Expectations

[Martin-Reza]

Funny to see how differently the performance is judged by us and by European media.

I don't think anyone of us is really happy with the performance of Iran, nor were we too much surprised about the draw.

European media praises Iran for the great play and organization and calls it sensational that we got a draw and almost won in Croatia.

The differene is the expectation of Iran. While we think we are possible WC contenders, they are still surprised Iranians can play football.

Now question is are our expectations too high or are the European journalists underrating Iran?

I guess the truth lies somewhere in between, but who's closer?

[Doctor DOOM]

yes.
we must have the same expectations of pakistan.

only then we would be happy with this shambles we saw on the pitch !!

ANYTHING TO JUSTIFY AND EXCUSE BRANKO'S INCOMPETENCE, EH?

european media?
these are the same ppl who slot us along with togo and angola and ... .
hence seeing the "NUMBERS" on their monitors, they praise the absolute underdogs.
shows they dont know jack about us.


are we that bad that shd be praised for such games?

we know better.

[Martin-Reza]

So there is nothing between expecting to win all matches and the expectations of Pakistan? Yet another proof of your black and white view on things. Much more black than white though...

[yashar_fasihnia]

hehe, interesting observation martin jan.

anywayz, its no mystery that iranians have high expectations, not only in football but in life in general. anywayz, i think wat misleads many fans is the talent that iran has. i think most iranians fail to realize that talents is just one of the many factors for a person to shine, whether it is in sports, in entertainment, in work, watever.

there are many other factors which shouldnt be excluded but do actually get excluded when we try to judge TM. yes, football is our passion, gheyrat is our secret weapon and sportsmanship our motto. But these are neither enough to succeed alone, nor are we the only people on earth who possess all these factors. Unless we work on the other factors of success, we shouldnt expect anymore than wat we are getting now, because right now, i believe this is the maximum we can achieve, maybe a lil more if we had a few more friendlies, but thats it. And this should be enough for us fans, that our representatives on the field and on the bench are working upto their capabilities, if we dont have any better results, its simply because we dont have the means to achieve it, given the current circumstances ofcourse.

on the other side, i think the main reason iran is underated is because iran participated only once in the previous few worldcups while korea and saudi have in all. So they are considered as regular asian super powers to represent asia. This way, teams like saudi and korea are exposed to other parts of the world and people will think that they are asia's best representatives for the worldcup. iran on the other hand hasnt really had as much exposure to the whole world except for 3 games in 98, 2 of which were losses and one, against one of poorest teams of that worldcup. yes, it was an achievement for us iranians because we are following our football for decades now, but for some neutral fan who is watching 31 other teams besides his own home country, he will for sure, remember korea and saudi arabia more than iran because of their repeated participance in the worldcup.

japan, also recently started appearing on the world stage, but their recent brilliant performance both in the previous worldcup, other tourneys like confederations cup, and large number of friendlies with countries from all over the world, and established stars like nakata and nakamura has earned the westerns respect.

unfortunately, iran didnt enjoy any of these benefits, we neither participated in the few recent worldcups, nor performed brilliantly(to the eyes of a neutral foreigner, not us iranians) and hasnt played many friendlies against big nations or tournaments. so, ofcourse, people who have seen more of korea, japan, and saudi than iran, will under rate iran, compared to its 3 other compatriots. (maybe not saudi after their 8-0 disaster though )

yes, we do have established players in europe, but remember, they all play in germany, and are not internationally spread to catch everybody's eyes. probably, the germans and some east european countries who follow the bundesliga more than the other leagues will respect iran more than other parts of the world. on the other hand, japanese and korean players have shined in holland, england, scotland, italy. add to that the semifinals of the champions league! ofcourse, this will affect the mentality of a neutral fan in comparing iran with other asian countries or the world as a whole!

but inshalla, we will be getting there soon, starting with this worldcup