arguably the greatest disappointment in USA soccer history. Why would we want keep reminding ourselves about this? How about a friendly with Portugal?
Well two years after 98 the US played a friendly with Iran in LA. The match drew a nice crowd and the game was competative. Why not play again. Euro teams will not come to the States for friendlies until their league season is over. I seariously doubt Figo and the bunch will want to travel here when they are already playing so many matches in Europe. If the US team flies over there, then maybe.
ES and Iran are not big opponents but PERFECT for a first call for some young, new players. We are not going to break new guy in against Italy, so this is a good idea.
I hope it doesn't happen, at least over in Iran. I wouldn't want to see our boys at risk over there with all the nutty stuff going on in this world!
I hope it doesn't happen, at least over in Iran. I wouldn't want to see our boys at risk over there with all the nutty stuff going on in this world! And FWIW I think Portugal would kick our butts in a rematch.
Ireland barely beat Iran in the World Cup qualifiers last November, and actually lost 0-1 in Tehran(over 100K at the game) but won 2-1 on aggregate. The Irish female fans had to be seated in a special section not because they were good lookin' but because women there are not supposed to do fun thing like attending soccer games and well, there arent many soccer-moms.
I'm all for us playing Iran, who really are a good team that would have been in WC except they choked against Bahrain. It happens. And the "axis of evil" stuff is crap, especially in regards to Iran. They fought a war with Iraq for years - most there can't stand Al Queda, because they're not Arab, for one, and a lot of Iranians in Afghanistan got killed by the Taliban in the wars before the U.S. got involved. Ok, they're not America's biggest fans, but a lot of the world is in that camp right now. Bottom line, I think it would be a good game, and our guys wouldn't be in any danger. And even though we didn't win in '98, I think the sportsmanship against Iran in the game was great. Mexico vs. US this last Cup was far dirtier.
I don't think Iran is a crap opponent, we've lost to them and tied in our last two meetings and they just barely missed the World Cup this time.
Kasai, Any new talents come up in Iran's rank? I watched Karimi in Ireland game. This guy has amazing dribbling skill but his finishing sucked big time. I compared him with Beasley as a compliment but made Simply Ken mad because he though Karimi is miles better than Beasley. :>) And I consider Beasley would be one of the best winger in the world. At your take of MLS US NAT may have problem to beat Iran U-23, I think you may underestimate MLS guys. They are probably better than all oversea US field players beside Reyna and O'Brien.
I'd consider Iran to be a top three contender from Asia. Besides, they did give Ireland a tough time in the WCQ playoff. I'd consider them far from a crap team.
Iran apparently has invitations from Spain, S.Korea as well as the US, for friendlies. Given our recent encounter with S.Korea, our coach has indicated his preference that Iran accept the invitation from the other two sides, namely the US and Spain. I personally don't know if such a match can be pulled off in this political environment, although I would be all for it. Recently, the US even refused a visa to one of the most respected contemporary filmmakers, Iran's Kiarostami, who was scheduled to attend an award ceremoney in his honor. The visa refusal came despite heavy pressure from high level arts personalities and groups as well as some European politicians. I doubt the USSF has any more muscle. Besides, while the US might have waived its 'finger-printing' requirement for Iranian vistors in different political times, I doubt they will do so now. And Iran is on record as refusing to attend any tournament were its athletes would be fingerprinted. As for the football merits, I don't know what teams would represent each side. But Iran would defintely be a worthy opponent, and the US is the same likewise.