In preparation of next year’s World Cup, a second-string Iranian national football team arrived in London Heathrow airport on Thursday, 21 July 2005, to play a series of friendly matches with a number of English league teams. The team was without the big name stars such as Iran’s all-time top scorer of more than 100 international goals, Ali Daei, and the Bayern Munich player Ali Karimi.
Incidentally, the Iranian team had arrived on the same day as the second wave of terror attacks on London. Reportedly, the Iranians were given an opportunity to return home but insisted upon staying unlike the Italian team, Inter Milan, who cancelled their scheduled fixture with Crystal Palace.
The Iranian team was scheduled to play Queens Park Rangers, Millwall and Portsmouth. Also, there are possibilities of the Iranian team playing Crystal Palace after Inter Milan cancelled due to security concerns arising from recent London terror attacks.
Iran’s first game with QPR went as planned without any incidents and in a good spirit. The match ended 3-0 to the home team and was watched by a mixed crowd of just under 6000 people.
After the game, the QPR manager Ian Holloway provided the following statement: "First of all sport wins, doesn't it? I just feel that everybody in the stadium showed what the world is about. The world's about people. It's not about certain attitudes of people who hide behind certain banners to cause trouble. I just wish that we could live together in the harmony that this world deserves."
However, following the recent London terror attacks tonight’s game against Millwall was cancelled due to security concerns. There were fears that tonight’s game could have been the target of some extremist elements in the UK as a backlash against the London attacks.
The football club and the local authorities do not want this to be a platform for escalating violence, particularly after the first game had ended in good spirits.
Iran’s game against Portsmouth is still scheduled to go ahead as planned on 6 August 2005.
Iranian Football Federation
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