Iran vs Syria Post Match Discussion

[Omids]

Spare a thought on Group B. There are four teams vying for the 2 spots and all can get there. Two teams on 10 and two on 9pts. Our group is so much more clearer. High chance that it will finish with Iran and Korea making the direct route and Uzis making the play-offs. I will be happy with that

[mehdiKia15]

Spare a thought on Group B. There are four teams vying for the 2 spots and all can get there. Two teams on 10 and two on 9pts. Our group is so much more clearer. High chance that it will finish with Iran and Korea making the direct route and Uzis making the play-offs. I will be happy with that

I think everyone will be happy with that but it's too close to call.that senerio could have us playing for the playoff or even SK.Next 2 games will be very crucial.I just hope it doesn't come down to us vs SK in Korea to determine where we finish.

[pandora]

Iraq's home games are going to be played in Iran. I was wrong about that. I thought it was only up to the second round. But Syria cannot play their home games in Iran for obvious reasons. Syria could not find a country to host their home games even a few days before the match day against Korea. So Malaysia was forced into the role as an "AFC HQ host nation". Even then there was a talk of violation of FIFA rules like proper seats in the stadium and some Koreans worried that FIFA might forfeit all Syrian games with nominal 3-0 scores after Korea so if Korea did not beat Syria or even beat Syria with less than 3 goal margin Korea might be disadvantaged.
At the time it was also stipulated that all Syrian home games should be played in the same venue. Korea played in that stadium and all Syrian home games next year will be played there too barring some serious difficulties like natural disasters. Even then it has to be approved by FIFA and perhaps by Syrians as well. The idea that Syria chose this stadium just to screw Iran is comical and childish.

[Ali Doust]

Regardless of the pitch condition. IMO TM let the conditions get the best of them. If we had stayed more composed we should've walked away with all 3 points today.

Best player: Milad Mohammadi. Have to say I was very impress with what I saw from him clearly his game is evolving everyday. This should a testament to all young players that a move to a Euro team will definitely enhance their game.

Worst player: Saeid Ezatolahi. It was no surprise that CQ substituted him today. The young lad should use today as a learning experience and hopefully built on from here.

[Tehranto]

Milad Mohammadi impressed me so much. He's been such a revelation. Crazy, he has a twin brother who is also talented but Milad opted to go the European route and look where he's at today ... honestly, Mehrdad Mohammadi should just emulate his brother's game and go for the left-back position and try to venture into Europe.

[Ando Teymourian]

You can't really comment on any of the players today.

This was a f***ing mud wrestling match, this isn't football.

Dameshoon garm, all of them, for playing their hardest. when you enter the pitch with a white shirt and leave with a brown one (imagine if they didn't wear fresh jerseys after half time), then something is definitely wrong.

I am happy with all of them, from Makani, all the way up to Karim and Taremi. They did all they could in this disgrace of a football match. Mad respect.

[Omids]

Iraq's home games are going to be played in Iran. I was wrong about that. I thought it was only up to the second round. But Syria cannot play their home games in Iran for obvious reasons. Syria could not find a country to host their home games even a few days before the match day against Korea. So Malaysia was forced into the role as an "AFC HQ host nation". Even then there was a talk of violation of FIFA rules like proper seats in the stadium and some Koreans worried that FIFA might forfeit all Syrian games with nominal 3-0 scores after Korea so if Korea did not beat Syria or even beat Syria with less than 3 goal margin Korea might be disadvantaged.
At the time it was also stipulated that all Syrian home games should be played in the same venue. Korea played in that stadium and all Syrian home games next year will be played there too barring some serious difficulties like natural disasters. Even then it has to be approved by FIFA and perhaps by Syrians as well. The idea that Syria chose this stadium just to screw Iran is comical and childish.

Then tell me my friend if a venue cant be changed once it has been set, as you note above, why was Iraqs game changed to Malaysia from its host city of Tehran to cater for a demand of the Saudis? Now Saudi has played verses Iraq in a different venue to all the other teams in the group? Where is the consistency? In reality if you want to apply the same rule then Saudi's should have been made to forfeited the game and Iraq awarded the 3 point with a 3 goal difference.

The whole discussion to allow Syria to play in a sub-standard venue is a whole different subject that I wont go in now. Nevertheless it highlights bias and double standards by AFC.

So don't make comments that it is 'comical and childish' when we suggest double standards applied by AFC towards some teams as clearly you don't have too much of an idea.

[teammelli91]

Milad Mohammadi impressed me so much. He's been such a revelation. Crazy, he has a twin brother who is also talented but Milad opted to go the European route and look where he's at today ... honestly, Mehrdad Mohammadi should just emulate his brother's game and go for the left-back position and try to venture into Europe.

Yeah he was great today. Playing on that shit pitch, being able to keep his composure and play confident football in a World Cup Qualifying match (with not too much international experience at a young age) is good news for us

Our LB is Milad Mohammadi. Now we just need a backup who is just as good.

[Abtin]

Then tell me my friend if a venue cant be changed once it has been set, as you note above, why was Iraqs game changed to Malaysia from its host city of Tehran to cater for a demand of the Saudis? Now Saudi has played verses Iraq in a different venue to all the other teams in the group? Where is the consistency? In reality if you want to apply the same rule then Saudi's should have been made to forfeited the game and Iraq awarded the 3 point with a 3 goal difference.

The whole discussion to allow Syria to play in a sub-standard venue is a whole different subject that I wont go in now. Nevertheless it highlights bias and double standards by AFC.

So don't make comments that it is 'comical and childish' when we suggest double standards applied by AFC towards some teams as clearly you don't have too much of an idea.

At this point, we have realized that Arab-FC is the most retarded and incompetent organization in the history of human kind. Kindergarten kids could run an organization better than these animals.

[teammelli91]

A huge majority on this board is upset with The AFC for having picked this stadium for such a WCQ match. It clearly lacks and fails all FIFA & AFC standards for hosting any official match. The horrendous pitch which can endanger the players health, plus the much lowered football evel as result of the terrible pitch are the main reason for PFDC members frustration. The questionable offside calls can happen in any match, as we're all human beings and error-prone.

My annoyance and disappointment is mainly the venue. This stadium fails in all aspects and levels of an official FIFA match!

Exactly!

[Bi-honar]

at Bihonar,
Bro, you know, talking about tactics and formations and ... when we have such horrendous conditions (pitch, weather, ) is pretty moot at this point, right?
otherwise I'd be the first to write about it.
on that pitch, he very fact that we didnt come off with any injuries is a big win for me.

as for the venue, the whole point is it shd not have been even CONSIDERED, let alone closed on.

Tactics, yes bro to some extent but formations absolutely not...

As far as tactics, you know you're not going to implement anything complex or sophisticated but you do know that you need to get the ball in the box from crosses and hope the other team's defense will make a mistake - at the end of the day, they're working with the same, if not more of a handicap than your strikers/

We obviously didn't see enough of that yesterday, especially compared to some of our previous matches (mostly in the previous round) where we were complaining about too many crosses.

To implement that simple tactical game plan, you need bodies in the box and this is where the formation comes on. We played conservative (as we most often have) and TBH I don't have an issues with that but I do think we could have been a little/lot more adventurous without really jeopardizing the single point that we got from this match.

And don't forget that we had the same issues against China (especially in the 2nd half) and Qatar (except in injury time). So being completely objective, it's a bit tough to blame the pitch conditions for our non-adventurous nature against "weaker" teams in the group (and by weaker I mean teams that don't our quality or depth).

And as far as the venue, it is decided by the Syrian FA not AFC. The same way the IFF picks the venue where Iran matches will be played and we pick Azadi to give us an advantage over opponents because of its elevation, the Syrian FA would pick the venue that it perceived to give the Syrians an advantage.

They are actually pretty decent on crosses offensively and they did threaten us like that a couple of times, so picking a venue that accentuated that strength and suited that style is just smart - it's a MAJOR stretch to call it a conspiracy but even worse is to blame it on AFC.

Again, I'm not suggesting these were ideal conditions and that the match should not have been postponed or cancelled. Quite the contrary, I do think the referee had a responsibility to players from both teams to at least postpone the match.

What I don't understand are these unqualified and unsubstantiated comments about the AFC screwing us over, the stadium, seating and drainage not meeting AFC or FIFA's standards, yada yada yada, just because we happened to play on it yesterday and not win our match!

The Koreans played there, didn't win their match and aren't running around blaming AFC of grand conspiracies. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the seating and there appeared to be absolutely nothing wrong with the drainage nor are there quantitative FIFA regulations re: drainage on grass surfaces.

I was actually pretty impressed how quickly the water drained considering the amount of rain yesterday... within 15 minutes pretty much every puddle of water had disappeared, some as deep as 4" (100 mm).

That's more than twice FIFA's standard of 180 mm / hour for artificial turf surfaces as a comparison (again, no such standard exists for grass surfaces as far as I know). And even some of the best stadiums in the world would not handle that torrential rainfall...

If you recall the France-Ukraine match was postponed in Euro 2012 because of lightning (automatic postponement / cancellation) and heavy rain:



And here 's a picture showing the seating for the same stadium from the Korea match:

[webmaster]

What match?what tactics? are you guys talking about the mud wrestling game that nobody won?

[pandora]

Then tell me my friend if a venue cant be changed once it has been set, as you note above, why was Iraqs game changed to Malaysia from its host city of Tehran to cater for a demand of the Saudis?

It is the whole Muslim thing and Muslims have a soft spot for Saudis as they control Arab Football Cartel. I am not a Muslim and I have nothing to do with it. In fact if it was any other country than Saudis, Saudis would have to forfeit their games as they made excuses out of politics. Either that or if they can prove Iran is not a suitable host for political and racial bias, Iran would be banned. No other country enjoys such a soft privilege as Saudis do. They got away with their stupid accusation about a Thai maid and they were acting similarly to Thais. And they got away with it. You solve your West Asian scuffles among yourselves.

Anyway that stadium was set up as the venue by the reluctant Malaysian hosts. Unless Syrians go out of their way to ask for a change of the venue they won't change it and it is doubtful that AFC would approve it even if they did. If you are in their situation why would they ask for it if it is in their advantage? Iran is not known for good sportsmanship either. You would never consider playing at low altitude because opponents have such a problem with the altitude of Azadi. You consider that to be part of your "natural advantage". And you are not gracious hosts to the visiting teams. Everyone complains about the treatment they get when they play in Iran.

[Tehranto]

The Iraqi referee was atrocious. Never once booking Syria for clear simulation and time wasting.

We are so use to AFC screwing us - it has been normalized insomuch there is no real uproar here about the clear offside goal that was taken from us.

[pres80]

People should pay attention to this photo. Do you see how in terrential rain there is still NO mud and the pitch is flat?

That is the difference between a pitch with drainage and one that is just a grazing ground for cows...