So near yet so far.

It was Friday the 24^th of August 1973. Araymeher Stadium was jammed packed with estimated 120,000 chanting and waving Iranian fans. Some of whom have been waiting to enter the Stadium from the rearly hours of the morning.

There was a huge expectation on this day. The match against Australia was the final qualification games in the Asian region for the solitary place in 1974 World Cup in West Germany. If Iran wins this match by a 4 goal margin, then they are through to the their first ever World Cup. A 3 goal margin would mean extra time to declare the winner, anything less than that, the Socceroos (as the Australian National Football team was nicknamed) would go through for their first ever appearance.

On paper, it was a difficult task, as the Iranians were well and truly beaten in Sydney by three goals. Iran never seemed to trouble the Australians, who played typical English style of football and were very disciplined in all areas. Australia lacked an individual star player, however, as a team, they were in harmony and managed to play a game with not much concentration on individual skill or talent.

 Iran, on the other hand, had many star players. One to one, they had superior talent to the Australians. There dominance of Asian Football, was very evident in their game. The passion for football and the national team has reached its summit after the second consecutive Asian Championship held in Thailand a year ago. The players reached the status of national hero's surpassing the popularity of the Wrestlers, who were traditionally held the highest place in the sport popularity in Iran. Many of Iran wrestlers were world champions.

This particular game, was perhaps the most important in Iran's history. Nothing would equal the success in the world cup. Hence it was not surprising that the stadium was full hours before the kick-off. A local journalist was quoted as saying if this stadium had Maracana's capacity, it would have easily absorbed 200,000 fans.

The defeat is Sydney, necessitated a few changes in the light up for Iran. The legendary goalkeeper Nasser Hejazi was benched for this game, after being blamed for some soft goals conceded in Sydney.  Out of the team line up also LAVASANI, MONAJATI, RAHEMIPOUR and  GHURAB. Total of five changes, yet surprisingly, the defense , which conceded three goals was intact with one change in the line up. The offense was also unchanged, although in Sydney they did not perform anything near what was expected from them.

TABIBI, HAQVARDIAN, PARVIN, SADEGHI were brought in for this game along with goalkeeper Mansoor Rasheedi.