A Rose Bowl crowd of 49,212 saw the United States and Iran play to a 1-1 tie in a friendly game Jan. 16. Iran took a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute when Mehdi Mahdavikia, after receiving a pass from Khodadad Azizi in the heart of the U.S. defense, slotted the ball under goalkeeper Brad Friedel from six yards. Both teams had several scoring chances in the first half, but the gameÆs second goal arrived three minutes into the second half. Chris Armas notched his first goal for the U.S. national team when he met a Cobi Jones cross with a half-volley from 11 yards out that rocketed into the roof of the net, tying the score, 1-1. The last, and only previous, encounter between Iran and the USA came at France æ98, where a 2-1 Iranian victory ended the U.S. chances of reaching the second round.