I volunteered to be a driver for the 1994 World Cup. During one of our training sessions I came across another Iranian, Ali Najafi, who worked there. After exchanging pleasantries and sharing stories of how we ended up in the US, he gave me a Snickers bar and told me that each bar was an entry for World Cup prizes. Then, almost as an after thought, he handed me the whole box and said that since they were free for him I might as well take them all and increase my chances. None of them were a winner.
I saw him after the 1998 World Cup where he had called a controversial penalty kick against Brazil for Norway. This was a friendly at Foxboro on September 12, 1998 between the US and Mexico's women's team that the US won 9-0 although he wasn't the ref but rather was there for some kind of award. I shouted out to him as he walked by "اسی چاکریم!" but he either didn't hear me or chose not to respond. https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2019/...-builder-award Esfandiar "Esse" Baharmast, a former referee, player, coach and current instructor who has been involved in more than a dozen World Cup tournaments and Olympic Games, has been named the 2020 winner of U.S. Soccer's prestigious Werner Fricker Builder Award. The Iranian who officiated the first MLS match and first MLS Cup, and won the inaugural MLS Referee of the Year award in 1997, is the second referee to receive U.S. Soccer's highest honor after Gerhard Mengel in 2005. The Wern...
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