I believe where Iran is today is from gathering each experience over the last 20 years of Irans football lessons
In 1998 I was 10 years old, So I couldnt analyze, but ive watched all 3 world cup games and some qualifying games over and over and what I saw from that squad was a group who said.. Impossible is nothing.. Why not us? They shocked the world when trailing 2-0 to Australia in Australia only to come back in the second half and secure progression to the world cup. And then once in France. Why cant we tie Yugoslavia? We will beat USA and lets give Germany everything weve got.
Of all the last 3 world cups, The 1998 team had the best shot to make the round of 16, Unfortunately we saw a very very difficult group along with an injury to our starting goalkeeper just to much to advance from that group.
2006
I was 18 years old and I think most boys at that time fantasize over soccer, I Just got onto PFDC and I was addicted to Iranian football, I watched every single qualifying game and of course WC game. My thought on this squad was that there was alot of individual players with high skill, Infact Id say this was the highest skilled Iranian team Ive ever seen and perhaps all time in Asia. Karimi, Zandi, Mahdavikia Hashemian Kaabi and so on. The downfall of this team was 0 unity.. Have you guys noticed 2 or 3 players sing the national anthem on that squad? Have a look at our recent games national anthems. Everybody sings. In 2006 we had a group where we could have advanced. In fact the best chance to advance was in 2006. I would say It was possible this team tie Mexico Tie Portugal and beat angola, but the fact we only tied Angola proved that indivdual skill is never enough and we lacked stamina, strategy and the desire to go that extra mile demand more of yourself your body and your team mates, that group failed to stay focus and got caught in drama and failed. Miserably I might add
2014
The start of the CQ era, I was 26 years old. I had 0 expectations. In fact I was so nervous that Argentina would rape us 8-0 A friend of mine told me, Iran will never under any circumstance EVER lose 8-0 and he was right, Still in the back of my mind I was terrified. I knew we were sloppy at times, Without much skill, the thought alone of Heydari playing against Higuain made me shit... We did not have a reputable goalie we had an aging Neku & Ando and our skilled players were to young to make much of an impact. However for some reason I felt the most pride from iran at this WC. #1 Key Stamina The difference here is Iran played every game running hard for 90 mins. #2 Deication & Determination. Never say die attitude, Back to the self belief, Back to the why not us attitude. CQ said you must respect this jersey and to wear it is an honour and the boys believed it. I believe we had a chance to qualify BUT we lacked depth.. By the 3rd game our starting 11 had not much more to offer, also added into the fact we had a chance to qualify from the last game I think we got away from our previous game plan and tried something different which we were exposed.. However we can take these lessons and move on
2018
With all these experiences the recipe is here to go to the round of 16, Of course if we get the group of death then it will be highly unlikely but if we get a favourable group we have the necessary things required. Stamina, Belief, System, Dedication, Depth, Skill.. Here is to 2018 and I hope moving forward we can continue to grow rather then these be the best moments of Iranian football. As long as we have the respect for the jersey respect for the anthem and respect for your team mate attitude we will always be in WC and we will get to round of 16
In 1998 I was 10 years old, So I couldnt analyze, but ive watched all 3 world cup games and some qualifying games over and over and what I saw from that squad was a group who said.. Impossible is nothing.. Why not us? They shocked the world when trailing 2-0 to Australia in Australia only to come back in the second half and secure progression to the world cup. And then once in France. Why cant we tie Yugoslavia? We will beat USA and lets give Germany everything weve got.
Of all the last 3 world cups, The 1998 team had the best shot to make the round of 16, Unfortunately we saw a very very difficult group along with an injury to our starting goalkeeper just to much to advance from that group.
2006
I was 18 years old and I think most boys at that time fantasize over soccer, I Just got onto PFDC and I was addicted to Iranian football, I watched every single qualifying game and of course WC game. My thought on this squad was that there was alot of individual players with high skill, Infact Id say this was the highest skilled Iranian team Ive ever seen and perhaps all time in Asia. Karimi, Zandi, Mahdavikia Hashemian Kaabi and so on. The downfall of this team was 0 unity.. Have you guys noticed 2 or 3 players sing the national anthem on that squad? Have a look at our recent games national anthems. Everybody sings. In 2006 we had a group where we could have advanced. In fact the best chance to advance was in 2006. I would say It was possible this team tie Mexico Tie Portugal and beat angola, but the fact we only tied Angola proved that indivdual skill is never enough and we lacked stamina, strategy and the desire to go that extra mile demand more of yourself your body and your team mates, that group failed to stay focus and got caught in drama and failed. Miserably I might add
2014
The start of the CQ era, I was 26 years old. I had 0 expectations. In fact I was so nervous that Argentina would rape us 8-0 A friend of mine told me, Iran will never under any circumstance EVER lose 8-0 and he was right, Still in the back of my mind I was terrified. I knew we were sloppy at times, Without much skill, the thought alone of Heydari playing against Higuain made me shit... We did not have a reputable goalie we had an aging Neku & Ando and our skilled players were to young to make much of an impact. However for some reason I felt the most pride from iran at this WC. #1 Key Stamina The difference here is Iran played every game running hard for 90 mins. #2 Deication & Determination. Never say die attitude, Back to the self belief, Back to the why not us attitude. CQ said you must respect this jersey and to wear it is an honour and the boys believed it. I believe we had a chance to qualify BUT we lacked depth.. By the 3rd game our starting 11 had not much more to offer, also added into the fact we had a chance to qualify from the last game I think we got away from our previous game plan and tried something different which we were exposed.. However we can take these lessons and move on
2018
With all these experiences the recipe is here to go to the round of 16, Of course if we get the group of death then it will be highly unlikely but if we get a favourable group we have the necessary things required. Stamina, Belief, System, Dedication, Depth, Skill.. Here is to 2018 and I hope moving forward we can continue to grow rather then these be the best moments of Iranian football. As long as we have the respect for the jersey respect for the anthem and respect for your team mate attitude we will always be in WC and we will get to round of 16
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