Iran - South Korea - October 16, 2012 - WC 2014 Qualification Leg 1 Post Game

[Nokhodi]

First let me say I saw the game until minute 68 or so before my laptop died!
First conclusion - When I don't follow their games TM does better.


1 - Rahmati was on and off. At times brilliant, at other times shaky. He did great in the 2nd half. He was yelling and slowing the game down.
2 - Montazeri is terrible in the air but great on the ground. Hosseini the opposite. I guess they kind of work well together, granted I kept thinking one of the Koreans will pick off Montazeri during his forward runs.
3- I always knock Heidari, but his brain is great. He had very good chemistry with the newer players. He was solid and reliable.
4- Pooladi, defended extremely risky, but he was really in form today. His risky tackles, jumping in, passes all happened at the exact right time.
5- Midfield was really bad offensively, but did a good job defensively. Teymourian and Nekounam meshed well. They tackled, ran, hustled and controlled the ball well. ROBOTS. And thank goodness for them.
6 -Nouri, I'm sorry, but he is too mentally weak to ever become a great or even above average player internationally.
7- Shojaei. He was terrible, but we should not hammer him. The way he burst into tears and the general sluggishness with which he played shows he is in a very delicate position right now mentally He has still not recovered. He has a form of football PTSD.
8 - Dejagah and Ghoochannejad. The amount these players ran, hustled and yelled should be a lesson for everyone in TM. They pressed so much and would cause trouble for the Koreans even though they were not even fed properly or adequately. Stars of the game for me. It is a massive alarm for us when a player from div 2 Belgium does this well on a debut. Ashkan has the drive and determination of Ji Sung Park. I love it.
9 - South Korea played like Iran did during Branco days. Dominate the air, score on set pieces....
10- good subs by CQ, terrible starting line up.
11- Physical approach was absolutely the correct one. Ansarifard, Karimi and Khalatbari are good against slow teams. We need hustlers and tacklers when playing speedy dudes like the Koreans.

Also, it has been more than 7.5 years (March 2005) that Iran has beat a good team in WC qualification. I had forgotten what a win against a good opponent in an important match feels like as a fan. With all due respect to Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan will be very dangerous next game in Tehran. Iran will be overconfident and Uzebkistan will be riding high from their win. We have seen this sort of situation bite TM in the ass many times. Let us hope they're ready mentally.

Finally. ENJOY IT EVERYONE. One of those few days, all Iranians are happy. Still a lot of work left, but a really valuable win. Uzbeks, Qatar and Lebanon all beatable.

[Hadi]

This was a better game by Iran.

However Korea was way superior to us both in passing, fluidity, control and the fact that they stayed cool in that hellish atmosphere and crowd of Azadi.

1-I knew Shojaie would be red carded. He is really a 12 year old child and you could tell he is angry and wants to hurt Korean players.
Who does he think he is? Somebody kick this 12 year old kid out of TM for good.

2-I have to applaud the level of energy and commitment of all our players especially Dejagah and Ghoochaninejad. What we lacked in skills and team work, we made up in workrate.

3-We grassrolled and played UNFAIR for 20 minutes. The red card was fair and justified, so I can never justify the time wasting that Iran did. It was over the top and downright ridiculous. I would rather have lost 2-1 than grassrolled. shame.

[Doctor DOOM]

I totally agree with both nokhodi and hadi's comments. they pretty much cover most of what I had to say. but I'd like to add a few points myself too:


0- I was highly impressed by the work rate of the team after the red card, which actually raised their committment and energy to make up for the fool who even while playing was a big fat ZERO.
maybe the red card was a blessing so the others didnt have to rely on a useless player and compelled them to cover his duties and tasks.


1- defensively we looked less shakey than many other avatars of TM defense in previous gmes. yes, despite the koreans hitting the bar twice. but hey, it is korea. and it is the usual TM defensive woes we see against far weaker and shittier teams like lebanon or qatar or ... etc.
So I'd say montazeri-hosseini duo works quite well. The only thing is I wish our total defense (that means mids and fullbacks included) would perform better on crosses and set pieces. They still look out of sorts and confused and get caught easily by the runners.


2- yes, we won and yes, it felt pretty damn good to beat those buggers. But that shdnt pull the wool over many defects that still remain in the team. especially the NON-EXISTANT tactics and strategy. almost 100% of our moves were either hosseini or montazeri kicking under the ball, sending it up-field ... hoping some mate would connect with the bloody ball!
That's NOT a tactic claiming to be in top 50 of the world. that's called ali-asghari, bezan ziresh raaf-e taklif.
it was pathetic and quite infuriating how after this long we still dont see the "BUILD UP" to any attack through defense giving the ball to midfield who would in turn feed the forwards! this was almost totally missing in the team, but was quite apparent in the korean team.
they BUILT their attacks well and used the flanks perfectly (something that shd have been expected from them)



3- Perhaps it takes a major opponent and big team for our more senior players to raise their game. Rahmati although was at fault on a few occasions for getting rooted to the ground, did come out and did punch or collect a few balls too. and that, for him, is an improvement.
Same thing with Nekounam, who made his presence felt in defense and covered his mark well and had an impact in leading the team's defenses.
and I'm not saying this because of his goal, which was the icing on the cake. His defensive work (that was missing in previous games) WAS the CAKE.

all of which makes me question: if you chaps are capable of this level of performance, why the bloody hell do you perform like that sloppy crap against much weaker teams?



4- I must thank the ref for issuing the red card to the most useless player on the pitch. and I must profusely thank him for denying CQ of making yet another moronic decision of playing shojaei in the next game too. This ref did a HUUGGGEEE favor to all of Iran by red carding shojaei.
what is wrong with CQ? Really. What on earth does he see in shojaei who doesnt even get on the bloody shitty bench of the dead last club in la liga and is spending his days watching games among the fans? What the f**k?
shojaei's entire contribution to the team was two silly, useless and inconsequential dribbles on the midline and his idiotic tackle ... other than a handful of turn-overs and mis-passes.
This guy needs to be dropped till he actually starts playing for his club. It's as simple as this. why does logic evade CQ? even a blind man will agree at this moment shojaei doesnt belong to the 18 man squad ... let alone f**king start bloody games!

.... and to see gems like Rahmani are overlooked only to fit in this lazy, out of form player into the team!!!!!


5- I was impressed by the work-rate of RGN. and although he didnt score, he showed he was a good pick and we shd see more from him.
But he didnt get enough support or feed from his mates.
Poor dejagah was doing the job of two men with shojaei's head far up his dribbling arse. and the two def-mid formation denied the team of any creativity in going forward. hence the useless and wishful LOBS from defense to offense!

exactly when are we allowed to expect CQ's team to show ... not great , but even mediocre tactics?
isnt one and half year enough to expect that?


6- Pouladi and Heidari were simply great. given our traditional weaknesses in these areas, I think these two did wonderfully well.

[St_Mark]

^

5- I was impressed by the work-rate of RGN. and although he didnt score, he showed he was a good pick and we shd see more from him.

i liked his game. He run with & without ball well.He belong
if there was any negative , it was his objection to referee's calls , too many of them.

[Doctor DOOM]

I forgot to add how sorry I felt to see rahmati grassroll & waste time like arabs.
When we make fun of them and call them names (justifiably so too), we shouldnt resort to the same shitty antics ourselves. That was just unacceptable.

[Hadi]

nokhodi jan, this is part and parcel of being an Iranian.

ridiculing and pointing out shortcomings of others when we ourselves are the worst of the worst.