FIFA World Cup 2018 Qualifier: Iran - India @ Sree Kanteerava Stadium [08.09.2015]

[teammelli91]

The Germany Brazil comparison in the article was not a good one by their captain lol. I think if the Japanese captain made that comparison it would make more sense. I'm sure he meant "anything can happen" by that, but it still wasn't a good comparison.

[The Realist]

TM also used crosses and set pieces against Turkemenistan, the difference with playing against Guam was the quality of crosses. Although marking has its own places but apart from perhaps big naturalized Omani defenders I cannot see any of the other 3 minnows being able to mark Sardar and Taremi.
Yes I agree huge gulf between this and next round, that's why TM needs a quite number of decent friendlies in between the 2 rounds. With no or low number of friendlies I can't see us getting through the next round with this young but exciting team.

[Damavand]

I have a feeling the pitch in Bangalore will be dreadful like Turkmenistan, forcing our team to send mostly long passes, which can obviously affect our performance.

[04041374]

Footage of TM's arrival in Bangalore.

[diz]

I can see why CQ says he stayed as TM coach due to the fans...their support is amazing, and he is truly loved. He handles it with such grace.

[TheBoss]

deleted.

[TheBoss]

"A sizeable number of expats cheered the Iran football team at a training session held here ahead of its 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier (AFC second round) fixture against India.

The players obliged numerous requests for photos from the large group that gathered at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, even as a couple of India internationals were forced to push their way past the crowd to join their side at practice.

“Our fans are present wherever we play in the world. The team appreciates their presence, but on the field, it is the players who decide the outcome of the match,” said Iran skipper Andranik Teymourian.

Teymourian, the first Christian to captain the national team, downplayed suggestions that Iran is the clear favourite. “We are very happy that we have done well so far, but we know that India is a good team. They play well at home,” the former Bolton Wanderers player said.

Sardar Azmoun, touted as the ‘Iranian Messi’, said: “I know that Indian football is improving and making a lot of progress in recent years. I hope that the Indian team does well, but having said that, we of course want to get three points here.”

Meanwhile, Eugeneson Lyngdoh, the Bengaluru FC midfielder who is expected to line up against Iran on Tuesday, said that a compact game could help India.

“As long as we put in a good day’s work, we can hope for a positive result. We have a plan, and maybe we can cause an upset,” said Lyngdoh. “Iran is a very good side, everyone has seen them in action at the 2014 World Cup. But if we play a compact game, we can do well.

“I would have personally liked to have had three or four more practice matches. That would have been ideal preparation for a match like this.

“As individual players, we are well prepared, but as a team, we could have been more match-fit,” he added.

“I’m very happy to play against Iran. Every footballer would like to get the chance to play big teams like Brazil, Argentina and others.

These sort of matches could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This is when you get to know where you stand as a footballer. It motivates us to do our very best,” said Lyngdoh."

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/footba...cle7622935.ece

[TheBoss]

Do not open the link. It will download a fishing bug into your computer almost immediately.
Be aware!

Damn, I didn't know, I'll delete the post.

[TheBoss]

"India goalkeeper Subrata Paul has a difficult time explaining his team’s chances against Asian powerhouse, Iran.

“It is a contest between men. It is not as if we are fighting lions or tigers,” he says.

It is a herculean task, though, that lies ahead for the hosts. Ranked 155 in the world, India takes on Iran, ranked 40, in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier (AFC second round) tie at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on Tuesday.

Paul puts up a brave front, and speaks of springing a surprise. But the facts paint a different picture.

The Iranians are fresh off a 6-0 demolition of Guam — the side which defeated India 2-1 in an earlier qualification fixture. The home side has since competed in a friendly match against Nepal — a few days ago at Pune — but a disappointing goalless draw against a lower-ranked side is far from ideal preparation for this one.

“You can be certain that our boys will try our very best on the field. I cannot guarantee a positive result, but I can guarantee that all of us will give our 100 per cent. Maybe, with God’s help and some luck, we will have something to show for it,” Paul says.

The 28-year-old points to Brazil’s infamous 7-1 drubbing at the hands of Germany 2014 FIFA World Cup to reiterate that India stands a chance.

“Anything can happen in football. It is all about how you play on the day. Brazil conceded seven goals, nobody expected that,” he says.

Paul dismisses talk of low morale, given that India has lost both its qualification fixtures — to Oman (at Bengaluru) and Guam (away) — so far.

“We’re not worried about the past. We’ve had a good camp at Pune, and we will consider this Iran match as a fresh start,” he says."

[TheBoss]

IR to Hend ham abreromon ro borde

For Iran’s women fans, a win away from home

"Banned from watching football games at home, Bangalore based female fans from middle-eastern nation make most of side’s game against India.
The last time Bebak Hashemi tried to enter a football stadium, she almost ended up behind bars. It was a little more than a decade ago in Tehran. Iran’s national football team was training and the session was kept open for fans. Bebak, in her early teens back then, waited impatiently outside the Azadi Stadium, hoping she would be let in. Being the only girl in the crowd, she attracted curious glares. Her country’s laws prohibited her from entering the stadium but Bebak stook there unrelenting. Ultimately, a guard manning the giant steel gates chased her away, not arresting her only because she was ‘too small’. That was 2004. Eleven years on, in Bangalore, Bebak finally saw Team Melli up close. The 25-year-old dental student was among the hundreds of Iranian fans – including nearly a dozen women – who followed their national team from the Bangalore airport to the team hotel and finally to the Sree Kanteerva Stadium, where Iran will play India in a 2018 World Cup qualifier on Tuesday. Bangalore, they say, has a huge Irani student population, most of them studying medicine.

Bebak, who has been living here for the last two years, has followed fortunes of her team through internet and television. Today was the first time she saw them in flesh. “It’s unreal. Who would have thought it would happen here, in Bangalore,” she says, trembling in excitement of clicking a selfie with Iran’s most famous player Sardar Azmoun. “In Iran, this would not have been possible. Girls do not enjoy as much freedom and there are chances I would have been jailed for just entering a stadium if I did something like this back home. And ironically, the football and volleyball stadiums in Tehran are named Azadi.”

Entry inside a sports stadium is forbidden for women in Iran since 1982.

The ban was partially lifted in June following multiple protests and interventions by presidents of several sports bodies. But football venues are still out of bounds for them. Darya Safai, who fled her country during the student protests in 2000, wrote to FIFA president Sepp Blatter last year to urge Iran to lift the ban on women. Blatter would do exactly that during FIFA’s executive committee meeting earlier this year, saying the situation was ‘intolerable’. But his plea did not yield desired results. Safai now lives in Belgium and founded the group ‘Let Iranian Women Enter Their Stadiums’. They travel to cities where the Iranian team plays, wearing t-shirts and carrying banners that carry their message. “Those who have enforced the ban on us say women’s presence at a sports event is against Islamic laws. But we are not the only Islamic country. There are countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan who have Muslim majority but allow women. The real reason is they want women to be at home and keep their contribution to the society marginal,” Safai tells The Indian Express over phone from Belgium.

Football and volleyball are two most famous sports in Iran, even among women. Ban on women attending volleyball matches was enforced just two years ago and it was believed it would be lifted when the rule was relaxed in June. However, the country’s hardline conservatives opposed the move, which meant that women were kept away from the stands when Iran played USA. It was the first time an international match was held in Iran after British-Iranian woman Ghoncheh Ghavami made headlines after being jailed for attending a volleyball game in 2014.

Gilda, an MBA student, says there have been occasions when women have tried to masquerade as men to enter football stadiums. It’s straight out of Iranian movie Offside, which is based on girls who try to watch a World Cup qualifier against Bahrain by disguising themselves as boys. Gilda grew up in a house where sport was closely followed. While her father and brothers frequently went to watch Iran play at the Azadi Stadium, she couldn’t accompany them. This Tuesday, she will finally watch her team play. “It’s unfair but that’s the law of the land so we can’t do much. I have heard stories of girls going to extreme lengths just to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars. It’s unfortunate but that’s how it is,” Gilda says with a resigned look.

Gilda and Bebak are a part of the hundreds who followed the team whole of Sunday. Mahsa Malekzadeh, a 24-year-old dental student, snuck inside the team hotel, waited for nearly five hours to meet Iran’s Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz. Going by the reception he got, the 62-year-old seems to be more popular than some of the players among the fans. And understandably so. Queiroz, after all, led Iran to a respectable World Cup campaign last year and, at 40, has also made them Asia’s highest-ranked team. Speculations were rife over the 62-year-old’s future with the Iranian team, with reports suggesting he had resigned. But the fans are grateful to him for staying on. “He is a Portuguese citizen but still he has done so much for our team. He has made a lot of sacrifices to take Iran where they are right now so we are indebted to him,” says Mahsa, who greeted Queiroz with a bouquet of flowers.

The players too gladly obliged the fans who got selfies clicked and autographs signed as the Iranians virtually took over the stadium on Sunday evening, cheering on their side during an hour-long training session. So loud were they that it would have been difficult to guess the team that was playing at home. After the training session, as the fans spilled onto the field – thus delaying India’s practise – the security guards had to step in and force them out. But Bebak did not mind. On Tuesday, she knows, they won’t stop her from walking through the gates."

[TheBoss]

Sardar with fans in Bangalore

[teammelli91]

I can't wait!!

[eerooni]

I can confidently tell you that after all the interviews I have read that the Indian team plans to put 9 men in the box and defend like crazy hoping for a draw at best. With one man upfront acting as a miracle worker.

[Z Joon]

I can confidently tell you that after all the interviews I have read that the Indian team plans to put 9 men in the box and defend like crazy hoping for a draw at best. With one man upfront acting as a miracle worker.

Kinda like Guam except that Indians are much weaker physically.

I expect some goals

[PersianLegion]

Kinda like Guam except that Indians are much weaker physically.

I expect some goals

Have few shots or free kicks on target and even 20 men in the box can not save them.