A few weeks ago, Iran was down to just two soccer players with European teams. That went up to three Monday when Ali Karimi (photo) signed on to play with Schalke 04 of the Bundesliga for the rest of this season. Karimi once played at Bayern Munich for two years under coach Felix Magath, who rarely used him; Karimi appeared in only 33 games and scored just three goals. But apparently Magath liked him, because Magath is now coach of Schalke 04 and signed Karimi. The German team finished second last season but is now 10th in the 18-team league with half of this season just completed. A desperate Magath also signed a Greek, a Ghanaian and a Brazilian in recent days to try to get Schalke 04 back on the rails.
