MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – MX Sports Pro Racing has announced that tickets for the upcoming Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, are now on sale.

Special pricing for each respective National has been made available for a limited time for early purchasers.

The championship will once again consist of 12 rounds, bringing the riders to the most storied motocross tracks on the planet. The summer schedule will travel to every corner of the United States, in the Southwest, Southeast, Northeast, and Northwest, in addition to the heart of the country in both the Great Lakes and Rocky Mountain regions.

The season gets underway with the oldest race in American motocross, the Hangtown Motocross Classic on May 16, and will crisscross the country, visiting 11 different states en route to crowning a pair of champions at the Ironman National, just outside the motorsports mecca of Indianapolis, on Aug. 29.

Twenty-four motos will determine which two riders emerge triumphant at season’s end across a pair of divisions, in the 450 class and 250 class. In the 450 class, reigning three-time champion Eli Tomac will be in search of even more history in 2020, as the Monster Energy Kawasaki rider looks to become just the second rider in 49 years of the championship to win the Edison Dye Cup for four straight seasons.

In the 250 class, the departure of defending titleholder Adam Cianciarulo to become Tomac’s 450 class teammate leaves a wide-open field of exceptional talent, all chasing the Gary Jones Cup in hopes of becoming the newest 250 class champion.

“It’s hard to believe that there’s still nearly six whole months until the start of the 2020 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship, but before you now it the summer will be upon us and we’ll once again be treated to this one-of-a-kind piece of Americana,” said Davey Coombs, President of MX Sports Pro Racing. “There’s nothing quite like the exhilaration of attending a motocross National, and now is the perfect time to take advantage of these promotional ticket prices to ensure that friends and family can all have a chance to experience this summer tradition. I can’t think of a better gift for the race fan in anyone’s life.”

Tickets to all 12 Nationals can be purchased online by visiting ProMotocross.com.

MALELANE, South Africa – Pablo Larrazábal opened a healthy three-shot lead after two rounds of the European Tour’s season-opening Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa on Friday.

The Spaniard carded a 69 to go 9 under overall and ahead of first-round leader Wil Besseling (73) and home favorite Branden Grace (70).

Larrazábal was one of just five players to break 70 on a hot, windy day at Leopard Creek Country Club.

Larrazábal had a run of four straight birdies from Nos. 10-13 to respond to a double bogey on the par-3 No. 7 when he sent his tee shot right of the green and into the water. The birdie on No. 12 came when Larrazábal holed a 100-foot putt from one end of the green to the other.

This is the first European Tour event to allow players to wear shorts during the tournament because of the heat but Larrazábal declined to take advantage of that in the first two rounds, saying he felt more like he meant business in trousers.

Phil Mickelson has graced us with many memorable (and straight-up hilarious) Twitter moments in 2019, so let's take a look back at his best tweets of the year. 

Phil joined Twitter on August 22, 2018 by tweeting this awesome gif of himself winking at the Presidents Cup. This is the moment we knew we were in for some premium content. 

This tweet was the first of Phil's famous calf series. When the PGA Tour began allowing pros to wear shorts during practice rounds is when we really got to see all that Phil’s lower legs had to offer us. 

About a month later, Phil began his “Phil Kwon Do Calves” series on Twitter. He gave his followers step-by-step instruction on how to get “Calves like Adonis.”

Before Saturday’s round of this year’s Masters, Phil made a hilarious video saying he was going to be “hitting bombs” all over Augusta as he was driving up Magnolia Lane. Bask in its glory. 

We all know Phil is famous for his thumbs-up to the crowd after a good shot or putt, but at the PGA Championship this year he aimed to break a record. 

Record: Shattered.

Phil’s “Phireside Chats” are introduced with a story from the Memorial Tournament where “someone took a dump in the cup!”

Phil sports a slim figure and admits to a time of struggle on and off the golf course. He also outlines a “hard reset” he did where he said he lost 15 pounds in 6 days.  

No explanation here. We don’t get it either.

Phil continues to sport his slim figure by drinking a thousand-dollar bottle of wine (straight from the bottle) shirtless by the pool. 

We will never forget his calves, but he made sure of it by posting this slow-motion video of himself running on the beach with dumbbells in his hands. Flex on, and thanks for the memories.

Tshwane Spartans 127 for 2 (De Villiers 69*, Klaasen 36*) beat Paarl Rocks 126 (Delport 25, Van der Merwe 3-15, Morkel 2-22) by eight wickets

The Tshwane Spartans moved to the top of the Mzansi Super League table, with an eight-wicket bonus-point victory over the Paarl Rocks. Three teams - the Spartans, Rocks and the Nelson Mandela Bay Giants are tied on 19 points - with the Spartans leading the pack on net run-rate. As things stand, these three teams will battle it out to host the final, but the Durban Heat and the Cape Town Blitz will have opportunities in the coming week to make up some ground.

AB gets a move on, a let-off and the win

The Spartans' chase seemed to be drifting despite the team knowing the importance of a bonus point and they reached the halfway stage of their innings on 63 for 2, effectively half the total of the Rocks. And then AB de Villiers had enough. In his 300th T20 match, de Villiers reminded viewers who the boss of this circuit is. He took 19 runs off Hardus Viljoen's third over, which also contained a wide, and three of the biggest sixes seen at this tournament.

Viljoen went short too many times and de Villiers sent him over the leg-side boundary each time, with his sixes flying progressively further as he went. In the next over, de Villiers placed and timed a pull off Tabraiz Shasmi perfectly to bisect the fielders on the leg-side boundary but then made a mistake when he top-edged the left-arm wristspinner. Wicketkeeper Mangliso Mosehle and Henry Davids at first slip were both going for the catch, which should have been Mosehle's, and the ball eventually fell between them. De Villiers went on to finish with an unbeaten 69 off 37 balls to take his side home in 15 overs.

Rocks crumble

The Rocks had raced to 29 off their first two overs but things swiftly went wrong from the their third.They added seven runs in the first four balls before Henry Davids was bowled by a Morne Morkel snorter than rattled middle and off stump. The Rocks lost all 10 wickets for 90 runs and their next highest stand was only 22. They were bowled out with two balls to spare.

The Dupscoop

Forget the Dilscoop, Faf du Plessis has invented a shot of his own and he brought it out against his old national team-mate Morne Morkel. Before Morkel had even released the delivery, du Plessis walked outside his off stump, bent his right knee to the ground and then flicked the length ball over his left shoulder and down to fine leg. Dane Piedt, on commentary, confirmed it's called the Dupscoop. Unfortunately, du Plessis did not have the chance to do it again. Four balls later he gifted a catch to mid-off and was dismissed for 19.

Best figures in MSL 2019

Roelof van der Merwe is now the holder of the best figures this season after his 3 for 15 in this match. His first victim was Sibonelo Makhanya who holed out to deep square leg and his third was du Plessis' but it's the second that van der Merwe will be particularly pleased was attributed to him. Bjorn Fortuin played across the line and missed an attempted leg-glance. The ball hit his back pad as he dragged his foot outside the crease and even seemed to think about a leg-bye. Heinrich Klaasen, though, reacted quickly to throw the ball onto the stumps and find Fortuin short of his crease. On the scorecard, the wicket was recorded as a stumping, and so counts towards van der Merwe's tally, and not a run-out. It also put van der Merwe into the top-ten wicket-takers in the tournament.

SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Selinsgrove Speedway and the United States Auto Club will present the Bill Holland Classic for the USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series on Aug. 9, 2020.

The first-ever visit by the Silver Crown division to the Selinsgrove half-mile oval will feature the wingless warriors in a 74-lap race that will not only honor the memory of late Hall-of-Fame driver Bill Holland, but also commemorate the speedway’s 74th anniversary.

Holland, of Reading, Pa., won the first race at Selinsgrove Speedway on July 20, 1946, and went on to win the 1949 Indianapolis 500. Although Holland never won a USAC race, his career was legendary in AAA competition, the predecessor to USAC’s formation in 1955.

Holland died in 1984 from complications of Alzheimer’s disease, and was inducted posthumously into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2005.

The Silver Crown Champ Car Series drivers will race for $8,000 to win and the inaugural Holland Classic trophy out of a $33,000 purse.

“A Silver Crown Champ Car race at Selinsgrove will be the perfect homage to one of auto racing’s most accomplished drivers,” said speedway general manager Steve Inch. “Several Silver Crown drivers visited the speedway last summer and noted the track’s size and sweeping turns will make it an ideal venue for a Champ Car event.”

Similarly, USAC series director Levi Jones, a two-time USAC Silver Crown champion driver himself, is honored to have the series makes its debut at the central Pennsylvania track.

“Pennsylvania is a hotbed of dirt track auto racing and it’s a thrill to bring USAC’s brand of racing to Selinsgrove Speedway,” Jones said. “The Silver Crown series has a legendary legacy with many of the greatest names in the sport winning races and championships that continues to this day. It will be exciting for all of us to see the kind of show that the Silver Crown cars and the drivers will put on at Selinsgrove for the first time.”

With the pit area moved outside of the track in 2018, fans will have an unobstructed view of the wingless open wheelers on Aug. 2.

In its storied history, USAC has sanctioned only one previous event at Selinsgrove, a wingless sprint car race won by Hall-of-Famer Mitch Smith of Linglestown, Pa., in 1971.

Additional details on the event, including support divisions, will be released as they become finalized.

CONWAY, Ark. – The COMP Cams Super Dirt Series presented by Lucas Oil season-ending Topless Turkey Nationals at Lone Star Speedway on Saturday have been canceled because of rain.

As a result, Prattsville, Ark., driver, Timothy Culp is officially the COMP Cams Super Dirt Series Champion. Additionally, Scott Crigler is the Midwest Sheet Metal Rookie of the Year.

“You hate to end the year with two rainouts but Mother Nature got us at the beginning of the month at Jackson Motor Speedway and now it got us at LoneStar Speedway,” said first-year CCSDS CEO Chris Sullivan. “Congratulations to Timothy Culp on his first-ever COMP Cams Super Dirt Series championship as well as Scott Crigler on his Rookie of the Year title.

“Thanks so much to each-and-every person, who supported the tour in 2019. We are finalizing the 2020 schedule now and hope to release it in the week. There’s a lot of exciting things in store for fans and racers alike next season.”

Culp scored the title by 23 points over Missouri’s Tony Jackson Jr.

YAS ISLAND, Abu Dhabi – Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas swept both Formula One practice sessions for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Friday at the Yas Island Circuit.

Bottas, who will start at the back of the grid during Sunday’s finale because his team replaced power unit elements in his car, went fastest overall with his 1:36.256 lap time that came during the cooler temperatures as the sun went down.

Practice wasn’t uneventful for Bottas, who made contact with the Haas of Romain Grosjean while trying to pass him in turn 11. Bottas’ car suffered front wing damage while the floor in Grosjean’s car was damaged as a result.

“It’s been a good day out on track; the car was well-balanced from the get-go,” said Bottas. “I had to take a fresh engine for the weekend which also seems be to working well. My pace looked competitive in both sessions, so from that perspective we’ve definitely started the last race weekend of the season off on the right foot, although I’m sure there’s still room for improvement for tomorrow. The track was a bit dusty on the first few runs in FP1, but it evolved quickly and then felt pretty good all through the session.

“The end of my FP2 session was compromised by a minor incident with Grosjean; I thought he had seen me going for the overtake on the inside, but by the time I realized that he hadn’t seen me, there was no way for me to escape anymore.”

Bottas’ teammate Lewis Hamilton was second fastest on the combined time sheets following the first two practice sessions, .310 seconds slower than Bottas’ best lap.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was third. Sebastian Vettel was fourth best on the day despite spinning and bouncing his car off the wall during the first practice. Max Verstappen was fifth best, more than half a second off Bottas’ time.

It’s impossible to lose if you don’t give up.

Luke Kwon was 30,000 feet in the air, nearly on top of the world, but he couldn’t help feeling like he had just hit rock bottom as he typed the short, nine-word sentence on a flight back home.

After missing out on advancing through the first stage of Korn Ferry Tour Q-School in 2016, Kwon, who moved from South Korea to the U.S. at age 2, saw his one shot at getting a work visa – and remaining in the U.S. with his family – slip away.

His back was against the wall. But he had been there before.

Kwon dreamed of playing Division I golf, but in 2011 ended up enrolling at Division II St. Edward’s in Austin. The transition to college was tough for Kwon. He struggled in the classroom, often felt homesick and suffered a fractured hand his first semester.

“I thought I was done,” Kwon said.

But in his second semester, Kwon improved his grades, got healthy and turned his game around. He recorded six top-10s, including a win at the St. Edward’s Individual Challenge, and led the conference in scoring average (73.2) to earn All-American status as a freshman.

It’s impossible to lose if you don’t give up.

The stellar play caught the attention of Oklahoma, which had recruited Kwon as a junior player but eventually ran out of space for him. After one year at St. Edward’s, Kwon transferred to the Sooners program.

Upon arriving in Norman, Kwon was already behind the 8-ball. The Sooners had a stacked, deep squad that included players such as Abraham Ancer and Michael Gellerman. Ancer will play the Presidents Cup this year, while Gellerman also plays on the PGA Tour.

To make matters worse, maturity issues began to arise for Kwon, who often wouldn’t wake up in time for workouts, practice or class. Oklahoma head coach Ryan Hybl nearly kicked him off the team – and would have had Kwon not been the “glue guy” for the Sooners.

Hybl gave Kwon an ultimatum: No practice for two weeks. Kwon’s only job was to wake up at 6 a.m. to meet with the weight-training staff. Miss one, and he was gone.

“I knew then that’s when it meant that much to him because he never whiffed,” Hybl said. “He earned my respect knowing that it was his job at that point, that was his only job was to wake up.”

It’s impossible to lose if you don’t give up.

Kwon redshirted the following season and began to crack the lineup during his redshirt-junior year. As a senior, he played in 13 events, earning six top-20s and five top-10s, including his first career DI win at the Puerto Rico Individual Classic.

In addition, Kwon helped the Sooners reach match play for the first time at the 2016 NCAA Championship (Oklahoma has now advanced to NCAA match play in four straight years, including in 2017 when the Sooners won the NCAA title at Rich Harvest Farms). Oklahoma fell to Texas in the quarterfinals, with Kwon earning the only victory, 4 and 3, over current PGA Tour player Scottie Scheffler.

Meanwhile, Kwon’s dependency on his parents’ work visa was beginning to run out. At 21, he was on his own. For the past 13 years, Kwon was waiting on a green card and never got it, so he was forced to switch to a temporary student visa.

After graduation and with no playing privileges anywhere, Kwon reached a crossroads: give up golf and get an office job in the U.S. or go overseas and play professionally in China. While he mulled the decision, Kwon worked as a forecaddie in Dallas, which allowed him to continue to practice while making money. But that didn’t last long.

“I was just spinning my wheels trying to make rent every month and I was soon going to have to leave my family,” Kwon said. “I felt like someone else that didn't know me was telling me to quit. But I had two huge problems: I didn't have the money to fund my journey and my visa status in the U.S. was running out, so my time was very limited.”

With his visa set to expire, he finally made the difficult decision. He packed his bags, headed to the other side of the world and tried to make a living in China.

“Back up against the wall, that’s Kwon’s thing,” said Kwon’s former college roommate, Max McGreevy, who also roomed with Kwon in China and earned his KFT card this year.

Kwon played three times on the PGA Tour China Series at the end of 2018 and gained full status for the 2019 season. But the transition overseas wasn’t easy on Kwon.

“China definitely had its struggles, but that just comes with the territory when traveling,” Kwon said. “I started the year with a lot of food poisoning over and over, so I was legitimately scared of eating there. McDonald’s was my ol' trusty, though. We probably went to McDonald’s more this year than I have my whole life.”

The on-course struggles were no joke, either.

“China's style of golf courses are a little different than what we're used to in the U.S. It's so much more penalizing off the tee,” Kwon said. “A lot of holes where it's driver off the box and there’s bushes left and right that aren't marked as hazards.

“There was one hole in China Q-School that I backed off multiple times because I was just so scared of the tee shot. But I definitely learned to block out the negatives and trust in your ability and rip it like you would on the range.”

Once Kwon adjusted to his new – and hopefully temporary – life in China, things began to fall his way again, just as they did in Austin and Norman. Kwon recorded six top-10s, none sweeter than a victory at the Qinhuangdao Championship.

“It means a lot to me,” Kwon said. “I waited a long time to finally come out on top since writing that note. I just think, ‘OK, yeah, maybe I have worked hard,’ but I think one of the biggest reasons why I'm here today is because I just simply outlasted other people.”

Kwon finished fifth on the tour’s Order of Merit, which McGreevy won, and will head back to the U.S. with conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020.

“Nothing in my life was pointing towards me playing golf and yet I moved to a different country, went to China and got top 5 on the Order of Merit,” Kwon said. “It would've been totally acceptable to throw in the towel and find something else with what I was faced with. 

“But I didn't, and I think that's a big part of why I am where I am today.”

It’s impossible to lose if you don’t give up.

In 2000, Afshin Ghotbi found himself marveling at where life had taken him. Here was an Iranian-born, American-raised soccer coach, heading to Hong Kong from Los Angeles on a British Airways flight so he could interview with a Dutchman to be an assistant coach for South Korea's national team.

"If that's not globalization, I'm not sure what is," he said with a laugh during an exclusive interview with ESPN FC.

Ghotbi's globetrotting ways haven't stopped. His coaching career has spanned three decades across 12 different teams. He's been part of coaching staffs at three World Cups and spent the past dozen years in Asia, coaching in four different countries. In July, he was appointed manager of China League One side Shijiazhuang Ever Bright FC for the second time and in early-November, his side clinched promotion to the Chinese Super League.

"I'm not surprised," said former U.S. international John O'Brien, who played on youth teams in Southern California coached by Ghotbi. "Afshin was always so astute and so driven. It's been interesting, as an Iranian and an American, to see what opportunities have presented themselves and which ones haven't."

In many ways, Ghotbi is U.S. soccer's international man of mystery, fulfilling several key roles through the years while remaining largely unknown. He played collegiately at UCLA from 1981-85 and the U.S. is where his coaching career began. His last stateside coaching gig was as an assistant to Steve Sampson during the LA Galaxy's double-winning season in 2005. Yet even as Ghotbi returned to China, he still felt the pull of the U.S., the country that formed many of his soccer experiences. He interviewed for the managerial post at LAFC in 2017, which ultimately went to Bob Bradley, and still holds aspirations of coaching once again in his adopted homeland.

"I feel that my experiences and my qualities can bring something very different to the league and the players in MLS," he said. "I think because I've been 15 years away most people have forgotten or don't know me, but I think once they get to know me and see how I work, they will love the way my teams will play. I really think I can reach into the hearts of every player and make them giants."

Ghotbi was born in Tehran, Iran, and his love for the game of soccer started early. He recalls playing in the streets with friends: bricks were used for goals, cars were defenders and combination passes were played off houses. "And sometimes angry neighbors," he notes with a laugh.

In 1978, after his parents divorced and his father remarried to an American, Ghotbi moved to the U.S. with his family at the age of 13. Settling in the L.A. suburb of Glendale, Ghotbi played soccer to connect to his new home. He was a self-starter, convincing the principal at his middle school to let him start a soccer team provided he could find a coach. It proved to be the first of many valuable lessons. "At that moment, soccer was not so big in America. You not only had to become a player but a promoter. You had to be a coach and you had to multi-task to play the game you love," he said.

Ghotbi excelled as a player in high school and he was good enough to walk on to a UCLA team that included former U.S. international Paul Caligiuri, who scored the dramatic goal that sent the U.S. to the 1990 World Cup. The coaching staff at the time included manager Sigi Schmid and eventual U.S. national team boss Sampson. Upon graduation with a degree in electrical engineering, Ghotbi founded the American Global Soccer School in 1988. Starting with $100, one player showed up on the first day, but it soon grew into 10 teams and 1,000 students each year. Ghotbi's motivation was borne of something he had seen at UCLA.

"Even the UCLA players missed the technical quality they needed to play at the highest level," he said. "The reason is when they're younger, no one is working with them." The school saw the likes of O'Brien, an eventual U.S. international, ex-MLS defender Joey DiGiamarino and Pete Vagenas, who won two MLS Cups with LA Galaxy, pass through its doors. Ghotbi was demanding in terms of players gaining mastery of the ball. It was through Ghotbi's connections that O'Brien moved to Ajax.

"Afshin was an intense coach," said O'Brien. "He's very much about challenging you. I was coming into my adolescence then, so there's something to be said about having a softer approach with kids. But with us, he was pretty demanding and driven and really focused on repetitive technique drills. That was really useful for me and he called me out. I had a bad right foot, especially as a side volley. That was really hard for me to do and he was like, 'This is not good enough. You have to practice this.'"

Ghotbi's contacts in Southern California -- Sampson in particular -- led to him being named as an assistant coach for the U.S. men's national team for the 1998 World Cup, with a special emphasis on scouting Iran. The match was littered with heavy political overtones, and remains one of the more ignominious nights in U.S. World Cup history, a game that Ghotbi recalls with mixed emotions. Iran prevailed 2-1 on a night in which the U.S. failed to convert some clear chances. The result eliminated the U.S. from the tournament but for Ghotbi, it made a deep impression that went beyond the game.

"To see fans that had American flags on one cheek and an Iranian flag on the other cheek, or a Persian man and an American woman, a married couple, in the stands, and to see that kind of friendship between two countries that have so many political problems, it really excited me to realize the power of the game," he said.

"I think regardless of our nationality and regardless of our culture, there are certain things all human beings share. When I go into a particular team or a country, the love of the game is very important. I think the respect you give each other is very important. Trying to listen and learn about how each culture behaves and how they think."

After the World Cup, Ghotbi planned to return to his soccer school but thanks to his overseas connections, South Korea and Guus Hiddink came calling with a special task to address a special challenge. A coaching staff that largely didn't speak Korean -- one of five languages Ghotbi now speaks -- needed a way to get their points across beyond translating their instructions. So Ghotbi was asked to reprise a role he had taken with the U.S., that of using video to reinforce tactical concepts.

"At that time, nobody was creating animations and breaking images down, bringing pictures into a computer and drawing over them," said Ghotbi. "Hiddink was quite clever because he thought, 'This can help me because I don't speak Korean.'"

South Korea went on to a historic run to the semifinals. Along the way they faced a U.S. team that included Ghotbi's old protégé, O'Brien, but Ghotbi's work with video, as well as the pedigree of having worked with Hiddink, proved to be a launch point into the coaching profession. When he was reunited with his old friend Sampson at the LA Galaxy, Ghotbi was tasked with providing the tactical preparation.

"[Ghotbi] was ahead of his time in terms of the video presentations that he did," said then-Galaxy defender Todd Dunivant, now the General Manager of USL Championship side Sacramento Republic. "He was very precise and the detail he worked with was very high level. He always went the extra step. The way he talks about the game, talks about opponents, it's very impassioned. And he's fearless. He's not afraid to take on a challenge."

That trait was made clear in 2007 when Ghotbi took on his first managerial job with Iranian giants Persepolis. Persepolis is one of the biggest clubs in Asia, with crowds exceeding 100,000. Imagine a long-time assistant coach from outside the country, with no playing pedigree to speak of, being asked to manage Argentina or Manchester United. That is the kind of cauldron that Ghotbi stepped into.

"Everything was new to me and everything was so extreme, that anything was possible," he said.

Those extremes extended to his personal life. Ghotbi was reconnecting with the country of his birth and relearning Farsi. Most heart-rending of all was Ghotbi's reunion with his mother, Mahri. Being Iranian-born but holding a foreign passport meant Ghotbi couldn't travel to Iran for much of his life. As a result, he'd seen her once in 30 years, meeting in the Netherlands on a trip with one of his youth teams.

"It was almost like I was drowning in every emotion you could imagine," he said. "When the plane landed in Tehran, the emotions were already building. Then when I walked out and I saw her, it was incredible. I really don't wish it for anybody to be parted from their parents."

There's a word in Farsi, "hashyeeh", that loosely translates to the kinds of outside forces that can undermine, and in some cases ruin, a team. At Persepolis, there was a tidal wave of hashyeeh. Ghotbi recalls the boots of players being stolen on a road trip. Team buses would be late and supposedly private conversations were leaked to the media within minutes. Yet Ghotbi was embraced by the supporters. His Farsi was poor at times, but fans appreciated the effort he made.

Winning helped, too. It had been six seasons since Persepolis won the league, and Ghotbi promised fans that the streak would end. Persepolis started the campaign with a 16-game unbeaten streak, and fans took to calling Ghotbi "Afshin the Emperor." The nickname made him uneasy, however, given his U.S. upbringing and the fact that Persepolis was run by the government's Physical Education Organization (now the Ministry of Sport and Youth).

He said, "Who wants to have an Emperor? Once it catches on, there's nothing you can do about it. You just try to stay grounded and humble and move on."

Hashyeeh was never far away, though. In February of that season, Persepolis was docked six points for failure to pay one of its players from the previous campaign. Then in the midst of all of this, Ghotbi was recruited to be Iran's next national team coach, although at the last minute it went to Ali Daei instead.

As the season wound down, Ghotbi repeated his pledge to win the title, and it took a Hollywood ending. Trailing first-place Sepahan by two points with one game to play, Persepolis hosted the league leaders on the final matchday. The game was tied 1-1, in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time, when Sepehr Heidari's header saw Persepolis grab the title. "That was a goal from above, a miracle," said Ghotbi.

Alas, the moment proved fleeting. Ghotbi resigned the following November, the hashyeeh finally becoming too much.

"If you're in football long enough, you develop a sixth sense that things are not normal," he said. "Things weren't happening the way they should, and I just felt it was better that I leave."

There is a downside to performing a miracle in that after you do it once, everyone thinks you can do it again. With Iran in danger of missing out on the 2010 World Cup, Iran's football federation turned to Ghotbi, who was brought in for the last three games of qualifying, two of which were on the road. Again, it came down to an all-or-nothing showdown on the final matchday for Ghotbi, this time against South Korea and this time, it wasn't to be. While Masoud Shojaei put Iran ahead in the 52nd minute, South Korea's Park Ji-Sung equalized with nine minutes remaining. The World Cup dream was over.

"I felt at that time in life that I had a golden touch, that everything was going to be successful," he said. "When that ball snuck inside the post... It's a really unfortunate sequence. When you experience that, that was one of the lowest moments. It was my dream to take a team to the World Cup as a coach. It still is."

Ghotbi has had five different managerial stints since then and regaining that golden touch has been elusive. That is until earlier this month, when Shijiazhuang won nine of its last 12 games, including a 2-0 win over Xinjiang Tianshan on the final matchday, to win promotion. The U.S. still holds plenty of allure for Ghotbi and there are five managerial jobs in MLS either vacant or occupied by interim coaches.

"I would love my next move to be to the U.S.," he said before taking the Shijiazhuang job in July. "I think sometimes when I see [MLS], I don't see the passion I want to see. I don't see the commitment I want to see.

"That's why for example when you see the U.S. women's football, you really see that and that's why so many people love this women's team."

Regardless of whether he returns to the U.S., Ghotbi isn't one to feel cheated.

"This game has done so much for me," he said. "I could stop breathing right now and I'll go to my grave with a big smile on my face because of the experiences I've had, the places I've seen, the things I've done. It's incredible because of this sport."

Ghotbi's not done yet.