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IRAN - PORTUGAL , Russia World Cup 2018

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    IRAN - PORTUGAL , Russia World Cup 2018

    As Team Melli bids adieu to the World Cup, I am filed with great pride and joy, as I’m sure are all of you, readers, at their bravery & sacrifice, their warrior-like tenacity & spirit, … against some of the biggest names of world football, who in turn, left the field visibly shaken by Iran.

    Even the usual dose of injustice and partisanship by Fifa and refereeing could not dampen the sense of achievement and pride in me. We held the reigning European champions by the scruff of their neck and squeezed and pressed. So much that they nearly surrendered & almost tasted scandalous defeat. Saved only by Fifa’s unspoken rules of protecting the assets and marketing potentials/profits at any cost.

    Justice you may say? Aye, justice. Afterall, the technology VAR is brought to serve justice. Or at least that was the official slogan!
    But in FIFA, Justice is brought only if you’re famous or big. It’s just that one team’s justice is proven to be MORE than another team’s justice.

    Enough instances were there to highlight this. From Ronaldo’s yellow which would have been PAG’s or Amiri’s straight red card had they committed it. Even the TV commentators were saying this. Then there was the push on Azmoun in the Porteguese box. Enough justification for a penalty call on Azmoun. No different from the one called on Ronaldo’s. But the marketing potential of Ronaldo & Euro champions just tipped the balance. Not even a rudimentary VAR request!

    Yes, we benefitted from the VAR in the end. But for a hand-ball that many refs would hesitate to give. While the penalty on Azmoun would have far more weight & credibility. Ref making amends for a wrong call, by making a second bad call?




    But enough about those negative, bitter events. What Team Melli did today was to showcase to the world what we are capable of, despite a long list of shortcomings, lacks and unkind events.

    From Beiranvand’s heroic saves, especially denying the prissy narcissist, Ronaldo of his 5th goal, to the defensive wall our 4 defenders plus two DM’s built in front of him.



    In days to come we will see and examine the magnificent display of controlled defense shown by Ezzatollahi-Ebrahimi pair, who formed the impenetrable wall. The tireless sacrifice of Azmoun. Every single player was in service of the new team strategy.

    The strategy that demanded double amount of energy from everyone, as now, we discarded the ultra defensive tactics and opted to have a go at the illustrious opponents. They just happened to be the Euro champions. Did I mention that? That meant now the team would spread wider, farther up, hold a higher line, use more of the flanks for attacks, more players join in the attack …. On top of the usual tight meshwork of team that formed our team in the past 2 games.

    Given this being the third game after 2 energy-sapping games, we are forced to admire the commitment of the lads even further. Even when many of the lads showed the empty tanks near the end, they still never gave up. They dug deep and somehow found reserves of energy to run hard to push the Porteguese into their box. No mean feat, by any means….. by ANY top international team, lt alone an Asian one.

    And we showed we had the teeth to hurt them too. This dispelled a lot of pundits who figured Iran to be a one-dimensional “park-the-bus” team. Now they had to sit up & admire & praise our attacking prowess, Now they saw new dimensions to our players. New capabilities and sides that forced them to hail our challenge.

    We not only put up a fight. We nearly brought Portugal to their knees, had Taromi’s shot been a yard or less to the right. We clearly rattled them greatly. So much that the world saw the reigning European champions resorting to time wasting, to relieve from our pressure.

    The new Iran was exciting, adventurous, while keeping their now well-known discipline. Now truly worthy of the world’s respect.

    #2
    having said that, I must also say I am upset about two incidents.
    one was the altercation between Beiranvand & Ezzatollahi. Now I know it was a highly stressful situation and you just cant afford such mix ups and lapses in communication against such teams. But still … comeon lads. The whole world is watching.
    clearly they made up (as they shd) by halftime or even before that. And carried on with te game.

    But another instance was when the penalty was called and I saw Rezaeian actually pull the ball out of another player's hands and fight to take it. To have 2-3 players fight for the ball was simply embarrassing. Now from what I could see, of all those involved he was acting the worst. A major embarrassment.
    But then again, throughout the tournament he looked stressed and angry at something or someone. always on the edge! which clouds his good performances.


    we certainly could have done without these two incidents.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Doctor DOOM View Post
      having said that, I must also say I am upset about two incidents.
      one was the altercation between Beiranvand & Ezzatollahi. Now I know it was a highly stressful situation and you just cant afford such mix ups and lapses in communication against such teams. But still … comeon lads. The whole world is watching.
      clearly they made up (as they shd) by halftime or even before that. And carried on with te game.
      .
      we had the same incident, but worse between Badaavi and Rahman rezaei in AC2004. I am glad this time captain Haj Safei immediately interfered and pushed them away!

      on the game, what he said:
      "Team Melli stole our hearts"

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      Don't Select Players That Suit Your Tactics; Select A Tactic That Suits Your Players !!!

      Comment


        #4
        Certainly the strongest team we ever tied in a competitive game. Had the reigning champions on the brink of defeat. I know we also could have lost, but still ruing that chance Taremi couldn't convert. What a historic day it would have been.

        I am now more pissed about the draw and the fact how Poland screwed it up for us to undeservingly be in pot 1. A real shame that through this such a real group of death was even possible, while there are groups with Poland and Colombia or Russia and Uruguay too.

        Nevertheless, there was so much positive about this campaign, our best World Cup campaign ever. Future is bright too with a lot of youngsters coming up.

        I just hope we don't ruin it ourselves. We need to keep Queiroz and our players need to make good decisions and pursue a European career if possible.

        Comment


          #5
          CQ's Overall strategy for the tournament, with respect to the order of the games was perfect.
          The draw was kind to us also, in terms of sequence. Obviously not the nature of the teams we faced.

          So I'm impressed how he set up his different formations+game tactics for each game, always following the bigger, overall plot.

          I always expected to see a different Iran against Portugal, in our final game.
          The one that faced Spain would have simply not do. Would have been a great disappointment & a missed opportunity.

          perfect game plan, near-perfect formation & line up. Except perhaps LB, which shd have gone to Mohamadi instead of Hajsafi. We needed to attack more especially on counters, and Mohamadi's pace would have been ideal, as we saw after he came in.

          I dont know what compelled CQ to keep Ehsan. Perhaps his versatility to add to the midfield when necessary. But we already had Amiri, Ezzatollahi for our left side of midfield.
          This one issue has been a puzzle for me.

          the rest was absolute perfect.

          Comment


            #6
            TM's attack is not developed: All they did was defend and counter... One own goal and a penalty kick in 270 minutes! Need a balanced team like Croatia. (They have finished with 9 points in a tough group that includes Argentina). Maybe the Persepolis headcoach can give Queiroz some feedback what to do going forward.
            sigpic

            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footbal...he_Asian_Games

            Comment


              #7
              ^ very correct as our attack needs a LOT of work.
              the accuracy of our strikers shd increase as it is just abysmal. I guesstimate it's something like 10-15% which is extremely low for a continental champion contender. meaning they waste waaaaayyy too many chances & need waaaayyy too many opportunities to score one goal.

              Is it the system we employ, which is highly defensive? well, against top int'l teams we do adopt that.
              But that cant be the only reason.

              we dont score enough goals even against the likes of uzbekistan, syria, oman, jordan, china .... etc (as was evident in WCQ's)
              we dont play ultra defensive against these teams.
              so it cant be the system ONLY.


              and to win the asia cup we desperately need to address this
              a decent striker/forward (not even counting the prolific ones) at best needs 3 chances to put in one.

              Comment


                #8
                Now, a little criticism of CQ.

                for years he follows a mantra of "Domestic players are not ready to compete int'lly against int'l players" and basically calls them inferior. He does it EVERY SINGLE TIME we try to enter a tourney or int'l game.
                We all read/hear it, discuss it, side with or against it.
                we discuss it from the view of its impact on players, attitude, confidence, .... etc.

                But seriously guys. If you were asked to name 5 BEST/TOP TM performer, almost ALL of them would be IPL players.

                I dont want to side with that gutless wimp, coz he seems to have an ulterior motive in bringing this up. But I want to say CQ also can stop belittling (even if just as a false cover for TM) our domestic players.
                Amiri, Ebrahimi and Taremi ran twice as hard as JB, ezatollahi, Azmoun or Ansarifard.
                our CB's played impeccable defense (and I cant really count PAG as a legionnaire. seriously)
                GK was our best player.

                lets hope at least this gives hope & confidence to our domestic players, self belief that they too can go toe to toe with top players/teams without feeling inadequate or short.
                That's why for years I say form and performance shd be the criteria for selection, NOT where the player plays.





                The reason for this post is the impending preparation and participation for the asia cup.
                Our display against portugal should show us that not in EVERY game we need to be ultra defensive. Certainly not against asian teams, even Japan.
                We can take the game to them and challenge them in every department.
                I say this so we may adopt a different tact for the asian cup. We really need to win it this time.
                40 yrs is long enough

                Comment


                  #9
                  ^
                  Well we were not ultra defensive in AC2015 at all, and we will not be in AC2019 either.
                  But CQ also supported IPL players. For example benching Gucci. Before WC 2014, benching Daniel Davari and opted for Haghighi, and now Beiro. Benching Beishatur in previous WC and not calling him up for this WC!
                  So, I think he praises legionnaires only to motivate IPL players to do more.

                  In any case, I give him credit to always have an eye for young players and not shy or afraid of inviting them to WC.
                  Now, looking back, he did a great service to our future generation by not inviting Jalal Hosseini and Vouria Ghaffouri, but giving WC spots to Cheshmi, Majid Hosseini, Milad Mohammadi etc etc...

                  I don't want to post praises for CQ because I hate the bandwagon effect, that we all do. But srsly I cannot find that much flows in his decision making.

                  By the way, Portuguese fans are very unfair to him rght now. His facebook page is flooded with childish comments like, stay where you are, stay in Iran,
                  you are unpatriotic, you are not thankful to your nation, etc etc etc... and that was because he criticized Quaresma's conduct in our game.
                  So I regard CQ as a loyal coach to his employer, Iran TM.

                  In any case, the lesson we can learn from Portugal game is to be more decisive and more efficient to use our chances. When you play strong teams, you only get few chances and you need to be ice cold in materializing them. And I believe Taremi and others have learned this and will be more decisive in their conduct in the future. That is for me the lesson learned for youngsters, and a gain of experience for our younger generation!
                  Last edited by Adesor Vafaseya; 06-28-2018, 06:22 PM.
                  CHECK OUT OUR FORUM RULES HERE: http://www.persianfootball.com/forums/faq.php




                  Don't Select Players That Suit Your Tactics; Select A Tactic That Suits Your Players !!!

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Originally posted by Doctor DOOM View Post
                    CQ's Overall strategy for the tournament, with respect to the order of the games was perfect.
                    The draw was kind to us also, in terms of sequence. Obviously not the nature of the teams we faced.

                    So I'm impressed how he set up his different formations+game tactics for each game, always following the bigger, overall plot.

                    I always expected to see a different Iran against Portugal, in our final game.
                    The one that faced Spain would have simply not do. Would have been a great disappointment & a missed opportunity.

                    perfect game plan, near-perfect formation & line up. Except perhaps LB, which shd have gone to Mohamadi instead of Hajsafi. We needed to attack more especially on counters, and Mohamadi's pace would have been ideal, as we saw after he came in.

                    I dont know what compelled CQ to keep Ehsan. Perhaps his versatility to add to the midfield when necessary. But we already had Amiri, Ezzatollahi for our left side of midfield.
                    This one issue has been a puzzle for me.

                    the rest was absolute perfect.
                    Wow, DD I have never seen you talking soooo highly of a TM coach hahaha. Good to see your views on CQ taking a 180 turn compared to that of 5 years ago.

                    Meanwhile enjoyed your posts!

                    Anyhow when you compare CQ's coaching to any other domestic or foreign coach we have employed in our country, you realize what pearl we have in hand, while taking him for granted. Especially after watching Kranjcar's shit show and horrendous coaching with our U-23 in friendlies and then Asian Games, one gets to appreciate CQ team's extremely organized tactics and team unity in all areas and lines. Our defense proved to be one of WC's solidest and best defenses hands down. Kudos to CQ and our boys for having displayed such brave and impressive show!

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