POST-MATCH DISCUSSION | vs. Qatar - Asian Cup 2015

[Bi-honar]

First off, congratulations to the boys, the coaching staff and all TM fans.

As I'm sure everyone agrees, this was not the prettiest game or most convincing performance from TM, but got us a result and enough to guarantee our spot in the next round - not the result some of us were hoping for or the best TM was capable off IMHO, but nonetheless.

On that note, I'm not inclined to pick on any individual players. Every one gave it all, even if some were having an off day. The only player I will mention is Sardar... that turn was WORLD class and 3 goals in 4 games (2 starts?) is an exceptional record in TM's history for someone that young .


Having said all that, I was definitely NOT impressed with our tactics and the overly conservative style we chose to play in this game. After the games against Iraq and Bahrain, I expected we would go into this game with a lot more confidence, pressing hard and being just as adventurous in offense and on the flanks, particularly since a 3-0 would have put us on top of the group and fully in control going into our last match, and would have all but guaranteed topping this group and avoiding Japan in the next round.

For the proponents of the "mind games" theory, I think you should at least concede that we did end up playing this game as if Qatar were the favorites to go through - it set the tone for CQ's tactics and the boys' psyche who simply did not show the belief they had shown in the last two games. Overall, I think this was our Bosnia 2.0 albeit against a much weaker team who did not punish us for it. I'm sorry, but I give both credit and critique when they're due.

I hope CQ has taken note of that because we can not afford going into the next two games without the self belief that we are one of the favorites to win this tournament and our tactics, style of play and psyche should all reflect that. We have a world class coach, we have a bunch of great guys and we're here to win this tournament, there's no ifs or buts about it - self belief is not about being realistic.

I'm also worried about the 2nd mistake we made in the WC and that was not rotating the players and dealing with major fatigue by the 3rd game. So far, only Azmoun and Gucci have been rotated... the rest of team will become progressively more fatigued going forward and that's something we can not afford in the later round(s). Again, this goes back to the issue of self belief and knowing that we do have the depth on the bench to rotate the players, as CQ and our "B" team showed against Iraq

[Butaloh]

I keep reading about Haghighi grass-rolling during this game, and I'm honestly not sure what exactly is being referred to. Of course the game came on at 3am where I live, so maybe I'm remembering things through sleepy eyes but...

I recall 4 times when he went down. The only questionable one was in the first half where it seemed like the Qatari player may or may not have ran into his leg. But this was in the first half, with a score of 0-0. I can't really imagine why he would need to "grass-roll" in that setting.

The other 3 times I remember him going down were in the second half. Once he had to dive out over a loose ball and the Qatar player colided with his shoulder/chest. Another time our own defender basically came down with his full weight and stamped Haghighis leg. And the final incident was when he went up to grab a ball up high and the Qatar player bascially headbutted him on the back.

So again, what I remeber is our goalie repeatedly putting his body on the line, during a rough game, on a night when our recently solid defence seemed to have a few uncharacterisitc lapses where the ball and opposing attackers were suddenly appearing right in front of our goal. But I guess a few others here disagree.

[Cataphract]

where the heck is jahanbakhsh, our best player by faaaar. he deserves to play!!
with him in our starting 11 even the wc would have been different. i dont understand this bs

I bet CQ gave this match to Sardar and will give the next to JB

[Keano]

Once we take into consideration that fact that Qatar is not a pushover team and in has never been so in the past few decades for us (TM) Once we accept this fact, then it's time for us to start realizing and acknowledging that not allowing Qatar to create any real scoring chances on us throughout the 95 minutes match while we created at least 5-6 real threats on their goal, is quite admirable and worthy of praise.

The truth of the matter is that we controlled the game during the entire match, our midfield and defense worked together flawlessly to shutdown both their midfield and offense lines. We made them look like a clueless team who had no idea how to penetrate through our defense and attempt scoring goals. Our only shortcoming may have been the last touches and finishing skills, where we sort of failed to capitalize on some of our real sitters. But it's football and at the end what matters the most is that you win a crucial match.

After having watched a few matches of both UAE and Qatar, the conclusion that I came up with is that the 4-1 UAE win against Qatar was more of a fluke than tactical superiority. The UAE of today's match against Bahrain showed nothing spectacular and under normal circumstances TM would have no problem crushing them or at least beat them with a small margin!

Kudos to our fans in Australia, vaaghean dameshoon garm, so proud of them. On IRIB you cold barely hear the fans, however once I saw a clip on AFC website with English commentary, I just noticed how loud and energetic our fans were. May the domestic fans in our stadiums learn some precious lessons from these great Iranian fans abroad (Men and women) and learn how to cheer for their team throughout the entire match, regardless of the level of performance and score-line.

[OFFSIDE_1]

couldn't see the games because i was in school.. so my question: were the iranian fans again so amazing in the stadium?

there were 22,015 fans in the stadium

[Keano]

In case you never get tired of watching Sardar's beauty:



http://gfycat.com/FineVerifiableBunny#?format=gif

[OFFSIDE_1]

The only bad thing today about Shojaai was an unnecessary foul that he committed in the opponent's side.
He has done it in the past on our side. He needs to cool off.
In next match he will sit out for the yellow card to erase.
Sardar in a few years will be worth millions. The man has skills and is very intelligent. That is great news for TM and that is what we had hoped Ansarifard to do. Now Karim has a role model to learn from.
You also noticed Dej trying to do what Ali karimi did a few years ago passing through a few people. He almost made it. It may be the matter of time that he will master that.
If he gets enough team support, he can save his energy and do a few of those.
two good free kicks went nowhere. I wonder what happened to neku's great shots and also Ando's.
The new Pouraliganji proved himself and showed his confidence and that is great discovery by CQ.
Dej was very cool in spite of poor referee calls in couple of instances. In one situation the qatari player on ground, he tried to swing his leg to hurt Dej. Dej kept his cool and did his best. CQ probably has given him advice not to get mad at referee for acting foolishly or blindly.

actually that foul saved a dangerous counter attack and was necessary.

[Bi-honar]

Once we take into consideration that fact that Qatar is not a pushover team and in has never been so in the past few decades for us (TM) Once we accept this fact, then it's time for us to start realizing and acknowledging that not allowing Qatar to create any real scoring chances on us throughout the 95 minutes match while we created at least 5-6 real threats on their goal, is quite admirable and worthy of praise.

The truth of the matter is that we controlled the game during the entire match, our midfield and defense worked together flawlessly to shutdown both their midfield and offense lines. We made them look like a clueless team who had no idea how to penetrate through our defense and attempt scoring goals. Our only shortcoming may have been the last touches and finishing skills, where we sort of failed to capitalize on some of our real sitters. But it's football and at the end what matters the most is that you win a crucial match.

After having watched a few matches of both UAE and Qatar, the conclusion that I came up with is that the 4-1 UAE win against Qatar was more of a fluke than tactical superiority. The UAE of today's match against Bahrain showed nothing spectacular and under normal circumstances TM would have no problem crushing them or at least beat them with a small margin!

Kudos to our fans in Australia, vaaghean dameshoon garm, so proud of them. On IRIB you cold barely hear the fans, however once I saw a clip on AFC website with English commentary, I just noticed how loud and energetic our fans were. May the domestic fans in our stadiums learn some precious lessons from these great Iranian fans abroad (Men and women) and learn how to cheer for their team throughout the entire match, regardless of the level of performance and score-line.

Totally agree with your 1st paragraph bro and almost your whole 2nd paragraph except the part that we were in control the entire match. We certainly did control to the game right at the start of both halves and some other periods, but Qatar was in control for some parts of the game and for other parts it was a scrappy affair with no one in control!

Also totally agree with the 3rd and 4th paragraphs. UAE didn't really beat Qatar or Bahrain - both teams practically gave them the game... Qatar with all the mistakes Burhan made and Bahrain with a lack of concentration in the 1st minute of the game and then an own goal! In many ways, I think the UAE game will be the easiest one, because they're more of a finesse team than a physical one.

[Abtin]

Now that we're talking about Qatar and bought players. You should see their national handball team playing right now... Most names ending with "ic"..

[Paradigm]

A lot of wasted chances! Need to put those away or we can face great regeret specially in the later stages of the tournament. Also Gucci and Dejagah both need a good pep talk on how to control their BODY LANGUAGE: When they fail to put the ball away in a 60 or 70% opportunity, and then follow up with a very frustrated posture, it psychologically dampens the rest of their teammates. These guys need to watch some of the top players in the world and learn from them, see how they regret missed chances in a way not to transmit negativity on the pitch. This is a big deal in my opinion. By the way, I did not watch the whole thing, but did Jahanbaksh get any play time? He and Ansarifard are both capable strikers which Iran needs to make use of... Gucci so far has not been impressive at all, so he should be benched for the next match.

[GolfePersique]

amazing iranian fans

video link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/interac...deo_footy_iran

[vatanparast]

The only bad thing today about Shojaai was an unnecessary foul that he committed in the opponent's side.
He has done it in the past on our side. He needs to cool off.
In next match he will sit out for the yellow card to erase.
Sardar in a few years will be worth millions. The man has skills and is very intelligent. That is great news for TM and that is what we had hoped Ansarifard to do. Now Karim has a role model to learn from.
You also noticed Dej trying to do what Ali karimi did a few years ago passing through a few people. He almost made it. It may be the matter of time that he will master that.
If he gets enough team support, he can save his energy and do a few of those.
two good free kicks went nowhere. I wonder what happened to neku's great shots and also Ando's.
The new Pouraliganji proved himself and showed his confidence and that is great discovery by CQ.
Dej was very cool in spite of poor referee calls in couple of instances. In one situation the qatari player on ground, he tried to swing his leg to hurt Dej. Dej kept his cool and did his best. CQ probably has given him advice not to get mad at referee for acting foolishly or blindly.

Agree witheverything u said. Id like to add just a few points
1. Paj is replacing pejman montazeri as our link between back line and midfield and was solid defensively
2. Dej is all hustle and superbly talented but needs to make better decisions. It was nice to see him keep his cool and not act out his anger. There were at least two instances this game where a better decision would have led to a goal.
3. Masood has gained confidence and is playing like he should and part of it has to do with him playing in the middle rather than the wing
4. Gucci was selfish today but still hustling and creating chances
5. Ando our best player as always giving all he has and his passing has gotten better
6. Javad great game
7. Hosseini as solid a cb as you can hope for
8. Sardar was very good but his amazing individual turn makes me rate him even higher this game. Even before the goal he was involved and he is a luxury to have at such a young age. I hope his injury isnt serious
9. Haghighi time wasting was great. It felt good to stick it to the dirty africans plus a couple uruguans that werent playing.
Cq tactics were fine. Qatar needed to get a goal so he based his tactics on that, he was pissed off because they were sitting too deep in second half and not holding possession. Fitness issue maybe?

[Mansoor]

Mansoor Khan, many thanks for your elaborate response. It is very interesting that Queiroz decided to add a third CB. It strikes me as a somewhat unusual thing for him to do, as he usually tries to keep offense and defense in balance, even towards the end of the game and when TM is leading, for example by subbing in Jahanbaksh for counterattacks. I was a bit worried about how deep the team defended in the last 15-20min of the game. Do you think that was something Queiroz wanted to see or rather the old Iranian habit to sit back after taking the lead?

Mokhlesim. Hope you are doing well.

I think Queiroz reaction at the end of the game when the whistle was blown, explains why he did what he did (see pic posted in forum). He was nervous as everyone else and as the game was going toward the end.

Obviously, his number one priority is to qualify from the group and with two inexperienced defender and mounting pressure, he decided to send in Sadeghi to help them out with more numbers. That would kill time (to sub), bring in more experience, more power, and more aerial defending. The more defending would also create more space and opportunity for counters, if defended well and combined with transition, which is Carlos "comfort zone".

The last few minutes of the game in a do or die match like this is a chaos any how, and often teams and players get out of formation. More than right winger, Carlos wanted to finish the game safe and did it very well. With Sadeghi's entry I was comfortable that we have sealed the deal despite "hail mery" passing by Qataris.

Why we moved back so much? Not Carlos game plan. Pure players instinct. Again natural reaction in do or die games like this, particularly in Asian level, and with many bad memories in players' mind. What caused it the most though was too many missed opportunities to put the game away in second half. Again you could see that in Carlos reaction after bad decision makings as he knew how important that second goal was.

I think the overwhelming support by Iranian fans in Australia and their close encounters with players is taking a wrong turn and effecting players focus. You could see huge difference in terms of focus in many of our players, Haghighi, Pouraliganji, Gucci, Hajsafi, Dejagah, and Ghafouri all seemed effected and played less focus compared to their first game. And that was the difference between the two matches. Only Nekunam, Ando, Hosseini, Shojaei, and Sardar seemed fully focused.

I think Carlos should take away the team to a private zone away from the fans during preparations and only let them see it during the game. These bus rides and selfies and beautiful girls around does not work with focus during a tough tournament like this. I was shocked to see Carlos with all his experience let that happen. I am sure he is now aware of it after going through hell during the match and will figure it out...

[Abtin]

Comments from players and Nabi after the match (Azmoun included!): http://footballitarin.com/video_page.php?id=13274

[Shah Abbas]

Honestly, Pouraliganji is Montazeri number 2! He hardly gives the ball away. Runs with it forward instead of just kicking out and hoping for the best. My only worry is that he may be benched when Pejman comes back and I don't want to see that!