Iran vs South Korea post match discussion and player ratings
Weird game.. Iran honestly had the better chances besides a few horrible giveaways and defensive lapses. Still, 1-1 is an OK result considering we are top of the leaderboard right now
Post your ratings below:
Skocic: 4.5, to be honest, skocic left a lot to be desired in this game. There was no defensive structure nor was there any great attacking strategies. Got bailed out by brilliance from Azmoun and ARJ
Beiranvand: 8, thought he had a good game. Good exits and couldn't do much on the goal he conceded. That save at the end thanks to horrible defending from Shoja and a poor giveaway from Moharrami saved us.
Moharrami: 3, absolutely woeful all game. So many poor passes and turnovers and was caught sleeping on the Son Heung-Min goal. Giveaway in the last minute almost lost us the game.
Shoja: 5, not his best day today. We knew he would have trouble against a more formidable defense and here it was.
Kanaani: 6, better than Shoja lol
Amiri: 6.5, hustled hard and played some good balls but couldn't really do much else
Nourollahi: 6.5, played decent tbh, had a great through ball to Taremi and got passed a korean defender near the goal but we still cannot rely on him. His first touch and game in tight spaces is not great.
Ezatolahi: 8.5, excellent game from Saeid! Controlled the midfield and had some great tackles, excellent technique and was unlucky not to score the goal that hit the crossbar. My MOTM
Gholizadeh: 5.5, invisible
ARJ: 7, first half he was pretty stiff and couldn't do much but man he is really on a good goal scoring form of late lol.. 3 goals in 4 team melli games.
Taremi: 8, such a tank. We are so lucky to have him, we love you Mehdi! Was getting pretty much triple teamed and still found a way to lead us on attack and even on defense! His long shot was also unlucky to not go in...
Azmoun: 7.5, good hustling and hold up play.. His assist to ARJ was a beauty! Reminded me of the Ghoddos
assist to Azmoun against Vietnam in 2019 AC.
SUBS:
Noorafkan: 4.5, pretty poor defensively. Definitely his worst team melli game yet.
The rest N/A
Iran vs. Korea - Post-Match Discussion & Player Ratings
Guys,
given the huge chance in the last minute, I'm still happy with a draw.
Pros:
- even though for only a short period of time (maybe 15-20 minutes), we did create some serious chances and hit the post twice
- we usually suck at being behind (look at our 0-3 loss vs. Japan), but the players showed a great mentality and got back to the game
- we still lead the group with 2 points ahead of Korea and have the highest chances of qualifying (that's what we're here for) - when was the last time we got 10 points out of the first 4 games while leading the table?
- I've seen games where Korea dominated us. Granted, we didn't dominate them either (like the 1-0 in Azadi 5 years ago), but it wasn't a performance to be ashamed of
Cons:
- I miss the days when our defense was a rock... PAG & Hosseini is the better duo in my opinion
- we are not sharp enough at finishing (this is nothing specific to this game - just a general observation)
- don't understand why Gholizadeh was subbed off that early
- shame Ghoddos didn't get any minutes
In total, looking at the bigger picture: we should be very happy with our results so far. Look at what we were worrying about back in June (just 4 months ago): most of us were ready of not even making it to the next round. Fast forward: we are in the final round, leading the group with 10 points and never had such high chances of qualifying for the WC before.
