Every year our school put together a soccer tournament that was open to any group of five that could form a team and pay the entrance fee. While some teams were clearly strong and gunning for the championship, many others were there just to make up the numbers. It was thus that we decided to form our own team and enter the competition for the first time that year.

The idea actually was born a year prior. It came as Babak and I watched a match during the school’s volleyball tournament in which one of the teams was not only heavily outplayed, but their pathetic display had lead to their games being the most attended ones due to their comical performance. As Babak and I stood on the sideline, watching and laughing, Babak had said to me, “Look at these guys. We should have entered a team in the soccer tournament. The worst that could have happened is this.”

I agreed with his sentiments, however, it would be too late for that year as the school’s soccer tournament had already taken place. We vowed to enter a team the following year and it was Babak who reminded me as registration for the tournament approached. We needed a total of five players, with three of them being on the field. An obvious candidate was Rad who was always into playing and following soccer. A new student and friend, Firooz, also fit perfectly into our plans. While not a big soccer fan or skilled player, Amir completed our roster.

The first obstacle our team ran into was the name we had chosen. While most of us were indifferent to whatever name we were ultimately called, Babak searched high and low for a suitable name until one morning he excitedly told us that he had found the perfect name. Our team name would be Alav, he announced. None of us had heard of this name and so he further elaborated that he had looked it up in a dictionary and that it meant a scorching flame. Shortly before the games started Babak was asked to come and see the school gym teacher regarding the name.

“I don’t know why he has a problem with it,” Babak told me.

“I bet you it’s because it kinda sounds like love and they think it’s somehow related to it,” I responded.

While they never explained what the particular problem they had with the name was, they did ask Babak for an explanation of the meaning of our team’s name. Babak took the extra step of providing them with the dictionary he had looked up the name in but even that was deemed insufficient. In the end the teachers did their own research and finally announced that the correct term was not alav but alaveh and thus our team name would be changed accordingly. The draw for the games was conducted shortly afterwards and the opening game of the double-elimination tournament pitted us against the defending champions.

We were familiar with them as I had played against them at times during recess or gym but more so by having watched them. Two of their players, Hasan Asef and Hossein Ahmadi, known as Jorge Valdano and Jorge Burruchaga for both their style of play and physical resemblance, were in my class and I had seen their superb foot skills many times. The reverse, however, was not true as they, along with most others had next to no knowledge about our newly formed team as we had for the most part stuck to playing gazebo soccer over the past few years.

Our first game could not have taken place under any worse circumstances. The night before Babak called me and said he wasn’t feeling good and in all likelihood would not be coming to school. I pleaded with him to suck it up and just come even if it was just for the lunch break for our game. “How is that gonna look when I tell Abbasi in the morning that I’m sick and then he sees me running around chasing a soccer ball at noon?” he countered.

While Babak’s absence was a huge loss, I figured that our lineup would consist of Firooz and I as field players with Rad as our sweeper-keeper. However, the morning of our first game Rad informed us that he had done something to his foot and putting any kind of pressure on it was painful and so it would be best if he skipped our first game.

And so that noon we lined up on the field with Amir in the back and Firooz and I patrolling the field. A solid wall of fellow students surrounded the field, all anxious to follow the action and cheer for or against the participating teams. As we stood at the center circle waiting for the ref’s whistle to start the game, I glanced back at Amir who was leaning against our goal. He smiled and waived at me and I did the same. Instantly Pele’s recollection in his memoirs of his first game in the 1958 World Cup against the Soviet Union flashed through my mind:

“I look behind me, more to avoid studying the giants in front than to check out our defense. There is Nilton Santos, a tower of strength at midfield with Zito, the other midfielder, grinning at me comfortably. Then, beyond, there is Belini, our captain, Orlando, De Sordi and behind them all, relaxed and sure, Gilmar, our goalkeeper.”

Seeing himself surrounded by such a talented bunch, I’m sure enabled Pele to feel a bit more relaxed and confident before kickoff. It was not quite the same scenario with me.

We began the first 15-minute half with a compact defense and relying on quick counter attacks. The way we played denied them any close range opportunities and thus the end result would normally be a shot from distance. During one passing sequence, I pounced on an off target pass and charged towards the other end of the field. While they homed in on me, I quickly split them with a pass to the onrushing Firooz. He returned the favor and once again I was goal bound. As I neared the goal with them nipping at my heals, I managed one last pass to Firooz. He one-timed his shot which scraped the top of the crossbar before going out for a goal kick. As I grasped my head in frustration, the worried look shot between Hasan and Hossein did not elude me.

Later on when I spoke to Hossein, we discussed the game and particularly this shot. “We had seen you running around and chasing a ball but we really didn’t know that much about you,” he explained. “Plus we didn’t know anything at all about your teammates. So when you guys had that near miss, we kinda wondered what else you had in store for us and were a bit concerned about whether we would be able to pull off a win.”

Of course they really didn’t need to be concerned. While we put up a solid nine minutes of defense, Hasan finally buried his chance. Facing me in front of goal, he quickly flicked the ball to his other foot and unleashed a shot that beat my reaction and squeezed in between Amir and the goalpost. While normally I should have been upset about my team conceding a goal, I shrugged it off as I fully expected it at some point.

The second goal came off of a questionable penalty kick that even our opponents seemed embarrassed to accept. A quick third and fourth goal brought the 1st half to an end. We gathered around one goal to catch our breath as friends brought us sodas. Firooz finally broke the silence when he commented, “If we take the loss now it will be a 7-0 final score”.

I did not believe that quitting a match would simply add three goals to the existing score. But regardless I was determined to finish the match and Firooz didn’t insist upon his point of view. We were playing without two of our better players (and subs for that matter) against a strong team that would go on to once again win the tournament that year. A loss, regardless of the margin, was a given.

The 2nd half went slightly better, whether because we put in more effort or that our opponents took their foot off of the gas pedal. During one comedic moment after Amir switched positions with Firooz, he challenged Hasan on an aerial ball with a kung-fu leap in the air accompanied by a bloodcurdling battle cry. He was predictably called for a foul for what we thought was his kick although the ref clarified his decision by advising Amir, “No screaming.” Towards the end of the match with the result already settled, Rad made a token appearance as a sub and limped around the field for the last few minutes. We still managed to concede two more goals in the 2nd half and ended up losing 6-0.