After the retirement of Moharram Navidkia and Mojtaba Jabari, the post of playmaker in Iranian football has completely disappeared. Of course, construction has been forgotten in our football for decades, but still, players appear in other positions in the same way as half-band and car. Only the position of the playmaker remains, which has its own complexities, and our current coaches left the idea that there is no need for a playmaker midfielder in today’s modern football!
Now, contrary to this belief, Esteghlal Tehran has introduced a player who we were waiting for his brilliance much earlier. Mohammad Hossein Eslami appeared in Zob Ahan with number 80. He was so good that Javad Nekonam wanted him hard in the first half of his first appearance in Esteghlal. He came to Esteghlal but…
In that strange season with 7 coaches and then the previous season with Sapinto, Islami was never a shadow of that shining star of Zob Ahan. To the extent that many people thought that he is another purchase who was not able to repeat his brilliance in the big team and should leave Esteghlal. This season and thanks to the closed window, Esteghlal Blues had to keep their players and this is where Sohrab’s art came into play.
He turned this unmotivated and far from ideal player into a star who, in the previous game against Shamal in the elite league, gave an exceptional outside pass to Yasir Asani, which led to a single 3-point goal for the Blues and the return of spirit to Iran’s representative at the first level of Asia. Eslami came on the field as a reserve player, which Sohrab repeated many times this season.
And in the fight with Esteghlal Khuzestan in Ahvaz, where the Blues had lost the previous 2 games, Islami was again the star of Sohrab’s team. In the style of the peak days of Muharram, Navid Kia made a unique pass inside the door for Saleh Hardani, which became the first goal of Esteghlal. That too with the left foot, not the specialized foot of Saleh, who passed the standard stamp on being ideal.
Then, in the moments when Yasir Asani was sent off the field and Esteghlal had 9 players, while that back-breaking goal entered Farabbasi’s goal and there were only a few seconds left until the whistle of the end of the lost time, he made Saleh Hardani double with a perfect pass. This time with a head kick, something we have not seen from this national defender. With this goal, Mohammad Hossein Eslami confirmed the standard of his unique passes and now our football has a new playmaker who assists in every game in Iran and Asia.
You may not have seen: Video Summary of the game Esteghlal Khuzestan 2 – Esteghlal 2/ Two goals after the 90th minute, two dismissals for Esteghlal!
