2014 World Cup ; IRAN - NIGERIA

[Doctor DOOM]

Well, months and months of preparation for this single game seemed to have paid off.
The team was literally molded and shaped to play an ultra-defensive game against all three opponents. And they didnt surprise in the starting line up and the tactics.

Line up:Standout players:

The entire defense line + Ando were simply marvelous.
But the fact that Pouladi

[Nokhodi]

1 - TM played as planned and really stuck to to it. They didn't change tactics, panic or flounder. They had a clear plan and went with it. For once Iran fans can't say we didn't play with a plan. It was a defensive plan but it worked to an extent.
2 - The defense was flawless. Every single of our defenders could easily play in Europe. I don't say this after just one game. If these guys were Africans some European club would have bought them already, hyped them up and had them starting. Jala Hosseini is the best defender Iran has had since Nader Mohammadkhani!
3 - Midfield was great defensively - horribly offensively. Way too nervous.
4 - Dejagah is playing with injury. I don't know else he could be having fitness problems.
5 - Heydari is way too slow. His positioning is great and saved him, but he can't beat anyone in a run. Put Jahanbakhsh in next game.
6 - Ghoochannejad did beautifully. Did exactly as told and fought with every single one of those Nigerian defenders. Tons of bullshit calls against him from the refs If he had scored that header, what would have happened?
7 - Haghighi was nervous, but I expected that for a first time World Cup game. He will get better as time goes on. Also every woman around watching the game made some sort of comment about how handsome he is!
8 - Team can not play that nervous as they did in the first 20 minutes. That was horrendous.
9 - As defensive as TM was - if Obi Mikel was not in the middle TM would have overrun the middle.
10 - Argentina will be a monster. They know how to penetrate compared to Nigeria.
11 - Team fitness and strength is admirable. Only the wingers couldn't handle the physicality of the Nigerian defenders.
12 - WE HAVE A CHANCE!

[Paradigm]

Alexis Lalas on ESPN said just before the start, that there would be a goal festival... I assume he meant by Nigeria... He was vividly disappointed after the match; I think he might dislike Iran because of France 1998 events. By the way, I would have subbed in Shojaie earlier.

[Hadi]

pasting what i wrote in the VIP thread:

our boys did their absolute best and played the only way they could: defend.
those people who are calling for attacking football or shouting that WHY IRAN DID NOT TAKE THE GAME TO NIGERIA know absolutely nothing about the current state of our team and our abilities.
our team is a level below the rest and the only thing we can do is defend and CQ has turned this strength into a strategy. We will play exactly the same in the next two matches. You cant expect Iran to go out there and pass and create chances and win. we were happier without the ball and we were careful not to give away possession and open our back 6. Anyway all this was expected by any non-delusional Iranian fan. I personally am extremely happy with the result and we owe this 1 point to the tireless training of our boys in the past 1 month and CQ's practical approach.


I think the feeling of disappointment comes from the fact that the whole world watched a bore draw and it was probably the ugliest and least inspiring world cup match to date and Iran is getting tons of shit in cyberspace and from pundits. I opened BBC radio today and heard the reporter repeatedly said it was a bore draw and fans were booing at the end of the match. This is coming from BBC, not from online trolls on reddit etc.

World Cup is a festival of football and every young man and woman is proud of their team representing in the world cup. I watched the Germany Portugal match among hundreds of Germany and Portugal fans and even though Portugal lost, their fans were proud because it was a proper football match with 1st class standards. I know every Iranian fans want to have the same feeling. To wear Iran's jersey and walk proud and shoulder to shoulder with the world's best. But we all know that can never happen this time around with this team that we have. some may say, it would have been more satisfying if we had lost 3-0 but played a better football.

for me, i would take the anti-football performance and a draw over a 3-0 loss and a more open match. I dont give a shit what the world says. All I care is that our team gives it a 100% and achieves what they aim for, even if their aim is to play a bore draw.

[Doctor DOOM]

Now that the gloss of the first point has worn off, I must say I am a bit disappointed ... although not that badly.... that we didn't take a few calculated risks against a very suspect and vulnerable defense, especially on their left, which is traditionally our strength.

This was a game Mourinho would be very proud of! And that's enough for me to be disappointed.

[RaginG Inferno]

I've watched the game again and a few things are more apparent.

Firstly, Dejagah played terribly. He ruined several counterattacks that he would have turned into dangerous chances on any other day. That's unfortunate and Quieroz could not have reasonably predicted that.

With that being said, Ashkan should have been replaced by JB by no later than minute 60. This is not only because he was playing poorly, but because he was fatigued. By minute 60, it was clear he had 'lead feet'.

Nekounam was similarly disappointing. For us, he is very important in controlling the midfield to ensure we have some possession, but on this occasion he did not fulfil this task. Nevertheless, he was defensively solid and his last 20 minutes showed improvement in his ball distribution.

Teymourian is perhaps one of the fittest players I've ever seen. His performance was exceptional.

Gucci also did all that could be expected of him.

Overall, we showed Nigeria a little too much respect. On each occasion that we attacked them with some real intent, they looked vulnerable.

Looking forward to Argentina, our defensive structure is very effective in flustering conventional build-up play. However, Argentina's individual quality will be able to threaten our structure with greater menace. Our defence seems susceptible to players with world-class dribbling ability, like Di Maria and, of course, Messi.

The positive point is that Dzeko et al are not renowned for their dribbling flair.

[Babak agha]

There haven't been a lot of matches where I wanted Shojaei to get in (in this form), but this was definitely one of them. He might cause turnovers all the time, but he at least believes in himself that he can dribble on or two players.
The way we were playing it didn't even matter if he had turnovers or not, we were losing the ball left an right anyways.
I truly hope that all the nerves are gone now, because if our first 15 mins against Argentina would be the same as this match, there's even no need to play defensively. We'd already be behind by at least 2 goals.

[zzgloo]

DD , assesment was right on the money...
.
The game followed to very familiar signature plan of CQ....the games in Uzbakistan, and in south Korea..are what this CQ , TM plan is all about....a team defense, with a glimps of hopes of some counter attacks...how ever, some how, this plan looks a little nicer, than the type North Korea used to play.
Every one was great, and did their job perfectly, and just some small points:
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1- Dejagah, was the point man for the Nigerians to rough up, that was why he was not as good.
2-Haydari, has a very unusual/slow way of running...the next two opponanats will work on that side as TM weakness.
3-The first 30 minutes was very ammaturish, and nervouse..some due to inexperince, some due to Nigeria's suprizing plan of high pressure initialy.( probably same plan will be used by other opponanats, against CQ style defense ).
4-The goal keeping is in Suspect .
.
Good Job ,overall !