FRANCE 98 – General Media News Template

Iran squeezed through the World Cup qualifying door at the eleventh hour with a record three changes of managers in almost as many months.

Majeli Kohan was at the helm at the start of their long road to France, but he was shown the door after dismissing 1996 Asian Footballer of the year Khodaded Azizi.

His replacement, Valdir Vieira, had the briefest of tenures before the appearance on the scene of Tomislav Ivic, the veteran Croatian coach in January.

After a bright start, Iran’s campaign had faltered badly and they found themselves in a second play-off tie against Australia. A 1-1 draw in Tehran appeared to give the upper hand to Terry Venables’ team but on the return leg the Iranians snatched an improbable draw to go through on away goals.

Spurred on by tens of thousands of fanatical supporters, Ivic’s men have proved tough opponents-with a backbone of players with valuable European experience.

Azizi, the Cologne striker, is a vital ingredient of Iran’s World Cup campaign and the scorer of that vital goal in Melbourne. He is ably assisted by the prolific goalscorer Ali Daei, who also plays in the German League for Arminia Bielefeld, and another German-based star in Karim Bagheri, top scorer with 17 goals in the qualifying round. Iran are nonetheless set for a torrid time in France with Germany, America and Yuogoslavia waiting to meet them in the first round. They will be keen not to emulate their inaugural effort on the World Cup stage. On their one and only visit to the finals 20 years ago, they crashed out after an own goal against Scotland. In Ivic, though, they have the services of a wily tactician, who has left no stone unturned since taking over the national side.