Ghotbi kept his job and rebuilt the side for this month's Asian Cup.
The senior women's side won the 2008 Asian Cup after last year making the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup.
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"The goal we have set is to win the Asian Cup for the first time in 35 years, " he said.
The pack of Indian reporters at the Asian Cup all want to know one thing: Will Bhutia retire after the tournament?
With an Asian Cup tournament likely to be played in July, that would rule Jayawardene out for most of the season.
Qataris braced themselves for the worst after Uzbekistan had beaten their national team 2-0 in the opening game of the Asian Cup.
"My best moment was qualifying for the Asian Cup, and I played a major role to take the team there, " he recalled.
"If I was fit and playing all these matches maybe I would have thought about retiring after the Asian Cup, " he said.
Although now out of the race for South Africa, they did win the Asian Cup and will appear at the Confederations Cup in 2009.
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Several of the players have since played for Iran again and one, Javed Nekounam of Spanish club Osasuna, is in the Asian Cup team.
David Stockdale started in goal for the home side for the first time since August with Australian Mark Schwarzer away on Asian Cup duty.
Iraq's 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in the final game of the Asian Cup in Jakarta on July 29th set off a wave of celebrations.
In cafes and houses either side of two countries' border, tens of millions will tune in for the stand-out tie of the Asian Cup so far.
It was Osieck's side, appearing in only their second Asian Cup, who looked the more dangerous and they struck the woodwork early in the second half through Luke Wilkshire's cross that became a shot.
The Saudi national side has suffered a sharp fall from grace since qualifying for five consecutive AFC Asian Cup finals from 1984 to 2000, and peaking at 21st in the FIFA world rankings in 2003.
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Elsewhere in the Asian Cup, Iran comfortably topped the group with a maximum nine points -- the only nation to achieve that target -- after cruising to a 3-0 victory over United Arab Emirates despite fielding a weakened side.
Injury stopped him making his Asian Cup debut until the final Group C game -- he won his 109th cap as a second-half substitute in Tuesday's 4-1 defeat by South Korea -- spurring him on to try and achieve the unthinkable: leading India to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Sri Lanka also staged the Youth World Cup and Asian Test Championship during his term of office and he was also involved in negotiating lucrative TV contracts.
Wednesday's match was a group-stage tie in the AFC Cup, the Asian Football Confederation's second-tier club tournament.
They are currently leading their Asian qualifying group for the 2010 World Cup and appeared at the last World Cup in 2006.
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'It is the right of the African continent to present a joint bid in a similar way (to what) the Asian confederation did for the 2002 World Cup.
Some of the performance figures are subdued by comparison with the start of last year as Aggreko is not benefiting from the one-off gains from the Vancouver Winter Olympics, the build-up to the FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the Asian Games.
The European Tour rocks on until early December, the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup matches trade midautumn time slots in alternate years, and Asian tours are picking up steam.
Representing the Asia-Pacific region of FIFA, the world soccer association, under the auspices of the Asian Football Confederation (with 46 member nations) at the 2010 South Africa World Cup venue are four teams: Australia, South Korea, North Korea and Japan.
The company saw growth both in its U.S. and Asian units, and its consumer products group (CPG) which houses its K-cup sales.
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The Australians, who like South Korea qualified for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa, are seeking a first title after having joined the Asian federation from Oceania in early 2006.
Earlier this year, the head of the Asian football associations warned that powerful illegal betting syndicates in the region could attempt to rig World Cup finals games by bribing players or referees.
The Asian campaign sees the top two teams from each of the two five-country groups advance to the World Cup, with both third-placed teams entering a playoff.
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