Iran and South Korea have had some epic battles in the last 20 years, and are easily Asia's marquee rivalry. Part of this has to do with the balanced outcome of results. No one is willing to bet on the outcome of these results. Head to head, who has the edge?
South Korea?
-They have knocked us out of the last 2 editions of the Asian Cup, and 3 of the last 4! Once in penalties (2007) and another time in extra time (2011). They also knocked us out of AC2000 thanks to Daei's blunder of a clearance in front of goal. They clearly have the edge in terms of Asian Cup results.
-Park Ji Sung's late strike in 2009 took away our World Cup hopes in an instant. For some reason, no one really talks about this moment. It may be the only time in Iranian football history where a single goal just ended all of our dreams in an instant. Still, in the WC2010 round of qualifying, both results were 1-1.
Iran?
-We have our own claims against them on the Asian level. We beat a star-studded Korean team that had just gotten 4th place at the World Cup 4-3 in 2004, and demolished them 6-2 in 1996. The 1996 result was so embarrassing that the South Korean coach was crying on the sidelines.
-Most recently, we beat them both home and away for WC2014 qualifying.
Ultimately, I think that they've taken more away from us than we have taken away from them. They've knocked us out of 3 Asian Cups, and single-handedly took away WC2010 from us. At the same time, I think that head-to-head in the big picture, we tend to be a little better than them. They haven't been able to beat us without extra time (AC2000, 2007, 2011) or penalties in the last 15 years.
Obviously in terms of talent they're ahead of us, and have tons of legionnaires, and in terms of pure competition from a footballing standpoint, they have been the dominant team in our head to head matches. But the Iran-SK rivalry illustrates an important point in world football. Even when the talent gap is there, teams that are familiar with one another can make life very difficult for one another. That's why the "minnows" in Europe that are ranked 100+ can still make life extremely hard for Germany, France, Italy - because of familiarity.
Tuesday's friendly will be a good barometer for where the two teams stand. SK is highly motivated against us - probably as motivated as they have been since AC2000, when they wanted revenge for the 6-2 loss...and they're coming off a disastrous world cup campaign. They were embarassed by us in WC2014 qualifiers. At the same time Iran has no excuses...we've had continuity - the same coach and system for almost 4 years now, and we're fresh off of a good World Cup campaign.
This is a bigger test for TM than I think most people realize! it's not just another friendly game.
South Korea?
-They have knocked us out of the last 2 editions of the Asian Cup, and 3 of the last 4! Once in penalties (2007) and another time in extra time (2011). They also knocked us out of AC2000 thanks to Daei's blunder of a clearance in front of goal. They clearly have the edge in terms of Asian Cup results.
-Park Ji Sung's late strike in 2009 took away our World Cup hopes in an instant. For some reason, no one really talks about this moment. It may be the only time in Iranian football history where a single goal just ended all of our dreams in an instant. Still, in the WC2010 round of qualifying, both results were 1-1.
Iran?
-We have our own claims against them on the Asian level. We beat a star-studded Korean team that had just gotten 4th place at the World Cup 4-3 in 2004, and demolished them 6-2 in 1996. The 1996 result was so embarrassing that the South Korean coach was crying on the sidelines.
-Most recently, we beat them both home and away for WC2014 qualifying.
Ultimately, I think that they've taken more away from us than we have taken away from them. They've knocked us out of 3 Asian Cups, and single-handedly took away WC2010 from us. At the same time, I think that head-to-head in the big picture, we tend to be a little better than them. They haven't been able to beat us without extra time (AC2000, 2007, 2011) or penalties in the last 15 years.
Obviously in terms of talent they're ahead of us, and have tons of legionnaires, and in terms of pure competition from a footballing standpoint, they have been the dominant team in our head to head matches. But the Iran-SK rivalry illustrates an important point in world football. Even when the talent gap is there, teams that are familiar with one another can make life very difficult for one another. That's why the "minnows" in Europe that are ranked 100+ can still make life extremely hard for Germany, France, Italy - because of familiarity.
Tuesday's friendly will be a good barometer for where the two teams stand. SK is highly motivated against us - probably as motivated as they have been since AC2000, when they wanted revenge for the 6-2 loss...and they're coming off a disastrous world cup campaign. They were embarassed by us in WC2014 qualifiers. At the same time Iran has no excuses...we've had continuity - the same coach and system for almost 4 years now, and we're fresh off of a good World Cup campaign.
This is a bigger test for TM than I think most people realize! it's not just another friendly game.
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