Hanging around too long

I used to be one of Ali Daei’s biggest fans, but I am getting increasingly annoyed with him stubbornly refusing to retire from international football.

At 37 he is clearly past his prime, but Iranian football’s great minds, including National Team coach Branko Ivankovic refuse to look past Daei at many of the younger and more promising players that are ready to step in the veteran’s shoes.

By stickig around too long, Daei is risking ending what has been a glorious career with a negative note. As it is more and more of the same fans who used to wear Daei’s number 10 with pride, are calling on him to do the right thing and step aside for the sake of the younger strikers.

Yesterday Daei played the entire game against Chinese Taipei, while the young and promising Arash Borhani sat and watched. That made no sense, especially after Iran went ahead by three goals around minute 60.