Ebrahim Mirzapour (ابراهیم میرزاپور in Persian, born August 23, 1978) is the goalkeeper of the Iranian national football team and captain of Foolad FC, the 2005 champion of the IPL. He is one of the most hated players of Iran national football team, and many believe that he is not good enough for playing in national team.
| File:Mirza.jpg | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ebrahim Mirzapour | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Foolad FC | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals as of June 1 of 2006 | |||
Ebrahim Mirzapour's introduction to the Iranian football squad certainly raised a few eyebrows in Iran when the ex-national team coach, the Croat Miroslav Blazevic preferred him to some more experienced goal keepers. Although Mirzapour started nervously , his solid performance in friendly games and against the odds, Blazevic had enough confidence in him to install him as the fixed starter in the World Cup 2002 preliminary matches.
Mirzapour did not disappoint either, his towering presence and agility against the best of the competition , certainly increased his popularity and his fan base. Although he was faulted in one or two occasions during the qualifying rounds, he was also credited for many saves and preventing defeats in matches, by his solid and strong performance. Iran eventually did not make it for the 2002 Worldcup due to their 2-1 aggregate loss to Ireland in the playoffs. Never the less Mirzapour has been able to keep his starting position in the current Iran national football team coached by Branko Ivankovic.
Mirzapour was targeted by a few foreign clubs, but no solid or attractive offers were received and hence he will be starting the current season in Iran but he believes he will have more opportunities to transfer to a European club after World Cup 2006.
Mirzapour was also the starting goalkeeper in Iran's successful run of victories, attaining a number of clean sheets throughout the qualifiers for the upcoming World Cup. Iran together with Japan were the first nations to qualify.
Although his outstanding reflexes and agility are noted, Mirzapour has a habit of suffering from lapses in concentration and is prone to make mistakes especially on goal kicks.
He had a terrible performance in Iran's opening match in World Cup 2006 in Germany, when again he made a terrible mistake in kicking the ball outside the penalty area, which led his team to receive the second goal from Mexico , when the match was equal 1-1. Iran lost that match 1-3, and after that, many of Iranian football fans believed that he should be thrown out of national team. Many critics say the if it was not for that mistake, the match would have probably ended in a draw.