the moroccan iran match, from a moroccan point of view

[Saam]

I just watched Morocco-Slovakia highlights. Good game. Nice goals. I am looking forward to the match. My observations from this game are that morocco are a lot more in sync than our boys, They press well up high, but they can be scored on and we have more than enough firepower to score on Morocco. The thing with Carlos Queiroz is that he never shows his cards. I have been a die hard fan of TM for decades and I honestly don't know who is going to play in our Morocco game. 50% of the lineup is unknown to me. I can only say that azmoun, jahanbakhsh, milad, hajsafi ashkan will play. I do not know who our cb duo will be, I am not sure who our rb will be. Not sure who our DM will be. Not sure who our LW or gk is going to be. GK is either beiranvand or abedzadeh.

Probably Ahmadreza Abedzadeh, eagle of Asia. He has always been one of Asia's best goalies.

[bozghaleh]

I just watched Morocco-Slovakia highlights. Good game. Nice goals. I am looking forward to the match. My observations from this game are that morocco are a lot more in sync than our boys, They press well up high, but they can be scored on and we have more than enough firepower to score on Morocco. The thing with Carlos Queiroz is that he never shows his cards. I have been a die hard fan of TM for decades and I honestly don't know who is going to play in our Morocco game. 50% of the lineup is unknown to me. I can only say that azmoun, jahanbakhsh, milad, hajsafi ashkan will play. I do not know who our cb duo will be, I am not sure who our rb will be. Not sure who our DM will be. Not sure who our LW or gk is going to be. GK is either beiranvand or abedzadeh.

This is what a lot of us are scared about. After years of playing one system, since the qualifiers, it's been experiment after failed experiment. Maybe this is all due to Ezzi missing the first game, but at this point we don't even know if we will be playing offensively or defensively in this first match, who will defend (if we can defend), and if we can feed the ball to our forwards. We just have to trust that Querioz knows what he's doing (he usually does), and that he stays to the Asian cup, AND hope to Allah that Branko never comes back.

[Kavian]

Some of you folks are speculating too much!! ..

The fact remains that both Iran and Morocco are coming to this tournament with strong teams.

Morocco, perhaps has had a better preparation starting from their participation at home in the African Nations Cup earlier this year, which they proudly lifted the trophy for, as well as subsequent preparation camps, and numerous friendlies against quality sides. Moroccan players bring a strong European experience which makes this team, in my opinion "the best" Morocco has ever produced. So, expectations are fairly high for this team. Rightfully so..

Iran on the other hand has not had a comprehensive preparation in comparison to Morocco. However, Iran is coming to this world cup leveraging a number of positive factors; first and foremost, the team posses a strong spirit and fighting mentality -some of it perhaps motivated by the political climate currently surrounding Iran with all the economic sanctions. Some of Iran's friendlies were cancelled because of the sanctions. Although Iranian team realizes they may not go too far but they are determined to make a mark on the world stage. Secondly, Iran domestic top league has enjoyed a relatively successful season this past year, with 2 club teams still remaining in the later stages of Asian Champions League and producing an abundance of quality players, and Third, and may be the most important, is the overarching transition that started 4-5 years ago, seeing a new generation of footballers coming into the stage, some of whom have made inroads into European teams and have enjoyed a fair amount of success (example is Jahanbakhsh crowned as the top scorer in Netherland top flight league this year). Iran team is one of youngest in the tournament and it includes fresh blood allowing the coach to have a wide selection and options in different skills and tactics.

With the above said, I think beside the whiteboard strategy and tactics, and how the two teams compare on paper, what will determine the outcome of Iran vs Morocco game, is the dynamics and mind set of players, on that game day of June 15/2018. When the players line up in the change room's hallway waiting for the official's signal to enter the field, you can read into their faces who has more confidence and who will come out victorious.

I am anxiously waiting ... I hope to watch a clean and enjoyable football game by two strong sides, regardless of who wins.

[AIrani]

Welcome. Ahlan wa Sahlan.

May a team with great desire and ambition win without grass rolling and time waste which is specialty of Saudi Arabia.

Let the games start. We are ready.

[bozghaleh]

In Morocco, an Imported Team for the World Cup
NYTimes article on Moroccan Legionaries and difficulty of assimilating multiple languages/backgrounds. Hopefully this causes lack of cohesion!
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/s...T.nav=top-news

17/23 players born outside Morocco, must be a record!

[Saam]

Some of you folks are speculating too much!! ..
The fact remains that both Iran and Morocco are coming to this tournament with strong teams.
Morocco, perhaps has had a better preparation starting from their participation at home in the African Nations Cup earlier this year, which they proudly lifted the trophy for, as well as subsequent preparation camps, and numerous friendlies against quality sides. Moroccan players bring a strong European experience which makes this team, in my opinion "the best" Morocco has ever produced. So, expectations are fairly high for this team. Rightfully so..
Iran on the other hand has not had a comprehensive preparation in comparison to Morocco. However, Iran is coming to this world cup leveraging a number of positive factors; first and foremost, the team posses a strong spirit and fighting mentality -some of it perhaps motivated by the political climate currently surrounding Iran with all the economic sanctions. Some of Iran's friendlies were cancelled because of the sanctions. Although Iranian team realizes they may not go too far but they are determined to make a mark on the world stage. Secondly, Iran domestic top league has enjoyed a relatively successful season this past year, with 2 club teams still remaining in the later stages of Asian Champions League and producing an abundance of quality players, and Third, and may be the most important, is the overarching transition that started 4-5 years ago, seeing a new generation of footballers coming into the stage, some of whom have made inroads into European teams and have enjoyed a fair amount of success (example is Jahanbakhsh crowned as the top scorer in Netherland top flight league this year). Iran team is one of youngest in the tournament and it includes fresh blood allowing the coach to have a wide selection and options in different skills and tactics.
With the above said, I think beside the whiteboard strategy and tactics, and how the two teams compare on paper, what will determine the outcome of Iran vs Morocco game, is the dynamics and mind set of players, on that game day of June 15/2018. When the players line up in the change room's hallway waiting for the official's signal to enter the field, you can read into their faces who has more confidence and who will come out victorious.
I am anxiously waiting ... I hope to watch a clean and enjoyable football game by two strong sides, regardless of who wins.

None of the team played in the nations championship. It’s a tournament for African born domestic league players only. So none of their best team actually participated being foreign born and foreign based.

[teammelli91]

Welcome to PFDC my friend!

[teammelli91]

The first match is always the most important.

Spain vs Portugal is going to be one hell of a match. Iran vs Morocco will be a good match as well unless both teams rely on the counter attack which is what I think will end up happening unfortunately. Whoever wins between Iran and Morocco will win 1-0. This is just what I think at the moment due to how sensitive this is for both teams

As you mentioned in your first post dude, Carlos Queiroz is a man full of surprises. Nobody knows nor understands what the hell this great man is thinking. But we all trust him. Or at least the majority do.

In the 2014 World Cup, Carlos started Haghighi in the goal shocking everyone. Haghighi, with the help of our defense kept Iran’s net locked for 180 minutes before Messi broke all of our hearts. He also realized that Heydari not ready to start against any team after his performance vs Nigeria, so he benched him vs Argentina and Bosnia only bringing him on for his technical abilities.

The Bosnians and Nigerians thought Carlos would call up Sardar who was supposed to sign with Arsenal had he went and played in the World Cup. They thought our speedy and dribbler little elf Khalatbari was going to make the final squad but he was cut.

My point is, we don’t know what’s going to happen in terms of specific tactics and formation when it comes to Queiroz. But what we DO know is that he left Jalal Hosseini at home and brought a younger squad to Russia.

So right off the bat when Khalatbari was cut, smart Team Melli fans knew we would defend and solely rely on the counter attack. After attaining a point we played a lot better and more comfortably against Argentina.

This time, we have brought more attacking players and it seems as though he may tell his players to play a more attacking game. But as I’ve said before, you never know what Carlos will do and who will start. This guy will hide everything until the last minute, then shock everyone to throw off the opposing team with his mental games.

Keep in mind that Carlos has coached in Iran for over 7 years now. He reads and understands the Iranian footballer’s mentality on the pitch very well. One of the biggest reasons as to why we are successful is do to the harmony within our team. Whoever brings drama or negativity into our camp will not come back.

He is a very strict head coach and knows that this is Iran’s 5th World Cup with only 1 victory which came against the United States in 1998. So even though he has said he will leave, this is his legacy and the man has proven time after time that he has a lot of pride and he doesn’t want to upset 80 million Iranians.

[AsOen5]

True, Team Melli is going to be the team that reacts. So it's on Morocco to do mistakes or not. Mistakes which Morocco does are far more deadlier then when we do mistakes, since we are going to be a hard defense to break and its not because we have world class defenders, we just have a world class structure/tactic. I guess CQ will play with PAG, Montazeri/Majid.

Cheshmi might even start the first game so he can jump in our defense line when we defend.

People are going to be annoyed that we cant pass good and that we dont have the "control" a la Barcelona. But that would never be an effective win condition!

Our win condition are counter attacks and structured defending and it depends on our enemies mistakes.

[Moroccan Expert]

None of the team played in the nations championship. It’s a tournament for African born domestic league players only. So none of their best team actually participated being foreign born and foreign based.

Actually 2 players in the world cup squad participated, El Kaabi who was top scorer of the competiiton (He might not start though against Iran because Boutaib seems to still be Renard's first choice) and golkeeper Tagnaouti.

[DR Strangemoosh]

[B][SIZE=4]
17/23 players born outside Morocco, must be a record!

Foreign born players per team (prior to Ghoddos joining)


Yes it is a record, we have discussed this before but the consensus was that, if anything, with these teams which are built on foreign-born players, often the sense of love for their parents; country can be even higher. I don't think we can assume anything about how much they gel.

[Saam]

Actually 2 players in the world cup squad participated, El Kaabi who was top scorer of the competiiton (He might not start though against Iran because Boutaib seems to still be Renard's first choice) and golkeeper Tagnaouti.

So I was right that none of your best players participated lol

[Moroccan Expert]

So I was right that none of your best players participated lol

El Kaabi is our best striker in the eyes of everyone who watched him and our other strikers lol. Boutaib started before him in NT so he still beneficiate from that in the eyes of the coach but El Kaabi will be our tp scorer in this WC for sure.

[Under Lahaf]

Welcome to the forum! Always glad to see fans of other national teams joining us for discussions during world cups. Hope both teams entertain and perform far beyond expectations!

[Saam]

El Kaabi is our best striker in the eyes of everyone who watched him and our other strikers lol. Boutaib started before him in NT so he still beneficiate from that in the eyes of the coach but El Kaabi will be our tp scorer in this WC for sure.

Ok ONE good player played. He’s still no match for our cbs Andranik Eskandarian and Yahya Golmohammadi