AFC Asian Cup 2019 Semi Final: Iran - Japan; Info, Updates & Live Reports (28.01.19)

[Galactika]

We are the underdogs

[milad_b]

Referee is Chris Beath !
So far games he has refereed ! I think lebanon players were mad at him . Anyone know why ?

Bahrain – Thailand
Lebanon – North Korea

Next one:
Iran – Japan


Think AFC had few choices to choose from : César Arturo Ramos , Ahmed Al-Kaf , Peter Green , Chris Beath , Ravshan Irmatov and Hettikamkanamge Perera/ Muhammad Taqi .

The most experienced one were Irmatov , César Arturo Ramos , Chris Beath, Muhammad Taqi and Ahmed Al-Kaf. They choose Chris . Lets hope he doesn't repeat what his fellow countryman did to us.

[perspolis#1]

Referee is Chris Beath !
So far games he has refereed ! I think lebanon players were mad at him . Anyone know why ?

Bahrain – Thailand
Lebanon – North Korea

Next one:
Iran – Japan


Think AFC had few choices to choose from : César Arturo Ramos , Ahmed Al-Kaf , Peter Green , Chris Beath , Ravshan Irmatov and Hettikamkanamge Perera/ Muhammad Taqi .

The most experienced one were Irmatov , César Arturo Ramos , Chris Beath, Muhammad Taqi and Ahmed Al-Kaf. They choose Chris . Lets hope he doesn't repeat what his fellow countryman did to us.

Lebanon lost their spot in the R16 to Vietnam over 2 yellow cards that he gave Lebanon(from what I understand deserved).

[eerooni]

This is a an experimental Japan side that is being prepared for the 2022 WC. Japan FA are not really aiming to win the AC as they are preparing the team for the WC. But this is is not the case for Iran. We need this win. CA needs this win and IFF too as this will determine where our football goes next

[Ali Doust]

KIARASH DOOSET DARIM!

[Amin_]

I never understood this "Team x/y is using the AC as preparation for the next WC" thing. There is almost 4 years to the next WC and more than enough time and opportunities to prepare your team. Especially for teams like Japan who easily find top opponents for friendlies and always quite easily make it to the WC.

I refuse to believe that any team would use the biggest tournament after a WC, a tournament that is being held every other 4 years, as a preparation for a WC almost 4 years in the future. It's not as if the AC is being held every 6 months or so.

No, Japan wants to win this thing as much as any other country participating!

[sarbaz]

2-0 iran 🇮🇷

[KasraKhan]

I wonder who will start in Taremi's place. I think it'll be Saman, but could also see Karim or Torabi starting.

[DireStraits]

I wonder who will start in Taremi's place. I think it'll be Saman, but could also see Karim or Torabi starting.

Usually CQ uses Saman as a substitute to ARJ but I also think of him since he is a confident goal scorer. It will be either Torabi or AF. Torabi have scored
against Japan before.

[forzatm]

Iran has been unbeaten in the last 14 games against East Asian teams. 11 wins and 3 ties.

3-0 Indonesia (2014 WCQ)
4-1 Indonesia (2014 WCQ)
1-0 South Korea (2014 WCQ)
1-0 South Korea (2014 WCQ)
2-1 Thailand (2015 ACQ)
3-0 Thailand (2015 ACQ)
1-0 South Korea (2014 Frindly)
1-1 Japan (2015 Friendly)
0-0 China (2018 WCQ)
1-0 South Korea (2018 WCQ)
1-0 China (2018 WCQ)
0-0 South Korea (2018 WCQ)
2-0 Vietnam (2019 AC)
3-0 China (2019 AC)

I never understood this "Team x/y is using the AC as preparation for the next WC" thing. There is almost 4 years to the next WC and more than enough time and opportunities to prepare your team. Especially for teams like Japan who easily find top opponents for friendlies and always quite easily make it to the WC.

I refuse to believe that any team would use the biggest tournament after a WC, a tournament that is being held every other 4 years, as a preparation for a WC almost 4 years in the future. It's not as if the AC is being held every 6 months or so.

No, Japan wants to win this thing as much as any other country participating!

I think they want to win but they are definitely looking at the future when they don't call up old guys like Hasebe who has been one of the top 10 players in Bundesliga based on Kicker's rating.

[KasraKhan]

^ Hasebe is 35 years old.....Okazaki is old, Kagawa is getting old.

Let's put it this way. You can make a strong argument Iran isn't playing with it's full A team either. We are missing:

Ezatollahi (maybe our best and most important player)
Taremi (3 goals this tournament)
Gholizadeh (our most dynamic prospect)
Kaveh Rezaei (one of our most successful legionnaires)
Moharrami (our future starting RB)

[Abedzadeh]

No but he was assistant referee in that game. Always pressure on us.

نکته جالبی درباره داور رقابت ایران مقابل ژاپن وجود دارد که کمی نگران*کننده به نظر می*رسد.
به گزارش خبرگزاری خبرآنلاین؛ کمیته داوران کنفدراسیون فوتبال آسیا، کریستوفر جیمز بث استرالیایی را به عنوان داور دیدار تیم*های ملی فوتبال ایران و ژاپن در مرحله نیمه*نهایی جام ملت*های آسیا انتخاب کرد. این داور استرالیایی تاکنون در جام ملت های ۲۰۱۹، دو مسابقه بحرین مقابل تایلند و لبنان مقابل کره شمالی را سوت زده است و حالا سومین بازی اش را به عنوان داور اصلی مسابقه حساس ایران و ژاپن قضاوت خواهد کرد. او در مرحله یک چهارم نهایی داور ویدئویی مسابقه ویتنام و ژاپن بود و در مرحله یک هشتم نهایی نیز به عنوان کمک داور ذخیره مسابقه ایران و عمان حضور داشت.

اما او داور چهارم بازی ایران مقابل عراق در جام ملت های ۲۰۱۵ هم بود. همان رقابتی که تیم ملی ایران تحت تاثیر سوت های عجیب بنجامین ویلیامز استرالیایی در نهایت مقابل عراق شکست خورد. به نظر می*رسد کابوس قضاوت استرالیایی*ها قرار نیست کارلوس کی*روش و شاگردانش را رها کند.
ایران و ژاپن از ساعت ۱۷:۳۰ روز دوشنبه هفته جاری در مرحله نیمه نهایی جام ملت های آسیا به مصاف یکدیگر خواهند رفت.

I sensed AFC had something up their sleeve. I can't find it, but you can see a picture of this guy beside Ben Williams, with Nekounam in the pre-match photo from the last edition.

Not that we expected professionalism from the AFC, but I hope there wasn't a specific reason why this individual was chosen despite having several other officiating options.

EDIT: The picture is posted on the Instagram page of "artin.zohrabi", it's the second picture.

[persiangodfather]

This will be our toughest challenge yet. Japan is an extremely important team in the world with big history and always having excellent perfromance in the asian cup and other international tournaments. In japan they have facilities and preparations that are similar to those teams inEurope. We will work hard and play for eachother. We are the under dogs

[TM4LIFE]

I expect our lineup to look something like this:

Rezaeian - PAG - Hosseini - Mohammadi
--------------Ebrahimi-------------------
----Dejagah -----------------Amiri------
-AJ-----------------------Ghoddos/Torabi
---------------Azmoun--------------------

Pretty much same as before but with other forwards replacing taremi. It's also possible that Quieroz takes a more conservative approach and puts in Hajsafi in midfield and pushes Amiri up to winger. If that happens though I would be shocked if we created any proper chances from the left hand side.

Missing the first 30 or so minutes of the game because of an exam, hope that when I load up the stream we won't be behind or anything

[sarbaz]

I agree with your lineup except I think Kananizsdeh and Torabi will start