1964 Olympic Qualifiers (November 1963)

 

Qualification for the 1964 Olympics in Japan started with Iran facing Pakistan, Iraq and India as other Olympic hopefuls and the games being played on a home and away basis. In the 1^st game at home against the Pakistani squad, Iran opted for an offensive 4-2-4 formation and in spite of numerous attacks in the first 15 minutes, surprisingly it was Pakistan who opened the scoring on a counterattack. But such a lead did not last long for Pakistan as Iran stormed back with four unanswered goals by Shahrokhi, Shirzadegan and Behzadi (2) to win the match 4-1. Behzadi’s second goal (and Iran’s fourth) was especially astonishing as he turned his body in mid air and hammered home a cross with a thunderous downward header. 

 

 

In the return leg a month later, although a 1-0 victory for Pakistan on a goal that seemed to come off of an uncalled foul spelled defeat, however, the margin of victory in the first leg proved sufficient to send Iran to the next round.  

Next up was Iraq who took the Amjadieh field in the Fall. Iran’s only change in its lineup was replacing Shahrokhi with Amir Asef while such regulars such as Asli, Dehdari, Ranjbar, Shirzadegan and Behzadi once again represented Iran on the field. A goal by Arab and a hattrick by Shirzadegan and an ultimate 4-0 win rendered the return match meaningless. 

 

A 0-0 tie in Baghdad confirmed Iran’s overall supremacy thus leaving only India in Iran’s path to the Olympics. In a jam-packed Amjadieh Stadium 35,000 fans had some concerns about injuries to Jamali, Saedi, Dehdari and Jasemian (who were in turn replaced by Latifi, Talebi, Barmaki and Habibi) but instead were treated to a 3-0 win over India with goals by Barmaki, Shirzadegan and Behzadi. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Any hopes of a revival by India in the return match were squashed when Iran cruised to another victory this time by a 3-1 score with goals by Behzadi (2) and Shirzadegan and thus earned its ticket to the Olympics.