PRE-MATCH DISCUSSION | vs. UAE - Asian Cup 2015

[Ali.Karimi79]

Just a reminder of that brisbane's Suncorp stadium is in a horrific condition. It is mainly used by a NRL team (rugby-like sport).

Who would this affect more?

Till now the pitches where great. I don't think we will see horrific conditions tbh. Till now Australia proved that they are the best host ever!

[Cataphract]

Just a reminder of that brisbane's Suncorp stadium is in a horrific condition. It is mainly used by a NRL team (rugby-like sport).

Who would this affect more?

It will affect the team who relies more on passes. The source of dangerous passes in the UAE is Omar. Combine the horrible pitch with him being manhandled by Ando and we know that he is neutralized. Makkhtour (Or whatever his name is) will probably cause us more trouble than Omar.

[littlepersia17]

PRE-MATCH DISCUSSION | vs. UAE - Asian Cup 2015

Yes Having seen him in action, Ali Mabkhout will be a nightmare for our defenders.

[Afat11]

Yes Having seen him in action, Ali Mabkhout will be a nightmare for our defenders.

More of a nightmare than Sergio Aguero and Angel Di Maria, or less?

You guys overreact so much. If Uzbeks have a good game, they're gods, if China have a good game, they're the new champions. Seriously UAE beat two teams that don't know how to play anything but pack the box ball. They even do that poorly as Qatar showed against us by losing 1-0. If you notice, Bahrain, whose defense is as good as our C-Teams almost completely shut down UAE's offense outside of a mistake in the first minute, and the ball skidding off that african's shiny head into goal, UAE would have lost 1-0.

So, what's all this about Ali Malakh and Afro AfroAfran? Seriously, you guys are delirious if you think any of those goons passes will reach that sh** striker. They've been in the right place at the right time 2 games in a row.

Their luck runs out against the Great Wall of Iran (aka Seyed Jalal Hosseini).

[Afat11]

Oh, and before I forget, of the 25 Arabs that have attended the UAE-Qatar and UAE-Bahrain matches, 24 of them have been Emirati, so they've had "home-field advantage." Heard 2 or 3 people whispering UAE during their games.

I imagine they will be collectively sh*tting their pants when they walk into Azadi Stadium, Brisbane.

Enough of this fear of Asian teams. These teams should fear us. They've looked good because they haven't played us yet.

[TheBoss]

Afar11 is right though, we shut down messi and di maria and aguero (top scorer in EPL) and higuain and lavezzi and palacio, Ali makhbout is not that big of a deal and as good as that afro guy is, he is nowhere close to di maria or messi. stop worrying. it will be alright.

[littlepersia17]

PRE-MATCH DISCUSSION | vs. UAE - Asian Cup 2015

I hate the 'if we did it against Argentina, we can do it against anyone' argument.

I gather the boys played like it was the biggest games of their lives and it was a WC match.

I doubt they can have the same motivation coming into a game vs UAE + were already qualified. There is a tendency to slack off, especially if you're playing your third game in the space of 9 days.

We can't live in the past. as great a performance it was to keep the finalist scoreless for 91 minutes, we ultimately failed to see out the game.

Your past achievements don't mean anything when you step up on the pitch.

[KeonKish]

Re: PRE-MATCH DISCUSSION | vs. UAE - Asian Cup 2015

Yes Having seen him in action, Ali Mabkhout will be a nightmare for our defenders.

I watched him, he isn't that good. Muntari was a better player than mabkhout. The black forward on uae is actually more dangerous.

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[metallica69]

The Black forward used to be karimis team mate in Ahli Ahmed Khalil and yes he is more dangers Makboths advantage is that he and omar are very good friends and know each other very well.

Omar is actualy from Yemen and when he was discovered he had the option of both Saudi and UAE and chose UAE over Saudi because they gave citizenship to his family too. He is an exceptional player and if it wasn't for AL Ain team he would have gone to Europe along time ago, His only desire for going is the experience as he makes much more money then he would ever imagine making in Europe. I have seen him play up close and he is one of those players who knows how to make space for himself (28 caps and he is 23 years old) he is truly an exceptional player that comes around once in a while in Asia.

The advantage of this UAE team is these players have been together for a long time and if you notice most of the team are either from Al Ahli and or Al Ain. Unlike most of the Arab teams they like to play attacking football. in the last two games Omar has had 92 passes in each game, he is their focal point and he is technical and fast too so its not gone be an easy player to stop.

with that said I think we should go in to this game all attacking, as they are not a physical team and will have problems in the flanks too. JN and Ashkan on the side Hajsafi and Neku in the Center and Ansarifard (if Azmoun is not fit) behind the forward and reza up front.

[Cataphract]

Oh, and before I forget, of the 25 Arabs that have attended the UAE-Qatar and UAE-Bahrain matches, 24 of them have been Emirati, so they've had "home-field advantage." Heard 2 or 3 people whispering UAE during their games.
I imagine they will be collectively sh*tting their pants when they walk into Azadi Stadium, Brisbane.
Enough of this fear of Asian teams. These teams should fear us. They've looked good because they haven't played us yet.

In our footballing history we have always failed when we seemed overconfident. We know our capabilities as having one of the strongest defences in the world and great and lightening transitional play when counterattacking.

We have to respect our opponents even when we are stronger than them on paper. UAE has shown good form and have an eminent midfielder and a dangerous striker.
The Argentina match happened a long time ago and now we are in the Asian cup.

I completely agree with you that we should be feared, especially by arab teams, but we have to respect them as opponents.

[Hajik]

Remember that these are our "opponents" ahahah
If we want to become winner of this tournament we don't have to fear uae

[TM4LIFE]

I'd love to see

Ghafouri--Pouraliganji---Hosseini---Heydari
---------------Nekounam-----------------
---Jahanbakhsh---Ebrahimi-----Dejagah
---------Reza---------------------------
-------------------Karim---------------

Reza works nicely with another striker. Sardar deserved a rest from that calf issue, and ando worked his butt off too.

[MR.ESTESNAII]

Yea I really would like to see Jahanbakhsh. He had a great year and he is a very good passer upfront. Sardar did great, but I think he should rest that knee for the next round. The only difference is that jahanbakhsh is just a tap slower than gucci and sardar in one on one's. What do you guys think?

[Bi-honar]

your right, they have never won ,but they have drawn, they only need to draw that all

For sure Ehsan jaan, but in order to get a draw they either need to neutralize our offense and turn-around the 2 goals/match record against them, or they need some sort of a miracle to overcome our defense and turn-around their dismal 0.07 goals/match record against us (both records for competitive matches). I think they will definitely have their hands full with either attempt.

Having said that, I'm still really surprised that CQ didn't tell the boys the result of the UAE-Bahrain game or that two more goals would have put us in the driver seat for the next game or why he didn't adjust his tactics accordingly, particularly after we scored and Qatar was forced to play a little more risky. I think having shared that information with them, would have given the boys more conviction and some extra incentive to be focused and play a little bit harder.

I don't know if he simply thought that the game against UAE is going to be a breeze for us (because of our record or his understanding of their playing style) or he just didn't think that far ahead. I honestly hope it's the former, because he has constantly been saying that we have to focus on the next game and nothing else, so I don't really know what's going through his mind.

I personally would have brought in JB for Ehsan (who seemed completely lost and out of the game), switched Ashkan to the left, put JB on the right and brought in Rafei for Masoud to close the huge gaps we were having in midfield between our back 6/7 and front 4/3 - with the Azmoun/Gucci change obviously being the 3rd and one in which we didn't have a choice. That would have changed our formation to a 4-3-3 (4-2-1-2-1 to be exact) and we could have finished Qatar off with one more body in midfield and three fresh attacking players.

[DubFreeek]

I heard he had an offer from Manchester City on a 3 year contract...but I haven't seen him playing against decent and solid defensive Asian teams like Iran yet, so it remains to be seen how good he actually is.

He is the kind of a player who needs space like Masoud, if you cut him he won't be able to do well. That's why Abdulrahman Omar will have a much harder time against packed defensive teams like Iran.

For sure he will have an offer from Man City, the whole team is owned by UAE .... But still he couldnt make it there