IRANIANS CELEBRATED PEACEFULLY THEIR VICTORY OVER UAE
TEHRAN First of November (IPS) Millions of joyful Iranians went to the streets Wednesday night celebrating the 3 to nil victory of their national soccer team over that of the Persian Gulf United Arab Emirates, counting for the prestigious 2002 World Cup.
Hertha Berlin striker Ali Da’i, returned from suspension, opened the score with a free kick seven minutes, followed by midfielder Karim Bagheri who scored the second goal through a wheezing long range volley in the 75th minute and Mehrdad Minavand three minutes later, increasing Iran chances for a place in the next year’s World Cup finals, providing results from the 10 and 15 November matches against the Republic of Ireland.
Apprehensive of anti-regime violence and instructed by the regime’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i to deal "mercilessly" with demonstrators, the authorities had deployed impressive number of Law Enforcement Forces personnel, backed by the notorious Basij volunteers, the Ansar Hezbollah pressure groups, plainclothes agents of the Information (Intelligence) Ministry and Revolutionary Guards special anti-riot units.
In order to keep people at home, the leader-controlled Television had announced the airing of a very popular serial immediately after the match.
Nevertheless, people, mostly young ones, poured in the streets in Tehran and all major and smaller cities, chanting national songs and slogans against the Islamic Republic and its lamed and unpopular leader.
But unlike previous matches, mostly the one that saw the humiliating defeat at the hands of the Bahraini on 21 October, no clashes with Police were reported, as celebrations remained within bounds and in turn, security forces remained calm, not reacting to fans sang and danced, throwing firecrackers despite an official ban.
Iran’s clear victory over UAE in Abou Dhabi reinforced widely believed speculations that the clerical authorities had coerced Iranian players to "give" the game to the Bahrainis in order to prevent people to exploit the occasion voicing publicly their anger with the Islamic regime by chanting patriotic songs, carrying Iranian national flag consisting of three equal green, white and red stripes in the one hand and insulting Mr. Khameneh’i as the symbol of the Islamic Republic.
In a speech pronounced Tuesday in the central and historic city of Esfahan, Ayatollah Khameneh’i blamed the United States for the public anger and accused the Iranian media abroad to "exaggerate minor incidents", and ignoring the medieval and Dark Age prospects he and other clerics around him are promising to a young and dynamic generation seeking modernity.
Though the authorities put the number of people arrested during several nights of public violence that saw people setting fire on buses, attacking public buildings and banks and destroying telephone boots and traffic lights at more than 4000 nation-wide, Mr. Khameneh’i said "only a few 100 to 150 trouble-makers, counter-revolutionaries and hooligans" were responsible for the disturbances, warning that "our faithful young, dedicated to Islam and revolutionary values" would deal with the "foreign-led provocateurs".
Some reformist MMs (Members of the Majles) even regretted that President Mohammad Khatami used to word "hooligans" for some of the demonstrators and warned the authorities against using "excessive force" against football fans.
"International football matches are proving a catalyst for dissent in Iran, giving rise to mass demonstrations in Tehran and other cities and violent confrontations with the security forces", Iranian sociologists commented.
Iran and UAE finished with 10 men. Iran had Pejman Jamshidi sent off after eight minutes by Japanese referee Toru Kamikawa and the UAE Jaleel Abdul Raham red carded eight minutes into the second half.
'It was a pretty satisfying result. I think the boys did a great job. Great in the sense that they rallied brilliantly after Pejman Jamshidi was sent off early in the match",
Miroslav Blazevic, the Croatian Head Coach of Iran team told Reuters news agency of Britain, attributing his team's victory to "a brilliant team effort."The idea was to protect the goal after he was sent off. It was not easy to beat the UAE. They played very well like they did in Tehran", he added.
'I can't blame the players. They all did a good job, but we were not lucky enough to get an early goal. We beefed up our striking force by sending Faisal Khalil upfront. The idea of having three strikers was to exploit the 10-man Iran after Pejman Jamshidi was sent off.
UAE's Dutch Coach Tini Ruijs said his team created a number of scoring chances, but did not take them.
"The plan worked, but we were distinctly unlucky not to convert the many scoring chances that we had", he said, explaining that the red card to Jaleel Abdul Rahman early in the second half worked against the UAE. ENDS IRAN DEFEAT UAE 311001