Zob Ahan's ACL final

[Doctor DOOM]

Football ro ma baazi kardim, gol ha ro oonha zadand!!!! ANY team, be it club or national.

[Paradigm]

The fact that Koreans played closer to home and naturally had more fan supporters should have had a big effect on the outcome.

This season of the year might be showing a trend for various Iran teams to finish runners up. Look at the West Asian Games, and now the ACL.

Let's see how the Asian Games turn out. Maybe a similar outcome? In any event, Gordan should now be considered a national caliber GK in Iran.

[Doctor DOOM]

this has more to do with the general state of iranian football than zob ahan per se.

I feel our players and teams in general are not at ease or comfortable with high stress and grand occasions like continental finals, major games, .... and they fall short at the last hurdle.

yes, within iran, we do have high stress games, but becoz it is usually against a side as inexperienced or unfamiliar with grand occasions as them, this goes unnoticed.

but when they step on the int'l stage, iranian football's lack of familiarity with such climactic situations comes to the fore. our football HAS TO get used to winning major games, settling in and performing at such high pressure stages.
koreans, on the other hand, are familiar with winning trophies on this stage and a team that quality-wise was not even on par with Zob, comes and scores 3 goals (granted, with massive dose of luck in 1st and 3rd goals)! their players, even when facing the more technical iranians, hardly looked un-focused or inexperienced or nervous.
the occasion fit them and they fit the occasion ... even if their whole team was nowhere near the strongest team in the tournament.


yes, it's a catch-22 coz unless they lose their stress and nervous energy, they wont win these games. and if they dont win such games, they dont feel at ease with them. a sort of vicious cycle!!!
but the cycle needs to be broken.
we need to win a major trophy by hook or crook to get that self belief and composure that we can take that final step confidently.


now, speaking specifically of zob, I must say zob's defense has been absolutely magnificent throughout the tourney. but come the final hurdle, and they look and behave all stressed out and nervous!
this is not a new matter to them as 2 seasons back, they were well on their way to become the champs and all they needed off their final game vs. foolad was a simple draw.
against the foolad that was near relegation zone and was faltering. but zob lost the game 4-0!!! (and helped foolad remain in top flight)

perhaps if they had won the league once or twice, today, they'd have felt more comfortable with the occasion and stayed focused and did what they had done in 13 other games.


iranian football is in desperate need of overcoming this if it's going to win anything. and they've got to win stuff if they want to get past this mental block.

[Paradigm]

I think Zob also had the big advantage of flying under the radar all the way until the semi-finals as nobody was taking them too seriously. But certainly the winning Korean team's coaches must have studied Zob Ahan heavily and even picked a clue on how Persepolis beat them 2-0 a couple of weeks ago. Even having the knowledge that another team beat Zob recently would give the opponent a certain assuring feeling that the job could be pulled off.

One thing the Iranian top clubs taking part in the ACL need to do, is to have more friendly games with some worthy Asian or European clubs on a regular basis. Just like the Iran's national teams in various age levels that are again recently arranging many friendlies for themselves (South Korea, China, Armenia, Lazio, Brazil, Nigeria, etc.) As far as I can think, IPL top clubs rarely if ever, play friendlies with very good opponents. IFF should realize the importance of this issue.

One other issue, the Koreans were blessed their import player (from Australia?) oppened the scoring in the game. After that they were feeling like they had a psychological upper hand and became a lot more comfortable. Had Zob Ahan scored first, given their defensive abilities they could have played to save the result and focus on the counter attacks. I am certain the Korean coach must have emphasized to their team that they needed to score first. They were also lucky for the rare error in the Zob's defense which allowed that goal to happen. Ebrahimzadeh made a note of the issue in his post-match interview.

And for that game versus Foolad, it was in the Spring of 2009. The end result was 4-1 with Alenemeh playing a big role in it, scoring the crucial advantage goal (highlights below). Esteghlal on the other hand, had a narrow 1-0 win over Payam and became the champs taking over Zob by goal difference! Btw. have you noticed that since Alenemeh left Foolad to Sepahan, and now Shaheen, he has become less and less a distinguished player? He used to be a reliable LB and had such killer shots in Foolad, even got a couple of call ups to the national squad under Daie's helm... (This is a separate issue to the current thread though.)

Actually Foolad finished 7th in the 2008-09 season under Jalali, which was their return from relegation in 2007-08. Look at http://persianleague.com/index.php/h...&native_team=0 -- You are probably thinking of the 2009-2010 IPL after Luka Bonacic messed up the whole half of the season but then Foolad again hired Jalali back, to rescue them from the rock bottom of the table. Even in 2010 they still finished 10th: http://persianleague.com/index.php/h...&native_team=0

By the way doc, this has got to be the quote of the year 2010 here in F+: "Yes, it's a catch-22 coz unless they lose their stress and nervous energy, they won't win these games, and if they don't win such games, they don't feel at ease with them; a sort of vicious cycle!!! But the cycle needs to be broken. We need to win a major trophy by hook or crook to get that self belief and composure, that we can take that final step confidently."

[Martin-Reza]

I am deeply surprised there are no comments about lack of gutsyness. Zob Ahan started extremely passively (apart from one series of corner kicks) and didn't even take more risks after falling behind.

After the 0-2 they realized they needed to do more, but the Koreans countered well and had more chances to score goals than Zob Ahan created.

Zob Ahan had the chances to win this game and conceded extremely stupid goals, but to be honest, the Koreans were the better team and if they had more concentration, they could have scored ten goals.

I have much respect for Zob Ahan's achievements this season, going into the finals as dark horses, but I wouldn't like to see such a passive reactive and defensive minded approach by TM.

[Paradigm]

Martin jaan, Zob has a runners up mentality, a lot like Germany.
They really don't like to win it all, just like to get close every time.

[Kavian]

Folks, the Zob Ahan story is just another testimony that the decease inflicted on our football has deeper roots than just the symptoms we see.

First, is the lack of organization, structure, education, physical and mental training and everything else that is requried to develop professional footballers. The way the game is leared, played, and supported by the current strucutre in Iran is a game of its own and not according to the modern professional football standards.

Second, and equally as important as the first, is the whole culture that is currently imposed on our nation by the regime which has penerated the fabric of our society including our sport. It has created an atmosphere of fear, uncertainty, low confidence, and a mentality that thinks winning needs a hand from the above. There is no belief in self and the power of self.
Zob Ahan was a loser from the moment their paled-face captain (Hadadifar) shook hand with the Korean team's captain or later when the images of nervous players waiting for the second half to start were shown on TV. Those were not the face of a winner.

Until these are remedied, we must NOT expect anything of significance from our football. End of story!

[Paradigm]

Folks, the Zob Ahan story is just another testimony that the decease inflicted on our football has deeper roots than just the symptoms we see.
First, is the lack of organization, structure, education, physical and mental training and everything else that is requried to develop professional footballers. The way the game is leared, played, and supported by the current strucutre in Iran is a game of its own and not according to the modern professional football standards.
Second, and equally as important as the first, is the whole culture that is currently imposed on our nation by the regime which has penerated the fabric of our society including our sport. It has created an atmosphere of fear, uncertainty, low confidence, and a mentality that thinks winning needs a hand from the above. There is no belief in self and the power of self.
Zob Ahan was a loser from the moment their paled-face captain (Hadadifar) shook hand with the Korean team's captain or later when the images of nervous players waiting for the second half to start were shown on TV. Those were not the face of a winner.
Until these are remedied, we must NOT expect anything of significance from our football. End of story!

Your points are well taken mate, but I see the glass as half full, half empty. Certainly Zob Ahan did achieve a significant task and they should be happy and build on it. All negativity takes the fun away from everything. I am sure if Zob had won the tournament some people still would attribute it to luck and figure a way to stop everyone else from feeling a jubilation about the feat!

[Ali Chicago]

Folks;

I didn't get a chance to read all the comments, so can't contribute much, but from what I saw, Zob Ahan played well. Actually, I think Zob Ahan was the better team. From passing, moving, Ariel ability. The Achilles heal for Zob Ahan was their defense, which was supposed to be their strength.

It seems Korean team did study Zob Ahan well, they concentrated on the Hosseini (right back), since they knew he is the one who joins the attack or maybe they thought he is the weakest link. They hurt Zob from that side quite a bit with their foreign player Molina. This game one again proved the importance of good defense and how players need to have emotional strength to show up for the big games. Zob Ahan defense (expect Talebi) the rest were sub par. Two of the goals were just really poor clearance. Couldn't believe at such a high level defenders be so poor (which they aren't I am sure, I guess the game atmosphere had impacted them).

All in all thank you Zob Ahan, thank you Mr. Ebrahimzadeh and Zob Ahan Management from Said Azari and current chairman of the broad and board.

Despite the loss I am very proud of them, since they played football and lost with their head up. I wish I could say the same thing about our national team performance during the WC 2006. To me it isn't about winning or loosing only. If you loose at least show, you showed up to play. Zob Ahan did.

Go Green, Go Zob Ahan. Bacheha Motshakereem. Ebrahimzadeh Merci. Let's dont' forget many of teams in ACL have budgent at least 5 times our IPL teams and much better organizations and facilities.

[Kavian]

Your points are well taken mate, but I see the glass as half full, half empty. Certainly Zob Ahan did achieve a significant task and they should be happy and build on it. All negativity takes the fun away from everything. I am sure if Zob had won the tournament some people still would attribute it to luck and figure a way to stop everyone else from feeling a jubilation about the feat!

Seeing the glass half full is fine and dandy, and I admire your postive attitutde, but let's face it my friend, we haven't won anything for a very long time. I know it is not all about winning, but at the end of the day, it is kinda important.

How much more time do we want to see the glass half full?? We need to raise the bar!

Last time we won Asian Cup was over 30 years ago.
Last time we won Club title in Asia was back in 1994 or something like that.
We have been to world cup only three times in our history. Look at where Japan, Korean and Saudis are.
Korea came fourth in the world. That is an achievement. Remember, these countries were behind us 30 years ago!!

Where is this half full glass, I want to fill it up to the brim!! I am tired of all these heartbreaks, not just for us fans but for our youth and players who put a lot in an environment that is not condusive to winning.

:-)

[dvader6]

^ asian clubs - Paas - 1992
which means even further in the past

[Doctor DOOM]

ابراهیم زاده شانزدهمین مربی سال 2010 جهان شد/ مورینیو اول است
منصور ابراهیم زاده از سوی سایت تاریخ و آمار فدراسیون بین المللی فوتبال - Iffhs - به عنوان شانزدهمین مربی برتر سال 2010 میلادی معرفی شده است.

به گزارش خبرگزاری مهر، نام خوزه مورینیو به دلیل موفقیت با تیم اینتر در رقابت های اروپایی و بین قاره ای، در صدر فهرست 20 نفره برترین مربیان در سال 2010 قرار دارد و پپ گواردیولا، مربی بارسا، و لوییز فن گال در رده های بعدی قرار دارند.

منصور ابراهیم زاده که موفق شد به همراه ذوب آهن به دیدار نهایی رقابت های لیگ قهرمانان آسیا راه پیدا کند، در رده شانزدهم این فهرست است در حالی که هیچ مربی آسیایی بالاتر از مربی ایرانی در این فهرست قرار ندارد.

فهرست 10 نفر نخست این فهرست به شرح زیر است:
1- خوزه مورینیو (مربی اینتر - رئال مادرید) از پرتغال با 294 امتیاز
2- پپ گواردیولا (مربی بارسلونا) از اسپانیا با 188 امتیاز
3- لوییز فن گال (مربی بایرن مونیخ) از هلند با 75 امتیاز
4- کیکه سانچز فلورس (مربی آتلتیکومادرید) از اسپانیا با 46 امتیاز
5- کارلو آنچلوتی (چلسی) از ایتالیا با 41 امتیاز
6- سرآلکس فرگوسن (منچستریونایتد) از اسکاتلند با 38 امتیاز
7- آرسن ونگر (آرسنال) از فرانسه با 33 امتیاز
8- خوارز روث (اینترناسیونال پورتو آلگره) از برزیل با 24 امتیاز
9- روی هاجسون (فولهام - لیورپول) از انگلستان با 20 امتیاز
10- لامین اندیایه (مازمبه) از سنگال با 11 امتیاز
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16- منصور ابراهیم زاده (ذوب آهن اصفهان) از ایران با 5 امتیاز