Karimi hails Iran fighting spirit

Afcasiancup - Iran legend Ali Karimi has hailed his side’s motivation after they impressively came from behind to beat Uzbekistan 2-1 in their opening AFC Asian Cup 2007 Group C clash at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium on Wednesday.

Second half goals from Seyed Jalal Hosseini and substitute Javad Kazemian, in reply to an early own goal from Rahman Rezaei, proved enough to give Iran an important win that Karimi attributes to the determination on show throughout the Team Melli camp.

“A win in the first match of any tournament is always a gift, so in that respect we have got a gift here against Uzbekistan. Having said that though, we will still have to do well in our other games,” said the 28-year-old former AFC Player of the Year.

“The goal we conceded was a mistake by our own player, but after that error we pulled ourselves together, attacked very well and eventually won the game.

“We were very motivated to win against Uzbekistan, quite simply we came to win, that was what we thought and that was what we achieved.”

With many observers backing Iran to lift their fourth continental title, Karimi also revealed that the side’s desire to succeed is a direct result of their last Asian Cup experience some three years ago in China.

“Without a doubt, we are one of the top teams here at the Asian Cup,” revealed the Karaj-born star, who recently joined Qatar Sports Club after a two-year spell in Germany with Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.

“As I said before, we have come here to win. We want to improve on the third place we achieved at the last Asian Cup in China. Our aim is to get to the final and win this tournament.”

Having seen several of the teams at this year’s event in South East Asia struggle to cope with the hot and humid weather, Karimi explained that despite the far from ideal conditions, Iran would not be deterred from achieving their ultimate aim.

“The conditions are very similar to the one we experienced three years ago in China,” he said.

“Back then we managed to acclimatise but of course there has been a big gap between then and now, so we are trying to get ourselves together.

“The conditions are the same for every team here. We just want to do our very best no matter what the weather is like and win the Asian Cup.”