{"id":11099,"date":"2010-03-25T08:40:14","date_gmt":"2010-03-25T15:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2010\/03\/25\/ebrahimzadeh-uzbeks-underestimated-us\/"},"modified":"2010-03-25T08:40:14","modified_gmt":"2010-03-25T15:40:14","slug":"ebrahimzadeh-uzbeks-underestimated-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2010\/03\/25\/ebrahimzadeh-uzbeks-underestimated-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Ebrahimzadeh: Uzbeks underestimated us"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ebrahimzadeh\"AFC – ESFAHAN, Zob Ahan boss Mansour Ebrahimzadeh felt complacency played a part in Bunyodkor’s downfall after two fine strikes helped the Iranians stun their Uzbek opponents 3-0 at Foolad Shahr Stadium. <\/strong><\/p>\n

A pedestrian first-half came to life in the 36th minute when a stylish move was rounded off with an excellent side-foot volley by Mohammad Hosseini from six yards.<\/p>\n

Zob Ahan extended their lead after the break in spectacular fashion as Mohammad Ghazi found the top corner with a blistering drive from fully 30 yards.<\/p>\n

Mohammad Khalatbari then rounded off the win with a classy finish 10 minutes from time as the hosts supplanted Bunyodkor at the Group B summit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were initially thinking about winning the game but I believe the Uzbeks underestimated our strength and that helped grab the 3-0 victory,\u201d said Ebrahimzadeh (pictured).<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first two goals we were creative enough to use two different tactics but the third goal was scored as a result of Bunyodkor\u2019s defenders\u2019 tiredness. <\/p>\n

\u201cI shall laud my lads\u2019 performance today, they were attempting to carry out my plans on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cBunyodkor have an amazing record but we were able to beat them today. They are a very strong team and we displayed a powerful performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ebrahimzadeh was also delighted to come out on top against opposite number Luiz Felipe Scolari, whom he regards as one of the game’s top managers, but tempered his enthusiasm with the knowledge his side are in for a real examination of their credentials in Tashkent next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cScolari is a real big name in the coaching world. He\u2019s always been very professional and is now in charge of a professional team as well. It\u2019s an honour for me and my players to beat him today,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will definitely have a tough job against them next week. They\u2019ll be there to take revenge for today\u2019s loss and for sure they\u2019ll benefit from playing at home. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey have fanatical fans like us but we\u2019ll have our own plans for the return match in Uzbekistan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bunyodkor were outclassed in every department and failed to provide much of a threat with the absence of Brazilian playmaker Rivaldo seemingly a contributing factor.<\/p>\n

Scolari is optimistic the veteran will be fit for the return encounter but nevertheless, lambasted his side’s performance while underlining Zob Ahan have now elevated themselves among the favourites to lift the trophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike our rivals, who were fantastic today, we played an awful game,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason I didn\u2019t use Rivaldo was his ankle injury but I\u2019m hopeful I\u2019ll have him ready for the next games.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll four teams in our group are tough sides but given today\u2019s superb exhibition from Zob Ahan, I\u2019ll say they have the potential to make it even into the final game of the ACL. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were pressured a lot by them throughout the whole game and they were surprisingly more highly-motivated after their opening goal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AFC – ESFAHAN, Zob Ahan boss Mansour Ebrahimzadeh felt complacency played a part in Bunyodkor’s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22614,"featured_media":10999,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c17-asian-competitions"],"views":2827,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22614"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}