Technically, what are some of the shortcomings of an average Iranian player?

[somebuffguy]

Technically, our players often lack a good touch and sharp decision making when in the final third. Additionally, they can dribble too much or rather, not be able to use a basic move to get past their defenders at times.

However, OVERALL, i'd say our biggest weakness is stamina and sprint speed.

I’ll never forget when we played Mexico in 2006. We were right there in the game the whole time and playing so well. Then in the 72nd minute and on, it felt like our players were just done. I mean, just out of breath and unable to run to save their own life. I feel like since 2006 that’s been our biggest improvement- player stamina. Physically we can keep up, players need to be exposed to better teams to play. Like if we could play European teams as warm ups, we could find ourselves in the final 4 of the World Cup in less than a decade

[somebuffguy]

I don't think there can be a worse upbringing than that of the average American child (in particular the West Coast and arguably to a far lesser extent on the East Coast) in the first/second world (for a lack of a better term)

What exactly makes the west coast prone to raising bad kids? Good weather?

[oracle]

I’ll never forget when we played Mexico in 2006. We were right there in the game the whole time and playing so well. Then in the 72nd minute and on, it felt like our players were just done. I mean, just out of breath and unable to run to save their own life. I feel like since 2006 that’s been our biggest improvement- player stamina. Physically we can keep up, players need to be exposed to better teams to play. Like if we could play European teams as warm ups, we could find ourselves in the final 4 of the World Cup in less than a decade

just any friendly will do
we dont play any
if asia do what europedone with nation cup
we be playing likes of japan australia s.k qatar ksa all the time but we cant even schedule against oman or tajikstan ,dont neccesserly have to be friendly against europe heck afghanistan o turkamenstan will do lets just do.

[BacheLot]

Too stationary without the ball. Gol-kochik and Futsal do not offer the kind of space available on a regular field. Must grow up playing on the big field to learn passing and getting open.

Bingo ..!!
most iranians footballers (especially so at Amature levels..!) are simply horrible at Proper movement on the pitch W/O the Ball..!! Making themselves Available as an Easy Target for a Quick Pass, making sensible passing triangles and in General playing the so called Tiki taka visionary and clever team football and one touch, quick and sensible passing ..!

following are the biggest contributors to the above WEAKNESS..!:

Mostly olaaghish First Touch, molesting the ball too much before releasing a simple pass to a open teammate
Limited Vision; Sarpayeeni playing habits and general lack of Full Pitch awareness
Slow registering Positional sense
Avg @ best Passing Technique; the weight of the pass and accurate placement of passes so teammate doesnt have to break strides to receive it and distribute it to others.

[ParthianDE]

So if we draw a Venn diagram with a union of all the stated deficiencies in this thread, we would get that Iranian footballers have every conceivable weakness known and are certainly the worst players in the world.

[AliDaeiNumber1Fan]

What exactly makes the west coast prone to raising bad kids? Good weather?

Mental people on the streets instead of in asylums, guns in the back pocket of every SF/LA flat cap wearing hillbilly, cities that are 90% motorway, visible hard drug use on the streets (above all in SF, to which I've never gone to without seeing someone wanking on the streets), general lack of security necessitating gated communities, non existent public transport, food is even worse than the UK which really is an achievement, an education that's geared towards selling oneself and only that resulting in an overwhelmingly obnoxious attitude and lack of deep insight that you would commonly see amongst recruiters, salesmen and account managers...

honestly I could go on but as soon as you get away from the beach front it just gets progressively more fucked until you get to something like Merced or Bakersfield which I consider to be micro 3rd world countries inside what's supposed to be the richest country in the world

[AliDaeiNumber1Fan]

Bingo ..!!
most iranians footballers (especially so at Amature levels..!) are simply horrible at Proper movement on the pitch W/O the Ball..!! Making themselves Available as an Easy Target for a Quick Pass, making sensible passing triangles and in General playing the so called Tiki taka visionary and clever team football and one touch, quick and sensible passing ..!

following are the biggest contributors to the above WEAKNESS..!:

Mostly olaaghish First Touch, molesting the ball too much before releasing a simple pass to a open teammate
Limited Vision; Sarpayeeni playing habits and general lack of Full Pitch awareness
Slow registering Positional sense
Avg @ best Passing Technique; the weight of the pass and accurate placement of passes so teammate doesnt have to break strides to receive it and distribute it to others.

I play football with what's basically qasre shirin fc of manchester on a weekly basis and what you've described couldn't have recreated that scene more accurately... using only 50% of the width of the pitch, trying to skill everyone when a simple pass will do it, absolutely cunting a through ball instead of trying to weight it XD

[dida]

I've been following team Melli since late 60's...We still can't pass, shoot, one touch pass or a string a few passes (except in mid 70's)..It's in our DNA.

[PSGman#19]

I've been following team Melli since late 60's...We still can't pass, shoot, one touch pass or a string a few passes (except in mid 70's)..It's in our DNA.

That's why I want our players to go to Europe as much and as soon as possible

[AliDaeiNumber1Fan]

I've been following team Melli since late 60's...We still can't pass, shoot, one touch pass or a string a few passes (except in mid 70's)..It's in our DNA.

and we all know how that was fucked up ffs... now we're actually gaining some relative consistency and progression I hope we don't shoot ourselves in the foot again because in the context of modern Iranian society 3 world cups back to back is a huge achievement

[ParthianDE]

Over the years following Iranian football, I notice the following:

Too many touches, not enough one touch passing and goal shots.

Too few players that can provide quality pin-point long passes. We had Bagheri in the past and Ezzatollahi and surprisingly Sardar Azmoun today. But Iran doesn't produce enough players with these skills. Part of that is technical, part of it is vision of the the passer and part of it is the the off the ball movement of players to be worthwhile targets.

Too many unnecessary close battles, when a simple pass could do. Part of it may be the wrestling background. This is actually a plus defensively where Iranians actually tend to be naturally quite strong despite what many on this forum wrongly claim over and over again. But on offense it's annoying. Unnecessarily taking on players while going forward on offense, leads to unnecessary turnovers, game slow down (and thus destroys the ability to exploit quick openings) and finally saps energy needlessly, causing fatigue in the later parts of the game. Pass the damn ball!

Not using enough triangles, let alone overlapping triangles. This is opposed to simple give and takes which Iranian player actually tend to be good at.

Not producing enough master freekick and corner takers. This weighing and bending the ball just right is the type of skill the requires autistic type of dedication over long periods of time to develop and probably too boring for a very social culture.

Finally, lack of precision on assists coupled with heroic last ditch efforts of the player trying to score the goal. This is actually one of my biggest per peeves. It often leads to injuries and again causes fatigue. In contrast, I always notice how many more "clean" effortless looking goals are scored in Europe.

All of the above are generalizations of course. Thank God, all of them are fixable and are being fixed thanks to more good (and larger) pitches made available to more youngsters instead of just neighboorhood backalley type of pick up games. Finally when it comes to TM, thank to Iran being a populous country, on the national level there are mostly enough good players in each position, but not always. Currently and ever since the Nekounam-Teymourian duo era ended, we lack a strong midfield.