We are tactically the best team in ASIA

[Sly]

Those teamss reserved tactics are to park the bus and defend. Qatar included. Australia,Japan, South Korea do not know how to park the bus.

With your logic, Barcelona parking the bus would be a good team. No they would be dreadful.

Are you saying Iran has always been able to park the bus?! At some point CQ started to implement the tactic (In fact, it kinda started with Branko). If Australia, Japan and S. Korea really wanted to, they could also start to implement it! Same with Barcelona! Nobody said they could do it over night!

[Sly]

This is totally wrong. If those teams knew they would get better results by playing defensive, they would be already doing so. Winning is what really matters in professional sport, and if playing that way would give them a better chance you seriously think they would not do so?
Teams like Korea and Japan defend really poorly, they would be shocking if they adopted a defensive strategy.

Those teams already know they DON'T NEED to do it to get to the WC! They do just fine without that tactic! However, we can not say the same! Japan and S. Korea have qualified to every WC for almost 20 years! S. Korea has the record of WC qualification in Asia! and they have always done it without a defensive tactic! On the contrary, we have shown that we can NOT always qualify to the WC without a defensive style! That's a fact! So let's not call our only savior of a tactic, "the best in Asia" as it would be laughable when comparing to other Asian powers.

[perspolis#1]

Are you saying Iran has always been able to park the bus?! At some point CQ started to implement the tactic (In fact, it kinda started with Branko). If Australia, Japan and S. Korea really wanted to, they could also start to implement it! Same with Barcelona! Nobody said they could do it over night!

No Barcelona would have to get new players. Messi cant zone defend. Neymar cant. Iniesta cant. Xavi couldnt. Suarez cant. Theyd need new players for that tactic.

Japan and Skorea dont have the players to implement. Thats not a statement of caliber but of type. Kagawa is not a CAM in a defensive system for example.

You confuse tactics with caliber. No one said Italy is better than Spain prior to Euro 2016. Italy was hoewever TACTICALLY superior in their match.

[Sly]

No Barcelona would have to get new players. Messi cant zone defend. Neymar cant. Iniesta cant. Xavi couldnt. Suarez cant. Theyd need new players for that tactic.

Japan and Skorea dont have the players to implement. Thats not a statement of caliber but of type. Kagawa is not a CAM in a defensive system for example.

You confuse tactics with caliber. No one said Italy is better than Spain prior to Euro 2016. Italy was hoewever TACTICALLY superior in their match.

In that case, I agree with you!

[Hosseini]

Iran does not "park the bus." If you watch closely Iran chooses carefully when to possess the ball and when to defend. This is the decision making of CQ. We are prudent in our attack and disciplined with our defending.

Last game against Uzbekistan, we controlled much of the match while also defending at certain points. The Uzbeks were lost, frustrated and disoriented and couldn't even put a shot on target.

[ehsan singapore]

Iran does not "park the bus." If you watch closely Iran chooses carefully when to possess the ball and when to defend. This is the decision making of CQ. We are prudent in our attack and disciplined with our defending.

Last game against Uzbekistan, we controlled much of the match while also defending at certain points. The Uzbeks were lost, frustrated and disoriented and couldn't even put a shot on target.

agreed

[mayhem]

I was thinking about whether being defensive is a good thing. Seeing the futsal team, they have very poor defensive but offensively they are so good that it makes it exciting to watch their matches. A bit like TM in 2004. However now they are solid but just so tedious and lack of creativity going forward that TM matches are just boring. I don't get excited anymore when there is a match now.

Maybe it's a good thing, at least we qualify without any high blood pressure.

[RaginG Inferno]

Iran does not "park the bus." If you watch closely Iran chooses carefully when to possess the ball and when to defend. This is the decision making of CQ. We are prudent in our attack and disciplined with our defending.
Last game against Uzbekistan, we controlled much of the match while also defending at certain points. The Uzbeks were lost, frustrated and disoriented and couldn't even put a shot on target.

Spot on. There's so much tactical maturity in CQ's game.

[maly3648]

A successful team is a team optimizing its strenght and diminishing its weaknesses.
Iran style of play focus on a solid defense combined with a very physical play focussing on the physical strenght of our players.
CQ did a very good job giving a soul and a better consistency to this team.


Iran has mainly 2 weaknesses today :


1) Lack of focus in certain important moments, especially when emotions are going high (after scoring for example, they often make foolish decisions for few minutes and put themselves under useless pressure because of stress).
2) Decision making mistakes in front of the goal or during the last pass.
Beside that, Iran is a solid and strong team which deserves its number 1 ranking in Asia.

[arash123]

Well, that is another discussion! If you like the so called "classic Italian style" of game, that is your personal preference and I completely respect that! Some people like it attacking style and some others defensive. That still doesn't mean it's the best tactic in Asia!

I see where you're coming from. Offensively (well, especially in the midfield) we are not the most tactically gifted. However in my opinion, the defensive tactic is better than any other teams' tactics whether it is their defense, offense, midfield. It shows in the clean sheets and goals allowed in the past two qualifying campaigns.

[Hadi]

i fully agree.

CQ is exploiting two major flaws in Asian football and getting results.

1- Asian teams are typically bad at build up play, attacking and finishing. 90% of teams in Asia would struggle to score against a semi organized defense. So if CQ prepares a solid defense and teaches players discipline and pressing, no team in Asia can easily score against us. Keeping clean sheets away from home basically would mean qualification to world cup. Imagine 3 draws and 2 wins away from home. with our win vs Qatar in the bag and probable win versus Syria, we would be sitting on 15 points which would be likely enough for a second place finish (even if we lose to Uzbek, china and Korea at home!!)

2-Iranian players are superior in strength and stamina than their Asian rivals (not so much in speed and agility). this means, our team usually has the upper hand in the last 20 minutes of the games. This could either mean we can press and score a winning goal or easily defend a lead. CQ's addition of Azmoun and Jahanbakhsh is testament to this tactic. He knows Asian teams will have tired legs in the last 20 mins, so he introduces some speed and aggression in the final 20 mins.

[MrAmir]

The style of play which favours scoring lots of goals and free flowing attacking play in many cases isn't actually tactical. In many cases its simply saying i have better players than you and so will score more than you.

Being tactically proficient is acknowledging your strength vs your opponents and playing to while reducing theirs. Increasing your chance of winning and not being reliant simply on the 'ability' of your players. It's generally why African teams have not fulfilled their potential in major tournaments and in some ways Iran too previously.

Also people who reference the Italian counter attacking style (Catenaccio) are right in saying it can be boring and low scoring but it historically produced results. The most recent example i can think of is Mourinho's Inter winning the Champions League in 2009/2010.

So I have no issue with anyone saying we are boring as that doesn't contradict me saying we are tactically astute and the most astute in Asia.

Anyway let's leave it this way, it is a huge privilege and joy to be able to watch TM and have the opportunity to complain about how we win and if it's boring, as opposed to the pre-CQ days of if we will win and why we didn't.

[MrAmir]

Btw I think today proved everything we said

[Martin-Reza]

Yup. I have to correct myself. We're not the defensively best team in Asia. We are the best team in Asia. We know how to defend. How to attack. How to counter. Whatever suits the occassion. Never seen a stronger Team Melli before. Missed no match since 1997...

[GolfePersique]