PFDC - MANAMA, A lackluster and uninspired Iran, which had been hailed as most talented Iranian side ever before the match, showed one of the most embarassing performances of the last years, being lucky to snatch a point from average Bahrainis in the end.

The story of the game is quickly told: A Team Melli, full of big names, never found into the match. Except a Karimi-effort which was saved and a Nekounam-shot going wide, both in first half, Iran failed to bring real danger to the hosts' goal. Bahrain, on the other side, showed more movement and slightly more accurate passing, but did not manage to capitalize on the few more scoring chances created. Especially the sizzling Mohammad Hubail, brother of Bahrain star-striker Ala Hubail who was suspended for this match, was given all freedome to shine by the traditionally shaky Iranian defense.

However, the highly praised Iranian offense did even worse than the defense, showing a performance which can only be interpreted as smack into the face of any fan and the coach. Refusing to run and move as it is expected by any professional side, Team Melli could never break through the well organized Bahraini defense. It was highly surprising headcoach Ivankovic, who used his favourit 4-2-3-1 which, however, often changed into a 3-4-3 during the match, barely reacted, but just replaced the quiet debutant Zandi by the then far better performing Navidkia at the hourmark and taking out an embarassingly bad performing Hashemian just a few minutes to the end, despite having highly motivated offensive players, who had shined against Bosnia, on the bench.

Although the point from Bahrain is not the worst result for Iran, the way the team presented itself was highly worrying. A huge improvement will be necessary to eventually achieve World Cup qualification.

In other matches today, a last-minute-goal gave Japan the edge over North Korea to take the lead in Group 2, while South Korea beat Kuwait 2-0 and Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia struggled to a 1-1 draw.

Bahrain - Iran 0-0

World Cup Qualifier, Group 2, Manama

Iran played with: Mirzapour - Golmohammadi, Rezaei, Nosrati - Kaabi, Nekounam, Zandi (62' Navidkia) - Karimi - Mahdavikia, Hashemian (87' Mobali) - Daei

Bookings: Rezaei