1988 Olympic Qualifiers (February 1987)

The Kuwaitis were drawn with Iran in the preliminary phase of the 1988 Olympic qualifiers in a home and away series in early 1987. A completely depleted Iran team would be facing them, and once again without the benefit of a home game. Although in a strange twist of fate, the Kuwaitis agreed to play both games in Doha, with the first of them being considered Iran’s home game. To replace the 14 players who had resigned, Dehdari brought in players from all across the country and even lower divisions. A 20-year old Abedzadeh was called in from Isfahan’s Tam to win his first cap. Mir Ahmadian from Melli Bank and Rahimpour from Ahvaz’s Shahin would slide into the defensive line. They would be complemented by Zarrincheh of Tehran’s 4^th division Gendarmerie and Alavi from Tabriz’s Mashinsazi. Amongst the four of them, the defensive line had a total of one prior cap. At age 25 and with eight prior games to his name, Ghayeghran would be the most experienced player of the roster. He would be joined by Marfavi from Darayi, Zhaleh Mostaghim of Bonyad Shahid, Namjoo Motlagh and Bavi. Taheri of Bangladesh’s Mohammadan would be the team’s only legionnaire. Thus one of the very least experienced lineups in Iran’s history would take the field against Kuwait.

So confident were the Kuwaitis of victory that their coach declared he would resign right on the spot if he failed to get past Iran. He almost would have wished he hadn’t spoken as such. In the 64^th minute Marfavi crossed into the box for Bavi who perfectly laid the ball with a header for Taheri who would shoot it past the keeper and into the net. While Kuwait would equalize later in the game, however, the result would not be decided until the dying minutes. With the home game tied at one late in the game, Abedzadeh launched a long punt down the field. The ball bounced once at the edge of the box and before the Kuwaiti keeper could reach it, Bavi beat him to it in the air and headed it in for an ultimate 2-1 win.

In spite of the victory, Dehdari changed the lineup with Mehdi Fonoonizadeh and Janfada replacing Alavi and Zhaleh Mostaghim.

Much like the first leg, Asadi would make an appearance as a sub in his only two national team caps. In the return match Kuwait threw everything it had while Iran bunkered up in a defensive shell. The game remained scoreless until the 88^th minute when a Kuwait player went down in the box, the third of such incidents. A penalty kick was called for Kuwait amid protests by Iranian players who claimed the player had taken a dive. Abedzadeh guessed correctly on the kick and did well to try and stop the ball, but it just barely cleared his fingertips and kissed the back of the net. The game ended 1-0 for Kuwait which enabled them to advance on the away goal rule and eliminate Iran.