The Twenty-Fourth Year of Iranian Clubs' Failure in Asia

With the elimination of Zob Ahan Isfahan, the case of Iranian clubs in the AFC Champions League has been closed. The representatives of Emirati football advanced to the next round after defeating Tractor Sazi and Zob Ahan. The last time an Iranian team won the Asian championship was in February 1993 when Pas Tehran secured the championship trophy. That team no longer exists and has transferred its license to Hamadan province, now playing in the second division. Zob Ahan, which had the best defense and the highest points entering the Round of 16 of the AFC Champions League, had high hopes for continuing its brilliance in the knockout stage. Yahya Gol Mohammadi's students drew 1-1 in the first leg against Al Ain of the UAE, allowing them to have a suitable advantage for the return match to reach the final eight teams. Even a goalless draw would have favored Zob Ahan, but a 12th-minute goal by Lee Myung-jo surprised Zob Ahan. In the second half, Mohammed Abdulrahman, with a deep pass, set up Asprilla, the star of the Emirati club, for a scoring opportunity, and he scored the second goal for Al Ain after getting past Nejad Mehdi. 15,000 people gathered at Fooladshahr Stadium to celebrate the advancement of the Iranian representative, an event that did not happen contrary to expectations and predictions. While football officials in Iran and club managers always consider the Iranian league superior to the leagues of the Gulf countries, two Emirati clubs advanced past the Iranian representatives. Rashid Mazaheri, Mohammad Nejad Mehdi (Masoud Hassanzadeh), Vahid Mohammadzadeh, Ali Hamam, Hashem Beikzadeh (Mehrdad Ghanbari), Mehdi Mahdipour, Qasem Hadadifar, Morteza Tabatabai, Ehsan Pehlavan (Danial Esmaeili Far), Mohammad Reza Abbasi, and Kaveh Rezaei were the players of Zob Ahan in this match. Zlatko Dalic, the coach of Al Ain, also used players such as Danilo Asprilla, Lee Myung-jo, Omar Abdulrahman, Dyanfres Douglas, and Bastos. Zob Ahan's opportunities throughout the match failed to reach the Al Ain goal due to the players' panic and sometimes the self-centeredness of some of them. Zlatko Dalic stated in the press conference: 'Due to our tactical cohesion, Zob Ahan could not defeat us even with 15 players. When a team runs better than Zob Ahan, it shows that they are superior!' Yahya Gol Mohammadi also said: 'We conceded the second goal due to our disorganization, and our task became very difficult. We did not expect to concede a goal so easily. Containing a player like Abdulrahman is not easy; he is a genius of Asian football. It wasn't just Abdulrahman; we had to watch out for four or five good players from Al Ain.' The head coach of Zob Ahan reminded: 'One cannot expect Zob Ahan to eliminate a team like Al Ain. We fell victim to the professionalism of the opponent and our own inexperience.' Thus, the curse of Iranian football clubs in achieving the championship title in Asia has reached 24 years.