{"id":27547,"date":"2017-03-21T12:37:52","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T19:37:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/?p=27547"},"modified":"2017-03-21T12:37:52","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T19:37:52","slug":"2022-wc-will-feel-like-home-event-sardar-azmoun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2017\/03\/21\/2022-wc-will-feel-like-home-event-sardar-azmoun\/","title":{"rendered":"“2022 WC will feel like home event”: Sardar Azmoun"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Gulf Times – DOHA, The 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar \u2013 the first ever staged in the Middle East \u2013 could throw up a Golden Ball competitor from the region should \u2018Iranian Messi\u2019 Sardar Azmoun realise his dream.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As Qatar prepare to take on Iran in a crucial 2018 World Cup qualifier tomorrow, the 22-year-old striker revealed his 2022 ambition \u2013 reaching the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal is to help \u2018Team Melli\u2019 qualify for the 2022 World Cup but it does not end there,\u201d said Azmoun. \u201cThe tournament will give me an opportunity to figure among the tournament\u2019s best players. I also hope we can replicate South Korea\u2019s 2002 semi-final performance. Iranian football has a lot of young talent and the potential for such success.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exciting striker plies his trade for Russian Football Premier League side FC Rostov, and is considered by many Asian football experts as the continent\u2019s hottest forward, along with South Korea and Tottenham\u2019s Son Heung-min. <\/p>\n

Azmoun, who scored a spectacular goal as his club took the scalp of Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League last November, exclusively told www.sc.qa that the first ever FIFA World Cup in the Middle East will feel like a home tournament and elaborated upon his 2022 dreams. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be a great one,\u201d said Azmoun, who has scored 16 international goals in 23 appearances. \u201cIt would feel like a home World Cup for us. It would be fantastic to qualify for the tournament, as our fans could easily travel to Doha and we\u2019ll receive fantastic support.\u201d Despite scoring against German giants Bayern Munich in the world\u2019s top club competition, Azmoun\u2019s vote for the best goal of his young career goes to his strike against Qatar in Iran\u2019s 1-0 group win at the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015. <\/p>\n

Many would consider this a surprising choice for a recent Liverpool target, whose dazzling turn had sent Bayern Munich centre-back Jerome Boateng sprawling before he scored, in a piece of play reminiscent of the 2015 UEFA Champions League semifinal goal scored by the man after whom he is nicknamed. <\/p>\n

Azmoun has strong emotional reasons for his choice. \u201cI\u2019ve got wonderful memories of the Asian Cup game against Qatar in Sydney and that goal,\u201d he said. \u201cI made my first official start for Iran in that game, which made me and my family very proud. It has been the best goal of my career so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Azmoun, who also scored against Atletico Madrid in this season\u2019s UEFA Champions League, concluded by asserting he will be playing for a top European club in the near future, but will move from Rostov only if he is convinced he will improve his skills. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere were talks of Liverpool having expressed an interest in me during the past winter transfer window,\u201d said the Iranian. \u201cHowever, I did not feel the time to move was right. I would have ended up playing a few games and then spent a great deal of time on the bench as Liverpool were only looking to fill a void for a particular part of their season. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want to move to a big club to develop as a player and therefore I will time the move with great precision. I am sure I will be playing for a top European club in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Azmoun has the talent to back up his confidence, and on Thursday, Qatar fans might well forget their national loyalties for a while to enjoy the skills of a global superstar in the making.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Gulf Times – DOHA, The 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar \u2013 the first ever…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26307,"featured_media":27548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,84,89,93,86,110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c17-asian-competitions","category-c47-featured-news","category-c16-iranian-legionairs","category-c22-players-spotlight","category-c13-team-melli-news","category-world-cup"],"views":4135,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27547","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\/26307"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}