This Week in History: Iran's bitter victory over Japan

Vahid Hashemian scored once in each half to guarantee Iran their first win in Group B of Asian World Cup qualifiers in front of 130,000 fans who packed Tehran’s Azadi Stadium on March 25, 2005. Iran fielding the same side that started the match against Bahrain in its opening World Cup qualifier faced a Japan team which was welcoming back Ono and Hidetoshi Nakata. Iran started slowly, and it was Japan who tested Iran’s goal keeper first. However, soon after, Iran took control of the game and came close twice with Zandi and Mahdavikia both having efforts on target. The home fans didn’t have to wait long for the first goal of the match as Hashemian put Iran 1-0 after 25 minutes. Japan failed to clear the ball after a free kick taken by Mahdavikia, and Hashemian pounced on the loose ball in Japan’s penalty area,and hit the roof of the net with a powerful right foot shot.

Iran's most famous striker Ali Daei, with a record of 100+ goals for his country's national team, missed at least three scoring chances during the first half and left the ground ten minutes before the end of the first half as Ali Daei pulled a groin muscle and had to be replaced by Navidkia. Japan put some pressure on Iran’s goal towards the end of the first half with Ono and Nakata going close. Iran could have gone in to the break 2-0 up, but Mahdavikia’s shot went inches wide as the two teams finished the first half with the score 1-0 in favour of Iran. Japan started the second half on front foot, and pushed Iran back. Mirzapour was forced to produce a spectacular save from Nakamura in the 51st minute, but soon after Japan managed to equalize. A cross by Nakata wasn’t cleared by Nosrati, and the ball reached Fukunishi who scored from close range to make the score 1-1 after 67 minutes.

Iran who desperately needed all the three points of this match piled on the pressure on Japan goal and got the reward they deserved in the 75th minute. A pass by Mahdavikia reached Karimi on the right edge of the penalty area, who sent a perfect cross to Hashemian who scored his, and Iran’s second with a precise header. Iran could have added further goals in the final 15 minutes as Japan lost all hope of getting any points from thegame,andHashemian should have scored his third, but his effort was cleared off the line after a great move by Kaabi on the right. The game finished 2-1.Iran move up to the top of Group B after this win, with 4 points from 2 games.Iran is joined by Bahrain at the top with identical record to Iran. Japan are third with 3 points, and DPR Korea are 4th still in search of their first points.

"This was the national team's most important victory in recent years," Iran coach Branko Ivankovic said after the match."I'm very proud of my team. We removed a very difficult hurdle in our path to the World Cup Finals in Germany." Iran's victory in the Group B World Cup qualifying match left them top of the group.

However, Iran’s crucial home victory against Japan was overshadowed by a tragedy for Iranian fans, which left 7 people dead and injured 40 others. The incident occured as more than 100,000 spectators at the Azadi stadium moved to the exits after the game, doctors told the agency. More than 100,000 spectators packed the stadium, and all rushed for the exits at the end of the match, causing the stampede. The Iran versus Japan leg of the 2006 World Cup Qualifiers in Tehran was the highest attended qualifying match among all confederations.

Iranian security forces have been blamed for the deaths of seven people in a post-match crush following last month's World Cup qualifier with Japan, the judiciary was reported as saying. "The lack of unified management in the security forces, positioning a (helicopter) in front of the main 60-metre wide gate and diverting the spectators to a secondary seven-metre wide gate are the main reasons for the incident," Tehran newspapers quoted spokesman Jamal Karimi Rad as saying. "Allowing 20,000 more spectators than the capacity 100,000 into Tehran's Azadi stadium also contributed to the deaths of seven people as fans tried to leave the stadium on March 25", said Karimi Rad.

Now three years gone since the crucial yet bitter victory, Iran National team not only has not repeated victories against high calibur Asian teams, but Iranian team is now getting stalled at home by Syria National team in the same competition and arguably in an easier Group compared to WCQ 2006’s Group B opponents against Japan, Bahrain and North Korea.

IRAN: Mirzapour, Kaebi, Gormohammadi, Rezaei, Nosrati, Mahdavikia, Nekounam, Ali Karimi (Nikbaht 78), Zandi (Allawi 65), Hashemian, Ali Daei (Navidakia 43)

JAPAN: Seigo Narazaki, 65), Akira Kaji, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Yuji Nakazawa, Atsuhiro Miura, Takashi Fukunishi, Shinji Ono (Mitsuo Ogasawara 79), Shunsuke Nakamura, Hidetoshi Nakata, Keiji Tamada (Atsushi Yanagisawa 63), Naohiro Takahara (Masashi Oguro 82) .