I am sure we would have won AC without Ben Williams

[persiangodfather]

I think we would have a very hard time vs Australia

[persian-eagle-13]

it goes without saying that football is not a number 1 sport in Australia and they were hosting the games. by the same token it was bound that the organizing committee wanted to see Australia in the final if not to see them go as far as possible to make their money's worth. not to mention the tv rights, commercial inside Australia etc..... on the other hand you have both Japan and Korea who have invested a lot of money and are sponsors of AFC. so it is natural to see them go to the finals as well.

so at the end of the day the tournament is set up for the "stakeholders". til the time IFF and TM do not have a say in AFC, we will get punished in favor of the other "stakeholders"

[hzv]

in the end the best team that plays the best football without the flops and the time wasting won the cup. well deserved.

[_Navid_]

Absolutely. This is the 4th time that we were the best team of the tournament and only the referee's beheading prevented our team from lifting the cup. I am sick and tired of this happening all the time.

[Leopard]

Korea defeated Australia once and today it struggled due to physical inferiority. TM players would have outrun Aussies and would have been champion. many worried about Japan and Japan performed same same poor way as it did in the world cup.
The real challenger was Aussie and without any doubt the Aussies robbed the cup. They are not going to admit it by it is and it was so obvious.
by the way during the ceremonies it was so obvious the make up on the face of the AFC president. The artist did not want to put any near his eyes so the color of skin near the eyes looked different.

[Siavash]

I watched the game very carefully and came to the same conclusion at the end. TM had a better chance of winning the cup not only for reasons Martin Reza indicated, I also add the fact that TM had better stamina that other teams that they looked tired and unorganized within the last 10 mins of each half and the entire extra time. Unfortunately, bad refereeing buy another sub-human cost us dearly.

[dash_sina]

Yes we were better than Iraq and should have made it to the semis. And yes we had a decent chance of beating both South Korea and Australia, but to say that were favored to win it all is at best hopeful thinking. We have a far way to go in order to be such solid candidates. The fact that we lost to Iraq, even with 10 men in penalty kicks, is a sign that we need to improve. TM lacks a good play maker and it is hurting us.

[webmaster]

Iran-Australia would have been the best two teams in final, but you have to give it to Aussies for their superb showing. I am only worrying that they can not replace Tim Cahil after he retires. he is a crucial player for them.

[Doctor DOOM]

I agree to an extent with martin's OP.
Yes, the red card did have adverse effects on our team. But the extent of it should have been limited, had we devices better counter measures to plug the holes
Or after the first Iraqi goal, we had another chance to plug .....
And sso on

We also showed if we were desperate enough, we could attack and score goals even with 10 men. Great. But why didn't we put in this kind of effort to put the game beyond reach by going for a straight second, insurance goal?

While the ref's stupid and clearly biased decision did have its impact, we also have to bear some blame. From poiladi to haghighi's abysmal keeping, to hajsafi's poor positioning to CQ's restrained tactics.


We must remember by always pointing at outside factors as SOLE reason for our failures, we'll never get anywhere, or will never have a chance to remedy our own mistakes.

Next time we play and a ref like Williams is chosen, we can at least remember to cover our other bases and areas we didn't this time

[ramingeles2000]

I'm going to have to disagree with Martin's OP. I don't think beating Australia in front of their home fans is a "given". Not even getting past SK was a "given". SK wanted to cut our heads off for beating them 3x in a row, it would have been an extremely difficult game.

Australia plays truly beautiful football and their attacking ability is unquestionable. What worries me about this current TM is that when we're a goal down, we don't have much of an ability to come back. We need to play tougher friendlies against more competitive teams so that we can learn to psychologically deal with being a goal down and coming back. I think CQ needs to find and groom for us a tough, athletic 2-way playmaker who can both make plays and play defense...and we need friendlies against stiffer competition.

[Leopard]

On this topic you have no choice but to agree with Martin and you cannot say agree but we are not good....
1. Pooladi was a defender and not just any defender and saw how much effort was put in to bring him back to the team
2. If a striker gets a red, sometimes you can live with that. If you lose a key defender your team can get demolished by long passes from the opponent and quick counter attacks.
3. In spite of losing a key defender the score was 3-3 after 120 minutes
4. If you lose a player near the end of match then 10 man team cannot suffer as much. but to lose in first half and go to extended time.....
Anyway we cannot be so negative and have to give credit to the team and the coach. If we do not like any of them, then can wait four years and come back and support the next team with the next coach.

The only thing we can talk about is to learn from potential mistakes. You can say where we could have been better. I would say the goalkeeper did not have good vision and chose the wrong sides on penalty shots. Next you may say something about Khalatbari and you have to argue whom he would have been for? certainly not Dej and not Sardar...
I would give a chance to all goalkeepers in Iran at the same time to see who the best is by having goalkeeper penalty day. Haghighi, Foroozan.... all 10 shots from top 10 shooters and compare the result. That is total of 100 penalty shots in one day for each goalkeeper. This is the best way and the fairest way to find out and not just by looking at one to two instances of penalty shots in the IPL mathes.

[yashar_fasihnia]

I couldn't disagree more.

There are no 'if's' in football.

In that case then Turkey might of been in the. 2002 WC final, if it wasn't for those two stupid red cards.

The matter of fact is, we were our own worst enemy. We let the decision affect us greatly.

We were a goal up. If there was one thing we were good at, it was defending a lead.

Even with 10 men, shouldn't be conceding three goals to any team, let alone Iraq.

Then there was the penalties. I expect haghighi to save at least one out of six penalties.

We weren't prepared for the scenario, which begs the question on CQ.

Stop being bias and admit we didn't deserve to be champions.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

9 penalties not 6

[yashar_fasihnia]

nothing is 100% but we had a very good chance of winning it all, same as 2004 and 1996

[KasraKhan]

\ I think CQ needs to find and groom for us a tough, athletic 2-way playmaker who can both make plays and play defense..

CQ has already found him

[Martin-Reza]

Iran-Australia would have been the best two teams in final, but you have to give it to Aussies for their superb showing. I am only worrying that they can not replace Tim Cahil after he retires. he is a crucial player for them.

They can't while we have a luxury problem with Gucci and Azmoun upfront, even having Ansarifard and Sharifi as backups.