Football World Cup 1998 / Iran

This article covers the Iranian national soccer team at the 1998 World Cup in France .

qualification

First round

country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Pt.
Iran	6th	5	1	0	39: 30	16
Kyrgyzstan	5	3	0	2	12:11	9
Syria	5	2	1	2	27: 50	7th
Maldives	6th	0	0	6th	00:59	0

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0June 2, 1997	Iran	17: 0	Maldives	Abbasid Stadium , Damascus , Syria
	Bagheri 9. 13. 16. 60. 66. 67. 83. Estili 29. 47. 55. Azizi 35. 36. Daei 75. 77. Shahroudi 56. Mahdavikia 63. Minavand 87.

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0June 4th 1997	Kyrgyzstan	0: 7	Iran	Abbasid Stadium , Damascus , Syria
			Bagheri 35. 51. Majidi 68. 88. Daei 57. Minavand 76. Mousavi 82.

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0June 6, 1997	Syria	0: 1	Iran	Abbasid Stadium , Damascus , Syria
			Daei 65.

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0June 9, 1997	Iran	3: 1	Kyrgyzstan	Azadi Stadium , Tehran , Iran
	Azizi 3. 77th Bagheri 52.		Kutsow 16.

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June 11, 1997	Iran	9-0	Maldives	Azadi Stadium , Tehran , Iran
	Mansourian 15. 44. Bagheri 22. 39. Daei 33. 43. Mahdavikia 38. Shahroudi 68. Azizi 87.

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June 13, 1997	Iran	2: 2	Syria	Azadi Stadium , Tehran , Iran
	Shahroudi 10th Mansourian 30th		Boshi 11. Al Said 39.

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Second round

country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Pt.
Saudi Arabia	8th	4th	2	2	08: 60	14th
Iran	8th	3	3	2	13: 80	12
People's Republic of China	8th	2	2	3	11:14	11
Qatar	8th	1	0	5	07:10	10
Kuwait	8th	1	0	5	07: 80	08th

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September 13, 1997	People's Republic of China	2: 4	Iran	Dalian Stadium, Dalian , China
	Fan 44. Li 54.		Bagheri 61. Mahdaviki 67. 73. Modirrousta 86.

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September 19, 1997	Iran	1: 1	Saudi Arabia	Azadi Stadium , Tehran , Iran
	Bagheri 64.		Al-Shahrani 32.

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September 26, 1997	Kuwait	1: 1	Iran	National Stadium, Kuwait City , Kuwait
	Al Huwaidi 20th		Bagheri 90.

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0October 3, 1997	Iran	3-0	Qatar	Azadi Stadium , Tehran , Iran
	Daei 31. Bagheri 42. 56.

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17th October 1997	Iran	4: 1	People's Republic of China	Azadi Stadium , Tehran , Iran
	Mansourian 2. Modirrousta 44. Bagheri 69th Daei 73.		Mao 87.

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October 24, 1997	Saudi Arabia	1-0	Iran	King Fahd Stadium , Riyadh , Saudi Arabia
	Al-Muwallid 88.

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October 31, 1997	Iran	0-0	Kuwait	Azadi Stadium , Tehran , Iran

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0November 7, 1997	Qatar	2-0	Iran	Thani Bin Jassim Stadium, Doha , Qatar
	Al Enazi 38.81.

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The selection of Iran does not automatically qualify for the World Cup . She must play a play-off match against Japan (runner-up in Group B), the winner of which goes to the final round.

AFC playoff

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November 16, 1997	Iran	2: 3 (n.V.)	Japan	Johor Bahru Stadium, Johor Bahru , Indonesia
	Azizi 46. Daei 58.		Nakayama 39. Jo 75. Okano 118.

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The Iran must after losing the AFC playoff in the International Relegation against Australia compete (winner of Oceania) in two matches (home and away) and the recent World Cup participants identify.

Intercontinental relegation

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November 22, 1997	Iran	1: 1	Australia	Azadi Stadium , Tehran , Iran
	Azizi 39.		Kewell 19th

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November 28, 1997	Australia	2: 2	Iran	Melbourne Cricket Ground , Melbourne , Australia
	Kewell 31. Vidmar 47.		Bagheri 75. Azizi 79.

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Iran qualifies for a soccer World Cup for the second time due to the away goals rule .

Particularities:

• Iran scores the most goals of all World Cup participants in the qualifying phase: 57 goals
• Karim Bagheri scores 16 goals and becomes the second best goalscorer in the world after Ronaldo (17 goals)
• Iran sets world record: 17 goals by one team in an international match (Iran against Maldives 17-0)
• The best-attended game in the world as part of the qualification for the finals in France: 120,000 spectators for the game Iran against Saudi Arabia in the Azadi Stadium
• Iran scores eight two-legged goals against China's selection (2-4 and 4-1)
• Alireza Mansourian scores fastest goal in Asian World Cup qualification against China in Tehran (2nd minute)

World Cup 1998

Squad

Number / name		Club before the start of the World Cup	birthday	Sp.	goal	red	G / R	yellow
goalkeeper
1	Ahmad Reza Abedzadeh	Persepolis Tehran	May 26, 1966	2	0	0	0	0
12	Nima Nakisa	Persepolis Tehran	05/01/1975	1	0	0	0	0
22nd	Parviz Boroumand	Esteghlal Tehran	05/30/1974	0	0	0	0	0
Defense
3	Naeem Saadavi	Persepolis Tehran	06/16/1969	1	0	0	0	0
4th	Mohammad Khakpour	Persepolis Tehran	02/20/1969	3	0	0	0	0
5	Afshin Peyrovani	Persepolis Tehran	02/06/1970	1	0	0	0	0
14th	Nader Mohammadkhani	Polyacryl Isfahan FC	08/23/1963	3	0	0	0	0
15th	Ali Akbar Ostad-Asadi	Zob Ahan Isfahan	09/17/1965	0	0	0	0	0
17th	Javad Zarincheh	Esteghlal Tehran	07/23/1966	3	0	0	0	1
20th	Mehdi Pashazadeh	Esteghlal Tehran	December 27, 1973	3	0	0	0	0
midfield
2	Mehdi Mahdavikia	Persepolis Tehran	07/24/1977	3	1	0	0	0
6th	Karim Bagheri	Arminia Bielefeld	02/20/1974	3	0	0	0	0
7th	Alireza Mansourian	Esteghlal Tehran	12/02/1971	2	0	0	0	0
8th	Sirous Dinmohammadi	Shahrdari Tabriz FC	07/02/1970	1	0	0	0	0
9	Hamid Reza Estili	FC Bahman Karaj	04/01/1967	3	1	0	0	0
16	Reza Shahroudi	Persepolis Tehran	02/21/1972	0	0	0	0	0
21st	Mehrdad Minavand	Persepolis Tehran	11/30/1975	3	0	0	0	1
attack
10	Ali Daei	Arminia Bielefeld	03/21/1969	3	0	0	0	1
11	Chodadad Azizi	1. FC Cologne	06/22/1971	3	0	0	0	0
13	Ali Latifi	FC Bahman Karaj	02/20/1976	0	0	0	0	0
18th	Sattar Hamedani	FC Bahman Karaj	06/06/1974	0	0	0	0	0
19th	Behnam Seraj	Sanat Naft Abadan	06/19/1971	0	0	0	0	0
Trainer
	Jalal Talebi		03/23/1942

Games

For details see Football World Cup 1998 / Group F

country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Pt.
Germany	3	2	1	0	6: 2	7th
Yugoslavia	3	2	1	0	4: 2	7th
Iran	3	1	0	2	2: 4	3
United States	3	0	0	3	1: 5	0

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 Yugoslavia - Iran 1: 0 (0: 0) 

Date: Sunday, June 14, 1998, 5:30 p.m. (CEST)
Stadium: Stade Geoffroy-Guichard (Saint-Étienne)
Spectators: 30,600
Referee: Tejada Noriega

 Yugoslavia :
Kralj - Mirković , Djorović , Petrović , Jokanović , Brnović (50th Stanković ) - Jugović , Stojković (68th Kovačević ), Mihajlović - Mijatović , Milošević (58th Ognjenović )

 Iran :
Nakisa - Khakpour , Mohammadkhani , Zarincheh , Pashazadeh - Mahdavikia , Bagheri , Estili (68th Mansourian ), Minavand - Daei , Azizi

Gates:

• 1: 0 Mihajlović (72nd, free kick)

Match report

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 United States - Iran 1: 2 (0: 1) 

Date: Sunday, June 21, 1998, 9:00 p.m. (CEST)
Stadium: Stade Gerland (Lyon)
Spectators: 39,100
Referee: Meier

 United States :
Keller - Pope , Dooley (82nd Maisonneuve ), Régis , Hejduk - Ramos (57th Stewart ), Reyna , Jones , Moore - McBride , Wegerle (58th Radosavljević )

 Iran :
Abedzadeh - Khakpour , Mohammadkhani (75th Peyrovani ), Zarincheh (77th Saadavi ), Pashazadeh - Mahdavikia , Bagheri , Estili (68th Mansourian ), Minavand - Daei , Azizi (73rd Mansourian )

Gates:

• 0: 1 Estili (40th, header, Zarincheh )
• 0: 2 Mahdavikia (84th, right-footed shot)
• 1: 2 McBride (87th, right-footed shot)

Match report

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 Germany - Iran 2: 0 (0: 0) 

Date: Thursday, June 25, 1998, 9:00 p.m. (CEST)
Stadium: Stade de la Mosson (Montpellier)
Spectators: 29,800
Referee: González

 Germany :
Köpke - Wörns , Kohler , Heinrich , Helmer - Thon (46th Hamann ), Tarnat (76th goat ), Matthäus , Häßler (46th Kirsten ) - Klinsmann , Bierhoff

 Iran :
Abedzadeh - Khakpour , Mohammadkhani , Zarincheh (70th Dinmohammadi ), Pashazadeh - Mahdavikia , Bagheri , Estili , Minavand - Daei , Azizi

Gates:

• 1: 0 Bierhoff (50th, header)
• 2-0 Klinsmann (57th, right-footed shot)

Match report

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For Iran, the tournament is over after the preliminary round.

Particularities:

• Iran is the surprise team in Group F.
• With fair gestures before the USA vs. Iran game, both teams from the warring states show that football and politics are two different things
• Iran wins its first game in a final tournament (2-1 against USA)
• Many Iranian national players switch to European (top) clubs after the World Cup

Individual evidence

1. ^ Yugoslavia - Iran ( English ) FIFA. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
2. ↑ USA - Iran ( English ) FIFA. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
3. ↑ Germany - Iran ( English ) FIFA. Retrieved April 14, 2019.