A Realistic Look at Our Chances- How to Approach Group B

[Zamboor]

Swedens group is interesting, weakest team there is Mexico I would say, I dont doubt that Son can gather his team somehow until the world cup to actualyl be a side that can challenge to get through.

What about us? Well Portugal, we can beat them they dont have the super generation of 2006 they have fucking old quaresma my friends. Ronaldo aint in shape at all right now. What about spain? This is not the same spain with Torres, Xavi, Puyol and company, we can win that as well. Im more afraid of Morocco, we all know how we play against the underdogs in our groups, specially against african nations.

[pajamNL]

Portugal played 31 games since 25th of march, 2016.

they
won 21 games
draw 6 games
losses 4 games

scored 78 goals
conceded 18 goals

biggest lost ; 2-3 against Sweden
biggest win ; 7-0 Estonia
biggest games ; Belgium (win) , England (loss) , France (win) , Mexico (draw) and Poland (draw)

[Shahin K]

Weakest team in Swedens group is Sweden.
Cmon sweden made it to the wc by winning against france by luck and also lucky against Holland (goal denied) nd Italy

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[pajamNL]

Spain played 24 games since 24th of march, 2016.

they
won 16 games
draw 5 games
losses 3 games

scored 64 goals
conceded 15 goals

biggest lost ; 0-2 against Italy
biggest win ; 8-0 Liechtenstein
biggest games ; Italy (2 draws, 1 lost, 1 win) , Belgium (win) , France (win) and Croatia (lost)

[Zamboor]

Weakest team in Swedens group is Sweden.
Cmon sweden made it to the wc by winning against france by luck and also lucky against Holland (goal denied) nd Italy

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Yes Luck to Sweden to the World Cup. Not good organization and a good coach, it was all luck thats why we kicked out Both Holland and Italy from the World Cup. Yes Luck. Two big nations kicked out because of Luck.

[Shahin K]

Yes Luck to Sweden to the World Cup. Not good organization and a good coach, it was all luck thats why we kicked out Both Holland and Italy from the World Cup. Yes Luck. Two big nations kicked out because of Luck.

I'm not saying pure luck but. Remember Holland scored a goal and was denied for shit against Sweden? Thats 2 points loss for holland and 1 extra for sweden.
Also the 93 min shambolic goal agai st France was lucky. Against italy you had 30 precent possesion. 16 shots against.

Just sayin you need luck on your side and u got it.

BUT THE REAL Q IS. WILL IBRA RETURN? LOL

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[Zamboor]

I'm not saying pure luck but. Remember Holland scored a goal and was denied for shit against Sweden? Thats 2 points loss for holland and 1 extra for sweden.
Also the 93 min shambolic goal agai st France was lucky. Against italy you had 30 precent possesion. 16 shots against.

Just sayin you need luck on your side and u got it.

BUT THE REAL Q IS. WILL IBRA RETURN? LOL

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0 goals, by italy in 180 minutes against the Swedish defence talks for itself, when you play defensive football good and you do it ewll you kick out your opponent from the wrold cup. Just saying this is more then pure luck.

[Shayan_91]

Well, in terms of the odds, the amount of players playing in Tier 1 European leagues, the strength of the squads as well as the total market value of the squads we are by far the weakest team. Of course, we could have got a much better group.

Trying to look at the positive side of things, I made a few observations:

+ worse case scenario is us ending up 4th, our (young) players gaining a huge experience, ideally some of them making the move to Europe (or the ones who already play in Europe making the transfer to better teams).
+ our opponents will most probably underestimate us. Yes, they will know that we have a strong defense. Yes, they will know that we did well against Argentina. But still, Spain & Portugal will see the first game between each other as a final. Then, they will probably respect Morocco more than us because of some big and popular names in Europe (Benatia etc.).
+ we have the ideal coach for these games (especially against the Iberian teams)! CQ seemed pretty happy about the draw and knows the teams better than anyone else.
+ the sequence of the games is to our advantage. If we win against Morocco (not saying it's easy, but it's more doable than winning against Spain and Portugal), we gain a lot of confidence for the rest of the two games.
+ we have different styles of players in each position and I think that CQ can rotate some of them pretty well relevant to our opponent.

What's very important for the games against Spain (especially!) and Portugal is that we are not allowed to do any mistakes in the defense. Thus, playing our young defenders would be a big risk. Even though both of them are old, I would be more relaxed seeing Hosseini and Montazeri (or eventually PAG) as central-backs, but never ever would I let play Cheshmi, Aghaei etc. against the likes of CR, Isco, Morata, Silva etc. We can have a younger formation against Morocco, but against the Iberian teams (especially in the defense) we have to have our experienced routiniers starting. Also, no doubt that Masoud will be of EXTREME value against Spain and Portugal! Let's hope that he can join us.

All in all: yes, at first sight our group was/is a shock. Still, it's a World Cup and everything's possible. We have our strongest team since generations, a world-class coach which has been with the team for almost seven years, a good mix of old and young players and an awesome team atmosphere. If we're up for surprises, then it's this year.

[euphory]

I think we will do just fine! i also think like Shayan_91 that Masoud will be of extreme value against spain/portugal. he has both the experience and technical ability to control the midfield with Dejagah. Masoud will be able to get fouls and we can use that as an Aerial Danger for our opposing teams since were the tallest of the group.

We have a great team guys.. now instead of going all negative we should show our support to the players and make them proud! after all they have gone trough to get to the world cup.. i think we should thank them by supporting them to the fullest!

[Surenas]

Tactical Analysis for WC

So guys, let's have a real talk how we can play against all of our three opponents.

Our first task will be Morocco.

Morocco switches usually between offence and defence. Their main focus is defending.
Morocco starts with 4-5-1 formation.
If they attack or make pressure they switch into a 4-3-3 with two DM/CM and one OM.
Renard's idea in his system is having an advantage in the central position of the field playing, if you control this area, Morocco tries to attack through their wingers not from a central position!
That's the important part about their tactics. Ziyech and Amrabat are pretty fast and are very technical. Same goes for Belhanda, had the opportunity to watch is games when he played for Schalke, he is a great player, but inconstant. If you make pressure, if Ashkan ya Karimi have an eye on him we can take the wingers out. Belhanda is crucial, Ziyech and Amrabat get their passing usually from Belhanda. If Renard realizes Belhanda can't reach them, usually he send's Boussoufa to assist him. That means we have room and we can neutralize their midfield and destabilize Renard's system. Ziyech and Amrabat need to assist them too and Morocco will switch again to a 4-5-1 formation. The good part about them is, both Ziyech and Amrabat are attacking players, assisting the LB and RB will cost them much power and speed and they have deficits in defending.

Morocco's strengh:

+ Having fast wingers
+ Having a great OM player like Belhanda
+ Solid defence a great CB with Benatia
+ They know how to defend and they are quite defensive usually

Morocco's weakness

- Switching permanently the formation cost's much power
- Benatia is slow, he will have trouble with Azmoun or Saman, he had these issues in the Bundesliga
- Ziyech and Amrabat are too offensive
- The GK of Morocco is shaky

What's Iran's goal for the game?

Take out Morocco's midfield, try to neutralize the CM, Morocco needs to run for their system, we need to focus on the Wingers, if they're getting tired this can be our opportunity.
Don't park the bus permanently, if Morocco get's the opportunity to attack, we will get into trouble, both Ziyech and Amrabat are fucking dangerous, don't let them play their game.
If Morocco have to run permanently into counterattacks they will have big troubles.
Iran should not try it with crosses, Benatia is pretty good in the air, but shaky if you use your speed against him, Sardar time to shine!

FORMATION

                         Beiranvand
Ramin        Agha Jalal        Pouraliganji     Milad
-------------Karimi                  Ashkan
ARJ                         Saman                   Taremi
---------------------------Sardar

I would suggest we also play the 4-5-1 formation when we defend with two main "teams", that means our defence + Karimi, Ashkan are "one team" which try to make pressure in the CM-position Saman, ARJ, Taremi try to use the free space and pass to Sardar or try it with range shots, they build our "attacking team".

[Leicester City]

They have 5 star skill moves where as at best we only have 3/4 stars :/

[inarsenewetrust]

Morocco's strength is in the wingers and attacking midfielders. Thankfully we have mild who is a top class fullback, and rain who is very fast and physical too. Also our two fullbacks can push their wingers back because of their strengths on offense. Overall our fullbacks will be key, our CB's on the other hand will not a have a top striker to deal with ( guy plays for relegation level turkish team). So they will need to focus on building our play quick out of the back. Sardar against benatia is another big matchup, where I fancy sardar with his pace.

[OFFSIDE_1]

it all comes down to the Morocco game. If we somehow manage to come away with 3 points, we should then turn around and park the bus against both Spain and Portugal, play a tight game and wear them down much like we did against Argentina

[AIrani]

There are over 160 countries which are NOT in this WC. I am HAPPY Iran will be in this World Cup.

As CQ mentioned, playing against any top ranked teams is worth $2,000,000. Our players, especially young ones will cherish the opportunity.

Anything is possible, and I wish the best for our team

[alireza0101]

Yes Luck to Sweden to the World Cup. Not good organization and a good coach, it was all luck thats why we kicked out Both Holland and Italy from the World Cup. Yes Luck. Two big nations kicked out because of Luck.

They also beat us because of Luck not too long ago.
Wonderful opportunity to test ourselves against the best. I am just enjoying this and look forward to the next years to come, with World Cup in Qatar which is in our neck of the woods surely we will make 3 consecutive world cups.
Bring it on.