Mistake Costly to Iran

All of Jalal Talebi’s worst fears were realized Sunday.

As the stand-in, last-minute, replacement coach for Iran’s World Cup team, Talebi knows better than most what inexperience combined with nervousness can do.

But Talebi had no choice. His starting goalkeeper, Ahmad Abedzadeh, was injured and he had to throw a youngster in off the deep end.

That splash you heard in Saint-Etienne on Sunday afternoon was luckless Nima Nakisa suffering his World Cup baptism.

As Iran’s stand-in, last-minute, replacement goalkeeper, it was Nakisa’s misfortune to completely miss Sinisa Mihajlovic’s 25-yard free kick in the 72nd minute as Yugoslavia overcame a determined and courageous Iranian team, 1-0.

Iran deserved better, but the rookie keeper’s one mistake cost it dearly. Still, Talebi refused to blame the 23-year-old for the loss.

“He is still very young, and if we lost today it was because of the inexperience throughout the team, not just him,” said Talebi, who took over as Iran’s coach only last month when Tomislav Ivic was fired.

It was only Nakisa’s eighth match for the national team, although he is viewed as a likely successor to the 32-year-old Abedzadeh, who has almost 10 times as much international experience.

The goal, when it finally came, was the result of a foul committed just outside the Iranian penalty area and almost directly in front of the net.

Iran built a wall of defenders, but Nakisa’s inexperience showed in his positioning. Rather than letting the wall protect one side of the net while he guarded the other side, he placed himself directly behind the wall.

As a result, when Mihajlovic’s powerful kick swerved around the wall and into the left corner of the net, Nakisa was momentarily blinded by his own defenders and didn’t get sight of the shot until it was far too late to react.

Mihajlovic, meanwhile, reacted with delight. The former Red Star Belgrade player who now plays for Sampdoria in Italy, is known as the “Bomber of Borova” because of his ferocious free kicks, which have been timed at close to 100 mph.

This one wasn’t that fast, but it was enough to sink Iran.

Until then, it had been a long and frustrating afternoon for the Yugoslavs, who didn’t at all live up to their billing as a possible semifinalist. In fact, it was Iran, playing in its first World Cup game in 20 years, that looked more cohesive and, in certain cases, more skilled.

As the game wore on and it seemed more and more likely that a 0-0 tie would be the result--hardly something Yugoslavia wanted or expected--the Yugoslavs became increasingly disjointed and their play lacked any sort of rhythm.

Worse yet, they showed little respect for referee Alberto Tejada Noriega, throwing their hands in the air in disgust at some calls and otherwise vocally signaling their displeasure.

And their coach was in no laughing mood afterward, either.

“I am satisfied that we won, but I am not satisfied with the performance of my team,” Slobodan Santrac said.