Iran's squad face controversy at World Cup

TEHRAN, May 25: Iran will probably be the subject of bitter controversy at the 2006 World Cup finals, playing in the Nazi bastion of Nuremberg only months after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad labelled the Holocaust a myth.

Many in Germany, especially Jewish community leaders obviously ultra-sensitive to the kind of remarks uttered by the president, considered trying to get Iran banned from the finals.

The idea did not carry enough strength with politicians to get far -- nor would FIFA, world soccer's governing body, realistically entertain such a motion.

Still, there is likely to be some serious opposition to the players in Germany but if the Iranians can steer clear of politics and get their manifestly talented stars to gel as a team, they stand an outside chance of being the first Iranian side to make the second round of the tournament.

Despite being among the pick of Asian sides since the 1970s, Iran crashed out of the finals in the first round in Argentina in 1978 and in France in 1998.

Iran's only victory in the finals, a 2-1 win against the United States in 1998, humbled the ''Great Satan'' and sparked delirious street celebrations.

Iran's Croatian coach Branko Ivankovic has hailed the team heading to Germany as the ''best generation in Iran's football history''.

''We will not go to the World Cup just to make up the numbers,'' he said after qualifying. ''We feel we can beat anyone.'' Despite facing Portugal, Mexico and Angola in a tough first-round group, Ivankovic can take heart from having Bayern Munich's midfield wizard Ali Karimi and Hanover 96 striker Vahid Hashemian on his side.

Veteran forward Ali Daei, international football's top scorer after overhauling Hungary's Ferenc Puskas, is 37 but his talent for finding the net is undimmed.

Ivankovic will look to Javad Nekounam, Kaiserslautern's Ferydoon Zandi and Hamburg SV's Mehdi Mahdavikia as his midfield playmakers.

Messina's bull-necked Rahman Rezaei and the experienced Yayha Golmohammadi will be expected to hold steady in defence.

Politics, however, will not go away. In response to calls for a ban on the team, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the Iranian players and their fans should not have to be penalised for their president's comments.

Iran's embassy in Berlin demanded an apology for a German newspaper cartoon showing moustachioed Iranian footballers as suicide bombers, standing for the national anthems with plastic explosives strapped round their midriffs.

German officials have admitted that Iran present a special security concern, particularly if they are accompanied by senior politicians.

The Iranian team will have to leave such disputes behind them and conquer their knack of throwing away winning positions in matches when they arrive in Germany.

''God willing, we will make Iran proud of us in the World Cup,'' goalkeeper Ebrahim Mirzapour said.

REUTERS