Iran vs Iraq post match discussion

[Ando Teymourian]

Took about 15 minutes for the boys to get rid of their jitters, which is understandable since many of them were playing their first (or 2nd caps) and someone like Beikzadeh was getting comfortable in the new position.

Once they felt a bit more relaxed things got better.

Rezaeian was an amazing surprise. I thought he did very well. A very strong, fit guy, with confidence which is a rarity in IPL. In the early minutes when our right side was kind of lost, he kept his composure and held the line well. Very good game from him.

Pouraliganji was quite composed in his first official cap. Didn't really make any mistakes, strong in the air, connected well with his CD partner. What else can you ask for? Beikzadeh gained confidence in his new position as the game went on. He was also very vocal with the D line which I really liked. Good job by him today too.

Pouladi showed his has little, if any rust. Defensively sound as usual. He is a BIG plus for this AC, fantastic that we were able to snag him late.

Ebrahimi was energetic and hustled well. Few missed passes, but he obviously is not going to have a 100% pass rate in the busiest part of the field. Same goes for Rafiei who also showed some quick moves and nice weighted forward passes. Again, missing a couple passes in that area of the field is not shocking.

Ghafouri is strong on his runs down the wing. Missed a sitter but i am guessing 9 times out of 10 he will score that goal. Better for us that he missed in a friendly.

Amiri getting unfairly criticized IMO. He was definitely the most nervous in the first 15 minutes. But as he started getting his feet wet and getting more involved, he showed a lot of battle and fighting spirit. Won a lot of balls that many players would not even try for. 2 misses in his first cap doesn't finish his career in the national team, lets get real please.

Karim and Azmoun didn't get too much service but they worked decently with what they got. Sardar showed his speed on his goal as well as his composure. Karim was somewhat on the wing but still managed to make a few positive plays (as well as a few poor ones).


Overall, the most important lesson I learned from this friendly is that for the first time in a long time, our team has some depth. Any one of these players can be subbed in for 30 minutes and we shouldn't really miss a beat. We have a strong bench and in tourneys like this, having a strong bench is an absolute must have.

[KeonKish]

Re: Iran vs Iraq post match discussion

Azmoun is definitely a striker from the russian league. Hard work rate and great strength. Many people surprised me today. Pour Ali ganji seems very relaxed. Ansarifard was decent. Could do better. Reza alreza and dejagah were all very good. And Reza looked very crisp on the ball. Ghafouri should examine his eyes because I could have scored that goal with my eyes closed.

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[Taz]

Azmoun can be described as world class and whatever as much as you want but he's not as good as Reza, this is fairly obvious. It's vital that we finally have something to bring off the bench though as that option would have been Karim at the WC

[onebloodfool]

Overall a very decent match IMO being that I think we got what we needed out of it:

- with the absence of montazeri I was curious to see who could fill his shoes best, which I thought would be ghafouri. But after seeing that performance from rezaeian I must say I'm really hoping we see him start, that was a great game from him.

- rafiei also IMO had a pretty good game. In the first half he was able to draw a lot of fouls, did a lot of running, and essentially created the counter which should have led to sitter which was missed by amiri.

- azmoun's goal was beautiful. Amazing effort to get the ball and finish that goal himself, that goal was created 100% from his hustle and hunger.

It'll be interesting to see if CQ will opt to start azmoun going forward given at this rate he would be insane to not be giving it serious thought. The kid is simply a world class player and has been on fire for TM recently.

Again, a decent match and a good morale boost going into our opening AC match.

Good effort. I was pleased to see such a physical game from our reserves. Sometimes I find myself wishing that our A-team had that same hustle.

Azmoun is good, but he will not start in Asia Cup. If anything, I bet that he will be the third striker after Gucci and Ansarifard.

[Ghermez Agha]

Overall a very decent match IMO being that I think we got what we needed out of it:

- with the absence of montazeri I was curious to see who could fill his shoes best, which I thought would be ghafouri. But after seeing that performance from rezaeian I must say I'm really hoping we see him start, that was a great game from him.

- rafiei also IMO had a pretty good game. In the first half he was able to draw a lot of fouls, did a lot of running, and essentially created the counter which should have led to sitter which was missed by amiri.

- azmoun's goal was beautiful. Amazing effort to get the ball and finish that goal himself, that goal was created 100% from his hustle and hunger.

It'll be interesting to see if CQ will opt to start azmoun going forward given at this rate he would be insane to not be giving it serious thought. The kid is simply a world class player and has been on fire for TM recently.

Again, a decent match and a good morale boost going into our opening AC match.