Costa Rica post match ratings and comments

[khabalood]

I was very surprised to see Iran playing with only one forward (Samereh). Playing at home with only one forward against a weaker team?!!! Would be nice if Mr. Ebrahimzadeh talks about the logic of his line up.

I don't know if this was the A, B, C or God only knows what team of Costa Rica, but Costa Rica as a team is not that bad. Remember they were able to score on Germany at the world cup.

[purple_haze]

I was very surprised to see Iran playing with only one forward (Samereh). Playing at home with only one forward against a weaker team?!!! Would be nice if Mr. Ebrahimzadeh talks about the logic of his line up.

I was actually asking myself the very same question. There were just one too many points about his formation, subs and tactics that were a bit questionable.

About the 4-2-3-1, the only answer I can think of would be that he's used to it at club level under Luka.

[Ali Chicago]

I don't know if this was the A, B, C or God only knows what team of Costa Rica, but Costa Rica as a team is not that bad. Remember they were able to score on Germany at the world cup.

They aren't that great to be honest. Their peroformance in the last year Gold up (CONCACAF chamipionship) last year in US was really poor. They get into the WC for the fact that CONCACAF for some reason has 3.5 spots (which I think isn't fair when u compare CONCACAF's football level (except US and Mexico).

In CONCACAF US and Mexico are teh two dominant teams and Costarica with a huge distance is the third team.

[Ali Chicago]

I was actually asking myself the very same question. There were just one too many points about his formation, subs and tactics that were a bit questionable.

.......

Great minds think alike!!! . Ok now I get off my high horse!!!!

[purple_haze]

Great minds think alike!!! . Ok now I get off my high horse!!!!

LOL

[khabalood]

They aren't that great to be honest. Their peroformance in the last year Gold up (CONCACAF chamipionship) last year in US was really poor. They get into the WC for the fact that CONCACAF for some reason has 3.5 spots (which I think isn't fair when u compare CONCACAF's football level (except US and Mexico).
In CONCACAF US and Mexico are teh two dominant teams and Costarica with a huge distance is the third team.

Still, any team that can score on Germany at home in the world cup, cannot be a poor team, and must be considered good opposition for us. Remember, we are yet to score on Germany, after two games, and we even had the benefit of playing them at home.

[yashar_fasihnia]

costa rica was a semi decent team thanx to their attack line and specially their good striker paul wanchope who has now retired. if u guys remember, he scored 2 goals against germany but the team itsef was so weak they conceded 4 from germany.

[Ali Chicago]

Still, any team that can score on Germany at home in the world cup, cannot be a poor team, and must be considered good opposition for us. Remember, we are yet to score on Germany, and we even had the benefit of playing them at home.

Khabalood Jaan, making a judgement on a team based on they score in one game I think isn't very scientifiec and unbiased. But then again, I have been wrong before.

Iran in one game demlished South Korea I think 6-2. so What!!! Our football level didnt' change. Did it?

One game, is just that!!! One game. CostaRica's soccer level IMO should be judged based on their performance in WC and COCACAF across say 10 years. If I am not wrong, Costarica best performance was in WC2002. I think they were in teh same group with Brazil and Turkey and couldn't make it to the secodn round on mere goal difference. I think they were equal point wise with Turkey.

But since then, except they beat US once, Costarica soccer hasn't done anything spectacular. In the last WC, I think they lost all their three games.

[Dubxl152]

rajabzadeh wasnt available for this game. he will be available for the syria game though.
i too agree, looking at the current options, samereh needs a few more games to atleast help our offense line better than the other strikers.
P.S. i still dont know ur name dadash, nor do i know khabalood's

Thanks for the info, for some reason i thought Rajab was available. Was he pulled out last minute or did i just misread the prematch player list.

P.S. No worries buddy my name is Babak

[yashar_fasihnia]

i was gonna make a thread on this but i left it for after the syria game since we didnt seem very dangerous even when we played 4-4-2 in asian cup.

i think 4-2-3-1 is a very theoretical formation which requires extraordinary players in all positions to be able to do well.
u need 2 dynamic defensive midfielders who can also have good attacking qualities and ball distribution and a hell lot of stamina, something like gattusso type.
on top of this, the 3 midfielders infront of them should also be constantly running and dynamic, specially the 2 on the 2 corners cos they are expected to become forwards during offense and midfielders during defense and hence constant quick transition for 90 minutes. in times when this formation fails, we require some shootzan players who can help make a difference which we lack as well!
i think we really lack the players for this formation

even the worlds biggest teams like portugal who play this system have problems. however, portugal has the players to play this system like christiano ronaldo, quaresma and earlier figo cos he is old now. unless u have such players, its very difficult to apply this system in practice. the rest of their midfield is with the likes of tiago, maniche and simao who also have the abilities i mentioned above.
and they even have a very good target man, pedro pauleta upfront who inspite of him and all his team mates being worldclass, still doesnt seem to score that often.

this 4-2-3-1 system relies a lot on playing from the sides. so unless u have a good target man upfront, its really difficult to make use of this system. (incase of portugal, its pauleta and inspite of the portugueese much better crosses and good heading abilities of pauleta, u still dont find pauleta scoring a lot of goals for portugal)
i think in iran, madanchi to an extent can play this left midfield position because of his good speed, acceleration and agility. on the right, we have mahdavikia and kazemian. but none of these 3 players are that potent in finishing. remember this left and right midfielders are supposed to add to the main striker upfront as second strikers but none of our players unlike portugals ronaldo, figo and quaresma who are all good finishers, none of our 3 players here are good finishers. so its not really helping us with the scoreline which is wat we really need.

i think a classical 4-4-2 diamond is good for a team like iran. our players arent very fast and arent very fit, so we give them duties which doesnt require a lot of pace or a lot of dynamicity. but one problem here would be the benching of either nekounam or teymourian (i would prefer benching teymourian) which is quite hard for us to accept. and after we saw how impotent our 4-4-2 in asian cup was, i really dunno if it makes a difference if we play 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2.

i wouldnt mind 3-5-2 actually, since our players on general dont run a lot, so we can try to control the game by fielding 5 midfielders but then, considering the lack of pace and stamina of our players who will play on wings, the poor exiting abilites of our GKs on crosses and our slow defenders who can be dribbled around easily by just giving the game some width and sending a through pass or a simple 1-2, i dont think this is a valid suggestion either

the only thing i can say is that fitness of players is really important for us, a lot of our problems seem to be because of lack of fitness of our players

[yashar_fasihnia]

Thanks for the info, for some reason i thought Rajab was available. Was he pulled out last minute or did i just misread the prematch player list.
P.S. No worries buddy my name is Babak

i think al emarat didnt release rajabzadeh for this game cos today wasnt an official FIFA date.

nice to meet u babak jan

[khabalood]

Khabalood Jaan, making a judgement on a team based on they score in one game I think isn't very scientifiec and unbiased. But then again, I have been wrong before.
Iran in one game demlished South Korea I think 6-2. so What!!! Our football level didnt' change. Did it?
One game, is just that!!! One game. CostaRica's soccer level IMO should be judged based on their performance in WC and COCACAF across say 10 years. If I am not wrong, Costarica best performance was in WC2002. I think they were in teh same group with Brazil and Turkey and couldn't make it to the secodn round on mere goal difference. I think they were equal point wise with Turkey.
But since then, except they beat US once, Costarica soccer hasn't done anything spectacular. In the last WC, I think they lost all their three games.

Ali jaan, I do not see any great difference between us even if we are the better team, considering our international results. On any given day we could lose to a Costa Rica, so they are good opposition.

[khabalood]

i was gonna make a thread on this but i left it for after the syria game since we didnt seem very dangerous even when we played 4-4-2 in asian cup.
i think 4-2-3-1 is a very theoretical formation which requires extraordinary players in all positions to be able to do well.
u need 2 dynamic defensive midfielders who can also have good attacking qualities and ball distribution and a hell lot of stamina, something like gattusso type.
on top of this, the 3 midfielders infront of them should also be constantly running and dynamic, specially the 2 on the 2 corners cos they are expected to become forwards during offense and midfielders during defense and hence constant quick transition for 90 minutes. in times when this formation fails, we require some shootzan players who can help make a difference which we lack as well!
i think we really lack the players for this formation
even the worlds biggest teams like portugal who play this system have problems. however, portugal has the players to play this system like christiano ronaldo, quaresma and earlier figo cos he is old now. unless u have such players, its very difficult to apply this system in practice. the rest of their midfield is with the likes of tiago, maniche and simao who also have the abilities i mentioned above.
and they even have a very good target man, pedro pauleta upfront who inspite of him and all his team mates being worldclass, still doesnt seem to score that often.
this 4-2-3-1 system relies a lot on playing from the sides. so unless u have a good target man upfront, its really difficult to make use of this system. (incase of portugal, its pauleta and inspite of the portugueese much better crosses and good heading abilities of pauleta, u still dont find pauleta scoring a lot of goals for portugal)
i think in iran, madanchi to an extent can play this left midfield position because of his good speed, acceleration and agility. on the right, we have mahdavikia and kazemian. but none of these 3 players are that potent in finishing. remember this left and right midfielders are supposed to add to the main striker upfront as second strikers but none of our players unlike portugals ronaldo, figo and quaresma who are all good finishers, none of our 3 players here are good finishers. so its not really helping us with the scoreline which is wat we really need.
i think a classical 4-4-2 diamond is good for a team like iran. our players arent very fast and arent very fit, so we give them duties which doesnt require a lot of pace or a lot of dynamicity. but one problem here would be the benching of either nekounam or teymourian (i would prefer benching teymourian) which is quite hard for us to accept. and after we saw how impotent our 4-4-2 in asian cup was, i really dunno if it makes a difference if we play 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2.
i wouldnt mind 3-5-2 actually, since our players on general dont run a lot, so we can try to control the game by fielding 5 midfielders but then, considering the lack of pace and stamina of our players who will play on wings, the poor exiting abilites of our GKs on crosses and our slow defenders who can be dribbled around easily by just giving the game some width and sending a through pass or a simple 1-2, i dont think this is a valid suggestion either
the only thing i can say is that fitness of players is really important for us, a lot of our problems seem to be because of lack of fitness of our players

I agree, I think now that we have two solid cb, we should try the 3-5-2. We may be better suited to this formation than we have been in a decade, and if need be it is an easy transformation into a 4-4-2.

[Ali Chicago]

Ali jaan, I do not see any great difference between us even if we are the better team, considering our international results. On any given day we could lose to a Costa Rica, so they are good opposition.

I agree with you on that. My comments about Costarica was, we were playing at home, so it was expected Costarica to sit back and be more defensiev minded. So, I questioned your generous marks to our players specially in defense. So giving ten to defenders or 9 I think isn't justified. But I think both of us beat this thing to death by now. We just agree to disagree on this I guess.

[Ali Chicago]

I agree, I think now that we have two solid cb, we should try the 3-5-2. We may be better suited to this formation than we have been in a decade, and if need be it is an easy transformation into a 4-4-2.

I think playing 3-5-2 right now, will be not good for us. Two key players in 3-5-2 are the two wing players (as they call it Ball in Iran) in the midfield. These two players have to cover the whole length of the field.

Iran in WC 98 had young Kia in his top form to play right wing and Minavand as left wing. Nikbakht for a short period of time, played Minavand's shoes for a while but after Nikbakht demise we never had a good left wing in a 3-5-2. Kia's hay days are over too and he won't be able to be the Kia in WC98. Add to this the slow pace of both Aghili, Hosseini and Bengar (remember what that Brazilian guy Urawa CF did to both of them in AFC championship). Even further our poor goal keeping quality at present (specially in coming out of the goal for free and corner kicks), a 3-5-2 will be very risky if not totally disasterous for Iran.