Berlin, April 2, IRNA-Fereydoun Zandi praised Iranian football fans for their non-stop support of the Iranian national squad during its recent Asian World cup qualifying victory against Japan at Tehran's Azadi Stadium.

"I played my first international game at home against Japan in Tehran, in front of 120,000 fans. You get goose bumps just listening to the national anthem. You can hardly describe the atmosphere and I could not even hear my own words," Zandi said Saturday in an interview with the online site of his Bundesliga club FC Kaiserslautern.

After experiencing his first two wins with Iran, Zandi said the national team was in a good position to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.

The 26-year-old midfielder whose father is Iranian and mother is German, was quoted as saying it would be "something very special to be able to take part in the World Cup in Germany".

Iran is currently leading Group B with seven points out of three games followed by Japan with 6 points, Bahrain with 4 points and North Korea with no points.

The first two teams are directly qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.