From out of nowhere
He’s the young man who has taken Asian football by storm over the last six months with his dazzling displays for Iran. Now Mehdi Mahdavikia is looking for success in the Asian Club Championship. Michael Church talks to the Piruzi striker.
Before September 13 last year the name of Mehdi Mahdavikia was little known outside of the insular world of Iranian football?
The 20-year-old Piruzi striker was nothing more than one of iran’s many promising young players, one of a group that was seen as the future of Persian football, a group that, it was hoped, would one day take the former Asian giants back to the top of the continent’s game.
Then on a cool autumn day in Dalian, China, Mahdavikia’s life was to change and his name thrust into the limelight. Two goals in Iran’s come-from-behind 4-2 win over China did the trick – winning the game for his country and helping Iran down the road towards the World Cup in France this year.
But it wasn’t just the fact that the Tehran lad hit those two all-important goals, it was the manner in which the ball hit the back of the net. Mahdavikia’s two goals were two of the finest strikes seen in recent times in Asian football. That they came in the same match and from the same player made Mehdi an overnight star.
The first was a goal of deft dribbling and precise placement as the youngster left three Chinese defenders in his wake before placing the ball out of Ou Chuliang’s reach in the top right corner. The second, in contrast, came like an unstoppable bullet from the blue, the ball rocketing off Mahdavikia’s right foot into the top corner of Ou’s goal.
Seven months on and Mahdavikia is in Tripoli, Lebanon with his club Piruzi for the western quarter-finals of the Asian Club Championship. Having just scored the winning goals in each of the opening two games – against Al Hilal and Al Ansar – Mahdavikia has proven his worth again, assuring the Iranian side of a place in the semi-finals for the second year running.
He sits, head bowed, thinking carefully of his answers before replying in a soft, quiet voice. His manner is disarming and misleading as this young colossus of a player sheepishly responds in a way that contrasts with his bullish, thrusting, tigerish on-field persona.
Mahdavikia’s development of that persona has not gone unnoticed. Germany’s European Champions’ League winners Borussia Dortmund are hot on the trail of the stocky, powerful forward while the coaches of Yugoslavia, Germany and the USA, Iran’s group opponents in this summer’s World Cup, are also paying careful attention.
The road to fame for Mahdavikia has been a short one, making his debut for the national team just over a year ago when he was brought into the side that kicked-off the Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates with a 2-1 loss to fierce rivals Iraq.
But it was an experience Mahdavikia was to learn from.
He says: “In the UAE it was the first time I had played with the national team and we did very well. I think we did so well because we all worked well together, we helped each other a lot. I quickly learned that if you help each other in football on and off the pitch then you can do well and be a good team.”
Iran finished third in the competition, the country’s best finish in the tournament since 1980, and the success served only to spur the forward into doing even better, encouraging him into training harder in Tehran.
Mahdavikia was soon to taste the fruits of his labours with his introduction into the starting line-up for the World Cup qualifying games, filling in the unaccustomed role of right back after Naeim Sadavi’s drug related suspension earlier in the year.
Sadavi’s loss was Mahdavikia’s gain and the youngster took full advantage. Then came those goals.
“When I was very young every time I went training I would work on my dribbling and going forward so the first goal was not a surprise,” says the 20-year-old of his exploits in Dalian, “but the second one was because I’ve never scored a goal like that before. That was special.”
The goals kick-started a run of success for Iran as the Persians looked almost certain to be headed for France. Then disaster struck as Iran slipped down Group A and looked capable of missing out on the World Cup altogether.
“Before we played against Saudi Arabia in Riyadh we had been playing well and our mentality was very good. If we had drawn with Saudi we would have been okay but we lost after a goal in the last minute. After that we struggled against Kuwait and Qatar and we had lost confidence.”
As Mahdavikia says, Iran’s results went from bad to worse. After the last minute defeat at the hands of Saudi Arabia came a home draw with Kuwait and a 2-0 loss to Qatar. Saudi Arabia went on to top the group leaving Iran facing a play-off with Japan – and without coach Mayeli Kohan, who the federation sacked.
“Mayell Kohan was a very good coach and he gave a lot of young players a chance to play, especially myself,” says Mahdavikia. -After he left I was disappointed but it’s none of my business why he left, that’s the federation’s decision.
“We had so many problems against Japan. They changed the coach (Vaidir Vierra replaced Kohan) and two or three players and also they changed the playing system. But despite these problems I thought we played well against the Japanese and were very unlucky.’
Japan won 3-2 in golden-goal extra-time leaving Iran to slug it out with Australia for the final place in the World Cup draw. Few who were in Melbourne for the second leg – after the teams had drawn 1-1 in Tehran will ever forget Iran’s win on away goals as Karim Bagheri and Khodadad Azizi did the business for the Persians.
A wry smile spreads across Mahdavikia’s face as he remembers that night in southern Australia, the night when the team became heroes to a nation of football fans that have waited 20 years to see their country represented at football’s top table.
“Australia are a strong team,” he says, “but we were better in Tehran and we missed a lot of chances. They missed a lot of chances in Melbourne, they played very well but we took the chances when they came. I still can’t put how I felt that night into words.”
Now the World Cup looms and the Iranians are under no illusions just how big a task they have ahead of them. In Germany and Yugoslavia they face two of Europe’s top sides while against the Americans they will I take part in a game the repercussions of which go far further than football.
‘Our job at the World Cup is very hard because our group is very strong. We have Germany and Yugoslavia and we must work very hard but fortunately we now have a very good coach (Croatian Tomislav lvic) and he can help US.
The game against the Americans is very important for us and for our people especially. We will try our best to win this because of its importance. I don’t think there’s a lot of pressure but they would like us to win.”
The match against Germany has special significance for the Iranians with three of the nation’s top players – Asian Player of the Year Khodadad Azizi, Karim Bagheri and Ali Daei – now featuring in the Bundesliga. And Mahdavikia could become a fourth if Dortmund’s interest in him develops into something more concrete.
“The three guys play very near to the rest of the Germany team and with all of the players playing in the Bundesliga we will know them well. We will have good experience of them and that can help us a lot.
“I don’t think there is one game that is more important than another but I think I will have to try to play well against Germany because I’ve had an offer to go there and maybe I will go there after the World Cup. Borussia Dortmund have seen many of my games but if I play well against Germany then my chances of moving are even better.’
The Germans have been keen on Mahdavikia for several months, attempting to entice him to Dortmund several times. But the young striker has remained in Tehran with his nine brothers and three sisters.
“Dortmund have sent some invitation cards to my club for me but they haven’t talked to me yet. The talk hasn’t been serious so far because I have so many things to think about before I think about leaving Iran. We have the Asian Club Championship and the World Cup first but after that I will decide.”
No doubt the Germans will I be hanging on his every quietly-spoken word