Eamon Zayed, he of the peripatetic career encompassing Libya, Iran, and Bray joined us on Balls.ie's football podcast, cleverly titled The Football Show from Balls.ie.
Zayed covered loads during the course of our interview, including his extraordinary stint in Iran, and you can listen to the full chat below.
Having played club football in Ireland, England, Iran and Malaysia, Zayed is now plying his trade in the North American Soccer League (the second division in the U.S.) with Indy Eleven, who currently sit second in the league, behind New York Cosmos. It's a very complex system: the division plays a Spring season, and then a separate fall season, with results combined into a table after the fall season.
IndyEleven won the spring season and finished second behind the Cosmos in the Fall season, meaning that they are progressing to the playoffs along with the Cosmos, Edmonton and Rayo OKC.
Zayed is one of the main reasons behind their rise: he sits second in the top goalscorers list, joint with Juan Arango on fifteen goals. He is in the running to be the league's Most Valuable Player, having been shortlisted alongside Joe Cole, Juan Arango and many others.
So in January 2012, I was over in Iran, and I got a Facebook ad from a guy called Alen Marcina, who was an assistant coach with the San Antonio Scorpions at the time.
He had received information about me from Wesley Charles who some of you may remember. I played with him in Bray for about three years. I wouldn't be very close with Wesley Charles, but we'd be Facebook friends, and every now and again we'd see how each other are getting on.
He ended up in America, with Vancouver, and came and played a half a season with San Antonio Scorpions. He then passed my information on to San Antonio Scorpions.
They asked me if I'd be interested in signing. They were in the NASL at the time. That was in 2012, and I couldnt because I was in Iran at the time.
He asked me again in 2013, but I had other commitments at the time, so again I turned the opportunity down. But over 2012 and 2013, Tim Hankinson [head coach of the San Antonio Scorpions] kept in contact on Facebook.
Even after he left, through the powers of Facebook, he kept in contact. Fast-forward to 2015, and he was the head coach of Indy Eleven, again he asked me if I was interested, and the timing was better, so here I am, in the midwest of America!
Admirable persistence by Hankinson, it has to be said. And with Zayed banging in the goals, Hankinson will agree he was worth waiting for.
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