A View From The Stands- Iran vs Qatar – From The Stands Asian Cup

Not since Cathy Freeman made that memorable run in 2000 has the Olympic Stadium in Sydney felt so vibrant. Since then, it has witnessed football which has produced the most memorable occasions for myself, from John Aloisi scoring that famous penalty to more recently Josh Kennedy heading the ball into the back of the net to send our team to Brazil.

However in terms of sheer passion for a team, for a country, the Iranian fans who have taken the Asian Cup by storm are very hard to beat. It started well before kick off as I approached the ground. At the train station a group of supporters hijacked the microphone and started singing joyfully about their team. As I approached the ground, more and more people were gathered in the stadiums vicinity, photos were been taken, chants being sung but above all, people were smiling. Even if there were long lines to get into the stadium.

  

Inside the ground it was very much the same. I would estimate 90% of the crowd were there to support the Iranians and if you were a neutral like myself, it was hard not to get caught up. Little kids joined in with the chants and there were plenty of half and half jerseys proudly being worn.

When kick off came, it was the fans time to shine. Oh, and there was a game of football on as well. A large Iranian flag made its way around the gathering with a roar greeting it as it went round.

  

It indeed did not take long for the chants to ring out across the ground. This is despite the fact that this ground is particularly large and hard to produce an atmosphere at, as shown in the Socceroos most recent appearance at the venue.

You would think they would get tired over time, but this wasn’t the case. Every time one chant stopped another one started within a few minutes (even seconds in some cases). This continued right through to half time.

At half time I was able to speak to a few fans around where I was sitting. All of them spoke on how important this team is given situations back home and how they are able to unite the divisions which sadly exist. Another common theme was how glad they were to see their team play a match in Australia.

The second half soon began and the loud atmosphere continued, however nerves were starting to appear. With each goalkeeper save, defender clearance, shot on goal came a loud cheer. Soon Iran displayed their dominance and gathered momentum.

Eventually it paid off and an almighty roar almost blew the roof off the stadium as Azmoun slipped the ball past the Qatari keeper for the opening goal of the match. Azmoun not only sent the crowd in the stadium into raptures, but I’m sure all the Iran fans back home would have been singing his praises wherever they were watching the game from.

From that point on every positive thing an Iranian player performed was applauded and cheered. At full time another massive cheer similar to the goal greeted the referees whistle as the celebrations continued.

At that point we left the ground. However the celebrations undoubtedly continued throughout the night. After all, that’s what football is all about; support, passion and pride.

Written by Justin Smith

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