“I asked, where is Salihamdzic, Baljic, Barbarez, Hibic, Bolic?” I said “Either the A-team or nothing. I am not an egomaniac but I know what I am worth”.

This is how Swedish super striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic responded, when the Bosnian federation, invited Zlatan to their reserve teams tour of India! Bosnia allowed Ibrahimovic to slip through their fingers, Iran should learn from their mistake and never allow their “Zlatan” to slip through theirs.

Ibrahimovic, hmmmm, no thanks

Today, most Swedes cannot imagine their national team without their star striker Zlatan. But if it would not be for the Bosnian FA’s incompetence, negligence and most importantly arrogance, Ibrahimovic would have represented them instead of Sweden. Here is a short story of what happened; at the age of 17, Zlatan Ibrahimovic emerged on to the Swedish football scene with local club Malmo FF. Having lived in Malmo at that time, one cannot explain the excitement young Zlatan created in Malmo’s cafes, bars and restaurants.You did not have to be an expert to realize, that this boy was a bit special.

His father Sefik always dreamed about seeing Zlatan play for Bosnia, initially Zlatan was indifferent but he finally opted for Bosnia. Sefik and Ibrahimovic’s youth coach Rasim Suljkic contacted the Bosnian FA. They had heard about Zlatan but the Bosnians were not very interested. Why would they invite a 17- year-old from the Swedish second division? (By the time Bosnians had been approached, Malmo FF had been relegated to the Swedish second division). Bosnia said no thanks but two years later, they invited Ibrahimovic to their tour of India and that is when Zlatan, who was disappointed with not being invited to the regular Bosnian squad, turned them down.This is what Ahmet Pasalic from the Bosnian FA had to say when Swedish journalist Erik Niva asked him about Zlatan, “Ibrahimovic was here with his father and in retrospect, we should have done more in order to convince him to play for Bosnia.” You don’t say Mr. Pasalic.

One can only imagine how much stronger Bosnia would be with a superstar like Ibrahimovic in their squad. Football might be a team sport but a player like “Ibra” can, in the case of Bosnia, be the difference between good and average, World Cup qualification or failure.

Lets be a step ahead

Today, there are many young players with Iranian heritage playing in Europe. Some of them even play for the youth teams of Holland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. Two of the most prominent European/Iranian players are 19-year-old Ashkan Dejagah from Hertha Berlin and the highly talented Navid Dayyani of Danish AGF Aarhus.

Dejagah have proven himself to be a future prospect. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest talents in Germany and is, at the age of 19, about to break into Hertha Berlin’s starting line up. While no player should be invited to Team Melli just because he happens to play in Europe, one have to question how long Iran can wait until they approach some of these rising stars. Dejagah might not be Zlatan just yet, but he is developing into a fine striker.

Dayyani is one of the youngest players to have played in the Danish first division, he has already attracted interest from English sides and he is on his way to become a solid defender. Should we wait for these players to fully develop before we invite them to represent Iran or, should we be a step ahead, and move before it is too late? Would it have killed the Bosnians to give that 17-year-old kid from Malmo, 45 minutes, to prove himself? Would it have been very unfair to Borhani, Khatibi and Akbarpour if Dejagah had played 45 minutes against Taiwan? Would it have been a disaster if we had tried Dayyani instead of Zareh on the left side?

How about talking to these youngsters, telling them we are aware of their talents and potentials and giving them a chance to try and prove themselves, even if it is for just 45 minutes. For Dejagah and Dayyani, their time will come 2010, 2014 and even 2018 but what about starting now? What about giving them the chance to fight for a World Cup place in the team? No one (certainly not me) is saying that these guys should be in the World Cup squad but they should be given a chance to prove themselves. If they are interested and good enough, great, if not, sorry, come back for the Asian Cup 2007. The important thing is, if they play, even for 45 minutes, we have “tagged” them, they are ours. Furthermore, in a squad of 23 players, surely, there can be a place for a couple of future prospects that have experience of European football, cant there?

Forget the Germans, lets play in the LG cup!

We can either be a step ahead or wait for the Germans and the Danish to invite them, what should we do then? Should we pull a “Bosnia” and say hey, we know that three times World Champions, Germany, have just invited you, but we have a LG cup against Tajikistan and Oman next week here in Tehran, what about paying for your own ticket and coming down.

Finders keepers

Half of the Turkish team that finished third in 2002 World Cup in Japan/Korea were born outside of Turkey. The Croatians have snapped up a couple of players from the Aussies and are now involved in a tug of war with Argentina over midfielder Daniel Bilos. Even unfancied Angola has strengthened its leaky defence with Porto captain Pedro Emmanuel and Leeds United’s stalwart Rui Marquez. More and more players with dual nationality are up for grabs and it seems that the competing federations have a finders keepers mentality.

With over 5 million Iranians living outside of Iran, more and more “sons of the Diaspora” are appearing in various European leagues. Although Iran has many young and talented players in its domestic league, we should learn from Bosnia’s mistake and never allow pride, negligence and arrogance to blur our judgment. I hope that we never have to go through the agony the Bosnians go through every time they see Zlatan create his magic for Sweden.

“It would have been fantastic to play for Bosnia, if I could have only played for them once. Now it is too late” (Zlatan Ibraimovic talking to Bosnian magazine BiH Dani)