Ali Daei
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Age: 29
Position: Midfield
Country: Germany
Caps: 63
Goals: 30
Club: Chelsea
Previous clubs: Chemnitzer, Kaiserslautern, Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich
In his own words: It's all or nothing, but that's what we've been expecting all along. |  |
Thursday, 18, May 2006 12:18
Age: 37
Position: Forward
Country: Iran
Club: Saba Battery
National Appearances: 145
Goals: 109
Estimated 'Chelsea-target' value: swap for Drogba
His own words: No one can deny that we are one of Asia's top teams. we are a tough team to beat on our day.
Though many within the footballing world would not give Iran a chance of progressing in Germany, Team Melli's captain and talisman is, his quote suggests, clearly confident. And if there is an Asian player who would know about succeeding in Germany, then it is Ali Daei.
While he may be a largely unknown entity amongst the majority of English football fans, the 37-year-old's talents certainly did not go unnoticed by the footballing elite. Indeed, plucked from the relative obscurity of Iran's Azadegan League by Arminia Bielefield in the mid-90s, Daei was hand-picked by Franz Beckenbauer for Giovanni Trapattoni's Bayern Munich. However, despite having an abundance of mobility and strength, and, in the words of his subsequent manager at Hertha Berlin, possessing a header "harder than some people's shots", he was never quite able to secure a starting berth. Even so, in the 1998/99 season, Daei overcame a lack of first-team opportunities to net six Champions League goals, in a campaign that would ultimately end in heartbreak in the Nou Camp at the hands of Manchester United.
In fact, it is only down to a strong sense of loyalty to his employers, often sadly lacking from his fellow professionals, that he did not make a bigger splash in the psyches of English fans. By the turn of the millennium, a string of English clubs sought his signature, with the rumour mill suggesting that bids from Leeds, West Ham and Derby were imminent. And Daei clearly saw his future here, remarking: "I will play better in England, they cross the ball more from the side, and I am good with headers." His only obstacle was the three-year contract he had signed with Hertha Berlin, and it is a reflection of Daei's character that as long as his club still wanted him, he would remain committed to their cause. As the years ticked by, time was increasingly against his move to the Premiership. By 2003, at the age of 34, his club career had fizzled out and he sought a return to Asian football. After a spell at Al-Shabbab of UAE, Daei is currently seeing out his career back in his homeland, for Persepolis FC, almost a decade after his European odyssey began.
Meanwhile, whilst his club career was coming full circle, away on international duty Daei had been quietly achieving an unheard of feat; on December 2nd 2003, at an international friendly away in Kuwait, Daei became the highest international goal scorer in history, outstripping footballing legends Puskas and Pele in the process. Daei did not let the attainment of this seemingly unbeatable record, or his ageing limbs, slow him down though, and applied himself to his team's World Cup qualification campaign. Completing his 133rd international, on November 17th 2004, in Tehran's 100,000 capacity Azadi stadium, Daei fired in his 99th, 100th, 101st and 102nd international goals. It would be disingenuous to suggest that the majority of these goals came against anything other than weak opposition, but based on the evidence of his club career, and a string of high profile advocates in the football world, it is clear that the Iranian captain is not simply a lucky man in the right place at the right time.
Iran's Croatian coach Branko Ivankovic sees the second round of the World Cup as a possibility. That Iran can realistically be considered as challengers for qualification from Group D owes a lot to their captain; Daei was a pioneer of Asian football, and consequently Iran are able to field a team of which the majority have developed their game in Europe. On a personal note, however, Daei would surely retire happy with the one achievement which he lacks - a World Cup goal.
James Cooper.