Worst possible draw for Iran

[smanhoobi]

There is not one team that reaches the World Cup Finals that can be regarded as weak. All the teams getting there have battled against a lot of other good teams in their corresponding continents. Mind you, Europeans had the toughest job of all.

Asia has probably been one of the weakest continent in the world football if not the one. Looking at the distribution of stats along continents and their achievements, Asia is at the bottom of the list, probably one better than Oceana. Thanks to some good displays by S. Korea, Japan and Saudi's , Asia has showed a few sparkles, but that effort has prooved to be insufficient to bring the continent up in world football stats.

However, the question that needs to be answered is whether or not "names" in world cup finals has any influence on the outcome of a game? To me, at that stage, names do not matter a bit. Generally speaking, names should not matter in any stage. The only thing that matters is "Tactics" , "Respect" and "Tactical Conflicts". Apart from that there is something called the "Spirit of a Champion" vs " The Real Champion" which is beyond the scope of this article and I would deal with their meanings later.

USA has mostly beaten Mexico whenever they played with them in important games. If you ask me whether USA is a better team than Mexico, my answer would be a big "No". However, then the question occurs to me. Then why? The answer is rather easy in football. Its about "Tactical Conflicts".

When one looks at the two teams in Iran's group a very scary, unfortunate reality hits the face of not a sensitive fan, but a realistic one. One important feature shared between the Portugal and Mexico is their impacible speed they play a football game. Portugal is known for that speed apart from their incredible talents displayed during World Cup Qualifiers. Mexico, however, has always had speed as one of their features, if not all they have.

I dont know much about Angola. But Angola is an African team. One thinks of them as a typical African football, with physical strength and long balls using their height advantage. But are they? Well, Angolians speak "Porteguese" if you dont mind. Therefore, one thinks whether their footballing spirit and skills is a replica or aspirated from Porteguese football or one played in Spain. If thats the case, then our troubles are three-fold.

Iran has always struggled in many aspects of the game. You cant name either a very strong point in the team, nor can you spot a single weak point. Its all scattered around. But if there is one thing that Iran has ALWAYS had problems with is "speed" of the opponents. Please consider the basic fact that S.Korea and Japan are not the names that Iran has ever had fears about. Its their "Speedy" game which has always hunted us big time.

This is where "Tactical Conflicts" plays a major role in the draw which looks to be an easy one for us, but deep down, it is the worst draw for Iran.

I am sure that apart from this conflict, Iran will be prepared. But I definitely feel that we will be very defensive minded. Iran can not expose its defense at all in any of these games. We need to slow down the game and try to play at our own pace. And that always means, "Some boring ones" , but tactically sound ones. Patience is going to be "Key" in these games. Not nice games, but tactically sound games.

I just hope that TM crew will study all the games USA has played against Mexico , so far. There are a lot of lessons to be learned there.

Go Iran
Go TM
Go Branko and ofcourse, my good friend Human.

[zzgloo]

dear smanhoobi, the points you have made are very valid, how ever, I do not see,the tytle of your thread to be fitting though.....
how,could this be the worst draw !?...after all, we would have been in a similar precydement any how.

[Doctor DOOM]

soheil joon,
I agree any team reaching the WC is no weak team.

but to say it was the worst possible group ay be a stretch !

I mean I am ecstatic we are not in either of argentina's or england's groups.

my god, we would have been murdered there !

and yes, maybe among the asians, s korea and ksa will have an easier time, but then again, I believ japan's is harder and more difficult than ours.

hard group?
yes.

but worst ?
noway

[Martin-Reza]

Worst might be exaggerated a bit, but I agree it's far from ideal. Having to eliminate first seed Mexico or European topside Portugal is a huge task.

On the other hand there is not so much pressure on TM against this teams and they are beatable, so it could be the perfect scenario for a small sensation.

[khabalood]

In my opinion, I don't think Iran has a choice but to come out and attack from the very beginning. I believe this for a few reasons.

1. Neither team will expect it and for the most part we may be able to catch them off gaurd as Greece did to Portugal in the euro openner by opting for a more aggressive approach.

2. Our offense was our only strong suite up until recently and we have always historically played well when taking the offensive. So we will get scored on if we play defensive.

3. Iran has never been able to play a sound defense comes first type game and still play a good offensive game against any good team.

4. If we can unsettle both teams for the first 20 minutes they may get a little desperate (in the case of Portugal very desperate as they historically become nervous if they don't get early goals*.) This may lead to greater chances for us.

5. If we are to play defensive there is a greater risk they will take advantage of Mirzapour on corners.

*Portugese fans have made this apparent to me.

[Mansoor]

Advantages of this group for Iran:

1. No SouthAmerican power house but wanna be south american style

2. Only one European team and again more of a wanna be south american style

3. Avoiding the "Ghoolz" like Physical and Tall England and Argentina. Iran has serious problem against physically strong teams. Perhaps with the exception of Angola, the rest have identical physiques as Iranians do. Don't forget all of the three have the same mix of race in them to make them similar.

4. Matching style of play for Iran among all three teams. All three along with Iran have a tendency to play like South American while focing some European style into their game, the lesser of which is Mexico.

5. Both Mexico and Portugal has a long resume of failure despite their good teams in World Cup. Something that follows them as a known reputation among their fans. If you talk to Mexicans, they all will tell you that. This reputation can hunt their confidence, although can also help them to break through.

6. No "mega name" present to help Iran play it's game rather than camping in her field as they did in first half against Irland 4 years ago. Due to lack of enough friendlies against these "mega names", Iranians have a tendency to give into the game before it starts. Iran should be able rather play her game against these opponents, with "necessary cautious" I may add.

The disadvantages of being in this group:

1. There will be too many equal level teams to compete. Having one Mega team to beat the hell out of others could have made the second place more reachable.

2. Who is waiting outside the door! Iran had more chance defeating Brazil (%0.01) than defeating Argentina and Holland due to their style of play as well as their physiques. I won't watch the match against Argentina! They have the techniques of the Brazilians as well as the physique and speed of Europeans to basically murder our team! I will be on my knees cheering for Serbians and Ivorians (?) to pull a miracle out of that group

[Doctor DOOM]

Agree with all ur points, mansoor jan, except the big names.

portugal does have a couple of biggies, like figo.

but overall, since they tend to capitulate at times, we can keep our fingers crossed that they would do so again.

[Mansoor]

Agree with all ur points, mansoor jan, except the big names.

portugal does have a couple of biggies, like figo.

but overall, since they tend to capitulate at times, we can keep our fingers crossed that they would do so again.

Mokhlesim. No, I meant mega names as in countries like Brazil, Argentina, England, Germany, Italy, Holland, not the players. While both Mexico and Portugal are great in football, they are not "mega names" due to lack of success on achieving anything worthwhile.

[zzgloo]

There is also one big advantage in being in the same group as mexico !!!!
For some of us who live in the western hemispher, we are going to have a blast, as far as TV coverage !! ...., I have 4 latin cable channels, all mexican..tuneing in heavily during the world cup.....they will even have the Iran- angola braodcasted !!

[Doctor DOOM]

oops, sorry mansoor jan.
I stand corrected
I agree.
portugal amd mexico are not top dogs in football.

[Fabulous]

Soheil jan, i dont think its the 'worst' possible scenario for us. In fact, i think from Asia both Iran and Korea have the easiest groups. At least we have a chance here! but well said, our lack of speed will affect us and possibly stop us at the group stage. However, if we bring back the speed and powerful attacks that we had in AC we can do something.

Another major problem is bagging ourselves 3 points from Angola when we arent even 6 months close to playing the match. I think Angola has the same chance as us to make it to the second round, and same goes Mexico and Portugal. After watching WC'02 thats what ive learnt..

and that's what makes football exciting, because anything can happen! but most importantly, we need to support our boys and Branko and lessen the pressure on them or things will get much worse.

PS Soheil jan what happened to pfdc radio?

[Arashi_Washi]

Amazing artticle indeed

[perspolees]

soheiljan baba bikhyal!

I mean can we all for once look at things with a broader vision and in appropriate relativeness?

What draw would have been better?
maybe getting in France's group but this draw is about the top three that we could have gotten given the circumstances...

[smanhoobi]

wow.Looks like I am in deep trouble.

No azizan. Its probably because I look at football and its match-ups with a different view. Lets see if I can elaborate a little on this.

To me, stating that we got the wrost draw possible for us is not an exaggeration.

Again. In such stages, and even beyond that, I do not see teams by their names. I see, what is it that any team can offer, what are the elements towards their success, and how their opponents can contain those elements. Meaning, what is it that they can offer to "Contain" imprtant factors in the opponents style of play.

Lets look at Brasil. Brasil's important feature in football is not their pace. Brasil play a collective football, with a lot of patience in build up and an extremely high individual abilities. Brasil's weakest point is when they play against a team with a higher pace of game than what they posses or can contain. Look at Brail against Argentina for example. Argentina and Brasil are both big names in football. So, based on that alone , you do not expect an unbalance. But there should be a reason why in head to heads, Argentina has always a little edge over Brasil. As Mansoor jaan rightly pointed out, Argentina's pace takes over Brasil containment abilities.

When teams with no matching abilities face Brasil, they have no chance of survival. However, when "No Namers" like S.Korea play against them, they always have a chance. Its considered little, but they do have one(Meaning S.Korea of course). Thats only because of the pace with which S.Korea play their game.

Probably the most difficult task in football is determining the "pace" of the game. This is simply because, you dont need a collective element in your game to block the wings when needed (Traditional English Game) or concentrate in midfield when that is the element of success of the opponent team. However, when one talks about "the pace" of the opponent, overcoming it or rather containing it and forcing your own pace, needs a collective approach. All team members play a major role in doing that, hence a very difficult job for any coach to implement it. Iran , unfortunately, does not have that collective approach to football. Has never been there the way it should be.

When I look at all groups, and again regardless of their names, I do not see 2 teams in one group having a major factor in their success being their pace. Iran's group is the only group with that feature. The only. And when thats the case, and your teams' major struggle is a collective football and containing the pace of the opponent, Iran is in major trouble and , therefore, deep inside has got the worst draw possible. In this regards, I have no idea what Angola is all about, but if their major ability is their pace, then we have a bigger trouble in hand.

So basically, thats the difference between me and you on this issue. I dont look at names, I always look at tactical match-ups and what can be done to "contain" certain superior elements of the opponent for determinig the level of chances a team has against the other one.

If we played England ( their pace is a factor but not their major factor), I would say that Iran could possibly contain them from the wings and yet be able to risk a bit and play our own game too. But this is not true against Portugal and Mexico.

Hope I could explain a bit.

Thanks and looking forward for your inputs
Soheil

[Doctor DOOM]

I understand what soheil jan is saying.

he is doing away with reputation and name of the team, and concentrates on the quality and character of these teams.

very true and apt.


but soheil jan , I dont agree having england would have been good for us.
we saw what their third division midtable club did to our defenders.
the defenders who under branko, WILL be starting the 3 games at WC.

when they couldnt control the wings of QPR, do you think they would fare better against the english nat'l team ?
now, what do u think their national team would do ?

as I said elsewhere, our TM has proven to have many weaknesses ( many of which CAN be corrected, yet go un-attended !! ).
like :

1- lack of physical stamina

2- lack of pace ( and I am not talking about 2-3 players only )

3- they're at total loss to crosses

4- lack of imagination in playmaking

5- lack of decisive strikes by our attacking players

6- weakness of the GK on crosses and balls coming in from the sides

7- ........


based on these, we can say it is good we didnt face teams with :
- pace
- english style with lots of crosses
- capable of varying their tactics
- tall, physical players


so I still must maintain, we were lucky we didnt get into groups B or C.

easiest , for me, is s korea's group.
that would have been extremely encouraging.