Did Iran give too much credit to Spain and Portugal?

[GolfePersique]

Having watched both these teams in the round of 16, I feel that we magnified them to an extent that made them unbeatable in our minds.

It just reminded me the words of FIFA president to mahdavikia after the Spain match: you have a good team and played so well after you went down. Why did not you play like this all the time?

I totally understand that we couldn’t let our guards off against the favourites of our group, but with a bit more self belief and confidence we could have gone a lot farther in this competition

I hope this will become a lesson for our futures adventures.

[Tehranto]

Having watched both these teams in the round of 16, I feel that we magnified them to an extent that made them unbeatable in our minds.

It just reminded me the words of FIFA president to mahdavikia after the Spain match: you have a good team and played so well after you went down. Why did not you play like this all the time?

I totally understand that we couldn’t let our guards off against the favourites of our group, but with a bit more self belief and confidence we could have gone a lot farther in this competition

I hope this will become a lesson for our futures adventures.

We have a young team. I think CQ played it perfectly, we were inches away from beating Spain and tying Portugal. The chances were created by CQ's game plan, the players need to finish. Problem is, Taremi (who had both those glorious chances in both games) plays in Qatar. CQ can put these guys in positions to succeed, but they have to succeed themselves.

We played great against both and Russia winning in Penalties or Uruguay (with the best striker duo in the World) does not take away from that.

[shahabGAOL]

Not Spain and Portugal, but Iran really deserved to play against Russia today

Iran's goal against Spain was not even offside it was clear goal of 1:1.

They were partial and wanted to keep Spain and Portugal at the expense of Iran and Morocco

Iran has played so well this was the best World Cup ever

[Philosophy_King]

Not Spain and Portugal, but Iran really deserved to play against Russia today

Iran's goal against Spain was not even offside it was clear goal of 1:1.

They were partial and wanted to keep Spain and Portugal at the expense of Iran and Morocco

Iran has played so well this was the best World Cup ever

Dude how can you claim that? I mean yes it was very close against Portugal
and we COULD HAVE beaten them, but we didnt because we had
to much respect for Spain&Portugal and couldnt create enough danger.
Also keep in mind that we got a debatable Pk against Portugal and an own goal from Marocs.
Honestly from a neutral perspective i think the Marocs are the ones who should
be sad because the were in all three group games the better team (at least
they didnt deserve to loose against us and Portugal.)

[Martin-Reza]

No, Russia and Uruguay did exactly what we did. Just that Russia was playing at home and more lucky with VAR than us, therefore getting a 1-1 instead of a narrow loss like us. And Uruguay have world class strikers which we don't have, hence they could beat Portugal narrowly instead of drawing them, like we did.

[GolfePersique]

Indeed, both Iran and Morocco deserved to qualify from this group.
If it wasn’t for bad refereeing and VAR, this group could have been different.

I look forward to our young team in the next WC, having accumulated 4 years of experience, hopefully not under the care of Branko.

[AllStarMomo]

I dont understand why people are saying we deserved to qualify? Tell me why?

1. No we didnt deserve anything!
2. We played to scared!
3. This was our limit!
4. I am proud what we showed!
5. We have players in Russia but they cant shine!
6. We praise CQ too much!
7. We dont have good agents = no players in Europa!
8. We are too easy to satisfy!
9. No politics arent always to blame! Other countries have the same or worse problems!

[Payam_Ali]

Iran's goal against Spain was not even offside it was clear goal of 1:1.

I think it’s been established that it was offsides

[Zamboor]

I dont understand why people are saying we deserved to qualify? Tell me why?

1. No we didnt deserve anything!
2. We played to scared!
3. This was our limit!
4. I am proud what we showed!
5. We have players in Russia but they cant shine!
6. We praise CQ too much!
7. We dont have good agents = no players in Europa!
8. We are too easy to satisfy!
9. No politics arent always to blame! Other countries have the same or worse problems!

The only country who got the same issues as us in getting friendlies is Israel. No one else.

[Philosophy_King]

With Portugal&Spain been knocked out, koreans defeating Germany,
KSA defeating Egypt, Japan progress to knockout stage and Australia
peforming so well against France, i came to the conclusion
that our game against Argentina in 2014 was our best
peformance under CQ, not just that we play some nice counter attack
and creating chances from a gameflow, we also
did considerably good compared to other asian nations in
that Tournament.

Dejagah was such a beast in that game. Imagin him in his top form from 2014
in our current Team...

[Keyan]

I dont understand why people are saying we deserved to qualify? Tell me why?
1. No we didnt deserve anything!
2. We played to scared!
3. This was our limit!
4. I am proud what we showed!
5. We have players in Russia but they cant shine!
6. We praise CQ too much!
7. We dont have good agents = no players in Europa!
8. We are too easy to satisfy!
9. No politics arent always to blame! Other countries have the same or worse problems!

Because we out played everyone in our group, that is why Momo jan. We out played them and only didn't finish. CQ finally fielded a team that could 'outplay' european champions (this is something no coach has been able to do for Iran on the international stage). Our strategy was even fine, we just didn't finish. Also we could of easily topped the group with a win against Portugal. That's why we praise CQ.

[AllStarMomo]

Because we out played everyone in our group, that is why Momo jan. We out played them and only didn't finish. CQ finally fielded a team that could 'outplay' european champions (this is something no coach has been able to do for Iran on the international stage). Our strategy was even fine, we just didn't finish. Also we could of easily topped the group with a win against Portugal. That's why we praise CQ.

Would like to have a statistic with created goal chances of every Team in our group! Would be interesting.

[Philosophy_King]

Because we out played everyone in our group, that is why Momo jan. We out played them and only didn't finish. CQ finally fielded a team that could 'outplay' european champions. Our strategy was even fine, we just didn't finish. Also we could of easily topped the group with a win against Portugal. That's why we praise CQ.

How did we out play Marocco, Spain and Portugal when they had more
posession and more scoring chances?
How we out play european top teams when we couldnt score
from an open game ?(KSA, Japan, Korea and Australia did)

[sarbaz]

This WC is by far the strangest and toughest WC I have ever seen
In my 47 years on this earth.
Teams seem to have reall trouble scoring against excellent defenses
CQ knew that too well and it shows his ingenious.
I mean look at Spain again today, thier goal was a lucky bounce for them of the Russian
Players leg very similar to thier goal vs. Iran.
This WC could be a case study for coaches 10 years from now

[BacheLot]

We gave bit too much respect to Spain, and played too deep, if any team to me they seemed more susceptible defensively than both Portugal and morocco..!! but also they didnt seem like the sorta of a team to really loose to us..!! but i think we had a chance of tying them too..!
its been discussed way too much before, but fact remains @ WC we were simply Horrid in time of possession and way too subpar in connecting some passes together in order to afford us a bit of rest from a seemingly constant attacking onslaught ..!
We simply must improve, at least slightly on those fronts to have any realistic chance beating a high quality side in a tight match..! otherwise our attacking players are forced with exerting so much energy and stamina on defensive fronts that by the time some decent scoring chances fall at their feet late in the game they simply will be too exhausted to put quality finishing touches on them..!
much of our respectable wc showing this time around, honestly it came down to mostly our players giving it every ounce of energy and effort they had on the pitch..!

to me, watching from the stands, the real issue with our glaring passing deficiencies was mostly LACK OF MOVEMENT WITHOUT THE BALL and our players providing real passing option for whoever was the ball carrier...!! The reason we kept just hoofing it upfield or aimlessly forward on the few occasions we would win the ball back was because there simply wasnt anyone they could pass it to..!!
besides perhaps Ebrahimi, very few of our players had the knack for moving into right spaces for receiving the pass or giving the ball carrier a clear passing lane to get them the ball..!! they just give the ball up to the guy then run behind a bunch of defenders and expect to get some miraculous accurate pass sent to them that eludes all the defensive marks that stood in the way..!!?? just flat stupid ..... really..!

Carlos needs to straighten out that aspect of his TM's play, thats for sure...!! perhaps the improvement needs not be that drastic but we must improve nontheless if we have any sort of a legitimate AC championship desires ..!!