Following
a short break after the 1976 Asian Cup, Iran traveled to Canada to take part in
the Olympics. There were some initial scares regarding injuries to key players although they amounted to nothing. While originally Iran’s group consisted of four teams (including Nigeria), the three African participants in the tournament withdrew a day before
the start of the Games and were not replaced. They boycotted the Olympics
protesting the participation of New Zealand, whose rugby team planned a summer
tour of South Africa. As a result Iran’s group would now consist of only three
teams (Iran, Poland and Cuba), meaning only one team from the group would be
eliminated in the first round.
In spite of the intense tournament preceding the Olympics, Iran took part in a number of other friendly matches that included a 2-2 tie against Romania while a brace by Mazloomi and goals by Ghasempour and Khorshidi yielded a 4-3 win over France’s Olympic team for which Platini scored one of their goals. While Cuba and Poland had tied 0-0 in their first game, Iran defeated Cuba 1-0 courtesy of a goal by Mazloomi. The win meant that Iran would advance to the quarterfinals regardless of the result against Poland although the outcome would impact Iran’s placement in the group.
With
Poland being an amateur team, their lineup consisted of many of their players
from their full national team that had finished in 3rd place in the
1974 World Cup. In goal they had Tomaszewski who had single handedly stopped
England in Wembley during the 1974 World Cup qualifiers. Also great players
such as Deyna, Szarmach and Lato would take the field for Poland in these
Olympic Games.
Under such circumstances Iran took the field against the Poles and no more than six minutes had passed when Mazloomi attempted to connect with Nazari’s cross which fell to Parvin to open the scoring. The first half would end as such in favor of Iran. The second half began with much delay as at half time track events were held. The Poles started the half on fire and in the space of six minutes took the lead. Off of a cross from their right side and combined with Hejazi’s unsuccessful exit, Szarmach headed the ball downwards and in the net in spite of the efforts of two defenders to intercept it. Minutes later Deyna put away a pass from the right to give Poland the lead. The second half contained a surprising substitution for Iran as Mazloomi gave his spot to Jahani. While Mazloomi was quick and opportunistic, Jahani was capable of creating space for the midfielders behind him. In the 75th minute, a freekick from the left side that seemed to be headed out of bounds bounced off of the chest of an Iranian defender into the six-yard box and Szarmach headed it in for his second goal. Minutes later in an impressive stretch of possession amongst Eskandarian, Ghelichkhani, Khorshidi and Ghasempour, the ball arrived at the feet of Roshan at the edge of the box. Hitting it one time and with much curve to the opposite post, Roshan left the keeper no chance to react and cut the deficit in half. In the end Iran would lose 3-2 but still advance to the quarterfinals to face the Soviet Union.
In the quarterfinals the Soviet Union, a team lead by the great Valeri Lobanovsky, were a well-oiled machine with dangerous players such as Blokhin and Buryak.
The game was scoreless until late in the first half when Hejazi came off his line to punch away a cross. Unfortunately for him his clearance only went as far as Minayev who blasted the ball home for a 1-0 lead. During the second half the Soviet Union made a controversial substitution. In spite of protests from the Iranian bench, Veremeev, who had received a red card in the previous match, entered the field. Minutes later off of a corner kick Zvyagintsev headed home a second goal. Nine minutes from time Mazloomi was brought down in the box and the ref pointed to the penalty spot. Ghelichkhani took the kick and reduced the deficit to a single goal. The Soviet Union would also miss a clear chance from inside the six-yard box in which they would slam a shot off of the post with Hejazi smothering the rebound. The remainder of the game would have no goals and Iran would be eliminated by a final score of 2-1.
Iran roster: Rashidi, Hejazi, Nazari, Eskandarian, Zolfagharnasab, Abdollahi, Mirfakhraei, Ghelichkhani, Ghasempour, Parvin, Nayebagha, Azizi, Nouraei, Roshan, Khorshidi, Mazloomi, Jahani. Coach: Mohajerani
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