Do we have the worst preparations for the World Cup?

[The]

I dont think most people are worried about humiliation...we have had much much tougher groups and not been humiliated.

Its more a sense of impending regret that we have a very visible route to RO16 with a solid preparation plan and fixing a few key positions (which will require friendly games/camps to do properly), but will likely come up short just because the preparation was so bad.

I cant believe how far the standard has slipped from the prep we had with CQ in 2018 (which btw still wasnt enough, i am sure if we had one friendly vs a "top" side the issues the boys had starting the games vs spain and portugal, finishing their chances would have been mitigated to a large extent).

Objectively the best possible prep for morocco game was algeria, tunisia, and it paid dividends as we won that critical game. The russia game was very good for highlighting physical weaknesses of certain players, and the venezuela/panama/bolivia games were all of a solid level to help our team with having more of the ball and also testing domestic guys (particularly some of the defenders like Majid) vs international opposition / getting them bedded in.

Still, a game vs a team like Croatia or Belgium would have made all the difference vs spain/portugal.

Which brings up the point of our current situation. the US match is our morocco match. We HAVE to win that game. To prepare its very clear we need to play Canada - a team stylistically similar to the US in many ways. They want to play us and diplomatically wouldnt have too much trouble hosting the game or even coming to tehran. How hard it is to get it sorted is really incredible. As for the other games, people bring up issue of no EU teams being available which is true but african sides still provide a solid option to test out our suspect defense vs speed and physicality - also no movement on that front.

Ultimately the results, bar a miracle, will reflect preparation to a large extent. Especially in the current situation that NTs didnt play with each other for an extended period of time due to covid, we missed all possible friendly dates, had legionairres going in for camps for just a couple days, etc. We had our best performance ever in the previous WC, and what is telling is that we had one of our best prep plans. Now we have one of worst...And the expectation is that we can get to RO16 this time? Prepare for dissapointment unless something happens soon.

Last world Cup wasn't easy, but the group wasn't that difficult either. This England team is better than both Portugal and Spain at the last world Cup. Both those teams got eliminated in the round of 16 (England made it to the semis). Spain had just fired their head coach few weeks before facing Iran, and Portugal under Santos is one of more inconsistent top 10 teams in the world.

Considering our backline and coach, a blowout against England isn't out of the realm of possibility even if we had decent friendlies, and without decent friendlies it's seeming more and more like a possibility.

Plenty of individually talented teams end up having disastrous WC campaigns (Poland last WC for example), so it's not crazy to think that's a possibility with Iran considering that the most difficult opponent we've faced in the last 3 years was South Korea and half of our team have no experience playing against top quality organized fast paced teams.

[Medzdidz]

I wonder who won the fight to get that shirt in the picture. Is that how tight things are 😂

[mehdi13]

TM preparation so far:

- Skocic photo with Eto’o
- Skocic photo with Dalic
- “I am Croatian”
- Dr. Raessi’s blessing
- Skocic month-long vacation

[Nokhodi]

Last world Cup wasn't easy, but the group wasn't that difficult either. This England team is better than both Portugal and Spain at the last world Cup. Both those teams got eliminated in the round of 16 (England made it to the semis). Spain had just fired their head coach few weeks before facing Iran, and Portugal under Santos is one of more inconsistent top 10 teams in the world.

Considering our backline and coach, a blowout against England isn't out of the realm of possibility even if we had decent friendlies, and without decent friendlies it's seeming more and more like a possibility.

Plenty of individually talented teams end up having disastrous WC campaigns (Poland last WC for example), so it's not crazy to think that's a possibility with Iran considering that the most difficult opponent we've faced in the last 3 years was South Korea and half of our team have no experience playing against top quality organized fast paced teams.

Poland has always been overhyped since 2002. There is a reason Lewa so much less impactful on the international stage.


As for World Cup 2018, I sincerely believe the intensity of every match in our group ruined any chance
Spain or Portugal would have of going far. There wasn’t a single easy game in our group.

Historically teams do well In the World Cup when they start in easy groups.

[somebuffguy]

I dont think most people are worried about humiliation...we have had much much tougher groups and not been humiliated.

Its more a sense of impending regret that we have a very visible route to RO16 with a solid preparation plan and fixing a few key positions (which will require friendly games/camps to do properly), but will likely come up short just because the preparation was so bad.

I cant believe how far the standard has slipped from the prep we had with CQ in 2018 (which btw still wasnt enough, i am sure if we had one friendly vs a "top" side the issues the boys had starting the games vs spain and portugal, finishing their chances would have been mitigated to a large extent).

Objectively the best possible prep for morocco game was algeria, tunisia, and it paid dividends as we won that critical game. The russia game was very good for highlighting physical weaknesses of certain players, and the venezuela/panama/bolivia games were all of a solid level to help our team with having more of the ball and also testing domestic guys (particularly some of the defenders like Majid) vs international opposition / getting them bedded in.

Still, a game vs a team like Croatia or Belgium would have made all the difference vs spain/portugal.

Which brings up the point of our current situation. the US match is our morocco match. We HAVE to win that game. To prepare its very clear we need to play Canada - a team stylistically similar to the US in many ways. They want to play us and diplomatically wouldnt have too much trouble hosting the game or even coming to tehran. How hard it is to get it sorted is really incredible. As for the other games, people bring up issue of no EU teams being available which is true but african sides still provide a solid option to test out our suspect defense vs speed and physicality - also no movement on that front.

Ultimately the results, bar a miracle, will reflect preparation to a large extent. Especially in the current situation that NTs didnt play with each other for an extended period of time due to covid, we missed all possible friendly dates, had legionairres going in for camps for just a couple days, etc. We had our best performance ever in the previous WC, and what is telling is that we had one of our best prep plans. Now we have one of worst...And the expectation is that we can get to RO16 this time? Prepare for dissapointment unless something happens soon.

Sign the damn nuclear deal. give your money some damn value. get some respect. schedule friendlies.

[Rooyintan]

I dont think most people are worried about humiliation...we have had much much tougher groups and not been humiliated.
Its more a sense of impending regret that we have a very visible route to RO16 with a solid preparation plan and fixing a few key positions (which will require friendly games/camps to do properly), but will likely come up short just because the preparation was so bad.
I cant believe how far the standard has slipped from the prep we had with CQ in 2018 (which btw still wasnt enough, i am sure if we had one friendly vs a "top" side the issues the boys had starting the games vs spain and portugal, finishing their chances would have been mitigated to a large extent).
Objectively the best possible prep for morocco game was algeria, tunisia, and it paid dividends as we won that critical game. The russia game was very good for highlighting physical weaknesses of certain players, and the venezuela/panama/bolivia games were all of a solid level to help our team with having more of the ball and also testing domestic guys (particularly some of the defenders like Majid) vs international opposition / getting them bedded in.
Still, a game vs a team like Croatia or Belgium would have made all the difference vs spain/portugal.
Which brings up the point of our current situation. the US match is our morocco match. We HAVE to win that game. To prepare its very clear we need to play Canada - a team stylistically similar to the US in many ways. They want to play us and diplomatically wouldnt have too much trouble hosting the game or even coming to tehran. How hard it is to get it sorted is really incredible. As for the other games, people bring up issue of no EU teams being available which is true but african sides still provide a solid option to test out our suspect defense vs speed and physicality - also no movement on that front.
Ultimately the results, bar a miracle, will reflect preparation to a large extent. Especially in the current situation that NTs didnt play with each other for an extended period of time due to covid, we missed all possible friendly dates, had legionairres going in for camps for just a couple days, etc. We had our best performance ever in the previous WC, and what is telling is that we had one of our best prep plans. Now we have one of worst...And the expectation is that we can get to RO16 this time? Prepare for dissapointment unless something happens soon.

TM did not play Bolivia before 2018 World Cup it was after for preparation for 2019 Asia Cup.

For World Cup preparation friendlies were: Russia, Turkey, Lithuania (UEFA); Togo, Sierra Leone, Algeria, Tunisia (CAF), Panama (CONCACAF); Venezuela (CONMEBOL); Uzbekistan (AFC).

[DR Strangemoosh]

IFF and Sports Ministry: "Bebin aghayeh Skooch, we don't have time or money for friendlies or camps. We can give you salavat though"

Skocic: "I am Croatian!"

[oracle]

IFF and Sports Ministry: "Bebin aghayeh Skooch, we don't have time or money for friendlies or camps. We can give you salavat though"



Skocic: "I am Croatian!"

i guarantee my second and 3rd game wc salavat threads
we will not lose.
against england i guarantee my salavat thread
will avoid us losing by 6 goals or more.

[Keshwardoost]

i guarantee my second and 3rd game wc salavat threads
we will not lose.
against england i guarantee my salavat thread
will avoid us losing by 6 goals or more.

as long as mcguire starts, we are fine. expect a Taremi goal and hopefuly a ARJ goal aswell.
And hopefully Ghaedi has found his form by then so he can get us a few penalties vs Mcguire.
Also expect a Hajisafi rocker to be dropped in goal by their goalkeeper, they allwayz do atleast one big blunder per world cup
I say a exhiting 4-2 win for TM and riches from the bet placed on the result before the game. this game is for the betters, there will be some good odds

[St_Mark]

i guarantee my second and 3rd game wc salavat threads
we will not lose.
against england i guarantee my salavat thread
will avoid us losing by 6 goals or more.

British might be immune against salavat.
Their Q is a seyedeh of Sadot related to Fatima if you believe Burke's Peerage British historian / genealogical publisher , these Mofu will claims anything.
Dailymail


-------------------------------------------------------------------
Reality check:
If we play today against US & UK we will lose.

[Kavian]

as long as mcguire starts, we are fine. expect a Taremi goal and hopefuly a ARJ goal aswell.
And hopefully Ghaedi has found his form by then so he can get us a few penalties vs Mcguire.
Also expect a Hajisafi rocker to be dropped in goal by their goalkeeper, they allwayz do atleast one big blunder per world cup
I say a exhiting 4-2 win for TM and riches from the bet placed on the result before the game. this game is for the betters, there will be some good odds

McGuire and Azmoun do look alike !!!

[DR Strangemoosh]

Salavat and "I am Croatian" might be enough for some, but if we can only arrange friendlies against Somali Pirates and Aftabeh-Sazieh Qom then at least we need to try some new players in key positions. Noorafkan is going to get absolutely violated by Sterling.

[Rooyintan]

During the past few days I've been thinking that Iran throughout its Football history did not establish warm relations with other Football Federations so can consistently play "A" International friendly matches.

In the 1940s-1950s Afghanistan played TM but then stopped. From 1950s-1970s Turkey and Pakistan regularly played TM in RCD Cup. Hungary and Romania from 1975 to 1977 were becoming TM's regular friendly match opponents but then few years after that revolution happend.

Since the revolution, China, Kuwait, South Korea, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Uzbekistan, Syria, Jordan, Qatar, Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon were TM's main friendly opponents in friendly matches and friendly tournaments such as WAFF cup. In the 1990s, Turkmenistan and Canada played TM several times and were almost becoming regular match opponents but then it stopped. TM has played Venezuela, Angola, Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Ecuador, Belarus, Russia, Croatia, Montenegro, Costa Rica, Trinidad, Jamaica, Kenya, Panama, Mexico, Tunisia, Togo, Cameroon 3 or 2 times in friendly matches, however none became regular friendly match opponents.
Generally European teams look at non-UEFA national teams with contempt.

Throughout history likes of Australia, NZ, Canada, Arab Teams, Japan, Korea suffered just like Iran. However, they had alternatives for regular friendly matches.

Australia, NZ, Canada, South Africa, Rhodesia (ie. Zimbabwe) would play each other regularly. Later from the 70s onwards Australia would play low ranked European teams regularly such as Greece. Also played South American teams, something that Japan and South Korea have done as well, those two also would play CONCACAF teams regularly.

Arab teams from AFC benefited from playing Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia regularly. Iraq also had Poland and East Germany as regular friendly match opponent in the 1970s and 1980s.

It is time for Iran to start seriously considering CONCACAF, CONMEBOL and CAF teams as regular match opponents. FFIRI needs to build on past experience and improve ties with likes of Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad, Jamaica and maybe start looking at Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador as potential regular match opponents.

For CONMEBOL, build on past experience and improve ties with likes of Venezuela, Ecuador, Chile and maybe start looking at Paraguay, Peru and possibly Uruguay and Colombia as potential regular match opponents.

For CAF, build on past experience and improve ties with likes of Tunisia, Angola, Togo and maybe start looking at Mali, Guinea, DR Congo, Algeria, Senegal and possibly Ghana, Nigeria Cameroon, South Africa, Ivory Coast as potential regular match opponents.

For AFC, it would be vital to start CAFA Cup asap to be played at least every two years. Regular games with Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan would be good test, also matches with Tajikistan and Afghanistan who share language and culture with Iran would improve cooperation and friendship between the three countries, also it will help them to improve their own teams' quality. It would be good for TM to play strong teams in friendly matches such as Japan and Australia whom hardly faces. Honestly fans are getting tired of TM playing likes of China, Qatar, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, South Korea in friendly matches same old same old.
TM needs some fresh approach to friendly matches.

[Leicester City]

Players not happy with World Cup preparations

[taremiscores]