{"id":11367,"date":"2010-07-25T17:37:49","date_gmt":"2010-07-26T00:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2010\/07\/25\/talebi-taking-football-above-politics\/"},"modified":"2010-07-25T17:37:49","modified_gmt":"2010-07-26T00:37:49","slug":"talebi-taking-football-above-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2010\/07\/25\/talebi-taking-football-above-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Talebi: taking football above politics"},"content":{"rendered":"
AFC – TEHRAN, In the second of their series of Asian Coaches Year interviews, the-afc.com talks to Jalal Talebi, the coach who plotted Iran\u2019s famous 2-1 victory over the United States at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBoss, can you give me a few minutes to think about it? It is not an easy decision to take\u201d.<\/p>\n

These were Jalal Talebi\u2019s first words when offered the chance to coach Iran at the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. In the end, it was an offer he could not refuse.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked myself, if not now then when? I had confidence in the potential of the team. He called me again and I just trusted God and said YES,\u201d Talebi told the-afc.com.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that I learned that my assignment had the support of Iran President Mohamad Khatami.\u201d\u2028\u2028In the end, he took the job and went on to preside over probably the most famous result in Iran\u2019s international history \u2013 Iran 2 United States 1.<\/p>\n

As an Iranian-American, Talebi had to wade through a sea of emotions himself. He recalls his heart racing seconds before the kick-off for the World Cup group match between two countries who shared strained relations in the political arena.\u2028\u2028 Although he has had a long football career, as a player and coach, that single match against USA is what he will be remembered for.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

High expectations<\/strong><\/p>\n

And he only had limited time to prepare his team for the tournament, having been given the job three weeks before the World Cup.\u2028\u2028 Expectations in Iran had reached fever pitch but the team were struggling in the lead-up to the event under Yugoslav coach Tomislav Ivic.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

Ivic made a promise that the team would perform well during a training camp in Italy before the tournament. However, after a 7-1 loss to AS Roma, a nervous Iran FA lost patience and sacked Ivic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran FA President Safaei Farahni called me in Italy and said you are my choice now,\u201d said Talebi. \u201cIt was in the middle of a crisis and they did not have time to look beyond Iran for a replacement.<\/p>\n

\u201d\u2028\u2028For Iranians, the World Cup, particularly the match against the US, was hugely symbolic. While many tried to shrug it off as just a football game, the political tensions prior to the match was palpable.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

Then US President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Madeline Albright called for fair play in the match, which only served to raise the temperature rather than cool things down.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be frank, managing such a crisis was not really part of my skills,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

“Seventy-five million Iranians all over the world, including US citizens, were focusing on us.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could never ease the tension. I tried to make my players understand that this was not a political game but how could you make them believe it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018No oxygen\u2019 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Iran took a 1-0 half-time lead through Hamid Estili\u2019s header. The players were pumped up at the interval but the anxiety was evident in the dressing room.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was as if there was no oxygen in the dressing room,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was heavy with tension. The players were happy to be one goal ahead but there was panic and worry on their faces.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor six months, the global media were playing up this match. I just tried to calm them down and tell them that everything was going well and asked them to concentrate only on the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second half was memorable, especially the fantastic goal by Mehdi Mahdavikia that gave Iran a 2-0 lead. Team Melli eventually won 2-1 \u2013 their first-ever victory in the World Cup finals.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were in seventh heaven. We enjoyed listening to the news from Iran and seeing the media reaction everywhere. It was unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well travelled <\/strong><\/p>\n

Before taking over the national team, Talebi was a well-travelled coach, having worked UAE, Singapore, Indonesia \u2013 and Iran.\u2028\u2028 He was also an excellent player in his prime, winning the league with Daraei and finishing as the league\u2019s top goal-scorer when he was 26 years old.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

However, just one year later, he was forced to retire because of a knee injury. He said the lack of attention paid to his minisk \u2013 a piece of fibro-cartilage inside the knee join \u2013 caused the end of his career.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\u201cThey did not know what the minisk was,\u201d said the 68-year-old. \u201cMy coach gave me hard training and when I went to England for treatment, the doctor said there was nothing left to be fixed. I had no choice but to say goodbye to my playing days.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he was determined to stay in football and, from 1971 to 1973, he attended coaching courses at England\u2019s Chelsea FC and Tottehnam Hotspur, and in Brazil.\u2028\u2028 He coached the Iran youth football team from 1975 to 1977 before a six-year spell at UAE\u2019s Al Khalij club.<\/p>\n

Singapore stint<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1996, he managed Geylang United in Singapore and took the team to the S-League title in its first year of existence. Fielding Iranians Mohammad Khakpour and Hamid Estili, he completed the double by winning the Singapore FA Cup.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

He then went on to coach the Indonesian Olympic team but, during the political troubles of 1997, he was forced to leave the country.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were pretty nice people in football and federation and every thing was going well,\u201d he said. \u201cBut suddenly, one night a guy I trusted came to me and said you have to leave the country!\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything has changed in the government and it was not safe for me as a foreigner. It was so sad because I did not have even one serious game with my team but I had to say goodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n

He returned to Tehran to coach the Bahman club and, after the national team\u00a0qualified for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, he was chosen by the Iran FA to act as the team\u2019s technical advisor.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

Iran qualified for the 1998 finals in dramatic fashion, coming back from two goals down to draw 2-2 against Australia in Melbourne to qualify on away goals. \u2028\u2028It was their first finals appearance after a 20-year lapse.\u2028\u2028<\/p>\n

Continued success <\/strong><\/p>\n

After the World Cup in 1998, Talebi continued to find success with Iran, winning the WAFF Championship in 2000 in Jordan. He was also in charge of Iran at the AFC Asian Cup in 2000, when they lost by a golden goal to Korea Republic in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

Talebi then went to Syria to coach Al Jaish before becoming the Syrian national coach, remaining until 2002. He now shares his time between Tehran and Palo Alto in California, where he moved to in 1983.<\/p>\n

Occasionally, his mind goes back to that glorious day in France when Iran and the United States were watched by the whole world on a football pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am still thinking that winning against US was from God,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AFC – TEHRAN, In the second of their series of Asian Coaches Year interviews, the-afc.com…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22614,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c13-team-melli-news"],"views":5164,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22614"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}