The Asian Game’s coverage of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is proudly sponsored by SMC.
It was a moment that broke Iranian hearts. Deep into injury time, with the scores level between Iran and Portugal, Sardar Azmoun nods a long punt forward towards Saman Ghoddos, whose attempted shot is deflected into the path of Mehdi Taremi.
Eight yards from goal and with just Rui Patricio to beat, the World Cup hopes of both nations hang in the balance. It’s so late in the game that a goal now will give Iran victory over Fernando Santos’ side and take Team Melli into the knockout rounds for the first time.
In a flash the ball is past the Portuguese goalkeeper. The first-time shot from the Al Gharafa striker ripples the net but, rather than sending Taremi, his team mates and 85 million people in Iran into raptures, the effort has gone the wrong side of the post.
Heartache for Iran means relief for Portugal as the reigning European champions advance to the next round while Carlos Queiroz and his team are left in tears on the turf, booking their flights back to Tehran and thinking about what might have been.
The miss looked to be another unfortunate incident in a career that was beginning to look like it might be blighted by bad luck and poor decisions.
Six months earlier, with interest from clubs in Europe, Taremi had decided to move to the Qatar Stars League after an earlier switch to Turkish side Caykur Rizespor had fallen through in acrimonious circumstances which saw him handed a four-month ban by FIFA.
For a player who had proven to be prolific at Persepolis after starting his career at hometown side Shahin Bushehr before a two-season stint at Iranjavan, there was a growing sense Taremi was at risk of frittering away a promising career.
It was another year, following the conclusion of his contract with Al Gharafa, before Portugal again loomed large for Taremi. Unfashionable Rio Ave, based in Vila do Conde in the north of the country, was the destination as he signed for a club that had established itself in the top flight a decade earlier having bounced between divisions for much of their early existence.
It was a low-key move for a player who had turned 26 in the weeks before, but his performances in his first weeks made Portuguese football sit up and take notice. Before long, questions were being asked about how a side like Rio Ave could unearth a player of the Iranian’s talent.
A hat-trick on his debut against C.D. Aves gave fans a glimpse of his ability in front of goal, but it was his performance in a 3-2 win over Sporting CP weeks later that caught the eye of the country’s leading clubs.
Taremi tormented Sporting’s Uruguay international defender Sebastian Coates to win a hat-trick of penalties from the former Liverpool central defender, eventually earning his opponent a pair of yellow cards as Rio Ave notched up a late 3-2 victory.
Ahead of the winter transfer window Rio Ave were already fielding inquiries from the biggest clubs in the country. Sporting had an attempt to sign Taremi knocked back by the player, who instead agreed in principal to join Benfica for a fee of around 4.5 million euros.
The arrival of Jorge Jesus as coach at the Estadio da Luz, following his Copa Libertadores-winning spell with Brazil’s Flamengo, scuppered those plans, with the former Al Hilal coach deciding against taking on Taremi.
With Benfica signing Darwin Nunez from Almeria, Porto swooped. By the time they snapped up the striker at the end of his first season, Taremi had finished the campaign as the league’s joint-leading scorer with 18 goals as Rio Ave finished fifth, equalling their best-ever finish.
It was to prove an astute move and neither Taremi nor his new employers have looked back since.
“When he came to Portugal at first, we were all impressed at how such a player ended up at Rio Ave,” says leading Portuguese football writer Sergio Krithinas. “We didn’t expect them to have such a good player, and especially because he wasn’t a young player. He was a top player.
“It was probably the best deal ever for Porto, they paid around 4 million euros for him. It was like a steal. Porto got an astonishing player, really smart in the box but can also play wide and deep. He’s a very good team player, he pressures opponents.”
That pressure is exerted not only on opposing players, with Taremi’s ability forcing referees into game-changing decisions over whether or not to award penalties seeing him become a divisive figure in Portuguese football.
Over the last three seasons he was been awarded 18 spot-kicks – seven more than his closest rival in the Primeira Liga – with his record leading fans of other teams to castigate the 30-year-old.
“Rivals keep calling him a diver, a cheater,” says Krithinas. “He was sent off in the recent Atletico Madrid game in the UEFA Champions League and the second yellow card was for trying to get a penalty. But he’s much more than someone who wins penalties.
“He’s really smart, when he dribbles against a defender or a goalkeeper and how he positions the ball and uses his body. He makes things happen. You can’t say he’s a diver, but you know he will look for a foul.”
Two years since moving to the Estadio de Dragao, Taremi is now firmly established while continuing to improve. He scored 23 times in 48 games in all competitions in his first season, including 16 in the league and his first two in the UEFA Champions League. His strike in the quarter-finals against Chelsea, a stunning overhead kick, was voted the continental competition’s goal of the season.
He continued that form in his second year with the club with 26 goals in 48 games while this season he’s on course to outstrip those statistics, netting 13 times in 18 games so far, with five coming in five games in the UEFA Champions League.
Taremi’s performances have seen him establish himself as one of the most clinical finishers in European football, prompting speculation linking him with a move to the Premier League.
“Under (Porto coach) Sergio Conceicao he has become a much better player outside the box, in the sense that if he doesn’t score he can still make a very good performance,” says Krithinas. “Right now he has lots of games when he doesn’t score but he’s still one of the best players in the team.”
It is all a long way from that miss, deep into injury time in the final group game in Russia when Taremi’s goal-scoring instincts briefly and agonisingly deserted him.
“It’s never been mentioned in Portugal,” Krithinas says of the opportunity that would have knocked Taremi’s future home out of the World Cup. “If he had joined Porto direct people might have paid attention to that game, but he joined a very small club.
“He could go anywhere and be a success. He doesn’t behave like a star, he’s a humble player who knows his place in a squad.”
This month’s World Cup in Qatar will offer the opportunity for redemption for the talismanic Taremi; four years older, wiser and finally fulfilling the potential after more than three seasons in his Portuguese finishing school.
Photo: FC Porto
Listen to The Asian Game Podcast as we preview Japan ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2022
