If the record books is anything to go by , Team Melli should not be fearing the opposition in Group F of the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014, The draw that was held earlier this evening has placed Iran in the same group with Argentina, Bosnia and Nigeria,
Going through the records of matches between Iran and the three teams, interesting and ironic facts emerge. Team Melli has the distinction of being the first team to meet Bosnia national team in 1993 after the country’s independence from Former Yugoslavia. FIFA however, refused to recognize that match as Bosnia was not a FIFA member at the time.
Iran and Bosnia- Herzegovina had cordial and friendly relations at all levels throughout the years . In all the two countries have played 5 times with Iran winning 4 and drawing one. The first match is not included in this data because it wasn’t considered an official recognized match. The best overall results of Team Melli against a European team are against Bosnia with two significant results of 5-2 and a 4-0 wins.
With Bosnia rapid progress in the European football including producing World Class players such as Hasan Salihamidžić and Edin Džeko,, the Eastern European team has not managed to defeat Iran in any game. The last match in Sarajevo ended in a 2-3 win for Team Melli with the goals scored by Masoud SHOJAEI (79), Arash BORHANI (86) and Andranik TEYMOURIAN (93). Bosnia scored by perhaps their greatest ever forward, Edin Džeko (52)(65) who currently plays for Manchester City.
The other interesting fact with Bosnia is that both teams had a coach which took them on the brink of the World Cup. Miroslav ‘Ciro’ Blažević, the charismatic Croatian coach , lead Team Melli to the 2002 play-off against the Republic of Ireland and lost the two legged series with the smallest of margins.
8 years later Blažević, found himself in the same situation with Bosnia when he led them to a play off match against Portugal for the World Cup 2010. Bosnia and Blažević, again lost the series in a narrow 1-0 margin. In that year Edin Džeko scored 9 goals in the qualifying rounds.
Team Melli played a lone match against Nigeria and Argentina. The match against Nigeria in Hong Kong was in the Carlsberg Cup. The 4 side tournament was in preparation for Iran’s participation in the FIFA World Cup 1998. Iran already played against the powerful Uruguay team earlier on and was leading by an Ali Smaereh goal until Golmohammady scored an own goal 7 minutes before time to make it 1-1. The penalty shootout went Uruguay’s way and Iran had to play Nigeria in the 3rd place match. Despite Team Melli playing a much better game against the Africans, they failed to capitalize on their many scoring chances while Nigeria pounced on one of their chances to score the only game of the match and the winner.
.The match that really stands out amongst this series is the only one played against Argentina is the Santiago Bernabu stadium , the home of Real Madrid. In 1977 Iran was invited for this 65th anniversary celebration to paly in a 4 side tournament that also included Argentina and Algeria national teams . The first match was against the Argentinians , the host of next year’s World Cup. The team that Iran faced was 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 .
Argentina lead through a Daniel Bertoni penalty but Team Melli played one of its best matches on record leading Argentina to defend desperately against onslaughts of offensive moves lead by the brilliant Hassan Rowshan and Adelkhani. Team Melli eventually got its reward when Mohammad Sadeghi scored with 11 minutes to go. 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.
Many European journalist took notice and started looking at Iran football at a time when Aisa 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 in the world.
Interestingly enough , Iran played both Argentina and Nigeria in the last FIFA U-17 World Cup championship in the UAE last october. The match against Argentina finsihed 1-1 in the group stages , while the Nigerians , who went on to win the title were too hot for Iran at the Khalifa Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain racking up three goals in the first half en route to a 4-1 win in the Round of 16.
In 2014 , Iran will be playing these three teams with a proud record. Argentina has the best player in the world in its team and a number of World class players, but then again it was a similar situation nearly 4 decades ago when Team Melli faced the future champion and came out with a proud result. There is no reason that Team Melli should not repeat that feat. The biggest obstacle will be the psychological hurdle.
THE RESULTS
| ARGENTINA | |||||
| Date | Comp. | H / A / N | Final score | Stadium | Attendance |
| 22.03.1977 | Real Madrid 65th Anniversary | N | 1 -1 | Santiago Bernabu , Madrid | 35,000 |
| BOSNIA | |||||
| Date | Comp. | H / A / N | Final score | Stadium | Attendance |
| 12.08.2009 | Friendly | A | 3 -2 | Asim Ferhatovic Hase Stadium – Sarajevo | 20,000 |
| 31.05.2006 | Friendly | H | 5 -2 | Azadi – Tehran | 40,000 |
| 02.02.2005 | Friendly | H | 2 -1 | Azadi – Tehran | 10,000 |
| 10.08.2001 | LG CUP | H | 4 – 0 | Azadi – Tehran | 75,000 |
| 22.07.2001 | Friendly | A | 2 – 2 | Stadion NK Jedinstvo podno Borića , Bihac | 5,000 |
| NIGERIA | |||||
| Date | Comp. | H / A / N | Final score | Stadium | Attendance |
| 28.01.1998 | Carlsberg Cup | N | 0 – 1 | Hong Kong | 6,000 |
| H / A / N | Matches | W | D | L | Goals | + / – | |
| Argentina | N | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 – 1 | 0 |
| H / A / N | Matches | W | D | L | Goals | + / – | |
| Bosnia | H | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11-3 | 8 |
| A | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5-4 | 1 | |
| N | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 – 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 16-7 | 9 | |
| Nigeria | N | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 – 1 | -1 |
| overall | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 17 – 9 | 8 |
| ARGENTINA | |||||
| Date | Comp. | H / A / N | Final score | Stadium | Attendance |
| 22.03.1977 | Real Madrid 65th Anniversary | N | 1 -1 | Santiago Bernabu , Madrid | 35,000 |
| BOSNIA | |||||
| Date | Comp. | H / A / N | Final score | Stadium | Attendance |
| 12.08.2009 | Friendly | A | 3 -2 | Asim Ferhatovic Hase Stadium – Sarajevo | 20,000 |
| 31.05.2006 | Friendly | H | 5 -2 | Azadi – Tehran | 40,000 |
| 02.02.2005 | Friendly | H | 2 -1 | Azadi – Tehran | 10,000 |
| 10.08.2001 | LG CUP | H | 4 – 0 | Azadi – Tehran | 75,000 |
| 22.07.2001 | Friendly | A | 2 – 2 | Stadion NK Jedinstvo podno Borića , Bihac | 5,000 |
| NIGERIA | |||||
| Date | Comp. | H / A / N | Final score | Stadium | Attendance |
| 28.01.1998 | Carlsberg Cup | N | 0 – 1 | Hong Kong | 6,000 |