Afshin
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« on: October 29, 2008, 09:47:45 AM » |
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Lastkick - Sepahan FC fired Engin Firat on October 28th. This was long coming. The Turkish coach was never able to establish himself in Isfahan and basically failed to produce results. Now he is gone, and according to a Sepahan official former Iran international and Perspolis assistant coach Hamid Estili is on top of their list of candidates to replace Firat.
Return of the Toure!
Rejoice Perspolis fans, your long lost Senegalese striker is finally found! Ibrahim Toure finally made it back to Tehran after an unauthorized extended vacation and met with Perspolis president Dariush Mostafavi. No news on what was said in that meeting, but the rumors are that he wants to move to UAE where the football grass is a lot greener, but Perspolis is hell bent on keeping him. My prediction if the rumors are true, he’ll be in UAE soon, and a few on the Iranian side have a few extra Dollars for their next vacation.
The Boys from Brazil
By now we all know about Perspolis’ Brazilian striker Paolo De Carmo. Poor guy can not buy a goal in a six-yard box if his life depended on it. It has gotten so bad that his coach and teammates have had to plead with the fans to take it easy on the young fellow. TO make it worse, even the perennial Perspolis bad-boy Vahedi-Nikbakht has had to defend his fellow striker. Of course Nikbakht being Nikbakht he did it in his own special way and made sure to add, “I have done my share of supporting him by passing him the ball a few times!” Good for them both! Now this is what I call team solidarity!!!
In the Blues side of the town things are very different. Midfielder Fábio Daniel Januário is doing just fine in Esteghlal thank you very much. The former Foolad FC player has scored 5 goals, and a few assists to go with the goals. He has been a permanent fixture in the midfield and has won the fans over with his hard and nonstop work.
Voodoo Child
Well, I stand up next to a mountain
And I chop it down with the edge of my hand
Well, I pick up all the pieces and make an island
Might even raise a little sand – Jimi Hendrix
Well that was Jimi Hendrix, but in Iranian football, according to some, the voodoo is helping make winners out of losers these days.
Paykan and Foolad FCs were accused of using some form of the dark art to win games! Both clubs’ coaches and general managers have had to respond to questions concerning this in recent days. Foolad FC director Hossein Ebn-Ghassem told reporters that they had hired a sports psychologist, but never a dark arts expert! He went on to admit that in one training session before an important match, they had actually sacrificed a sheep, but nothing more!
Sacrificing a sheep for a “good cause”, and sharing the meat with the poor, is very common in Iran and the Middle East in general, but one can argue whether winning a football game would qualify as a good cause.
By Afshin Afshar
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