World Cup Qualifier: Syria - Iran; Info, Updates and Live Reports (15.11.2016)

[Doctor DOOM]

It still doesn't matter. It's their home game, the venue is up to them, you have plenty of similar examples.

Like when the US chose to play in Colorado in winter knowing full well it will snow and be more difficult for the Costa Rican players.

Even on this site people say we should play in Tabriz or Hamedan during the winter to give us an advantage.

People are complaining about a conspiracy when there is none. This is common if football.

again, you're not seeing the point.

the first point is AFC's hypocrisy for upholding some c0ckamamie rule (no seats, no game) or pitch condition minimums, or ... for this game while they enforce it on Azadi or other places. You cant pick and choose where you apply your rules.

secondly, if AFC is for betterment of football, they'd stay away from this region IF THEY HAVE ALTERNATIVES. and they did have alternatives as I mentioned. It's not Malaysia using their own soil for games. It's a third country.


Third, the syrians picking/accepting this shows their agenda. You may not have a problem with it, I do. I'm sure there are others who do too.
it's not as if they stacked things IN THEIR FAVOR. this was in NO team's favor and there's no mistaking it. They just did it AGAINST Iran.
so there goes this moronic belief that syria is Iran's friend and other stupid garbage

[Abtin]

The press conference was held close to a kitchen Modern facilities

But, at least the poor syrians got hosted for free. Thats whats important.
And the chairs are obviuosly from the restaurant..

The importance of free hosting ❤️

[ehsan singapore]

we should have won, that jahanbaksh header should have gone in,but a draw is still ok for us, considering we play qatar, then 3 games at home, then korea then home.
we are 11 points, and 20 should be good, so if we win the next 3, or draw qatar and win the 3 games in tehran

[rugs]

We have gone FAR beyond a conspiracy, when it is this obvious.

again, you're not seeing the point.
the first point is AFC's hypocrisy for upholding some c0ckamamie rule (no seats, no game) or pitch condition minimums, or ... for this game while they enforce it on Azadi or other places. You cant pick and choose where you apply your rules.
secondly, if AFC is for betterment of football, they'd stay away from this region IF THEY HAVE ALTERNATIVES. and they did have alternatives as I mentioned. It's not Malaysia using their own soil for games. It's a third country.
Third, the syrians picking/accepting this shows their agenda. You may not have a problem with it, I do. I'm sure there are others who do too.
it's not as if they stacked things IN THEIR FAVOR. this was in NO team's favor and there's no mistaking it. They just did it AGAINST Iran.
so there goes this moronic belief that syria is Iran's friend and other stupid garbage

That's fine and all, but when South Korea played in the same stadium during actual Monsoon season, your point it moot.

So what is the actual conspiracy?

The stadium? South Korea played there as well.

The pitch conditions? Countries all over the world have played WCQ in similar or worse conditions.

[Doctor DOOM]

^ I dont remember when skorea played there. was it during monsoon season? I doubt it.
but we do know this IS the time for such weather conditions. and if you have options, you must avoid such conditions.

I also notice you're avoiding the hypocrisy of enforcing rules too

[pandora]

surely you must be able to distinguish between playing defensive (parking the bus) and utterly unsportsman-like behavior.
while I dont like parking the bus tactics, nevertheless, it is NOT unsportsmanlike. it's just an ugly TACTIC.
grass-rolling is NOT.
...

I agree 100 percent. But I have seen Iran doing both. Sometimes in the same game. Grassrolling is something new. Iran started doing that only in the last 5 years or so but parking the bus... That has a long history in Iranian football.

[Abedzadeh]

It still doesn't matter. It's their home game, the venue is up to them, you have plenty of similar examples.
Like when the US chose to play in Colorado in winter knowing full well it will snow and be more difficult for the Costa Rican players.
Even on this site people say we should play in Tabriz or Hamedan during the winter to give us an advantage.
People are complaining about a conspiracy when there is none. This is common if football.

But the quality of the football pitch in Colorado is not sub-standard, and does not pose an injury threat to the players of either team; this isn't even remotely comparable to the nonsense we saw in Malaysia. Even in winter time, the pitches in some venues are technologically equipped to have certain heating systems to nullify, or at the very least minimize risk associated with snowfall/ice. Clearly, this is not analogous to the stadium in Malaysia.

Also, the choice of venue is not entirely up to the opposing/home team; it requires the approval of the AFC.
If the pitch is sub-standard, and poses an injury threat, the venue should be moved. The AFC had advance knowledge of this several months ago, being familiar with weather conditions at this time of year, and approved the venue.

Sure, you can try to make the argument that the pitch was the same quality for the opposing team, but respectfully, I think this is just side-stepping the issue, because in this case, the poor and dangerous pitch worked to their advantage by slowing down the attacks, and ground game of their far superior tactical and technical opponents. Same applies to Korea Republic. The culpabilty of the AFC is undeniable.

[Malavani]

Syria vs Korea: pitch looked good in comparison to today

[DireStraits]

If i try to be positive Syria has never lost at home. They have tied South Korea and Iran won China.
Qatar and UZ should now play in Malesia

[arasradio]

I don't understand what's all the fight here for! I completely agree with Dr. Doom. Common sense. AFC has had a guideline that all members had to follow. Stadiums without chairs were not supposed to be a venue PERIOD! They imposed it to all members of the association. Why this should be an exception? Why CQ even agreed to play there? I know he protested the conditions but wasn't he aware of the guidelines regarding the chairs?

Let's not talk about the pitch conditions. Look at min 25 and later. There were mud hills all over the pitch that made the conditions impossible to play. Syria also gave two injuries to this game. Thanks to our players' fitness and excellent form; we were super lucky to leave this pitch without injury.

It is absolutely a conspiracy when you add all these:

1- chairless venue against corrupted AFC rule

2- Assigning Arab referees from their brother country Iraq

3- Not cancelling the game. The game was delayed hoping for conditions to improve! What was improved in this game?

4- Gucci's goal

Also can someone tell me after a great performance and a hattrick why Gucci didn't start? Why are we putting our best goal scorer on the bench? I understand first half formation did not match with Gucci's original post but why we didn't use an attacking formation with two RS and LS from start? Was it because our coaching team was afraid of counter attacks and pitch conditions?

[arasradio]

If i try to be positive Syria has never lost at home. They have tied South Korea and Iran won China.
Qatar and UZ should now play in Malesia

But they won't play in monsoon season

And don't be surprised to see corrupted AFC changing the venue after this.

[pandora]

Syria vs Korea: pitch looked good in comparison to today

Yeah, but grassrolling part is usually not in highlights. I don't know whether it was the same goalie as today but he is quite comical in every game(I think even vs China. I have not watched Syria vs Qatar so I don't know what he did then. But he had no reason to grassroll vs Qatar as Syria were losing throughout the game). The Syrian coach even defended him "He is really very sick(healthwise) and frail". Upon being asked why he chose a sick man as his goalie he answered that it was because he has better chemistry with defenders and so on so forth.

Even when he saves a very hard hit ball he goes down, apparently hurt by the ball. And then he is on his knees with an awful grimace while explaining to the referee how sick and hurt he is. You got to like him at some level for the comic value he provides.

[saeed_noro]

Next time, please, nobody wishes syria and iraq, or any other country which is in war, and can not play at home.....wish Thailand next time...

[arasradio]

Next time, please, nobody wishes syria and iraq, or any other country which is in war, and can not play at home.....wish Thailand next time...

But Thailand gave Aussies s lot of pain today!

No worries. We destroy them in Tehran

[Tehranto]

The conditions. The horror. The horror. The Gucci goal was good but of course overruled by AFC refs. Jahanbaksh should have finished the sitter. It's not the end of the world but will put added pressure on us. I have no sympathy for the Syrian team, they play the wrong way in every way.

--

Japan won. Australia tied Thailand (Southeast Asian country, not easy). UAE beat the Iraqis (who are basically eliminated and are horrible)