TM-News- Vol. 4

[sarbaz]

The football in the Asian games are U-21 squads not even U-23

[ParsaV]

It's quite surprising that Moharammi did not make the squad for the Qatar trainingcamp..

[Saam]

I think we need to look at things in context here, lol. The TM that Branko took to the Asian Cup 2004 had the four of the five best Iranian players of all time in the squad (Daei, Mahdavikia, Karimi and Nekounam). Two of them were in their primes (Karimi and Kia), and the other two were head and shoulders above Asian standards. Not to mention the fact that it was full of promising young talent and experienced players alike (Kaebi, Golmo, Nosrati, Kameli, Rezaei, Borhani). This team talent-wise was way better than the team we have now. Besides Azmoun, we have nobody who can compare to the legends I have described.

A lot of the members here are too young to have really watched AC 2004 but I was 16 then and watched every single game. As another member mentioned in this thread, besides the South Korea result, we were not that great. In the opener against Thailand, we couldn't score a goal until a moment of brilliance by Ali Karimi opened up their defense and gave Enayati an empty net to score into. After that, the floodgates opened.

In the Oman game, oh my god we were so bad. We went 2-0 down like it was nothing and Nosrati should have been sent off for stamping on the back of an Omani player (he was banned for the rest of the tournament after that game). We were so lucky that he was not sent off because he ended up scoring the winner after a second moment of Karimi brilliance got us to 2-1. If we had lost that game, we would have been out for sure.

We played against an already-qualified Japan in the last game who took the game easy and were happy to draw with us, which was all we needed to make it through.

Even the Korea game, as good as it was, was again thanks to our individual players Karimi Kaebi and Mahdavikia. The latter two absolutely destroyed Korea's left side and Karimi was involved in all the goals. Honestly, Korea weren't even playing too well and everytime we went up by a goal, we sat back and let them back into the game so easily, which led to them getting three equalizers before we finally put the game to bed. Even when we went 4-3 up, again Branko's shitty sitting back that he is famous for made us all hold our breath until the end of the game.

The China game was terrible. The ref absolutely screwed us over with a red for Sattar Zare which was very similar to the Pouladi red card in 2015. Also, he didn't give an obvious red to the Chinese defender who was the last man and fouled Karimi through on goal. We made China look A LOT better than they were with cowardly tactics and honestly could have gotten the result despite all the bs that happened.

The Bahrain game had TM more relaxed and our stars like Karimi and Mahdavikia basically steamrolled them as nothing was really at stake.

Bottom line is, Branko really did not do anything special in this tournament and if it werent for Ali Karimi, we would've been out in the group stage for sure.

Going forward, Branko got Zandi and Hashemian in his squad for the remaining WC qualifiers and WC itself. The team was already super strong for Asian standards and got two European-class players who just added to the strength. Hashemian was in his absolute prime at this point. Even with all of this (plus Azizi coming out of retirement), we BARELY made it to the final round of the World Cup qualifiers having to beat Jordan away (because we lost to them at home in a pathetic performance before the AC) and needing brilliance from Hashemian and Azizi to come back against Qatar, with a loss or draw kicking us out of the preliminary WC qualifying round.

The final round was relatively easy as we got the win against Japan at home and results against North Korea and Bahrain. The Japan game was the toughest one but Karimi and Hashemian did it for us again.

We all know what happened in the World Cup after that. So much promise, so much talent (including Teymourian who broke out at the right time), but we really bottled it against one of the worst teams in the World Cup and gave away a probable draw against Mexico. Branko was tactically outclassed in that Mexico game when their coach made two subs at halftime, which took advantage of our poor physical preparation (again Branko's job) and no tactical response by Branko whatsoever. We just sat back (which Branko ALWAYS DOES, including most recently with Persepolis) without any real defensive game plan either, and hoped for the draw. We must of course mention his total inability to have control of the dressing room and prevent the bad blood between the players, as well as not have the balls to bench Daei.

All in all, Branko has been saved by the talent of his players throughout his time working in Iran. He relies on individual brilliance to get results, and does the minimum amount of coaching needed. He has never set up a good defensive gameplan yet he relies so much on sitting back to get results. Contrast this with how CQ deals with his players and the fact that we have had close to 0 drama in any squad he has managed in his 7 years of working in Iran. Branko may be a decent coach but give him today's TM and we wouldn't have even qualified to the World Cup.

[Leicester City]

if you use only this to define success for managers then by your definition the only successful TM managers are mahmoud bayati, mohammad ranjabar, and heshmat mohajerani, - the only tm coaches to win a major trophy. thats an awful way to measure a international coach especially when you're talking about Iran. asian games is a u23 tournament that doesn't matter to anyone outside of asia, at least asian cup is full squads with some level of international attention although even that is minimal. good to branko for getting gold he gets deserved credit for that but its not applicable in the comparison of cq to branko for so many obvious reasons.

Luckily for you, I don’t base it only on success. All the other factors should be a given, especially with the salary that we are paying(hence why I did not mentioned them). I’m offended that you think I would take a “Vatani” coach over an international coach. I hate “Vatani” Coaches! (With the exception they have a good and successful international managerial experience, even to that I still take some precautions.)

I’m not the only one on this, anyone else saying that they don’t care about winning the Asian Cup, getting out the RO 16, winning Asian games, and all that other good stuff, to that I will say you aren’t being truthful.

[BacheLot]

Any updates on the status of Ezzatolahi?

set to return to action supposedly by the end of Dec. well Hopefully..!!??
according to this article..!


http://www.persianfootball.com/news/...p-involvement/

[sarbaz]

I will never ever forget the Oman game in the 2004 AC where one of the lowest moments of Iranian football history took place when 2 of our own defenders , Rahman Rezaie and Ali Baddavi got into a physical pushing fight and Rezaie slapped Baddavi in the face.

A great coach like CQ would have never allowed such ugly atmosphere in the team.
Does anyone here remember that debacle ????

OMG what a disgrace that was.

[BacheLot]

It's quite surprising that Moharammi did not make the squad for the Qatar trainingcamp..

he may well miss the the AC traveling squad too..??

seems as Vouria Ghafouri gets his reward from cq for not wanking out after the WC snub..!!?

[sarbaz]

All the Euro based players including Mohhrrami will be called up on Dec.27th.

[PersianLion80]

New IFF crest?

So anyone read If the IFF got a new crest? I thought they said they’d unveil it before the Asian Cup??

[BacheLot]

I will never ever forget the Oman game in the 2004 AC where one of the lowest moments of Iranian football history took place when 2 of our own defenders , Rahman Rezaie and Ali Baddavi got into a physical pushing fightand Rezaie slapped Baddavi in the face.
OMG what a disgrace that was.

or all the embarrassing shitt off and even on the pitch(AK throwing the water bottle, refusing to sub-in) during the WC06..!!
bragoh is just your typical, average @best, C-D grade International-level coach..!! good for IPL and other Asian or ayrab league club teams..!
he certainly doesnt have the coaching pedigree, resume, nor the character and personality to attain respect from international level players, especially not from that of top teams of Asia..!!

just the thought of this jackass idiot taking over TM again makes me want to vomit...!!

[Nokhodi]

So anyone read If the IFF got a new crest? I thought they said they’d unveil it before the Asian Cup??

After Asian Cup...

[Abedzadeh]

The Japanese used their U-19 squad in the 2002 Asian Games; yes that's right, they used their U-19 team ..... they didn't even use their U-23 team. Likewise, KSA did not even compete in the tournament, in keeping with their tradition of not sending teams to compete in the Asian Games football competition.

Iran, on the other hand, entered that tournament using what was for all practical purposes a full senior national team with only two missing players (A. Karimi and R. Rezaei).

Javad Nekounam, who was probably the most high-profile player of that team, was already invited to TM at the time of Mansour Pourheydari and was used as a starter by Blazevic on a few occasions during the '02 WCQs. Another key player was Nikbakht Vahedi, who was already a fixture on the senior level national team. As mentioned, Daei, Yahya, and Mirazapour were technically our only over-age exceptions, but it was essentially a full strength senior squad; the only players missing from that squad were Ali Karimi, Mahdavikia and Rezaei, and Mahdavikia was not even available anyway because he was recovering from a back surgery. After,the 2002 WCQs, TM was forced by NECESSITY to undergo a generational shift at the national level; players that were traditionally used in several positions were getting too old, and whoever became the head coach of TM HAD TO use younger players, which is why you saw players like Kaabi, Navid-kia, Badavi, Kazemian, Mobali and Saeed Lotfi, all of whom were ALREADY playing for the senior national team prior to Busan. In other words, it's misplaced and rather desperate to use the '02 Asian Games as way to bolster br-AN-G0H's record. If anything, it's actually quite embarrassing and hurts him; if we win a youth tournament with a full senior squad by defeating an U-19 team ..... does that title really command any legitimate value?

As for the '04 Asian Cup, just lol: Oman completely outplayed us, we should have lost that match, but thanks to the half-Iranian referee, Nosrati didn't get the red card he deserved for stomping the Omani player. Had he gotten the red-card he deserved for stomping the Omani player in the back with his cleat, we would have been down to 10 men for much of the match, and he wouldn't have been on the field to score an equalizer late in the match. This would have made the final group stage match against Japan a must-win game .... and given the problems against Oman, it is questionable whether we could have won against a team of Japan's caliber. In any event, we ultimately did finish that tournament in 3rd place ..... but that 3rd place finish had more to do with the combined brilliance of Mahdavikia and Karimi carrying the team on their shoulders, rather than the coaching "acumen", LOL, of br-AN-G0H.

[Leicester City]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrfJ5LnB...=1sn2nl9jx52kf

Soroush Rafiei Interview

I beg you all to listen because he does make some valid points.

[sarbaz]

That is exactly right.

If you ask me wining the asian games 2002 was an embaressment if anything else , knowing that those teams
used thier U-19 players and we almost had a senior squad out there.

That's nothing to be proud of but just a gold medal in the football category.

at the end of the day , I really love and appreciate what Branko has done with Perspolis but
he is not at all in the same level of CQ , not at all.
CQ is head and shoulders above Branko.

[Navid H]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrfJ5LnB...=1sn2nl9jx52kf

Soroush Rafiei Interview

I beg you all to listen because he does make some valid points.

He makes no valid points. Do you think this guy actually cares about whether Padideh players were invited? No. He is selling out TM and trying to sabotage the team and his "friends" in order to score brownie points with PP fanboys.

Shoja freaking Khalilzadeh is not Maldini. Kashima actually WON ACL and none of their players were invited to Japan's national team. But according to Rafiei, 50% of fans aren't rooting for TM bc CQ didn't invite PP's starting 11.

He needs to STFU and GTO.