Another important point can be seen in the goal celebration. They immediately run to abdi, the bench mobs the goalscorers, etc.
There is a real togetherness in this group. That coupled with talent and strong coaching of the basics can go a long way at this age bracket. They did and will continue to make errors, bad decisions around the box, errant passes, defensive mistakes, etc. It is about not capitulating when a few of those happen and keeping the atmosphere positive. Abdi is managing that perfectly and has clearly instilled that culture in them for a long time.
Also, their second half underlined what is ideal iranian football blueprint in a nutshell. Direct, quick transitions, using high technical and physical capabilities of our players to do damage with smart, fast passing combos. Unfortunately on the other end they were not as solid as this type of game plan requires, clearly there is stuff to work on there (although some of these brazilians are undoubtedly going to be the best in the world 5 years from now), but there is a basic identity and idea there.
There are really explosive offensive weapons at abdi's disposal. Between Gholizadeh, Taheri, Ghandipour (all 3 sepahan academy products) and Mahan Sadeghi (Malavan) he has so much talent to choose from its actually a bit difficult to incorporate them all at once and keep the teams balance.
On tuesday they will play england, another chance to shine in front of the worlds eyes. This time they will have the confidence of a big result to boost them. Keep in mind, unlike Chamanians u17 team who were able to play and defeat france u17 and mexico u17 just a few weeks before the start of the tournament in friendlies, these guys havent had any real friendlies against teams their age, besides a set of 2 matches in saudi vs saudi some months ago. Besides that the korea and japan matches at AC were their biggest tests. Most of their prep in iran has been playing older teams (Perspolis, Nassaji, etc senior sides). Hardly an ideal situation.
There is a real togetherness in this group. That coupled with talent and strong coaching of the basics can go a long way at this age bracket. They did and will continue to make errors, bad decisions around the box, errant passes, defensive mistakes, etc. It is about not capitulating when a few of those happen and keeping the atmosphere positive. Abdi is managing that perfectly and has clearly instilled that culture in them for a long time.
Also, their second half underlined what is ideal iranian football blueprint in a nutshell. Direct, quick transitions, using high technical and physical capabilities of our players to do damage with smart, fast passing combos. Unfortunately on the other end they were not as solid as this type of game plan requires, clearly there is stuff to work on there (although some of these brazilians are undoubtedly going to be the best in the world 5 years from now), but there is a basic identity and idea there.
There are really explosive offensive weapons at abdi's disposal. Between Gholizadeh, Taheri, Ghandipour (all 3 sepahan academy products) and Mahan Sadeghi (Malavan) he has so much talent to choose from its actually a bit difficult to incorporate them all at once and keep the teams balance.
On tuesday they will play england, another chance to shine in front of the worlds eyes. This time they will have the confidence of a big result to boost them. Keep in mind, unlike Chamanians u17 team who were able to play and defeat france u17 and mexico u17 just a few weeks before the start of the tournament in friendlies, these guys havent had any real friendlies against teams their age, besides a set of 2 matches in saudi vs saudi some months ago. Besides that the korea and japan matches at AC were their biggest tests. Most of their prep in iran has been playing older teams (Perspolis, Nassaji, etc senior sides). Hardly an ideal situation.
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