Iran vs. Uzbekistan - [Match Thread] | World Cup 2026 Qualifier | November 21st |

[perspolis#1]

Ghalenoei is the best iranian coach and the only real option - he is the only guy who i think can get us quarter final in Asian Cup with the current situation

Our core is the weakest it has been and apart from Taremi we have no 90-minute fit (at competitive level) players - i think we are going to be surprised with the physical and psychological strength of other nations compared to what we have been used to in previous tournaments when we get to the tournament itself (not qualifiers or friendlies)

This tournament is going to be the penny dropping tournament for some hardcore fans, I hope we don't lose Mashsaeed

Who is Ghaeinho by the way (please please don't say Ghaedi..)

Getting to Quarterfinal in Asian cup? Agha jan, I'm off for two weeks in January I'll fly there and get that result myself free of charge to IFF. Beating Hong Kong and Palestine no problem. Syria in R16? No problem. Piece. Of. Cake.(dont tell GN).

Quarterfinal should be a disappointment

Semifinal the minimum expectation.

Part of being a good coach is rotation. I'd absolutely trust my Persepolis/Esteghlal/Sepahan etc players to rotate in against teams like Hong Kong/Palestine/Syria. Their squads are all domestic based almost. Is PGL weaker than them?

Our core could be rested and rotated for the big games.

[Karimi 8]

Whoever scored against Uzbekistan in Uzbekistan would get cut.

Khalatbari for 2014.
Seyed Jalal for 2018.

Man I remember those 2 goals so well, the Khalatbari one I ran around screaming in my grandma's house. Poor lady I scared her . Those 2 qualifying campaigns were so exciting to watch, I think this is the WC that Uzbekistan may slip through the cracks and qualify

[Karimi 8]

Terrible reply. As the coach, the buck stops with him. If the players didnt put forth a good effort, its ultimately his fault. Don't like that he's blaming the players effort at all. Zero accountability. And not to mention his terrible game plan and subs that contributed to the "lack of effort".

The team literally fell apart with his horrible subs, don't blame the players for not being able to score when you bring on Cheshmi for Azmoun & Karimi for Ghoddos... while you leave Torabi (who didn't have ONE single effective dibble) & Mohebi (who was useless in 95% of plays)

[Karimi 8]

Ghoddos is so valuable to this team it's unbelievable. We have no dynamic creativity in the midfield without him. This team relies on him Azmoun and Mehdi to be in good form to get anywhere in the AC.

What's terrifying is the last goal we conceded. The marking was so poor it reminded me of the goal we conceded to the US.

Cheshmi is just too slow against the likes of a Korea or Japan. And Kanaani and Shoja were very underwhelming today. PAG-Hosseini duo was optimal but now we seriously have a CB problem with someone like Kanaani who has a mental breakdown after the slightest inconvenience

The crazy thing about Ghoddos is, CM isn't even his strongest position. He has adapted very well, his best qualities were his dribbles down the wing and long range shots, he is now defending and controlling the midfield well, despite his smaller size. Without him Ezatolahi also falls apart since he can't cover the space well, and it is clear Karimi cannot either.

We need an energy balance like Ando / Nekounam (Ando covered space, put pressure on, and tackled / Nekounam made long rang passes + shots). CDM's need to compliment each other, if one is slow, like Ezatolahi, he needs someone to compliment him. While our "coach" brought on the slowest player in the team in Cheshmi, and Karimi who is also not too far off. The midfield completely collapsed because this dynamic was ruined with Ghoddos injury, and the sub we brought on. And this played right into Uzbekistan's second half plan of high press and flooding the midfield.

Our useless coach literally handed them the game with the subs he made

[Iranianarsenal11]

The crazy thing about Ghoddos is, CM isn't even his strongest position. He has adapted very well, his best qualities were his dribbles down the wing and long range shots, he is now defending and controlling the midfield well, despite his smaller size. Without him Ezatolahi also falls apart since he can't cover the space well, and it is clear Karimi cannot either.

We need an energy balance like Ando / Nekounam (Ando covered space, put pressure on, and tackled / Nekounam made long rang passes + shots). CDM's need to compliment each other, if one is slow, like Ezatolahi, he needs someone to compliment him. While our "coach" brought on the slowest player in the team in Cheshmi, and Karimi who is also not too far off. The midfield completely collapsed because this dynamic was ruined with Ghoddos injury, and the sub we brought on. And this played right into Uzbekistan's second half plan of high press and flooding the midfield.

Our useless coach literally handed them the game with the subs he made

I can't believe I'm saying this.... but I miss Nourollahi?

He may be a bone head and have the technique of a Mumbai city player but his pace and physique is head and shoulders over Ali Karimi, and not to mention his engine and constant running is sorely missed.

We missed a prime Vahid Amiri or Ahmad Nourollahi type of player in the midfield that plays alongside Ezatolahi.

Playing a slow Ezatolahi next to an even slower Ali Karimi should get you arrested. Playing Cheshmi alongside those three should get you life behind bars, and subbing in an extremely slow Reza Asadi at LW along with those three turtles should get you tried at the hague for war crimes.

[inarsenewetrust]

Ramin has scored more goals since 2022-now (4) than the rest of his international career 2015-2021 (2).

To look at it differently, Ramin has scored the same amount of goals in 2023 (3) than the entire rest of his career between 2015-2022 (3)

thats great...go look at second goal and ramins positioning and subsequent "recovery" run. WTF the guy is doing so high up the field with a scoreline and game situation like that leaving our defense 2v2 at the back is highly questionable, then his inability to recognize the danger of the guy in his RB zone at the far post (he clearly sees him) is again concerning.

The usual shit with ramin

[Karimi 8]

I can't believe I'm saying this.... but I miss Nourollahi?

He may be a bone head and have the technique of a Mumbai city player but his pace and physique is head and shoulders over Ali Karimi, and not to mention his engine and constant running is sorely missed.

We missed a prime Vahid Amiri or Ahmad Nourollahi type of player in the midfield that plays alongside Ezatolahi.

Playing a slow Ezatolahi next to an even slower Ali Karimi should get you arrested. Playing Cheshmi alongside those three should get you life behind bars, and subbing in an extremely slow Reza Asadi at LW along with those three turtles should get you tried at the hague for war crimes.

I know, Cheshmi & Karimi honestly make me miss Nourollahi. I think I remember Nourollahi's match metrics were actually very good (would cover the most space than other TM players under Skocic), and had a good shot. His decision making is awful at times though, but Karimi has zero attributes (no pace, shooting, dribbles, or tackles), he has no purpose being a professional footballer. Other than him playing in Europe, what has he done?

We have a league, full of midfielders, surely there has to be ONE person that is better than these snails lol I don't understand. If there's nobody, just play Hajsafi there, he showed under Carlos it was actually his strongest position

[Karimi 8]

thats great...go look at second goal and ramins positioning and subsequent "recovery" run. WTF the guy is doing so high up the field with a scoreline and game situation like that leaving our defense 2v2 at the back is highly questionable, then his inability to recognize the danger of the guy in his RB zone at the far post (he clearly sees him) is again concerning.

The usual shit with ramin

He should just play RW lol, I don't know why we pretend he is even a RWB. Just play him RW, and have Moharammi cover his space behind him. With Gholizadeh & Jahanbaksh out, and Mohebi rarely being effective, and Torabi (the guy is meant to be an impact sub), Ramin is better than everyone at RW. He can use what little defensive talent he has to win balls in the opponent half, and can have more chances to cross to Azmoun & Taremi, I mean its not rocket science. Clearly the current wingers aren't working, I don't get why we don't just use Ramin to his strength for the time being.

[BacheLot]

This Uzbek team is different. They have a good choice and good young players, some playing in Europe.

so long theyre not playing us i always am pulling for them but they sure do have a nasty long-running habit of choking on vital games that decides their qualification fate to WC/advance stages AC..!
however with the expanded teams WC26 and them having a good coach and tons pacy, promising young talents, even i can't fathom them missing out on WC 26..!! or can they choke again vs some tokhmy ayrab team again....!!? 😬

[BacheLot]

Ramin has scored more goals since 2022-now (4) than the rest of his international career 2015-2021 (2).

To look at it differently, Ramin has scored the same amount of goals in 2023 (3) than the entire rest of his career between 2015-2022 (3)

and got more WC goals than sardar....!! lol

[BacheLot]

thats great...go look at second goal and ramins positioning and subsequent "recovery" run. WTF the guy is doing so high up the field with a scoreline and game situation like that leaving our defense 2v2 at the back is highly questionable, then his inability to recognize the danger of the guy in his RB zone at the far post (he clearly sees him) is again concerning.

The usual shit with ramin

true... that Uzbec goal was mostly his fault ... there was another player along with him ? huffNpuffin trying to get back trailing the play by some 10 yards too..!!

then again Sadegh aint much of an improvement on that front either..... and most probably worse even tracking back on defensive duties and not much if any improvement over ramin supporting attack..!!
woulda been wise for sadegh to sub in ( early to mid 2nd half ) for the hard running but tiring ramin..!!
off course GN is too inept to notice such shortcomings and make proper adjustments on the fly during game time...!!

and yea, about the only way for us to further solidify our RW Defense is to partner kanani with another CB and move Shoja there..!! but then that'd be playing CQ park da bus and not the supposed GN hoojoomi football.!

[TM4LIFE]

After the second goal 11 men left the field and 11 donkeys took their place. Not a single bright spot. Taremi somehow killing off every attack, Torabi losing every dribble, Ezatollahi and Karimi hoofing every damn possession out of the field and completely losing midfield control, the entire backline smoking 10lb of tariyak at halftime and getting dribbled left and right, being too damn lazy to mark the literal only player in the box on the second goal and not being able to intercept a pass 1 inch in front of them on the first, Ramin's disgusting grass rolling antics, Cheshmi running around like a balding neanderthal not being able to recover possession, Beiranvand with some of the worst passes you could expect from a goalkeeper looking like concussed Karius out there.

We are so fucked for the Asian cup. Expecting a serious dip in talent and quality maybe until these U17's graduate high school.

[Iranianarsenal11]

Kanaani and Shoja simply cannot afford to start together. Hazbavi is the future and should start but Ghalenoi is too much of an idiot to see that. The second best pairing is Kanaani and Hosseini. There is NO reason Shoja at age 34 and the pace of a turtle should be starting for Team Melli!! NO REASON!!!

[Karimi 8]

Kanaani and Shoja simply cannot afford to start together. Hazbavi is the future and should start but Ghalenoi is too much of an idiot to see that. The second best pairing is Kanaani and Hosseini. There is NO reason Shoja at age 34 and the pace of a turtle should be starting for Team Melli!! NO REASON!!!

I actually thought Kanaani was a bigger problem today, the guy has zero emotional control. His yellow was a stupid foul, and once you get his temper up he doesn't calm back down. He is a liability emotionally. It is frustrating because you never know what version of him you are going to get. The Kanaani that is unbeatable on defense, close man marking, great headers and through balls, or the Kanaani that can't move, is way too aggressive, and employs Haji-NASA vertical passes hoping to reach the moon.

Shoja is a lot stronger mentally than them, overall it seems like Carlos was onto something for insisting to play PAG & Hosseini, I agree we should test out Hosseini again for one of these guys.

[Iran_19]

Good job GN!
Sending Nour home and play Ali Karimi!


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