Spare a thought for the fans, players and staff at Tractor Sazi (great name) this week.
The Iranian side went into their final Persian Gulf Pro League match sitting proudly at the top of the table. One final push would see them secure the title ahead of their nearest rivals Naft Tehran and Sepahan. They had better goal difference than Tehran who they played on the last day (Sepahan were one point behind). Winning 3-1 and cruising the fans were full of expectation that they would finally lift that championship trophy. Miraculously Naft Tehran scored two late goals to pull it back to 3-3 but the players of Tractor Sazi thought that this was still enough to win the title. They kept possession, ran the ball into the corners and held on to the point they needed. This sparked wonderful scenes amongst their 90,000 (yes NINETY thousand) supporters as they rushed onto the pitch and celebrated in the stands.
Now to the change in mood…
Nobody knows when the reality of the situation was first realised but with hundreds of fans on the pitch and many more dancing and singing in the stands the news started to filter through that Sepahan (the side who started the day one point behind) had won their match 2-0 and in fact THEY were champions and not Tractor. Publicly the club have stated that communications had broken down and that they were told that Sepahan had drawn 2-2 but rumour has it the stadium PA system announced Tractor as champions even though they knew about the truth as they were worried about crowd trouble…
So, after the most monumental of mixups it turned into a rather depressing day for the fans of Tractor. I have no idea how it must feel to be in a situation like this but this picture of the Tractor manager just about sums it up…
Maybe next year…