IRAN OFFICIAL WORLD CUP SQUAD

[PSGman#19]

Some of you are clamoring about the exclusion of Zahedi. I have been following him, and while he's a promising talent for the next cycle, I agree with CQs assessment to not include him. Most of you swoon over is height (lol), as if that is a big deal. It's not. This isn't the NBA or American football. And Zahedi is no target-man on the international level. He would be more of a lamp post. Again, he has promise, but for now..

1) Zahedi dribbles with his head down, as if he's still playing at the high school level. Yes, he has some moves for a bigger forward, but he is definitely not a superb athlete who can pull those same moves he uses for Puskas, and used for Olimpik, against international competition on the WC stage. This is a different level, and he would be a non-factor against England, and possibly card-out against Wales and USA for trying to do too much, since he is an aggressive player.

2) His shooting is good with regards to accuracy and power, but my goodness, he takes forever to get it off. His wind-up is too long. It may sound silly, but against WC competition, one has far smaller of a window to actually get a shot off, versus being closed-down and stripped.

3) He doesn't have the experience at the WC level. Even if he had the tools, being able to use them in a faster-pace game full of players at or above your level partially is determined by being calm under that type of pressure. He's never experienced it. And as a sub, he wouldn't have time to become accommodated to it.

4) Going back to his athleticism: How is this kid going to "get in the game", if he can't keep up with it? Who is he going to beat? He does not (from what I have seen) compensate for his lack of pace by timing good runs.

He is surely on the radar for next WC, but is not ready for this one.

Zahedi played and even scored sometimes against the like of dinamo kiev, shakhtar, Leicester, as roma. It is better than the other forward that wasn't included in the list

[Prowess]

We saw in the Uruguay game, how much they attacked us, and honestly should have scored at least 1 goal. One of CQ’s best qualities is being unapologetically reality oriented. Yes, our attack is better than 2018, but we still need to play much more defensive than our opponents in the WC.

I honestly don’t think we don’t need anymore strikers.

[Artaxerxes]

CQ INTERVIEW FINAL INTERVIEW IS OUT.

he said 4 goalies will help them in practice.

he said people saying he is was being forced to cross sardar, WAS A RUMOR AND sardar is already in qatar.

He said he is taking 6 forwards to qatar.

Middle of interview he says mamnoon
And bye .

6?

He only selected 3 and there is only 1 spot left for the 26 man roster

[Kian H]

6?

He only selected 3 and there is only 1 spot left for the 26 man roster

I Think he means JB, Torabi and Gholizadeh as the other 3.

One thing that worried me vs Uruguay and Senegal was our defence. We May only have conceeded an own goal, but that doesnt tell the whole story. There was alot of holes, and they both created alot of chances. We werent compact at all. Lets see if we take a more defensiv approach at the World cup

[Surenas]

On the one hand, we shouldn't talk ourselves down, we have players like Taremi, Ghoddos, JB, Azmoun, Gholi, Karim, who are capable of giving the English defence big problems. All the players mentioned are better and further along than they were four years ago, Taremi in particular has grown into an international class player and for some it is already the third World Cup they are playing. So they will be far more experienced than in past tournaments. Regarding the fear of our opponents, no matter how good our defence is, players like Rahim Sterling, when they start a sprint and try a long-range shot, it's complicated to defend and it's not possible to stop them completely. It can always be that a single action by an outstanding player decides the game (like against Argentina in 2014). But look at it this way, our players can also do that, a Taremi, a JB, Azmoun can also threaten a weak English defence in a counterattack and England will very certainly try to determine the game and play offensively, which if we press as well as we did against Uruguay will give us some chances.

[Roozbeh-G2006]

What is the point of taking 4 goalkeepers since they are the least
at risk of injury players? He should have taken extra midfielder or defender
since some of them have just recovered from injuries and
are at risk of getting injured again.

[koorosh]

Big CQ fan here but it is sheer madness not to take 26 players. The highest risk of injury is when an injured player returns to the lineup...meaning Azmoun (Just like Omid!). And Azmoun has not played a game in months. It would be a huge surprise if Sardar plays any significant role in this WC.

Zahedi is the most reasonable choice and he is being left out either because he must have complained about CQ at some point or there are legit worries about his doping...or punishment for something. But take Mohebi then...anyone who can contribute when the legs are tired in the 3rd game and Sardar needs to be yanked!

Another thought is that CQ wanted someone and IR/IFF disagreed for political reasons...CQ refuses to accept any other choice and here we are...

Utterly baffled here...unless another player is going to be named in the few hours left!!!

[naderb94]

The player selection is solid.. No main exclusions or surprises with the list.
I am still baffled at 4 GKS? What is the point of having 4 of them along with 25 players selected?
I would have called up another CDM (Yasin Salmani) or another CB (Aref Aghasi) or another winger (Mohebi)

All in all, the team selection is what solid.

[Nokhodi]

So based on CQ's brief conference this morning

- they are taking 4 goalies for training purpsoses
- he has 5 forwards, not 3 (he considers Gholi and JB to be forwards?)
- no pressure re: Azmoun

[hassonoo]

My guess of what CQ is thinking is. He realised the team has an issue when they fall behind.
His solution is to start with one forward.
Its no secret that he will be defending will 11 players behind the ball in the world cup.
This way his second striker is not getting tired defending from the start of the match.
If the team falls behind he puts up a second striker full of energry in the last few mins of the match.
Out of the 3 strikers probably only taremi will get full 90 mins every match, amazon/ karim will most likely get few mins.

Secondly the team is probably working on getting goals from set pieces and not direct foodball.
The most likely goal scorers are the defenders

[naderb94]

My guess of what CQ is thinking is. He realised the team has an issue when they fall behind.
His solution is to start with one forward.
Its no secret that he will be defending will 11 players behind the ball in the world cup.
This way his second striker is not getting tired defending from the start of the match.
If the team falls behind he puts up a second striker full of energry in the last few mins of the match.
Out of the 3 strikers probably only taremi will get full 90 mins every match, amazon/ karim will most likely get few mins.

Secondly the team is probably working on getting goals from set pieces and not direct foodball.
The most likely goal scorers are the defenders

Besides the England game, I don't think we'll play with a park the bus style as shown in the Senegal/Uruguay friendlies. Both of those teams are stronger than Wales/USA so I can see us resting Azmoun in the first game and have him go the full 90 in the last two games.

[Farzadfarhangni]

I Think he means JB, Torabi and Gholizadeh as the other 3.

One thing that worried me vs Uruguay and Senegal was our defence. We May only have conceeded an own goal, but that doesnt tell the whole story. There was alot of holes, and they both created alot of chances. We werent compact at all. Lets see if we take a more defensiv approach at the World cup

I was going to mention the same thing after Uruguay and Senegal games but thought I should not disturb the peace here. Honestly, we played Skocic ball and not typical CQ ball.

I miss the Skocic days. I miss the melt down here following Skocic inviting 4 gk and only 25 players!!!!

[DR Strangemoosh]

Least controversial Queiroz squad we have ever seen...

Over 3/4 of people here were screaming at him in 2014 (Khalatbari and Azmoun crossed off and a lot of the players he took, especially Pooladi for some reason) and 2018 (Not taking Seyed Jalal, taking Majid Hosseini, starting Taremi and Amiri over others etc...)

This time there is hardly any controversy - i mean i would have liked to see Zahedi, Mohebbi and Hosseinzadeh but I wouldn't have expected any of them to get much time any way. Taking four keepers and a squad of 25 aren't the biggest issues in the world.

[Nokhodi]

Least controversial Queiroz squad we have ever seen...

Over 3/4 of people here were screaming at him in 2014 (Khalatbari and Azmoun crossed off and a lot of the players he took, especially Pooladi for some reason) and 2018 (Not taking Seyed Jalal, taking Majid Hosseini, starting Taremi and Amiri over others etc...)

This time there is hardly any controversy - i mean i would have liked to see Zahedi, Mohebbi and Hosseinzadeh but I wouldn't have expected any of them to get much time any way. Taking four keepers and a squad of 25 aren't the biggest issues in the world.

I don’t remember Pooladi being a controversial pick. He had solidified himself as TM LB by the time WC 2014 started.

Agree on other notes.

[taremiscores]

I don’t remember Pooladi being a controversial pick. He had solidified himself as TM LB by the time WC 2014 started.

Agree on other notes.

What a great player Pooladi was.

The perfect left back and he was in 2014 World Cup team of the tournament I believe for the first round on how good he was. That sarbazi thing really unnerved him and derailed his career.