Our group and Otto Rehagel!

[perspolees]

just think about it.
opener of our group is with Mexico. In their first game they may be coming in overconfident and a draw for us would be great.
This theory completes with Portugals strong starting of beating Angola and facing Iran over confident. another draw from Portugal would set us up against Angola to try and win and go thru.

We need the best closed game that we could bring on against mexico and Portugal and therefor I earge Mr. Branko to look into solid defender and specially repairing our left side.

One wonders that rehagel's football mind for this group could be perfect. Don't get me wrong I do not like what he does as far as beautiful play but he sure could get us thru...

If we play all out and open offensive game with these teams we will lose they have strong fire power and our defense..well.... mediocre at best specially Ronaldo will tear a new ass for us on the left side...

[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.

[teamiran]

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.

Ya thats pretty true. Iran plays horrible when it plays defensively and we all know that. We play horrible when we play defensively against Asian teams so imagine how horrible we would play against mexico or portugal if we played defensively. We really do have to come out and attack. As long as golmohammadi and kaebi don't get caught being too offensive...we can play an attacking game and be successful.

Another key of course will be confidence. Iran has to come out with the mindset that we can beat these teams because if we dont' believe in ourselves then there is no way in hell that we will even snatch a point from mexico and portugal.

[Doctor DOOM]

persi jan, if we had a SOLID defensive system ( comprising of all our players , even the strikers ) with solid defenders as the final blockade, then I would also agree with the closed game.

let them come at us.
we have the right system in place and excellent defenders to do the job for 90 minutes.

BUT DO WE?
plz watch the past year's TM games once more.

do you think this team can withstand 90 minutes of barrage from all sides, all tactics and on air and ground by highly skillful players and NOT concede ?

s korea's B/C team scored 2 ....
macedonia's B team scored 2 .....
japan's B team scored 2 ....
a third rate english club from lower div scored 3 ....
....... on branko's MAIN defense choices ( meaning yahya, kaabi, nosrati, nekounam , .. )

now mexico's A team or portugal's A team will be repelled ?

[186forever]

There is only two advantages in our group.
1- We can score on all 3teams. Those teams are known for their offense not defence.
2- Our game openner, against Mexico, the stadium will be packed with Iranians and they will cheer us 90 mins straight.

2 Disadvantages
1- Having said that we can score on all 3, but also, both Portugal and Mexico are attacking teams and they have loads of offensive power, so we know we can score, but the question is how many will we conced? Let s face it, If Branco insists of using Nosrati on left then it will be Him marking C. Ronaldo and.............(I m not gonna finish this sentence)
and Lets not forget Pauleta, the scoring machine who is similar to Roy Makaay, He finishes.
2- Both mexico and Portugal get to face their favorable teams in their 1st two games, which means that we have to get some result in our 1st two games and if we don't, then we are done. If we had Angole in our 2nd match rather than portugal, we would at least have a better chance of winning and builing some confidence.
We shall wait and see.

[perspolees]

TY all for the comments
for my good friends that talk about offensive game against the likes of portugal and Mexico I thank you for your comments but please consider the following:

1. What have we done as offensive play against good teams in the past 6 months!? who has scored our goals!!?

2. With Daei out there for sure we are down one man anyway..

3. Branko!! need I say more! his capabilities and game plans are certainly not that brave and all out to go on an offense against the likes of mexico, portugal..he is a conservative coach that just feels happy to be there and that's all

4. Last but not least
It is true that our offense is better than our defense no doubt, but do not make that fatal mistake that this translates to our capability on scoring ( more than conceding) against the likes of portugal and Mexico.


DDjan:
Please read the above.
What I am trying to say is that lets see what we have as team Iran. I too agree that our defense has been horrible but with the cards that we have at hand, with our coach and players and the group that we are in if I were to choose a strategy that has the best chance to succeed it would be to go after a close game against portugal and mexico. ( mind you that there is more of a chance that no matter we do we will not go thru)

[186forever]

TY all for the comments
for my good friends that talk about offensive game against the likes of portugal and Mexico I thank you for your comments but please consider the following:
1. What have we done as offensive play against good teams in the past 6 months!? who has scored our goals!!?
2. With Daei out there for sure we are down one man anyway..
3. Branko!! need I say more! his capabilities and game plans are certainly not that brave and all out to go on an offense against the likes of mexico, portugal..he is a conservative coach that just feels happy to be there and that's all
4. Last but not least
It is true that our offense is better than our defense no doubt, but do not make that fatal mistake that this translates to our capability on scoring ( more than conceding) against the likes of portugal and Mexico.
DDjan:
Please read the above.
What I am trying to say is that lets see what we have as team Iran. I too agree that our defense has been horrible but with the cards that we have at hand, with our coach and players and the group that we are in if I were to choose a strategy that has the best chance to succeed it would be to go after a close game against portugal and mexico. ( mind you that there is more of a chance that no matter we do we will not go thru)

Well, If we are going to predict and judge TM and it s outcome by TM's recent performances, then it is obvious that we will walk out of Worldcup with 0 or maybe 1 point. But what Me and even those who are Branco supporters believe is a different performance by TM in worldcup. What I believe is that TM will have a different mindset and play with their usual Gheyrat and give their all in those 3 matches. Ofcourse Gheyrat will not be no tactic or gameplan but what I m saying is we all believe TM will play a lot better than how they have been playing and we still believe in them and I myself am hoping that Branco is really the right man for our TM. But again, if we re going to judge by TM s recent performances, then we are already history.

[perspolees]

foreverjan and thats my point!
What plan and way of game should we consider given our recent performances, our capabilities, etc. etc...

I would seriously go after a closed game against portugal and mexico and I bet u anything that Branko is thinking about it..