Coaches:
Argentina: César Luis Menotti (Argentina)
Iran: Heshmat Mohajerani (Iran)
Team Melli’s first match against Argentina played in Santiago Bernabu stadium , the home of Real Madrid. In 1977 Iran was invited by the famous Spanish club and 6 times winner of the European Cup for this 75th anniversary celebration to play in a 4 side tournament that also included Argentina and Algeria national teams.
The Argentinians , the host of next year’s World Cup, were the clear favorites. Team Melli was to face the core of the Argentina team that won the world cup a year later including the likes of Tarantini, Olguin , Ardiles , Villa , Houseman , Luque And Bertoni .
When Argentina, under the coach of César Luis Menotti known as El Flaco, took the lead through a Daniel Bertoni penalty on the 15th minute, little did they expect much competition from their Asian opponents. Despite Iran being the best team in Asia and the dominant force of the continent sweeping most titles and continental championships, the gap between Asian and the Latin American football was still wide. Menotti’s men were thinking of an easy match after the lead but Team Melli had other ideas, and played one of its best matches of its illustrious history.
Offensive moves from both flanks lead Argentina to defend desperately against the Iranian onslaughts. Iran’s Right back Hassan Nazari penetrated time after time on the flanks to send some fine balls to the brilliant Hassan Rowshan while on the left , Adelkhani was tormenting the Argentina defense. The duel between Tarantini and Nazari in this game was spectacular. Despite all the courage shown by the Iranians, the much more experienced Argentine were solid enough to hold their opponents at bay. First half finished with Argentina in the lead.
In the second half Team Melli continued on the same game plan , however now more cautious and aware of the Argentinian prowess in counter attacks, Ardiles and Parvin were having a battle to control the midfield but like the first half , most of the dangers were created on the flanks for Iran.
Eventually Team Melli got its reward when Mohammad Sadeghi scored with 11 minutes to go. In the remaining minutes, both Hassan Nazari and Rowshan came close to scoring a winner for Iran, but the match ended in a draw for Iran to record a famous result and with it the attention of World Football observers.
The match was taken to penalty kicks were the Argentinean team prevailed sending Iran to the third place playoff match against Mouloudia of Algeria , the loser against Real Madrid.
With such a sterling performance , many European journalists started to take notice at Iran’s football at a time when Asia was the minnows of World football and its team were the punching box for the European and Latin American teams. With a draw against the powerful Argentines, the future World Cup winner, Team Melli endeared itself to many football fans and journalist around the world, especially the Spaniards.
Penalty Kicks: 4-1
for Argentina (BENITEZ ; OLGUIN ; ARDILES ; BERTONI )
for Iran PARVIN
Missed: NAZARI ; ADELKHANI |