Amidst internal turmoil and personnel shuffles in both Esfahani teams, Iran's two representatives have been paired against two tough opponents for their upcoming Asian champions league quarter-final clash, a daunting task under normal circumstances.
Sepahan is slated to face the Qatari team Alsadd. And they step into this crucial game not knowing who will be their coach and most probably having lost some of their key players such as Ebrahim Toure, Jalal Hosseini and Iran (and probably Asia’s) best goalkeeper, Mehdi Rahmati. Coach Amir Ghalenoei has expressed his disappointment in leaving the club due to failure in negotiations over his salary and contract fee. Although this has not been confirmed by the club management, but all signs point to a change at the helm for the club which couldnt have come at a more crucial period what with the club making a very strong case to win the coveted Asian champions league trophy.
While the yellow camp in Esfahan mulls over its next possible coach, the green camp of Zob-Ahan faces nothing short of disaster as there have been rumors of departure of Mansour Ebrahimzadeh, their capable coach as well as some of the more prominent players like goal tender Shahab Gordan and the little big man, Mohamad-Reza Khalatbari! Considering their quarterfinal clash is against a very competent South Korean Samsung Blue-wings, fans of the club are experiencing some very nervous and stressful times that should last till the end of Iran’s transfer window.
Ironically, after talk of Ghalenoei’s departure from Sepahan, some pundits have disclosed Sepahan’s management may be going after Ebrahimzadeh as a viable replacement. Although other names have been thrown into the bowl as well, such as Luka Bonacic (former Sepahan coach who went as far as Asian champions league final 2 years back) and Perspolis’ Ali Daei.
Those in the know blame the government and its role in reducing the allotted budget for industrial teams that has forced these clubs to have a long look at their yearly budget and affordability of such high profile and imminently successful coaches and players. But this couldn’t have come at a worse time as this year, given the performances of these two teams, really held much promise for the Iranian fans to actually dare imagine seeing an Iranian club lifting the coveted Asian trophy after a more than 20 years gap.
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