Discuss Group B here

[Persian Panther]

Start the Yaa Mahdiii chants plus the daily salavatsss
This would be the only preparation IFF is good at

Feel sorry for our boys , IFF is broke and the government is useless as 3 legged donkey

[taremiscores]

I remember after our draw, Carlos Q was talking about "preparation, preparation, preparation" and how that will be pivotal.

All Dragan said after our draw is "I am not political, I am all about football" and "The group could have been worse"

This guy is way over his head. I want to support him but he is so bi-orzeh.

[KasraKhan]

I think you vastly misjudge the English mentality then. They did not build a world empire without learning to manipulate people to the extreme and for that you need a deep understanding of psychology and do deep analysis of those you want to control.

The English are masters at that and they will have educated people employed with a full time position just to analyze each opponent including Iran.

I dont doubt they will analyze us from a coaching perspective, I meant they wont waste a precious friendly day by playing a country they deem similar to TM.

[inarsenewetrust]

I think Sko will rely on experience in our game against England. I could see this Line UP:
--------------Beiro-----------------------
--Shoja-----Kanaani---PAG (or Hosseini/Nourafk)
Moharami--------------------------Amiri
----------Ezzi-----Nourollahi------------
Jahanbakhs-----Azmoun---------Taremi

take nour out for mehdipour/ebrahimi and that is the ideal lineup for england match.

For the euro playoff and USA games I would expect default to back 4, and one of ghoddos or yasin salmani to come in for a center back, either leaving amiri at LB or pushing him into the middle.

[PSGman#19]

I think you've nailed it. He'll likely match up with England who will prob play their usual 3-4-3 with highly advanced full backs.

The benefit of this formation is that both Amiri and Moharammi are covered defensively if they get caught forward from a covering centre back. It also allows either of them to potentially bring the ball out and they're 2 of our better players at doing so. Plus the danger of the overload with Taremi and JB on the wings hopefully gives the English overlapping full backs something to think about defensively and won't allow them to get forward as often.

The negative is no Amiri in midfield. I'd actually prefer an ageing Ebrahimi than Nourollahi, given his far superior ability to screen the back 4. Nourollahi in a central midfield 2 against a side like England would scare the sh!t out of me.

The key for me to nullify England will be to ensure we're not overloaded ourselves on the wings, so Taremi and JB will have to put a shift in too. Sterling and Saka are direct and when you have overlapping full backs too it's tricky to deal with.

Dont forget Sarlak

[PSGman#19]

I dont doubt they will analyze us from a coaching perspective, I meant they wont waste a precious friendly day by playing a country they deem similar to TM.

Dont worry IFF won't waste precious to play friendlies either

[The]

Dont forget Sarlak

Live footage of Southgate as he watches videos of Nourollahi defending.

[zereshk-ali]

From what I’ve seen I don’t really rate Sarlak. I actually would prefer Ali Karimi alongside Ezza to match up with the tall and physical Rice and Bellingham if they go with their best midfield duo. But not sure what level he’ll be at post injury, so Ebrahimi given a similar role to last WC would be my next choice.

[Ali Doust]

Northern Ireland or even better Ireland is a must friendly we need.

[ParthianDE]

Regarding home field advantage in Qatar (due to the close proximity to Iran), these US redditors write:

A: Iran is going to be difficult. The geopolitics that will surround the match means that they are going to come after us hard. Iran is also right next to Qatar so it could potentially basically be an away game.

B: The US always has some of the best support in these tournaments, not to mention there's over 40,000 US citizens who live in Doha.

We will not be the away team

ParthianDE comment: so maybe the USA - Iran game will be 50-50% spectators?

[ParthianDE]

Interesting example comment of USA-England rivalry from USA redditors:


[–]Soccerenjoyer 24 points 1 hour ago
dream scenario iran beat england game 1 and we eliminate them game 2 inshallah

permalinkembedsavereportreply

[–]jaemoon7 1 point 37 minutes ago
Allahu akbar

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[–]modsplsnoban 7 points 1 hour ago
Allah bless

[Ostad_Goosfand]

Regarding home field advantage in Qatar (due to the close proximity to Iran), these US redditors write:

A: Iran is going to be difficult. The geopolitics that will surround the match means that they are going to come after us hard. Iran is also right next to Qatar so it could potentially basically be an away game.

B: The US always has some of the best support in these tournaments, not to mention there's over 40,000 US citizens who live in Doha.

We will not be the away team

ParthianDE comment: so maybe the USA - Iran game will be 50-50% spectators?

bro there is no way there are 40K americans??? really, are they counting military

[ParthianDE]

bro there is no way there are 40K americans??? really, are they counting military

Well if many/most of them are military, even worse!

[ParthianDE]

I'm not happy we're favcing the toughest opponent (England) in the first game.

Check out this statistic:

78% of the teams that win the first game end up advancing to the round of 16.

But it is what it is. TM team mangement must psychologically prepare TM for a potential big loss to England so that TM can still play the 2nd game with full confidence.

(Of course I hope for a win, or more realistically a draw, but let's be frank: England is the sky high favorite here!)

[The]

bro there is no way there are 40K americans??? really, are they counting military

Like UAE, A large chuck of the people living in Qatar are immigrants there on worker visas.