Iran vs. North Korea [Post Match Discussion]

[zzgloo]

I watched the game on the internet....
Just at the moment of North Korean Goal against us...the picture ,and the screen stoped, and there was just a photo...and the photo was the North Korean Cross toward our 16 & hallf box...and it was clear, and stoped motion, where the North Korean player was in the Air but Aghili and whole of our defense had not just jumped for the ball ~!!
If our defense loses the air in our own box to small, inexperinced North Koreans, how are we going to defend against better teams ?

[The-Red]

,,,,,, ALL IN FAVOR OF HAVING QUALITY FRIENDLY GAME AGAINST REAL
OPPONENT raise your hand.

AMEN

[RaginG Inferno]

Just some quick notes before I go to uni:

It was an interesting game. Iran started both halves with good control of the game, but allowed NK to get into the game unnecessarily. The defence had some shaky moments, but Rahmati was clearly superb and made up for their mistakes.

The first thing I would like to comment on is Mehdi's performance. This is a good example of what to do when recalled to the national team; show exactly why you deserved the call up. Great performance, excellent ball retention, good ball distribution, decisive crosses and set pieces.

Sattar Zareh's performance definitely surprised me, but I've heard that he's been in great form for Bargh. He deserved his spot in the team today.

Nekounam started the game well, but faded, making many mistakes. I think after two bad games at Osasuna, he may be lacking a little confidence in his ball distribution. Still, this is hardly a crisis; Daei needs to consider how to effectively utilize agha Javad.

Khatibi has repeatedly demonstrated that he is no longer a viable option up front. I think we all agree on that. He cost us a few goals today.

Shojaei had a few good moments, but overall his demeanour was too casual. We need a better performance from him against the UAE.

[Doctor DOOM]

just a point here:
you all remember what we used to call rahmati a year and half or so back ?
you all remember how we berated him and many said he shdnt even come close to TM camp?
the same ppl are doing bah-bah and chah-chah now, me included.

what we shd learn is "players can have ups and downs. just becoz a player wasnt good 2 years back does not mean he's stayed the same today. and vice versa. just becoz a player was wonderful 2 years back, doesnt mean he is the sh*t today"

good thing to remember when we put somebody down or lift somebody up based on what we saw many months or years ago.

right now, it doesnt matter if karimi single handedly demolished korea in 04, or if kameli was the sole reason for a failure in 05 or mirza was the man in 06 or .... .
what matters right now is how they are RIGHT NOW.
not 5 months ago.
not 1 year ago.
right NOW.

==================

oh, btw, I'd love to see MR describe how was shojaei's "speed in decision making" in this game


=======================

and by god, hamid is right.
we DESPERATELY NEED good, tough tests to pressurize our players , if we want to become somthing.
following some wimp's pathetic philosophy of picking only piss-poor opponents gets us nowhere.

[yashar_fasihnia]

i think playing 1 or 2 good friendlies can really help us.

one more thing i think we should address is counter attacks. i think we are not making use of this opportunity which we get and will continue to get against stronger teams. the few counter attacks today that we had, either the passes were not perfect, or the players positioning were not very good to finish it off.
we need to put more time into practicing counter attacks.

[BehzadB]

We got the 3 points. and that's the most important thing.

I know we have never lost to NK, but I hope we play better at NK because I think this NK team can be the team that stops that streak.

that goal that Kia scored, that was all experience. Awesome spotting by Kia.

What a header by the Korean dude, (# 12)

[Hadi]

Until when do we want to lie to ourselves? When are we going to acknowledge that this Team Melli, is in serious trouble and it just a matter of time that the whole things crashes down in tough future matches.


But a 1-1 result in Saudi, which is a good one by anyone's standards, made us forget the root problems of our team. And we walked into this with even more problems than a month ago!

every hour of my life was a countdown to last night's match. Many aspects of my personal life was affected by this match and I had a tickle feeling in my stomach. But after just 25 minutes of the match, I dozed off in front of my TV! I found North Korea to be weaker than even an IPL team and our team melli was playing YEGHOL DOGHOL for 45 minutes.

Things changed in the second half. I wasn't sleeping anymore, but thanks to the tactical instability of team melli, Korea scored and in the final 20 minutes, THEY PUT PRESSURE ON US FOR THE EQUALIZER!!! At this point I was shaking my head instead of sleeping. How can we turn THIS match into a nail biter??? I tell you what, if it was any other team, they would have bombarded the Korean team in the first half and again BOMBARDED Korea some more in the second!

yeah I know what you are going to say: "well....uhm...Daie was so smart...he created width...he kept ball possession...he slowed the match down...and he was missing many players....blah blah blah".
Missing Teymorian who by the looks of his recent performances would have made the Azadi crowd swear at him after a few minutes???
Missing Hashemian who last time he scored for Iran or his club, was when Japanese planes were attacking pearl harbor???
Or Missing Karimi....oh wait....he sucks and is a traitor....forget I mentioned him!!!
Thank god we at least had Mahdavikia, who even though was lost in this mess of a team, was at least playing with GHEYRAT and purpose!!!

Our team created width and held possession...ok good to see that. But what then???? Sit back and enjoy the sun?? Pointlessly dribble the ball???
Are our player even capable of passing the ball? Majority of our passes where either too slow, a few meters short (wtf guys??? cant you kick the freaking ball a bit harder?), or not reaching its target.
Do we even have strikers in our national team? How in the world can players like SeyedSalehi and Khatibi get playing time?
What in the world is our goalscoring tactic? Is it just to pass the ball around aimlessly in defense and hope for a mistake or a moment of brilliance from player x????
Why Nekonam and Shojaie sucked so much in Team Melli??? Were we not using them well?
Are our players even running off the ball? Or is everyone standing/walking like a paralympic football team?
Do our players even care they are playing for 70 million people? Where is the hunger and emotion?

Bottom line is, I dont believe this team, with these players and this coaching staff is capable of qualifying to the World Cup.

Maybe this is the maximum potential of our football and I am simply asking too much.

Maybe I should shut up because I am just a 'fan' sitting in my home and there are 'experts' in TM who know better.
So while I keep my mouth shut, I tune into European qualification matches or even watch Australia play because thats how football is meant to be played.

footnote: I don't recall, EVER, that a second round world cup qualification match only attract half-crowd in Azadi...
stupid Iranian fans....they should know that they are not experts and they are just fans so they should shut up and just come to the stadium and scream their faces blue.

[Doctor DOOM]

one more thing i think we should address is counter attacks. i think we are not making use of this opportunity which we get and will continue to get against stronger teams. the few counter attacks today that we had, either the passes were not perfect, or the players positioning were not very good to finish it off.
we need to put more time into practicing counter attacks.

absolutely spot on.
in fact I asked a question a few months back on the same issue.
I cant remember very many EFFECTIVE quick counterattacks at TM.

a lot of players just killed the pace of the move, with unnecessary dilly-dallying, unnecessary holding onto the ball, useless lateral pass or worse, back passes !!!

we ought to do something about this.
especially since we DO have quick footed players who could be used in quick counters. like rezaei, hajsafi, kaabi, ....

[Nokhodi]

I will buy you all anti-depressants.

Go back and look at the Iran - North Korea match from 2005 and tell me if we honestly played better in that game or this one.

Also this North Korea team is not a bad one. Go look at their match versus South Korea, and see how well they played against the same team that just crushed UAE today. The team has been training for many many months now and they are one of the top teams in terms of fitness and pressuring. TM has always been bad against speedy teams with tactics that close down space. Its the type of plan which makes technically gifted teams rush themselves and make bad decisions.

Basically through the past 5 or 6 years I have noticed TM generally plays at the level of its opponent. We rarely get standout performances unless 2 or 3 players are in extremely good shape or many games are played one after the other in a short period of time.

Also lets not forget up until the last 20 minutes or so, Korea was not putting Iran in danger. The players got complacent and imagine if Khatibi had put away at least one of the chances he had. The game would have been over much earlier and half of you would have been saying what a great and easy game for TM.

Football has a lot of ifs, but ifs mean nothing. Even luck is something that a team with momentum and some skill have more often than other teams.

[gol_kuchik]

Until when do we want to lie to ourselves? When are we going to acknowledge that this Team Melli, is in serious trouble and it just a matter of time that the whole things comes down in tough future matches.


But a 1-1 result in Saudi, which is a good one by anyone's standards, made us forget the root problems of our team. And we walked into this with even more problems than a month ago!

every hour of my life was a countdown to last night's match. Many aspects of my personal life was affected by this match and I had a tickle feeling in my stomach. But after just 25 minutes of the match, I dozed off in front of my TV! I found North Korea to be weaker than even an IPL team and our team melli was playing YEGHOL DOGHOL for 45 minutes.

Things changed in the second half. I wasn't sleeping anymore, but thanks to the tactical instability of team melli, Korea scored and in the final 20 minutes, THEY PUT PRESSURE ON US FOR THE EQUALIZER!!! At this point I was shaking my head instead of sleeping. How can we turn THIS match into a nail biter??? I tell you what, if it was any other team, they would have bombarded the Korean team in the first half and again BOMBARDED Korea some more in the second!

yeah I know what you are going to say: "well....uhm...Daie was so smart...he created width...he kept ball possession...he slowed the match down...and he was missing many players....blah blah blah".
Missing Teymorian who by the looks of his recent performances would have made the Azadi crowd swear at him after a few minutes?
Missing Hashemian who last time he scored for Iran or his club, was when Japanese planes were attacking pearl harbor.
Or Missing Karimi....oh wait....he sucks and is a traitor....forget I mentioned him.
Thank god we at least had Mahdavikia, who even though was lost in this mess of a team, was at least playing with GHEYRAT and purpose.

Our team created width and held possession...ok good to see that. But what then???? Sit back and enjoy the sun?? Pointlessly dribble the ball???
Are our player even capable of passing the ball? Majority of our passes where either too slow, a few meters short (wtf guys??? cant you kick the freaking ball a bit harder?), or not reaching its target.
Do we even have strikers in our national team? How in the world can players like SeyedSalehi and Khatibi get playing time?
What in the world is our goalscoring tactic? Is it just to pass the ball around aimlessly in defense and hope for a mistake or a moment of brilliance from . Or just defend with
Why Nekonam and Shojaie sucked so much in Team Melli? Were we not using them well?
Are our players even running off the ball? Or is everyone standing/walking like a paralympic football team?
Do our players even care they are playing for 70 million people? Where is the hunger and emotion?

Bottom line is, I dont believe this team, with these players and this coaching staff is capable of qualifying to the World Cup.

Maybe this is the maximum potential of our football and I am simply asking too much.

Maybe I should shut up because I am just a 'fan' sitting in my home and there are 'experts' in TM who know better.
So while I keep my mouth shut, I tune into European qualification matches or even watch Australia play because thats how football is meant to be played.

footnote: I don't recall, EVER, that a second round world cup qualification match only attract half-crowd in Azadi...
stupid Iranian fans....they should know that they are not experts and they are just fans so they should shut up and just come to the stadium and scream their faces blue.

To be fair, the first 30 minutes, TM really put a lot of pressure on N.K.
There was a huge shock factor. They (NK) just did not lose the game or
played horribly in thin air. Remember, thi team has not lost a game in
some 8 or 9 matches.

But how to maintain that type of pressure for 90 minutes? After 2nd
goal, Korea came to life, because our pressure eased. And I think we
were late with our subs. We reacted to a goal they scored instead of
being proactive.

This is why Kaabi is possibly our MVP. He just runs 90 minutes even
after he took that shot in the head.

BTW did anyone notice Aghili docked couple of shots?

[Hadi]

I will buy you all anti-depressants.

Go back and look at the Iran - North Korea match from 2005 and tell me if we honestly played better in that game or this one.

Also this North Korea team is not a bad one. Go look at their match versus South Korea, and see how well they played against the same team that just crushed UAE today. The team has been training for many many months now and they are one of the top teams in terms of fitness and pressuring. TM has always been bad against speedy teams with tactics that close down space. Its the type of plan which makes technically gifted teams rush themselves and make bad decisions.

Basically through the past 5 or 6 years I have noticed TM generally plays at the level of its opponent. We rarely get standout performances unless 2 or 3 players are in extremely good shape or many games are played one after the other in a short period of time.

Also lets not forget up until the last 20 minutes or so, Korea was not putting Iran in danger. The players got complacent and imagine if Khatibi had put away at least one of the chances he had. The game would have been over much earlier and half of you would have been saying what a great and easy game for TM.

Football has a lot of ifs, but ifs mean nothing. Even luck is something that a team with momentum and some skill have more often than other teams.

We didnt play like Brazil in the 2005 N.Korea match, but at leat we were faster, more goal hungry and had much more control over the game compared to our second half yesterday. N.Korea in that match also defended much better. They defended like Maldives in the first half yesterday and any good attacking side should have punished them for that kind of defending in the first 45 minutes.

[Nokhodi]

We didnt play like Brazil in the 2005 N.Korea match, but at leat we were faster, more goal hungry and had much more control over the game compared to our second half yesterday. N.Korea in that match also defended much better. They defended like Maldives in the first half yesterday and any good attacking side should have punished them for that kind of defending in the first 45 minutes.

OK, yes if we are talking top class world standards, then yes North Korea should have been destroyed on the field, but remember:
1) North Korea had the best defense through qualification (least number of goals allowed
2) They always sit back so the opposing team always dominates possession and control. They wait for counter-attacks
3) This is Iranian football, playing on the Asian continent with a forward like Khatibi. As I said if we had one decent forward this game would have been over much earlier and the Koreans would have been too demoralized to stage a comeback.

[Ali Chicago]

Ali jan,
In short, lack of good sub's.
Daei tried to keep the Korean in their half by introducing two offensive players. Well, it didn't work as none of the players didn't have any impact. Asking me if we had better sub's on the bench for such a strategy, I don't think so. We could have had Karimi and Let's say Borhani or Ba'oo if they were on the squad. I could have brought them earlier if I trusted them, but I (and Daei) didn't.
Maziar Zare change was pure waste-time and keep the last drop of balls in dieing minutes.

Haji Jan;

If things are so bad as you suggest, what had Mr. Daie to loose to invite Farid Abedi or another tall target forward like Tahmasebi

Another approach if there are no prospect, (which I really doubt, we as fans only see SS and PP games) at least invite a young lad like Mosalman or something, so at least we say, well he is being developing future talent.

You yourself coach and you know one of the key characteristics of a good coach is his player selection. If you say we didn't have a good bench to go to, then I would say, player selection of Daie in the first place has been poor.

I am a Daie critic for most part but one thing I agree with him was him inviting new players (like Khalatbari, Gholam Nezahd, Hajsafi,...)in short he has the balls to invite some lesser known players. It seems he is fading in that department.

Maybe it is my nationalism, but I beleeive there are plenty and I really mean 3-4 top players in each post currently available to play in each post at the TM, if anyone doesn't deliver, coaching staff has the options, if they aren't using it that is a different story.

[Ali Chicago]

...

Also this North Korea team is not a bad one. Go look at their match versus South Korea, and see how well they played against the same team that just crushed UAE today. s.

I have that game recorded on my DVR since Fox Sport Broadcaseted it. That game South Korea was really off. N. Korean goals was a lucky one. North Korea-South Korea game was a dull game and based on the 4-1 drubbing of UAE by South Korea, I tend to think South Korea had an off day. Even North Korea win against UAE wasn't a superb display of football. One of their goals against UAE was just pure luck. Rest of the games will show North Korea (Chand mardeh hallajeh). I say let's hope!!! our team had an off day period, otherwise this North Korean team ain't a good one. Do u remember their number 5 trying to trap the ball with no Iranian player within next 10 meter radius and he messed up so much until Khatibi almost got a break away. Look at the first goal of Iran, Kia was totally unmarked. Second goal was even worst by their defense. It was us who decided to back off and them come at us so hard.

[zzgloo]

If we want to know :
Why A "short" North Koreans,whom have never been known to head the ball can score against us by head ? in Azadi !, from a long distance !?
If we want to know why Nekunam appeared kind of Lost ?
If we want to know why the whole team was out of sink,and transitions were very bad, and TM appeared to have no plans ?
...............Ali Daei did say the reasons after the game.....
He said: " This was the hardest coaching job of his life !! "
Translation !??= " I did not know what the hell to do !! ,& I do not know how we won ""