Nekounam out for six months or more!

Madrid - Spanish first division club Osasuna announced on Thursday morning that Javad Nekounam would be out of action for at least six months after rupturing the cruciate ligament in his right knee. The Iranian midfielder suffered the serious injury after being on the field for just four minutes in Tuesday's pre-season Osasuna- Villarreal friendly.Nekounam had only just returned to Osasuna on Monday, after playing for Iran in the Asian Cup.Osasuna must also start the season without fellow midfielder Hugo Viana, out for at least two months after suffering a severely sprained ankle.

Persepolis beat Sanat Naft in their opening game

The IPL kicked off today with Persepolis playing their 1st game against newly promoted Sanat Naft. The game was played in Abadan, in front of a sell out crowd of 26 thousand people. This was Afshin Ghotbi's first game in charge of Persepolis, but he had said that he asked Estili to line-up the team for today's game since he isn't familiar with all the players yet. The game turned out to be very entertaining with a lot of goals. The game ended in Persepolis' way as it ended 3-2 for Persepolis. Ashoobi opened the scoring sheet after he crushed the ball into the corner after Badamaki was able to go past a defender and cross the ball inside. After Sanat Naft conceded the 1st goal, they started attacking and it paid off in the 15th minute when Arab put the ball past Vaezi after a huge mistake by Nosrati. Persepolis was able to take the lead into half time as Badamaki dribbled two players in dramatic form and he laid the ball to Khalili, who made no mistake, and placed the ball in the corner of the goal.

It seemed like Persepolis were going to add on to their margin and win in a comfortable fashion, but this was not the case as De Souza was able to put the ball past Vaezi after the ball was headed to him from a cross. Persepolis was able to keep their cool as they didn't panic and they continued to attack very nicely, and in 81st minute, Nikbakht Vahedi was able to go past the Sanat Naft defender with his tremendous speed and he chipped the ball over the goalie and into the net. Persepolis fans should be hopeful of winning the championship after this game, because they played very attractive soccer and were able to get the three points.