Wat happened to Karimi???

[r9ronaldor9]

iam just wondering wat has happened to karimi he hasn't been in the line up for bayern for a long time, anyone know wat has happened to him??

[mambo]

He made about 20 matches for the FCB this season.
Bayern Munich always has at least one player from the Orient (in the past Ali Dai, Hasemian) but usually they dont play much. I think it´s somekind of a political behavior in order to get more fans in this region.
They have alot of good midfieldiers which dont play (dos Santos!) and they want to buy 1 or 2 new midfielders (van Bommel?).
I dont think Karimi`s chances will get better :[

[r9ronaldor9]

He made about 20 matches for the FCB this season.
Bayern Munich always has at least one player from the Orient (in the past Ali Dai, Hasemian) but usually they dont play much. I think it´s somekind of a political behavior in order to get more fans in this region.
They have alot of good midfieldiers which dont play (dos Santos!) and they want to buy 1 or 2 new midfielders (van Bommel?).
I dont think Karimi`s chances will get better :[

but karimi is different he has really good flair excatly wat bayern need

[Kult ov Azazel]

Karimi was injured back in march in the game against HSV. He twisted his ankle. He is still receiving treatment and should be back in training in about 15 days.

He extended his contract until June 2007. I don't think FC Bayern are gonna get rid of him. He's been fantastic since his arrival, considering it's his first season in Europe. But I'm sure if he shines in WC Finals and they receive a good offer for him, they might sell him.

[mambo]

Yes i saw him in a couple of games now and i`ve to agree that he`s a good player, specially he has a good technical level.
But as i said, Bayern Munich is on the search for new midfielder. They tried to convince Tim Borowski but he kindly said no thanks =)

have a look, thats the munich midfield:
13 Michael Ballack
26 Sebastian Deisler
6 Martín Demichelis
23 Owen Hargreaves
16 Jens Jeremies
8 Ali Karimi
20 Hasan Salihamidzic
7 Mehmet Scholl
31 Bastian Schweinsteiger
11 Zé Roberto
19 Julio Dos Santos

Ballack will be playing for Chelsea next year and Deisler is injured for half a year (training-injury by Hargreaves and he took his place in the start-formation now). Ze Roberto gets a new contract, Scholl will play another year plus a new midfielder,
so that makes about 10-11 midfielder for a single 442 or 433.
It wont be easy for Karimi!

[Kult ov Azazel]

I agree it'll be tough for Karimi. But I think the competition is fair for a team of FC Bayern's status.
I doubt they keep Ze Roberto. He was already on his way out, but he stayed in the last minute. Probably because it was the WC year and he didn't wanna start a new challenge.
Scholl and Jeremies are back-ups.
Plus Karimi can play anywhere in midfield, so that's an advantage. ;)

[BicOfBorg]

Karimi´s injured. An excellent player who´ll be playing a lot IMO. Felix Maggot is a strategic sort of coach. Plays the right players for the right games, so it´ll depend on the apponents.

I thought Dos Santos was a striker not Midfielder? mind you theres about 20 Dos Santos´s playing arround the world, probably got mixed up.

[mambo]

No and yes mate, he plays offensive midfield, close to the forwards.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julio_Dos_Santos
Promising talent :)

[Invicta]

He's been fantastic since his arrival, considering it's his first season in Europe. .

hahaha yeah right you made my day

he didnt played 1 entire game. He left the pitch 11 times earlier and 9 times he went in as an sub.

and as somebody mentioned it's just to have a marked in the middle east & asia

there are more examples like Shao (1860 Munich what a big joke, but sells a lot of jerseys in china)
Takahara (Hamburg every striker in the past years was better than him in every point of view)
the Korean Hero Ahn (Duisburg a guy that never played for Perugia & and never left the bench of Metz, should help and score a bunch of goals to save the promotion for this club?! yeah right)

[Nicat86]

He is screwed at Milan match I think. He played very well against Milan, then he just broke his hill somehow. achilles hill. LoooL

[nocturne]

There are only two decent asians in my opinion..park at man utd and lee at spurs..these two have done fairly well but the rest havent lived up to reputation

[aminoacid]

There are only two decent asians in my opinion..park at man utd and lee at spurs..these two have done fairly well but the rest havent lived up to reputation

what about nakata? i considered him Roma's best player for at least one season if not two and he was a star (skills wise as well) with Parma.

[roozbeh]

There are only two decent asians in my opinion..park at man utd and lee at spurs..these two have done fairly well but the rest havent lived up to reputation

Mahdavikia of HSV in 2000 when they beat Juventus in the CL was better than Park is currently, and Ali Daei during his time at Hertha when he scored a couple of goals in the CL was amazing.

Mahdavikia isn't doing so well anymore, he's playing defense in HSV. Hashemian at Hannover just got injured as well and isn't doing as well as he did at Bochum when Bayern bought him(that year he was one of the top scorers in the Bundesliga). And Karimi played excellent at the beginning of the season(i.e. Bayer Leverkusen), but had some pretty aweful games as well. He was starting to play better again, but got injured.

I totally disagree with the marketing aspect to all this, since the level of income in Iran isn't like those in Japan or Korea where Bayern or any other team in Europe would want to buy a player to increase shirt sales. If that was really their strategy, they would've done better to buy a Saudi or Kuwaiti player.

Park is good, but he's definitely not "great." He hasnt' done anything special at ManU since he arrived but he does have potential to become a lot better if he works hard. No Asian player has crossed that "greatness" threshold yet, and it probably won't happen for another 10-15 years when the first truly Asian superstar arrives. But all these players are really a good sign. Only 10 years ago, there wasn't 1 Asian in Europe. Now there's at least 10-15.

[mambo]

hahaha yeah right you made my day

he didnt played 1 entire game. He left the pitch 11 times earlier and 9 times he went in as an sub.



He didnt played bad. He had good and not so good games. He made goals and assists. All in all not that bad ;)


I totally disagree with the marketing aspect to all this, since the level of income in Iran isn't like those in Japan or Korea where Bayern or any other team in Europe would want to buy a player to increase shirt sales. If that was really their strategy, they would've done better to buy a Saudi or Kuwaiti player.

It`s about the 10% immigrants in Germany.

[r9ronaldor9]

i think the great super star has landed in karimi, he is special if he is given the oportunity he can become on of the greats, his dribbling is outstanding, did u guys rember his run against germany, he drilled like 5 players.

[roozbeh]

It`s about the 10% immigrants in Germany.

If that were true, wouldn't it have made much more sense to buy Turkish players?

i think the great super star has landed in karimi, he is special if he is given the oportunity he can become on of the greats, his dribbling is outstanding, did u guys rember his run against germany, he drilled like 5 players.

OK, look dude, I'm Iranian as well, living in the US my whole life. I love Karimi, but he's NOT a superstar outside of Iran. Even saying he's the best in Asia ain't sayin much. You gotta take off the Iranian lense and look at this objectively:

He wasted a lot of his talent in the uae garbage league, all for money, when Athletico Madrid wanted him four years ago. He chose more money instead and played for some no-name uae club.

He can dribble, but football isn't all about out-dribbling your opponents. I've seen plenty of games where he's tried to pull some of his moves and failed, when he could've achieved more by passing sooner to a teammate.

I think he's the most talented of the Iranians Bayern has bought, but he could very well fail just like the previous two if he doesn't work hard enough for it. If he does work his ass off, he could definitely be as good as Brazzo(Salihamizic) at his prime.

But let's not kid ourselves, Karimi is no Ballack or Thiery Henry. ;)

[mambo]

You focuse too much on selling jerseys =)
I think it`s more about keeping a reputation or image.

[Kult ov Azazel]

There are only two decent asians in my opinion..park at man utd and lee at spurs..these two have done fairly well but the rest havent lived up to reputation

Mehdi Mahdavikia has been exteremely consistant at HSV for about 6 years now, and although he had a clash with the manager last summer he is still one their most important first team players. He is an attacking midfielder/winger, but due to lack of depth in HSV squad he's been playing as a right-back and has done a good job. All the HSV fans love him. If Iran had qualified to WC 2002, he'd be playing in one europe's top clubs.

And again, this is Karimi's first season in europe. He doesn't speak German and can't communicate well. What do you expect? The fact that Magath personally insisted on signing him, when Bayern's board weren't sure, is more than enough for anyone to believe he has talent. ;)
Did you see how he took Seedorf to cleaners a couple of times against Milan? ;)

I also considered Nakata a very good midfielder. Unfortunately I haven't watched any of his games recently so I can't say how good he is right now.

[Nicat86]

you are right , i would give karimi 2 year extension. Lets see what he will do. He should play full games 90 minutes.

[fanOfBayern]

Karimi is definitely promising.....
he proved that in this season...right now he is injured and i just hope he gets better soon and give bayern more options in midfield....after balla leaves, maybe he will get more chances to start and he has to take them....

All in All....He is definitely good..it's up to him to take chances and prove his worth...

[pado]

Only 10 years ago, there wasn't 1 Asian in Europe. Now there's at least 10-15.

so who was the first asian player in europe?

[r9ronaldor9]

must of been ali daei or nakata

[BicOfBorg]

boom chaka chaka

[Smoggle]

so who was the first asian player in europe?

korean footballer cha bum-kun played in germany with great success including 2 uefa cup wins with eintracht frankfurt and leverkusen in the 70's and 80's. widely regarded as asia's best footballing import to europe.

frank soo was a mixed race (chinese/english) and played in the 1930's/1940's. although he wasn't born in asia and eventually was given english international honours.

im sure there will have been other asians playing in europe over the decades that didn't make a big impression or have been forgotten with time.