DPR Korea vs. Iran Nov. 14th WCQ Match Thread

[mehdi13]

Shoja was also robbed of a world cup, going from starter to waxing CQs dampaye on bench. It gave me great joy because in addition to being definition of mediocre, he was signing salam farmande a few months before.

[Pluto2000]

Shoja should or should not be started at 35 it is logic discussion but he was robbed 8 years of TM career and everyone knows it was not football related! shoja starts at 35 is actually more about we suck in this position at the point that even nemati starts there! Stop looking for excuses!
PAG is almost done
kanani the bus boy lack consistency
majid hosseini was always liability
if we had few decent ones Shoja shouldn’t be probably invited at 35 but the rest are no better if not worst!!

No centerback is gonna do well in this GN system where nobody knows what is going on, first and foremost.

We've been told several times by now (Azizi, Taremi, Allahyar) that Ghalenoei doesn't actually communicate tactics to players, he just tells them basic shape and gives them a motivational speech.

People can agree/disagree all they want about that style BUT anyone who has taken a basic coaching course knows you need to be ACTIVELY involved. Defenders NEED correction on positioning, marking, and movement. It's why our defenders never follow offside line and constantly doing erratic last safe maneuvers.

I'm not a CQ lover either but it's no surprise these same players went from conceding tokhmi goals against Algeria B team under Skocic to beating Uruguay and tying Senegal just a few months later. Just look at the way Shoja defended in that camp vs the way he defends under GN. It's like a wild west

[Iran_19]

Shoja should or should not be starter at 35 it is logic discussion but he was robbed 8 years of TM career and everyone knows it was not football related! shoja starts at 35 is actually more about we suck in this position at the point that even nemati starts there! Stop looking for excuses!
PAG is almost done
kanani the bus boy lack consistency
majid hosseini was always liability
if we had few decent ones Shoja shouldn’t be probably invited at 35 but the rest are no better if not worst!!
btw, 2 other TM coaches had Shoja as starter! I don’t like GN for many reasons but please don’t link this one to him!

[Pluto2000]

Does anyone know when Majid Hosseini is coming back?

Not until mid to late 2025. I don't know why it took him 7 months to get surgery for his ankle injury after AC

[Artaxerxes]

Does anyone know when Majid Hosseini is coming back?

[teammelli91]

i largely agree to this, however i have yet to see another (YOUNG) Promising/formidable CB worth the risk of completely dropping off Shoja for..!!??
besides, although i agree that he has tendencies to be bit risky and overzealous in his defending, but the big, costly mistakes with him often occur when partnered with crappy/inexperienced CB partner where he has to overextend himself well beyond his own defensive duties in order to cover for his CB partner's amature positionings and sever defensive deficiencies or a complete breakdown of our whole team's defensive posture ..!
Shoja has excellent chemistry with Kannani and the two of them when in form are still the most formidable CB pairing in TM..!!

PS
i suppose technically the right call, but the contact which resulted in his expulsion seemed largely unlucky, incidental contact and perhaps not quiet worthy of Red card ..??

That’s the thing, at the moment it’s obvious GN doesn’t trust our promising young CBs to start a WCQ match. I’m not a coach but if I was GN I would gradually bring on Hazbavi and let him start matches.

You’re right, it’s usually when he’s paired with a partner he’s not used to. But that shouldn’t be an excuse for him to make careless mistakes. Obviously he’s no Sergio Ramos, but he’s experienced enough to handle a new partner. With Kanaani he’s a lot better but what if there’s no Kanaani and he’s injured? I don’t know man, that call vs. Korea DPR looked 60-40 against Shoja for me. We can’t risk it.

We (as Iranians) have always lacked talent in the center back position. We’d get players here and there who were talented but who never lived up to their full potential. My opinion is because they never left for Europe. Or left Iran in general for Japan or Korea, somewhere there’s a consistent level of playing against strong opposition on standard pitches.

I won’t lie I don’t know much about Hazbavi. But what I’ve seen of him and have heard is that he’s got the potential to become a decent CB for us down the line. GN must see something in him to call him up in the past 4-5 camps. Now I think he should put him on in that position.

[BacheLot]

While I have also been ‘pleasantly surprised by GHAEDI’s performance lately, I do keep wondering if his success is due to the fact that we have no game plan and he doesn’t have many responsibilities. He can just go out there and play street football which lends to his greatest strength of dribbling.

hum..!! perhaps so but only to a small degree..!!
nonetheless, little can be taken away from his very clever attacking approach and even more surprising to me his high class, instinctive finishing touches..!!

i admit that i was also highly skeptical of him ever becoming a legit squad option in senior TM...! But that largely stemmed from his overly diminutive (pre-teen looking) physical stature ...!!

besides, i can't even recall the last time we had a legit goal-scoring Left winger option in TM... ..?

[BacheLot]

Shoja holds a grudge against Queiroz for ruining 8 years of his football career. For not calling him up to the national team because Shoja made too many careless mistakes.

As great as Khalilzadeh is, because he is a great center back. We won’t deny him that. He makes too many careless mistakes. On many occasions he’s gotten a red card and it ended up either costing us the match, or somehow we are saved by the skin of our teeth.

Against UAE in the 2022 WCQ’ers, he made a careless mistake and if his red card wasn’t overturned, who knows if we’d even drew the match.

Against Qatar in the last Asian Cup. Yesterday against Korea DPR. He continues to make careless mistakes on the offside trap.

As a fan of his football, and as many strengths he has, he’s one of the most confident CB’s we have, he can’t be called up again.

i largely agree to this, however i have yet to see another (YOUNG) Promising/formidable CB worth the risk of completely dropping off Shoja for..!!??
besides, although i agree that he has tendencies to be bit risky and overzealous in his defending, but the big, costly mistakes with him often occur when partnered with crappy/inexperienced CB partner where he has to overextend himself well beyond his own defensive duties in order to cover for his CB partner's amature positionings and sever defensive deficiencies or a complete breakdown of our whole team's defensive posture ..!
Shoja has excellent chemistry with Kannani and the two of them when in form are still the most formidable CB pairing in TM..!!

PS
i suppose technically the right call, but the contact which resulted in his expulsion seemed largely unlucky, incidental contact and perhaps not quiet worthy of Red card ..??

[PSGman#19]

I mean...you can say that about anyone in TM aside from Taremi. Even Azmoun has not scored in 2 world cups. Probably something like 90% of his goals are against Arab teams/Russian teams besides a few quality champions league appearances. Whether we like it or not Ghaedi is currently the most productive winger we've had in last 4 years aside from Mohebi.

Saeed Ezatollahi still has 1 goal for TM after 8 years

Not to say I agree with him staying in UAE...he would leave if he has any respect for himself. Alas......

Azmoun at least scored on Top european clubs and also on team like senegal or even better Asian team like Uzbekistan or qatar. Torabi Mohebi scored on japan, jb on sk..

[babak_iran]

Why playing bench against Kyrgyzstan? We have to line up our best in next game but please no shoja.

We can beat Kyrgyzstan with our young players or should beat them with our young player. It will also give them more experience for the future especially when we have to play in the World Cup. As for Shoja he needs to be completely cut from TM. He is too old and he already cost us the Asian cup in a way and he keeps making stupid mental mistakes. He’s done this multiple times at club level too for Pp, Sepahan and Tractor.

[a_m]

CQ was a defense specialist, Shoja was never part of his plans because, CQ twice took us 1 game away from R-16 appearances, the closest we have ever been and I know the style he played , but with a player like shoja we would have never ever been in that position, he has proven time after time , to make a lot of mistakes

he gets red card against weak Asian teams , he is not a bad player but he is nothing amazing either , that you would give him the starting spot just like that ,

can you really see shoja locking down a In form young 20 something forward, in the World Cup ?!

and as a Coach GN has proven time after time , he makes the wrong choices , he makes the wrong player selections as well as the wrong substitutions as well as his tactics , everything really, if not for the level of this opposition we face , we wouldn’t win these games …

we really should not expect anything as long as GN is coach , just a WC appearance that is it , nothing other than 3 loses at the World Cup maybe a Tie but yes

GN does not have the intelligence or the know how , to make us great , we had CQ who coached at Manu Real Madrid and Portugal and the best he could do was 1 game away ….. you really think the GN can do better ?!?!?

make no sense at all ….

We need a better coach , a strong leader who will make ethical decisions as well as , create an atmosphere and culture that make us a better team…

[Pluto2000]

Can we have the list of team ghaedi score on? Not even the average of asia, let alone the top

I mean...you can say that about anyone in TM aside from Taremi. Even Azmoun has not scored in 2 world cups. Probably something like 90% of his goals are against Arab teams/Russian teams besides a few quality champions league appearances. Whether we like it or not Ghaedi is currently the most productive winger we've had in last 4 years aside from Mohebi.

Saeed Ezatollahi still has 1 goal for TM after 8 years

Not to say I agree with him staying in UAE...he would leave if he has any respect for himself. Alas......

[Nokhodi]

Can we have the list of team ghaedi score on? Not even the average of asia, let alone the top

Best team he’s scored on is Bosnia.

[PSGman#19]

agreed…ghaedi and mohebi’s growth has been awesome. One of the few things in our footy giving me some hope these days. Mohebbi I never expected to reach the level he has gotten to and I think his ceiling is really high too…..needs to get out of Russia this summer, he has been great for Rostov and I’m 1000% sure they can cash in on a transfer to a bigger and better league.

Can we have the list of team ghaedi score on? Not even the average of asia, let alone the top

[PEJ]

While I have also been ‘pleasantly surprised by GHAEDI’s performance lately, I do keep wondering if his success is due to the fact that we have no game plan and he doesn’t have many responsibilities. He can just go out there and play street football which lends to his greatest strength of dribbling.