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U.S., Iran draw in rematch PASADENA,
California, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Nearly 18 months after Iran knocked the United
States out of the 1998 World Cup
in an emotionally charged match,
the Americans got the chance to exact some revenge but had to settle for a 1-1
draw Sunday.The riveting match was played before a Rose Bowl crowd of
The U.S.
defence got caught flat only two minutes later. Veteran forward Azizi was put
free at the top of the box by
Sattar Hamedani where Azizi split
defenders Carlos Llamosa and Marcelo Balboa before pushing a short pass to an
unmarked Mehdi
Mahdavikia who broke in on the left
side, forced goalkeeper
************************************************** U.S., Iran play to diplomatic 1-1 draw PASADENA, CALIFORNIA (TICKER) -- Despite several similarities in play between today's international friendly pitting the United States </soccer/wwc/teams/usa/> and Iran and their 1998 World Cup confrontation, the result proved better for the Americans. A 48th minute equalizer from defensive midfielder Chris Armas helped the U.S. start the 2000 season with a well-earned 1-1 tie. Armas' first goal for his country completed a beautiful passing play involving five Americans. Right back Frankie Hejduk slotted a well-weighted pass into the path of striding forward Cobi Jones. The resulting cross from the right side of the box found the head of Brian McBride, who flicked the ball dangerously in front of goal. Midfielder Eddie Lewis did well to leave the pass, take an Iranian defender with him and free Armas for the blast. "I'm not a goal scorer, but I was able to get that one on target and take advantage of the chance," Armas said. "Frankie and Cobi were able to work the ball in and I called Eddie off the ball to leave it for me, and it went in." The tying goal could prove crucial for the U.S. team's confidence. But the match may have a greater scope. It represents the first visit of Iran's national soccer team to the United States since 52 American hostages were held for 444 days by supporters of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. The cultural thaw between the nations is seen as highly significant in political circles. Iran took the lead in the seventh minute. A run by Mehdi Mahdavikia, who plays for Hamburg of the German Bundesliga, split the U.S. central defense partnership of Carlos Llamosa and Marcelo Balboa. Charging goalkeeper Brad Friedel was left with no chance as Mahdavikia slipped the ball under him. The frustration that defined the American performance in Lyon, France two years ago could have halted U.S. efforts in the second minute. Jones floated a ball over Iranian goalkeeper Hadi Tabatebei from the right side of the penalty area that bounced off the right goalpost. Much of the action took place outside the Iranian penalty area. But the U.S. had trouble finding its way through an Iranian team that dropped seven players into defensive positions and simply looked to spring counterattacks. That was before American coach Bruce Arena's halftime talk. "It was a great match, and we would love another opportunity to play Iran again," he said. "It was a well-played game and it was a fair result." The match drew a partisan Iranian crowd of 49,212 to the Rose Bowl. updated at Sun Jan 16 19:08:01 2000 PT ************************************************ Iranian-American soccer fans fill Rose Bowl with cheers By TESSIE
BORDEN PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- Long before half-time, T-shirt vendors ran out of Iranian flags. In the stands, fans wearing red, white and green shirts sat in groups to form stadium-wide human banners. Almost 50,000 Iranian-American aficionados from across the country converged on the Rose Bowl Sunday for the exhibition rematch between the U.S. men's soccer team and Iran. The game ended in a 1-1 tie. ``This is just to show the two countries can get together and have some fun,'' said Shaeda Moghaddam, who lives in the San Francisco Bay area. ``This is more like a door opening for both countries.'' Moghaddam said she's not much of a soccer fan, but she had to support her home team. ``I win either way,'' she said. The teams haven't played each other since Iran beat the United States 2-1 during the 1998 World Cup in France. But this was not a party without mixed feelings. It was the first official visit by a high-profile Iranian sports team since the 1979 revolution that brought down the Shah of Iran and brought the religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini to government power. Emotions ran high. In the sea of red, white and green, distinctions were evident. Some Iran fans waved the lion-crested flag of Iran under the Shah, while others held up the newer Muslim republic flag, with a red insignia that means ``Allah'' or God in Farsi. ``We don't like the new flag,'' said a group of girls carrying the older flag outside the stadium during half-time. ``We don't like that sign. We're not Muslim.'' The fans represented a diverse Iranian-American community in the United States and particularly in Southern California, where they've built their largest home outside Iran. Jews and Muslims mixed in the drink lines. Older Iranians who remember the revolution mingled among knots of twenty-something, U.S.-born Iranian-Americans with vague memories of the Ayatollah. Activists handed out fliers near the concession stands while entrepreneurs sold T-shirts and slipped Web site ads under windshield wipers in the parking lot. ``Most of the business has been Iran,'' said Frank Gomez, behind the counter at a T-shirt stall. ``Every Iranian flag has been bought.'' The American fans were almost an afterthought. Many of them huddled in a corner section of the stadium for solidarity, wearing outsize Uncle Sam red, white and blue top hats and U.S. flags for capes. ``It makes us get louder,'' said Sergio Gonzalez, 17, of Los Angeles. ``There's a whole bunch of them, but we're smaller, we're louder and we're better.'' ************************************ Iran 1, US 1 By KEN PETERS PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- The U.S. men's soccer team, undergoing almost a complete makeover since the miserable showing in the 1998 World Cup, still couldn't beat Iran. In a rematch of their shocking loss to Iran in France, the Americans dominated Sunday's exhibition game at the Rose Bowl in most regards but had to settle for a 1-1 tie. ``For us, it was the first game of the year and we approached it like any other game,'' said Chris Armas, who scored the tying goal for the United States in the 48th minute. Coach Bruce Arena, who took over the U.S. team after Steve Sampson resigned in the wake of the poor World Cup performance, found some things to like about the performance. ``The first half, we didn't do a good job on (Khodadad) Azizi; he got the ball his share of times and was splitting our defense,'' Arena said. ``But the last 65 minutes, I thought we played quite well. ``We were not a fit team. Most of the players have been off for two or three months.'' The game was the third in the United States for the Iranian team, on a brief ``soccer diplomacy'' tour. The two nations do not have formal diplomatic relations. As often happens when the U.S. plays a national team from another country in the Los Angeles area, the Americans were the ``visitors'' at the Rose Bowl There was an extremely loud and lively but well-behaved crowd of 49,212, about half the Rose Bowl capacity, with some 90 percent or so of the fans Iranian-Americans chanting, ``IRAN! IRAN!'' throughout the match. There were few American flags, and many of those were waved by fans with an Iranian flag in their other hand. Many fans also had an Iranian flag painted on one cheek and an American flag on the other. Still, Arena was disappointed that the crowd didn't have more fans cheering for the U.S. team. ``I think it's about time people started getting behind our national team,'' he said. Iran coach Mansour Pourhaidari was pleased with his team's play, but not with the outcome. ``Every coach wants to win. We wanted to win, and maybe with a little more concentration, we could have come out with the result,'' he said. During the pregame introductions, the American players presented flowers to the Iranians. At the '98 World Cup, Iran's players had given flowers to U.S. players in an exchange of gifts. The Americans, with a new coach and mostly new players since their 2-1 loss to Iran in Lyon, were on the attack constantly, getting off 18 shots to nine by Iran. But Iran scored on Mehdi Mahdavikia's goal seven minutes into the game, then withstood most of the American's offensive onslaught. The United States tied it when Cobi Jones, who gave the Americans consistent penetration down the right side, sent an arcing cross from just outside the right side of the box. Armas, charging in from the left side, slammed the ball into the open net with his left foot. Iranian goalkeeper Hadi Tabatebei, forced to guard the right post with Jones dribbling down, could not get back in time to stop Armas' hard shot. The Americans consistently mounted threats in the first half, but could not finish their opportunities. Jones barely missed in the second minute, breaking free down the right side but banging his shot off the left post. Brian McBride struck a header from close range in the 34th minute, but the ball went directly to Tabatebei. Ten minutes later, Claudio Reyna, getting a clear shot from about 15 yards after a scramble in the box, blasted his shot high. Iran came very close to going up 2-0 early in the game. One minute after feeding Mahdavikia a pass for his goal, Azizi controlled the rebound after U.S. goalkeeper Brad Friedel stopped a shot. Azizi, on the left side eight yards from the goal, whirled around and fired a shot with his left foot. But the ball went into the side of the net. Jones, McBride, Reyna and Frankie Hejduk were the only starters in the game who also started the World Cup match against Iran. Iran finished its U.S. tour 1-1-1, losing 2-1 to Mexico in Oakland and beating Ecuador 2-1 at the Los Angeles Coliseum before playing the Americans. updated at Sun Jan 16 17:50:13 2000 PT Top of Form 1
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Iranian fans divided in loyalties By Jill Serjeant PASADENA, California, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Their homes may be in the United States but they wore their hearts on their red, green and white Iranian flags, hats and t-shirts and cheered their national soccer team as heroes. Iranians, many of them expatriates for 20 years, outnumbered fans of the U.S. team 10 to one for Sunday's soccer friendly in a game both sides hoped would set the stage for better international relations. In what was the first visit to the United States by the Iranian soccer team since the 1979 Islamic revolution, the 1-1 scoreline was a dream result for most in the 49,200-strong crowd after 90 minutes of impassioned emotion and divided loyalties. Many of the Iranian paper flags carried the U.S. stars and stripes on the reverse side. ``It doesn't matter who wins,'' said Alia Shamin, one of an estimated 600,000 strong Iranian population in the Los Angeles area. ``It is a symbolic match. We hope that if the United States and Iran can get along here on the soccer field they can have better relations diplomatically,'' Shamin added. It was billed as a friendly but for the Iranian supporters it could just as well have been a World Cup final. Blowing trumpets, whistles and drums, they set up a 90-minute barrage of sound, rising to their feet each time a red-jerseyed Iranian player made a break. Rarely can the U.S. national team have played a game on home turf before such a partisan crowd. Reported plans for anti-Islamic demonstrations outside and inside the Rose Bowl stadium failed to materialise, although most of the crowd stayed sitting in their seats when the Iarnian national anthem was played. Their flags, rustled up in dozens of small Iranian businesses in the Los Angeles area, also carried the pre-1979 Iranian revolutionary symbol of lion, sword and sun in the middle rather than the Islamic symbol that now covers that spot. But politics was far from the minds of most of the fans, some of them arriving in family convoys of three generations.``This is the first time our team has come to the United States,'' said Nasri Saberi, who moved to California 25 years ago. ``Iran, the United States -- I feel the same about both countries.'' The Iranian players have also said repeatedly since their arrival in the United States on January 5 that they want to talk soccer not politics. At the final whistle, the two teams swapped jerseys and the Iranians ran a lap of honour applauding the fans on both sides who had turned a friendly into an exuberant exhibition of goodwill. ``I hope by coming here...it will help in some way to bring the two governments to one table, face to face, to talk to each other and solve their differences,'' team technical director Jalal Talebi told reporters. ``It would give each other a chance to respect each other's rights , religion and cultures,'' he said. updated at Sun Jan 16 2000
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