2001 Bahrain v Iran football match

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Bahrain v Iran (2002)

Event	2002 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers Matchday 10
Bahrain Iran 3 1
Iran failed to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
Date	21 October 2001 (2001-10-21)
Venue	Bahrain National Stadium, Manama
Referee	Carlos Batres (Guatemala)
Attendance	25,000

During the final match of the final qualification round for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Bahrain shocked Asia with a 3–1 win over Iran in the last matchday. Had Iran won the match, Iran would have qualified for the World Cup in South Korea and Japan. Instead, Iran was dumped to second place in the group, which caused Iran to endure two playoff series, before eventually did not make it to the World Cup.

The fixture, however, was much subjected to controversy related into the political tensions between the two nations prior to the meeting. Although Iran had a good relationship with Saudi Arabia by 2001 due to the Gulf War, political differences between Iran and Bahrain, the latter was a close ally of Saudi Arabia, sustained due to Iran's previous involvement in failed attempts to overthrow the Al-Khalifa monarchy in Bahrain. Iran's close tie with Saudi Arabia had failed to address the Bahraini concerns about potential Iranian threat, which had fuelled nationalist sentiment and Iranophobia. The game had also been marred with accusation of foul plays, fielding of ineligible players and bias refereeing favouring the Bahraini hosts by Iranian officials and supporters alike, resulting in an unsuccessful appeal to overturn the game.

Build-up to the match

Iran and Bahrain successfully booked their place into the final round of the 2002 World Cup qualification, by finishing on top of their respective groups in the first round. After the draw was made, Iran and Bahrain found itself together in Group A, alongside fellow Asian powerhouse Saudi Arabia and two other opponents, Iraq and Thailand. Whilst Iran had already qualified for two FIFA World Cups and very familiar to this round, this was just Bahrain's debut in this stage.

By 21 October 2001, the situation was as follow:

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Iran	7	4	3	1	9	4	+5	15
Saudi Arabia	7	4	2	1	13	7	+6	14
Iraq	8	2	1	5	9	10	−1	7
Bahrain	7	1	4	2	5	8	−3	7
Thailand	7	0	4	3	4	11	−7	4

Bahrain, alongside Iraq and Thailand, were no longer in the run for a spot into the 2002 World Cup; whilst Iran was topping the group comfortably with 15 points, ahead of Saudi Arabia just one. Still, had Iran clinched a win over Bahrain, it would have qualified to South Korea and Japan regardless of circumstances. Any other result but a win would be disadvantageous for Iran, with Saudi Arabia hosting the final fixture against winless Thailand in the final matchday. In the previous meeting at the 2002 WCQ however, Iran was held goalless by Bahrain at home despite possession and chances it had.

Match

The final meeting between Bahrain and Iran on 21 October 2001 began with Iran ramped up its pressure trying to find the goal lead. However, as the game proceeded, anti-Iranian rhetoric started to be unleashed by Bahraini supporters. As the Iranians became distracted from the main game, the situation worsened for Iran when Abdulla Al Marzooqi took a powerful header to take the lead 1–0 for Bahrain. With Iran being unable to score any equaliser throughout the first 45 minutes, Bahrain punished Iran yet again with a clever pass from Mohamed Salmeen to Husain Ali to double Bahrain's lead to two.

The second half saw frequent fouls and aggressive displays from both sides, with the game heated from 70' on, as Bahrain was issued an indirect red card on Abdulla Al-Marzooqi, who scored Bahrain's opening goal; while Iran was even issued two straight red on Sirous Dinmohammadi and Alireza Vahedi Nikbakht, all within just ten minutes. Ali Daei reduced the deficit to one for Iran in 82' as Bahrain's keeper could not save from the deflected shot of Ali Karimi, only to see Bahrain finished off the game with a thunderous strike from Mohamed Husain in 90' to seal the deal 3–1, and as the game between Saudi Arabia and Thailand ended 4–1 for the Saudis, it was guaranteed that Iran would have to play the playoff series to qualify instead, with Saudi Arabia officially claimed the first place from Iran.

Detail

21 October 2001

20:30 UTC+03

Bahrain	3–1	Iran
Al Marzooqi  8' Ali  45' Husain  90'	Report	Daei  82'

Bahrain National Stadium, Manama

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Carlos Batres (Guatemala)

Bahrain

Iran

Bahrain: GK 1 Abdulrahman Abdulkarim DF 2 Mohamed Husain DF 3 Abdulla Al Marzooqi  47'  79' DF 6 Ghazi Al Kuwari DF 15 Khamis Eid (c) DF 17 Ahmed Hassan Taleb  46' DF 24 Ebrahim Al Mishkhas MF 14 Salman Isa  64' MF 13 Talal Yousef  76' MF 10 Mohamed Salmeen FW 19 Husain Ali Substitutes: GK 21 Abdulaziz Buhajeeh DF 4 Abdulaziz Saleh DF 5 Arief Ali FW 9 Rashad Jamal Salem DF 12 Mohamed Juma  64' MF 16 Ali Aamer MF 18 Hussain Salman  76' Manager: Wolfgang Sidka

Iran: GK 12 Ebrahim Mirzapour RB 2 Mehdi Mahdavikia CB 3 Afshin Peyrovani CB 24 Rahman Rezaei LB 11 Alireza Vahedi Nikbakht  81' CM 13 Javad Nekounam  45' AM 8 Ali Karimi  54' CM 6 Karim Bagheri  77' AM 9 Sirous Dinmohammadi  73' CM 7 Hamed Kavianpour CF 10 Ali Daei (c)  10' Substitutes: GK 22 Davoud Fanaei FW 4 Vahid Hashemian MF 14 Mojahed Khaziravi MF 17 Pejman Jamshidi FW 18 Ali Samereh  45' DF 20 Behrouz Rahbarifar FW 21 Faraz Fatemi Manager: Miroslav Blažević

Aftermath

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Saudi Arabia	8	5	2	1	17	8	+9	17
Iran	8	4	3	1	10	7	+3	15
Bahrain	8	2	4	2	8	9	−1	10
Iraq	8	2	1	5	9	10	−1	7
Thailand	8	0	4	4	5	15	−10	4

Immediately after beating Iran 3–1, Bahraini players and its staff, in celebration, waged both the Bahraini and Saudi flags as Saudi Arabia clinched a 4–1 home win over Thailand to qualify for the World Cup. The scene has been praised and hailed as an example of strong Bahraini–Saudi relations and has been frequently evoked by Bahraini supporters when its football team faced Iran again, and the game is still being well-remembered by Bahraini supporters as it helped Saudi Arabia to progress instead of Iran.

For Iranian supporters and officials alike, the loss was a complete humiliation and full of controversies. The Croatian manager of Iran, Miroslav Blažević, accused Bahrain of playing "anti-football", while Iranian officials unsuccessfully appealed FIFA over allegation of Bahrain fielding ineligible players. Many Iranians continued to hold the game as a clear robbery, noting how Bahraini players employed dirty tactics against Iranian players. This game would also proved to be the beginning of the end of Blažević's era in Iran, as the Iranian team subsequently failed to advance to the World Cup, beating the UAE in the Asian playoffs but lost to Ireland in inter-continental one; the Croatian would eventually resign as coach of Iran.

Ever since this humiliating loss, there has been a growing desire of revenge to beat Bahrain among Iranian supporters and footballers alike. In an interview on 11 October 2011, during the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Javad Nekounam, who was part of Iran's squad in that defeat, stated that he and his teammates, like every Iranian, wanted to see Bahrain lose and claimed Bahrainis as "cheaters".

Iran and Bahrain would meet each other again in three subsequent World Cup qualifications, all ended with Iran qualifying. In the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, Iran overcame Bahrain 1–0 in Tehran before holding Bahrain goalless away in its successful qualification to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Nekounam's Iran would go on to thrash Bahrain 6–0 at home before holding the same rival 1–1 in Manama, which played a crucial part in crippling Bahrain from qualifying whilst Iran would go on to take part in the 2014 FIFA World Cup; during the same qualification stage, Iran slipped away its potential three points at home to a 2–2 draw to Qatar, which was believed to be a deliberate act so that Iran could knock Bahrain out of the qualifiers. Iran would also face Bahrain in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, suffering a blowing 0–1 first leg defeat in yet another controversial meeting as Bahraini supporters booed Iranian anthem and whistled against Iranian players, before revenging with a satisfying 3–0 win on its eventual successful resurgence to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup; all two legs were played in Manama.

See also

• Bahrain–Iran relations
• Iran–Saudi Arabia relations
• Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict

References

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