{"id":27607,"date":"2017-03-27T13:48:11","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T20:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/?p=27607"},"modified":"2017-03-27T13:48:11","modified_gmt":"2017-03-27T20:48:11","slug":"china-a-different-proposition-under-lippi-mehdi-taremi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2017\/03\/27\/china-a-different-proposition-under-lippi-mehdi-taremi\/","title":{"rendered":"“China a different proposition under Lippi”: Mehdi Taremi"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFC – TEHRAN, Striker Mehdi Taremi is adamant that Tuesday\u2019s FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 Asian Qualifiers against China will be no easy ride for undefeated Group A leaders Islamic Republic of Iran due to the East Asians\u2019 recent resurgence under coach Marcello Lippi.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Team Melli are yet to taste defeat on the Road to Russia having beaten Qatar on Thursday, thanks to Taremi\u2019s winner in the 1-0 win in Doha, to extend their lead to four points at the summit of the standings.<\/p>\n

However, Tuesday\u2019s visitors to the Azadi Stadium enjoyed their own 1-0 victory on Matchday Six when they shocked Asian heavyweights Korea Republic in Changsha. And China are undefeated in the qualifiers since the Italian World Cup-winning tactician took over last October.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chinese team had a different coach [Gao Hongbo] for the first few games of qualifying but now they have a big name at the helm,\u201d said Taremi, who plays his club football for Tehran giants Persepolis.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarcello Lippi\u2019s resume speaks for itself and no doubt the whole system of the team has changed and they are playing well now. It will be a very difficult game as the Chinese team has a decent chance and if we want to succeed we must make sure we focus well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the preparations we have made, though, I believe we can dictate play, perform well, and get three points from this fixture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taremi himself is likely to play a part in Tuesday\u2019s proceedings having been involved in five of Iran\u2019s six qualifiers so far but the 24-year-old admits that it is only in the last two years that have see him rise to the fore.<\/p>\n

Top scorer in the Iran Pro League last season, the man from Bushehr in the south-western part of Iran is on fine form again in the 2016\/2017 domestic campaign and has fired Persepolis to a 10-point lead at the summit of the table, as well as netting three goals in three AFC Champions League games so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo years ago I was only more or less introduced to Iranian football at a big club, Persepolis, there was a lot of pressure on me and I was struggling,\u201d says Taremi.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut right now I am much more comfortable and my form is good. Mentally and physically I\u2019m doing well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the national team I\u2019ve been working with a very good coach [Carlos Queiroz] and he\u2019s had a big impact on me, which I think has crossed over to my club form where I\u2019m playing well too.\u201d <\/p>\n

Along with Taremi, Iran currently boast a wealth of young attacking talent with the likes of 22-year-old Sardar Azmoun and Alireza Jahanbakhsh, 23, involved in the forward line.<\/p>\n

Even the older forwards such as 25-year-old Sasan Ansari, Karim Ansarifard, 26, and the eldest, 29-year-old Reza Ghoochannejhad, are under 30.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had some great teams in the past but the main difference between this side and the previous generations is that we have a lot of younger players with high potential,\u201d said Taremi.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis wasn\u2019t so prevalent in the Iran teams before, and that\u2019s going to help our country to more success in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AFC – TEHRAN, Striker Mehdi Taremi is adamant that Tuesday\u2019s FIFA World Cup Russia 2018…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26307,"featured_media":27608,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,84,86,110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c17-asian-competitions","category-c47-featured-news","category-c13-team-melli-news","category-world-cup"],"views":5000,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27607","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\/26307"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}