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Beiranvand was named the hero after beating Park Ji-sung (Korea Republic), Sami Al Jaber (Saudi Arabia), Tim Cahill (Australia) and Keisuke Honda (Japan) in a poll run by the Asian Football Confederation.

The-afc.com has turned back the clock to highlight the achievements of five Asian players who have shone brightest on the global showpiece.

The winner was chosen by a panel of experts combined with the results of the public vote.

Carlos Queiroz’s Iran may have exited at the 2018 group stage, but it’s hard to argue the tournament wasn’t a success for Team Melli, while it’s equally difficult to contest that goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand wasn’t their star man.

The Persepolis shot-stopper shone as Iran edged past Morocco 1-0 in their opener and he then produced another string of excellent saves in a narrow 1-0 loss to Spain, when only a fortuitous Diego Costa goal got the better of the big custodian.

A goal down in their third game against Portugal, Iran conceded a penalty to hand Cristiano Ronaldo the chance to all but seal a place in the next round. In a moment Beiranvand would later describe as the biggest of his life, he dived to his left to deny one of the greatest players of all time and keep his country’s hopes alive.

Karim Ansarifard levelled in stoppage time before Mehdi Taremi missed a glorious chance to seal qualification to the Round of 16 for the first time. It was not to be for the Iranians, but Beiranvand departed Russia having left his mark on the world stage.

The post Iran’s Beiranvand Chosen Asian FIFA World Cup Hero appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Qatar’s rising star Akram Hassan Afif won the accolade at the 2019 AFC Annual Awards held in Hong Kong on Monday.

However, Ivankovic says that Beiranvand has been the best Asian player in the current year, AFC Player of the Year can be the other.

“First, I would like to congratulate him for being among the top three players. He showed that he has had good performance in football and achieved success,” the Croat said.

“I think Beiranvand had to win the award because he played well in Persepolis and Iran national football team,” Ivankovic added.

Ivankovic has been nominated to replace Marc Wilmots as Iran’s national football team head coach.

Earlier, Pateadores Club coach Shayan Jahangiri believed that Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand has the potential to play in the big European clubs.

“I was at the stadium when Alireza Beiranvand saved Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty in Russia. It was the best moment in my career. I think he has the potential to play in big European teams,” Jahangiri said.

“Our country has so many talented players and is comparable to Brazil but there are some problems in finding the talents, however, we see positive movements in the recent years,” he added.

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