Tehran's Esteghlal Falls to Ali Daei's Students

In the fourth week of the Iranian Premier Football League, Saipa managed to defeat Esteghlal Tehran 1-0, placing them third in the league standings. Persepolis, Pars Jam, and Saipa are the three teams with 10 points each, ranked first to third based on goal difference. After a draw against Sepahan and two victories over Naft Abadan and Esteghlal Khuzestan, Saipa overcame Esteghlal Tehran with a penalty scored by Mohammad Abbaszadeh. Mehdi Torabi and Ali Gholizadeh were once again the stars of Saipa, playing a significant role in their team's success. Shah Ali Doost and Akhbari were also key players for the hardworking Saipa team in this match. Esteghlal missed several scoring opportunities, resulting in their drop to eleventh place, with some fans chanting "Have some shame, let go" against coach Mansourian. If Paykan and Gostaresh win their matches on Friday, Esteghlal will fall further down the rankings. The match between Saipa and Esteghlal was held at Takhti Stadium in Tehran, attended by 27,000 spectators. Saipa achieved this important victory with the lineup of Mohammadreza Akhbari, Mohammad Danshgar, Reza Aliyari, Danial Mahini, Omid Khaledi, Reza Asadi, Roozbeh Shah Ali Doost, Ali Gholizadeh, Arash Rezavand (Hamed Shiri), Mehdi Torabi (Hossein Kanani), and Mohammad Abbaszadeh (Reza Jafari). Esteghlal's lineup included Mehdi Rahmati, Pejman Montazeri, Majid Hosseini, Voria Ghafouri, Yaqub Karimi (Mehdi Qayedi), Roozbeh Cheshmi, Daryoush Shojaian, Suroor Chaparov, Mojtaba Jabari (Jaber Ansari), Hassan Bit Saeed, and Sajad Shahbazadeh (Ali Ghorbani). After the match, Alireza Mansourian stated: "We should have scored, but we either hit the post or the ball hit a Saipa defender. Contrary to our belief that we would win by two goals, that did not happen." The Esteghlal coach expressed that he is not upset by the fans' protests, adding: "We have given two penalties and experienced two losses. I have shaped the team to be among the best in Asia by the year 1401 (2022)." Ali Daei, the coach of Saipa, also said in the press conference: "We played tactically. In the second half, we did not allow Esteghlal's midfielders to create plays. We had two one-on-ones and deserved to win." In other matches, Tractor Sazi celebrated their first victory of the season at Yadegar Imam Stadium in Tabriz with two goals scored by Mohammad Iranpourian. Yahya Golmohammadi's team, after three consecutive losses, managed to defeat Naft Tehran, scoring the winning goal in the 89th minute from a penalty. Pars Jam recovered from a first-half defeat against Naft Abadan with two goals in the second half to win 2-1. The Jam team, which has been promoted from the Azadegan League to the Premier League this season, is now closely following Persepolis, only trailing by goal difference. Mohsen Farzan, the goalkeeper for Pars, made two crucial saves against long-range shots from Jassem Karar in the final minutes to maintain their home victory. In a crucial match, Sepahan and Zob Ahan faced off in the Isfahan derby. The two teams, standing in different conditions, now both have five points after Zob Ahan's defeat. Mehrdad Mohammadi's left-footed shot towards the goal of Mozaheri was deflected off Sasan Ansari's head, registering the goal in his name. In the 94th minute, a mistake by Derakhshanmehr allowed Jalaleddin Ali Mohammadi to go one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Initially unable to score, he later received a precise pass and dribbled past the goalkeeper to celebrate Sepahan's second goal. The matches of the fourth week will conclude on Friday with three games, and the results will not change the top three rankings.