Iran Olympic team defeated Uzbekistan 6-1 in the newly refurbished  and resurfaced Azadi Stadium in Tehran to book its place in the round robin tournament for a place in the Athens Olympics 2004. Iran won 9-2 in aggregate after defeating the Uzbek 3-1 away.

 In an exhilarating game , Uzbekistan drew first blood by going ahead 1-0 after the UAE referee Al Baloochi blew for the penalty conceded by Kameli-Mofrad who fouled the Uzbek forward from behind in the box. This goal came against the run of play, where Iran had most of the ball and continued its attacking in real style.

 This Uzbek goal was an awkening bell for the young and highly talented Iranian team. The equalizer came after a free kick in which Mobali sent a perfect cross in the box and Nosrati , the tall Pas defender met it well despite being challenged and harassed by his marker , into the right corner of the goal.

 Just before the halftime whistle, an intercepted ball just outside the box of Uzbekistan was controlled well by Javad Kazemian but his follow up was hasty and he lost the ball after being challenged and fell to the ground. Surprisingly it was declared a penalty by the Ref and Navidkia , the joint top scorer of the league , rarely misses such opportunities as he scored the 2^nd goal.

 The first half ended with Iran oozing in confidence.

 The second half started like a lightening strike. Waves and waves of Iranian attacks with smooth collective ground strokes , elegant distribution of the ball and the occasional individual skills that puts Ali Karimi to shame , the young Iranians started a show that have rarely been witnessed by the home crowd for a long time.

 It all started with a piece of Maradona style play by Arash Borhani. He got the ball halfway through the Uzbek half and started his run. He dummied all the markers around him and with the goalkeeper advancing at the right time and in full stretch to block him, Borhani slotted the ball as cool as ice in the extreme right corner of the goal.

This piece of individual skills by Borhani erupted the crowd.

 If the crowd thought of Borhani’s goal as world class, they were to be excused for not having a clue on how the next goal would be scored. Hossein Kaebi one of the best players on the field and a certain star of the Iranian football at the tender age of 17, received the ball from some immaculate moves from Mobali. He drew his markers and had possession of the ball on the right corner of the Uzbek goals and with little haste and quick thinking, he lobbed the ball on top of the goalie, out of his reach into the top corner to score the fourth. Another fantastic goal to remember by Kaebi.  4-1 for Iran and the game was far from over.

 The offensive game by Iran did not slow down as between the goals a majestic piece of football by the trio Mobali , Kaebi and Kazemian produced a fantastic scene that deserved a goal, but for the last touch of Kazemian.

 Kazemian’s guilt was surely bothering him by now, but he redeemed himself a bit when he passed a golden ball to the advancing Borhani to score his second and Iran’s fifth.

 Thereafter, the game slowed down a bit as the heroes of Azadi , started a Showtime with long streaks of passes. A new hero was subbed in by the name of Hamid Shafie. The Zob Ahan player put his name on the score-board after a magical run by Merhzad Madanchi on the left flank which ended up with a perfect paced pass to Shafie, who controlled the ball on the run and slotted in to announce goal number 6.

 The game could have ended up in 7th or 8^th goals if it was not for the easy misses of Borhani and Shafie, however, with such a big score; it is difficult to criticize the performance of the boys.

 The match was perhaps one of the best performances of any Iranian team in a long time. Skills, organization, passion, beautiful goals and last but not least a disciplined team that has the courage to go forward and quickly come back to defend was a delight to watch. The game was for the purists who love beautiful football.  For its entertainment value the match deserved to have a full capacity crowd , but disappointedly the Tehran crowd , bitter from the failure of their clubs , showed up in small numbers and instead of supporting the National Olympic Team, they embarked on their usual rhetorical chants against rival clubs…..A dark side of Iran’s football that requires surgical operation.

A word of admiration for Mohammed Mayeli-Kohan, the Olympic team coach. This team rekindles the memory of Iran 96 where a young team lead by him full of unknown players hit Asia by storm and went on to represent Iran in World Cup 98. Mayeli-Kohan once again proved his worth as a trainer. And if history is anything to go by with, he will certainly take this team to Athens Greece in summer of 2004.