Nima Moazeni Zadeh realizes his dream playing professional soccer with Vancouver FC this Sunday.
Azadi Stadium roared when the Tehran Reds went ahead in the 17th minute, followed by another wall of noise in the 29th when Sepahan tied it up. It stayed that way until the 96th of 97 minutes when Persepolis, having thrown all caution aside with a four-striker lineup, found the winner on a Sepehr Heidari header.
Ghotbi had been an assistant coach with the U.S. and South Korean national teams, along with K-League side Suwon, but had never been a head coach. He was named manager of the year in Iran after that year, and has been a head coach ever since, with stops in China, Thailand and Japan before landing in Vancouver.
It was part of a whirlwind four years since the political unrest in Iran prompted Moazeni Zadeh to come to Canada. He didn’t speak a word of English, but is now more fluent than most sports reporters, has attended college, played soccer in the local metro leagues, coached with not-for-profit side Field Art F.C. while also working as a personal trainer.
“I had this space to show myself to the coaches … and I don’t want to lie, from the first day I felt like yeah, these guys, they liked me. And that just gave me more motivation for the next day, the next day, and the next day. I just felt it from the first day, and every day I was getting better.”“Nima is a classic midfielder with a high football IQ, tireless work rate and box-to-box range,” Ghotbi said.
“Seeing the fans … I felt like ‘wow, this is gonna be the year for us.’ People are coming out,” he said. “We have very crazy fans, passionate fans. I saw it in the first game and I felt it, you know?
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