Technically, what are some of the shortcomings of an average Iranian player?

[Sk1352]

Our players have no respect for the ball, and they turn the ball over without caring..

[kian_khosh]

Yeah it's great to work on these weaknesses individually, but when we have a shitty infrastructure, how can our youth excel if they're playing beach soccer and being coached by their fathers? We just need the financial backing, which is impossible, unless the "great" ayatollah devotes a tiny bit of his fraction towards soccer. In conclusion, IRI= bad in every single way.

[Prowess]

We suffer a lack of fundamental skills: crisp passing, stopping/trapping a ball, and shooting the ball with the right form.

We're good at dribbling, but it's mostly the decision when to dribble that we struggle with. Also, lack of good first touch.

[Sk1352]

Namjo motlagh he was ahead of his time

Esteghlal midfield of
Fariba,ahadi,motlagh,shahrookh bayani
All these 4 players would of played in top 5 European leagues right now
If there was no war iran would of advanced from its group
82,86,90 wcs with all talent iran had in the 80s
Triangle of changiz, ali doosti ,mamadkhani
Ali karimi would at best be bench player in the 80s in persepolis , esteghlal teams

[KC McElroy]

Study a fellow called Namjoo-Motlagh. He played for Esteghlal 30 years ago. Great ball skills, physical fitness/height, and vision of the field for play-making. Always a safe player to pass the ball to and expect to maintain possession. Reliable with set pieces. Charismatic and friendly. Closest thing to a Cristiano Ronaldo Iran had for a short period of time. I think he also wore number 7 for the blues. He did not age well, perhaps due to stressed life-style, gene factors, or high-calorie food.

Namjoo Motlagh was an excellent midfielder. He carried the ball as if it was glued to his feet. I can't believe it's been 30 years already.

[KC McElroy]

Skills. When was the last time we saw a feint or a cool flick from our players?
(Other than masoud, but he was also extremely slow, static football, as I would say)

[Bladsville]

All the negativity aside, I am really excited to see how we are going to do in the upcoming qualifiers.

I have NEVER seen this many legionnaires on team Melli before. All of our forwards and a considerable amount of defense are playing abroad. Hopefully Beiro gets to go to Torino.

Based off of the two games post AFC cup, it seems like we are lacking in the midfield.

That being said, all the players that are abroad will bring much more to the table. Hopefully that will reflect on the other players and, along with playing "attacking football", we will see something that we have never seen before.

[mangekyou]

Finishing and professionalism.

[Sk1352]

Our players need a therapist more then anything else.
Our players lack self management, self control, as Japan match was a perfect example how we fall apart due to our lack of focus and always complaining about everything and they think they are always right and that has cost us more then technic.
Majid namjoo motlag, behtash fariba, reza shadi, shahrookh bayani, hamid derakhshan, these are 1980s stars of iran soccer with skills that will never be repeated again.
Mojtaba kermani magham is in their level too.
That 1980s team melli would of gone to second round of 82,86,90, world cup if there was no war.

[Futbaldoost]

Many people have made excellent points on this topic, here are my two cents:

1- Lifestyle: this is caused by lack of professional development at youth and club levels. Basic personal habits and sacrifices like eating healthy and well, sleeping on time and on a regular basis for a required duration, avoiding stupid situations that cause accidents and taking basic safety measures like safe driving habits and bucking up and finally avoiding drugs are lacking.

2- Psyche: most of them do not go through the professional development in this space that requires personal responsibility and accountability in relating to themselves, others and their place in the world. Traditional education is mostly lacking in this area while amazing work and training is available that has been augmented by mostly recent breakthroughs in neuroscience. Areas like effective listening, communication, being cause in the matter, etc. are examples of what I am talking about.

[DWArthur]

They don't know how to shield a ball like even a street Yugoslav player who all know how to do that.

[Ali Doust]

Without a say are weakest "technical' shortcomings is our finishing. Many have said things that have to do with the physical and mental part of the game. The question was technical and that has to be our finishing. With better finishing, we would've been in the round of 16 of the world cup.

[inarsenewetrust]

I would highlight two. I have thought a lot about our deficiencies prior to the asking of this question and I would say they are the following :

1 - Creative, technically sound midfield players. as a country we have produced many excellent forwards and wingers, and very solid defenders. This has a lot to do with iranian physique being quite solid, and forward players having the kind of instinctual qualities that come primarily from starting football in gol koochik environments / with gol koochik principles. But when it comes to central midfielders, the equation changes. Here players need to be technically excellent and able to deal with a lot of pressure from all sides, and still have clear mind to turn, pass out of pressure, evaluate options, etc. The big thing that causes that is a lack of proper fundamentals and facilities. Often in our youth teams we emphasize goalscoring and quickly making chances as opposed to controlled build up play. This is a result of coaches desicions but also, an inability of our midfield players to build play consistently, because from a young age they havent been playing in big grass pitches of quality, where they are encouraged and able to play in this manner. If you play on a crappy grass pitch as many of us have, you must adapt your game and play long, individual dribbling style instead, looking for quick combos around box. If we had proper facilities for youth this technical deficiency in the midfield would change.

2- the second issue is also related to midfield players, but can also be generalized and that is stamina. For some reason, in my opinion genetic, the pool of players with great lung capacity and ability to run for 90+ mins in a kante like manner is very limited in Iran. In general, we have a very low, next to nothing number of track and field athletes competing at a successful level, and this is also evident in our football. There are populations within our society that can solve that in my opinion, because iran is so diverse, if they are given the proper facilities and means to do so. I think primarily of the sizable afro iranian population in the south, that would definitely have the capability to do so in their genetic makeup.

When you combine these two factors, they create somewhat of a vicious cycle. A player that is already limited technically will try to play in a more simple physical way, but when they tire their limited technique in midfield will just get worse, more turnovers, more fouls, etc.

Today, we have saeid, who is a generational midfield talent, like Nekounam and Bagheri. He is physically a tank with excellent technique as well, aided by being in europe since a young age, although he is going thru some injury issues at the moment. Next to him ideally we would have a technical, ground covering midfielder ala Torreira or Bennacer etc. We dont have that player, so the next best is a player with proficient technical ability and a willingness to sacrifice as much as possible, and that is Ebrahimi, who I believe was our best performer at WC, and also excellent in AC. But he is ONE player. The fact that out of 80 million people we have one player like Ebrahimi who himself is now in his 30s shows that this our weakest point.

[Galactika]

are you kidding me, have you seen saman?


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yeah he's pretty confident on the ball,
but still! I was talking about TM matches where we kinda lack individual skills

[kian_khosh]

Skills. When was the last time we saw a feint or a cool flick from our players?
(Other than masoud, but he was also extremely slow, static football, as I would say)

are you kidding me, have you seen saman?


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