So where were you when this happened 18 years ago?

[Bluegrey13]

went school in the morning, and they let us go home early to watch the game, everyone was rushing to go home and watch the game and couldnt get any taxi so I ran to get home and I got home in 45 minutes as soon as I got home game started and I was waching it with my dad and sister I start crying in half time we were behind one goal, but it was tie at the end, Abedzadeh was great that game

[Bessos]

I was too young to be watching this special game.

But I think it is cool how two of Team Melli's biggest moments were in such a short time span of each other: 1997 (Iran-Aus) and 1998 (Iran-USA)

[dash_sina]

I still cry.

[kia]

Every TM fan knows exactly what went down that night. I remember it like it was yesterday. Me and 4 buddies drove up to a place in the valley called Khaneye To. After a few Johnny Walker Blacks & olovieh and Boranis the game supposedly started but the big screen went black. We bitched a few minutes and the manager promised to recoop the picture but to no avail. Finally everybody gave up and bailed without paying of course. Everybody knew that the English pubs in Santa Monica were also showing the game so all of a sudden 200 BMWs with 600 hairy Iranian dudes went south on the 405. Once we got there we saw another 500 hairy Iranian dudes peaking through the two pubs as the places were so packed the fire department had to show up. After that we gave up and went to one of our mates house in West LA. Over there he got on one of the Iranian football sites (which was the 1st time I got introduced to these sites IK,ISP & PFDC) and luckily somebody was reporting the game. We were wasted & ready to go home as it was probably around 2 AM but then Iran scored the 1st goal. We started celebrating with an eight ball that my friend scored earlier in the valley. Once the 2nd goal was scored we went crazy & after the final whistle we drove to Westwood Blvd and there was so many Iranians going crazy.
Funny thing is we went to this other place the next day to watch the game and saw how lucky we got. I don't think there is another game that was this memorable.

[Mr Pouya]

if you were in Iran, game was broadcast around 1pm not early morning

i just realised i was class zohrei, school was divided into two group, morning group was year 3 to 5, afternoon was year 1 to 2. I was in year 2 and they came after me after the game, later that day we went to haida sandwich which was normally a treat for us.

[04041374]

Well, I was only two years old and my parents lived in Austria for years. We neither could watch the match, nor could figure out about what happened. We neither had Satellite TV, nor had we any Internet to get the latest news. Telephone calls to Iran were extremely expensive back then. They realized, that Iran qualified for the World Cup prior to the tournament and watched all the games of course. We travelled to Iran a few months after and my dad was interrogated by Iranian authorities because of the Mojahedin during the game against the USA who even threatened to invade the pitch during the game.

[Nokhodi]

I was still in elementary school then.
We live in a small town with very few Iranians and no satellite tv access at the time. Also no pubs or restaurants showing the game.
My father had a coworker who was a huge sports fan and he called our house the day after the game and told us Iran had qualified to the World Cup. At this point I had no idea how the qualification system worked so I didn't even know why we played Australia but we were all happy. Fortunately TV here showed all the World Cup games live.

Yadesh bekheyr, those days the only way we could watch TM games in North America was to buy the video tapes and watch several months after the game.

To all our dear young members who ask for highlights and clips and interviews ASAP, please remember what TM fans had to deal with 20 years ago.

[Keano]

I was in Vancouver, Canada. At the time having TV satellites at home was a luxury and almost no one had them in their homes. Me along all my music band colleagues after our show went to this Persian restaurant in North Vancouver and watched the match live in a fully-packed restaurant (Can't remember its name), indeed an unforgettable night, I will always remember the joy and excitement of that night. Next day Iranians had a nice parade on the main street of North Van (Lansdale)

Time flies...

[PrinceAli]

Partying in my dads nutsack XD

[KC McElroy]

Partying in my dads nutsack XD

Hopefully it's no longer your regular hang out.

[khodam]

I was in Toronto visiting some friends. They took me to a restaurant to see my first TM game in more than 15 years. I ended up dancing on the tables kissing and hugging this guy with a bushy beard.

Probably the most exciting match of my life yet. I have not missed a single TM game since then.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

[Omids]

Wow it has been 18 years. I remember it clearly as it was my first live game watching Iran play, and what a day & night it was.

Ten of us packed two cars and drove from Sydney to Melbourne (900kms) on the day of the match. We got to Melbourne around 4pm and drove straight to the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) where the game was going to be held. It was already buzzing.

We get in and had good seats in the Great Southern Stand which seats around 30,000. Just that one stand was huge and it climbs up steeply so you are still close to the ground. The football pitch was small in compared to the cricket field. There was a contingent of 5000 odd Iranians behind the Iranian goal making a lot of noise. We were only a few Iranians in our stand.

When the game started the Aussie were in total control launching attack after attack. The colossal crown in the 80,000 stadium were noisy as hell. No one was sitting, they were on their feet chanting, drinking and happy. In the first half itself Australia could have easily scored 5 goals, somehow Iran managed to keep the score line to 1-0 at half time. Soon after Australia again scored to be make it 2-0. The crowd next to us were happy, very happy. They were almost there - finally at the World Cup.

Then that pest jumped on the goal’s netting. Stopped the game for 10 minutes or so as the net was repaired. That was the game changer for Iran, they regrouped and bang, bang – 2-2. The whole crowd went dead silent. We all got frightened that will surely will get beaten up. In a sea of 30,000 quiet Aussie fans we also quietened down. For the last 15 mins we all had our hearts in our mouth as the Aussie threw everything at Team melli but the boys, by hock or crook, didn’t let them score. We all celebrated at fulltime like no other time.

Went to the TM hotel after the game to mingle with the players and soak in the atmosphere. It was one hell of a night! Yadesh bekhair!

[Iran_19]

I was in Montréal, Champs sports bar, who used to show TM games back to time,no live streaming online like today and watching TM games was real pain. It was my early days outside of country so had to take bus and subway to go watch TM games during 1998 qualifications during long cold winter.That game vs Australia was early in the morning, 5:30 if i am not wrong, i took last subway and we got there something like 3 hours before game, it was a cold night. I was with a friend and Behzad Gholampour cousin(former NT goalie), the place had two floors and capacity of 600 to 700 people and place was packed an hour before game, some people were just hearing the game from speaker on stairs.
It was stressful game, at 0-2 i kind of gave up and felt really disappointed considering i watched all qualification games during year and half, it was a sad end and i was imagining all matches like a TV in front of my eyes, i didn't even pay attention when Bagheri scored, i saw people jumping up and down and from that moment i felt something will happen. Iran counter attack was very dangerous with Daei-Azizi up front and that Azizi' goal, man it should be my best feeling watching TM in last 30 years, game after game! Hard to explain...
The last 10-15 minutes was really stressful as well, we made it finally, that generation got finally what they deserved, that qualification shouldn't take so long for us but at the end we made it, Iran was a team that played most games to qualify in 1998. Good thing was we made it as i said because it could have been a real disaster if we could't qualify with that golden generation!

[teammelli91]

I was 6 years old. After it happened my dad and sister went to pick up my mom from the university she went to. I remember people cheering everywhere and honking their car's horns in the street (the classic: beep bee bee beep beep beep! Beep bee bee beep beep, beep!).

I remember I got really frustrated and gheyrati over that Australian psychopath who ripped our net lol. I also remember Khiabani's voice very well. The 3 of us cheered loud in our building (in Saadat Abaad). I could hear the people living above us cheering too. It was a very special feeling indeed. And of course, the feeling that came the summer after when I was 7 against USA.

[DaNinerMan]

I still remember this game perfectly. We had trouble finding a place that was showing the game, so we missed the first half. Finally we found a Mexican restaurant that was packed with Iranians. Down 2-0, later in the 2nd half, suddenly we lost the signal but some guy had his Persian radio, so we were able to hear the commentary. It was dark, a little quiet and I put my head down on the back of the chair in front of me. I was losing hope. I actually almost cried. My older brother leaned in and said "dude, there is still time."

Then while the TV was still off, we heard on the radio that Iran scored. People started cheering and getting excited. I just clapped a little because I was surprised Iran scored. Then the TV came back on and TM looked like a different team. Then came Ali Daei's perfect pass to Azizi, a beautiful finish by Azizi, 2-2. I jumped on my dad, it was amazing. The place was going crazy. In the middle of celebrating I turned around and yelled to my brother "IF THEY TIE, IRAN GOES TO THE WORLD CUP!!!! Many people there didn't know that because they were not familiar with the away goals rule for aggregate scoring.

But those last minutes and the extra stoppage time minutes were a form of torture because Iran were defending for their lives. Every time Abedzadeh made a save, I didn't cheer, I just exhaled. Finally the whistle came and we celebrated like crazy. I will never forget that night and those moments. The euphoria was epic. We chanted France in Farsi. It was a dream come true to see our TM players taking a victory lap.