Iran wants to fire Marc Wilmots

[Philosophy_King]

When did we beat African opposition before in a WC?

I think Morocco and USA are the only Teams that TM had defeated in WC.

[Kavian]

The truth is the underlying building blocks of our football did not advance over the past 8 years. Federation is still the same mismanaged place as it used to be, youth programs nothing better, clubs still struggling with basics, league is not really professional in true sense of the word and many many many more..

What happened over the past 8 year was just a coincidence.. We got lucky to get a brilliant coach like CQ who was able to build a good team from bunch of otherwise average to okay football players some of whom were smart to learn well from the master in the process and made a name for themselves others not really going too far... The success was short term and deeply eooted and dependent on one man who is no longer there.

We are back to square one. Our football is still not good enough to naturally produce good national team. Period.

[DR Strangemoosh]

Well even in WC. Scotland match. That team was a very strong euro side that everyone predicted would thrash us.
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True, that Scotland team was a world class side. This was the year before the revolution and we were the invincibles of Asia. The revolution set our football back for decades, let alone all the other effects it has had to the country geopolitically, economically and psychologically over the last four decades.

We had a coach who planted some seeds in poisoned soil and a few sprouted. That's all. Now we are back to the poisoned soil. But at least we had the plants.

At least we had the plants.

[Adesor Vafaseya]

When did we beat African opposition before in a WC?

We did in 80ies/90ies in friendlies, Algeria comes to my mind, but never world cup.

[O-ZoNe]

When did we beat African opposition before in a WC?

Again what is the context. Just before the WC we beat Sierra Leone 4-0. We also beat Mozambique, Madagascar, Angola between 2010-2012. Also early 2000s we beat Kenya, Libya, and Togo if I am not mistaken. To be fair if all you are talking is WC well we haven't played a lot of African sides in WC.

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[DR Strangemoosh]

Again what is the context.

In a world cup...?


Regarding friendlies, Japan just lost 4-1 at home to Venezuela. Does this mean anything? Not really.

T How is it a team can hold a world cup holder or one of the greatest players the game has ever seen then go out and lose points to Lebanon

This happens to every Asian team - Japan, Australia, Korea all have their fair share of "WTF" poor results against weak opposition - sometimes even teames like Maldives.

The difference is:

A) We had less of them over the last decade than the other teams, for the first time since the 70s
B) We are the world's pariah state. Our consistency and discipline happened despite our many problems

[O-ZoNe]

In a world cup...?


Regarding friendlies, Japan just lost 4-1 at home to Venezuela. Does this mean anything? Not really.




This happens to every Asian team - Japan, Australia, Korea all have their fair share of "WTF" poor results against weak opposition - sometimes even teames like Maldives.

The difference is:

A) We had less of them over the last decade than the other teams, for the first time since the 70s
B) We are the world's pariah state. Our consistency and discipline happened despite our many problems

Well 5 wc. We faced our first african team after 98. Whats your point? We have yet to beat an Asian, South American, or European team in WC. Heck if this is a measuring stick then all praise to Talebi...he actually beat our first N. American team. In fact 98 WC was only time we beat a higher ranked team in WC.

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[Philosophy_King]

Again what is the context. Just before the WC we beat Sierra Leone 4-0. We also beat Mozambique, Madagascar, Angola between 2010-2012. Also early 2000s we beat Kenya, Libya, and Togo if I am not mistaken. To be fair if all you are talking is WC well we haven't played a lot of African sides in WC.

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In Friendly games we could also defeat Algeria (that was just recently under CQ, 2-1 scoreline) and i remember us defeating Sambia 3-2 (2008 ?) in Azadi.

[KC McElroy]

We did in 80ies/90ies in friendlies, Algeria comes to my mind, but never world cup.

We beat Algeria 2-1 in 1991 and Ghana 3-0 in 1978, both in the Afro-Asia Cup. The 1978 win was actually achieved by our reserves. I don't think a single player from that lineup made it to the World Cup.

[perspolis#1]

As for IPL I follow Zob religiously for personal reasons I do not wish to share. I also watch big matches like Tehran derby closely. I also have some connections to the Ipl that I do not discuss publicly but can easily prove with photos. Needless to say irrelevant.

Finally...this is my main point. TM regardless of the coach has had a history of playing to our opponents level. No one has ever figured this flaw out. I thought CQ after 8 years had the best chance to do but I feel he was not able to. How is it a team can hold a world cup holder or one of the greatest players the game has ever seen then go out and lose points to Lebanon or even get demolished by Japan? This is a flaw of our football...we don't believe we can do it and we don't support each other in getting better.

But how do we measure what results to pick out and which to ignore? If we go back on Wilmots reign in 10 years do we talk about 14-0 vs Cambodia or the two losses we just suffered? This is where it is subjective. And no I don't think you are necessarily wrong to suggest we could have used changes after 8 years but its CQ's legacy/effect on TM we are debating. Every coach has games they slip up. The important thing is to notice the trends and overall stats. The other day France scraped a win vs Moldova. Spain lost to Switzerland when they won the WC in 2010. Despite poor games vs Bosnia/Iran, Argentina went onto be World cup finalists etc.

There's a lot of differences between Iran and Japan. Japan has had plans in place for 20+ years to fix their football. They have several U23's that could break it into our Team Melli like Takefusa Kubo etc. Normally Team Melli gets by with sheer gheyrat but CQ put in structure with that gheyrat. He did try to make fundamental changes to Iranian football and was blocked at every turn. Without proper ancillary stuff and support from higher up Team Melli's ceiling is limited.

With full respect to the 1978 team, I don't think they were able to put up as good a fight as the 1998/2018 teams did vs world powers. I've seen that Scotland squad yes, but from documentaries I've seen they were(self admittedly) chasing shadows against Peru and the Netherlands. We didn't have that vs Spain and Portugal where players like Sergio Ramos, Carvajal, Diego Costa, and Cristiano Ronaldo were tilted and fuming at how ineffective they were the whole game.

[Adesor Vafaseya]

We beat Algeria 2-1 in 1991 and Ghana 3-0 in 1978, both in the Afro-Asia Cup. The 1978 win was actually achieved by our reserves. I don't think a single player from that lineup made it to the World Cup.

Thanks.

Heshmat Mohajerani had really some guts, even in WCquali78 he used reserved players in away game vs Kuwait, and we still won.
We were truly the King of Asia in the 70ies.

[KC McElroy]

Thanks.
Heshmat Mohajerani had really some guts, even in WCquali78 he used reserved players in away game vs Kuwait, and we still won.
We were truly the King of Asia in the 70ies.

We were just too strong regardless of how you look at it. In the 70s it was just one accomplishment after another: 1972 Asian Championship, 1972 Olympics qualification, 1974 Asian Games, 1976 Olympic quarterfinals, 1976 Asian Championship, 1978 World Cup...
I really wonder what the outcome in the World Cup would have been had Ghelichkhani and Mazloomi been on the roster.

[Adesor Vafaseya]

We were just too strong regardless of how you look at it. I really wonder what the outcome in the World Cup would have been had Ghelichkhani and Mazloomi been on the roster.

True. Also, the trend would have definitely continued into 80ies have we not gone to war with Iraq. The forgotten 80ies generation, Panjali, Bayani brothers, Namjoo Motlagh, Pious, Mohammadkhani (Nasser) (and Nader), etc etc... we could have made it back to back WCs82 and WC86, and maybe even a surprise candidate in WC1990, who knows....?
Well here goes the nostalgic If and Buts again. Losing to Iraq now makes it even worse...

[FutbolGods]

Some would argue that our stunning draw against Scotland in 78 was as big if not bigger then.

Our stunning draw against Scotland in 1978 was at a time when we had the very best football organization and infrastructure in all of Asia. It also came against a vastly overconfident team that fancied itself too good even for Netherlands, and some of them have even admitted they spent the night before the Iran game drinking!

We also beat Ghana with our reserves in that period, but that was at a time when African football hadn't yet been "discovered" by European clubs and practically every player in the Ghana national team played in their domestic league. The Morocco we played in 2016 not only was filled with starters from respected European sides, but was also from a nation with a football infrastructure advanced enough that they've been contending to host the world cup since 1986.

The depressing truth is that almost every footballing country has made great leaps in the last 40 years in terms of investment, management, youth programs and organization, while we haven't even stagnated but regressed in every single area. It honestly wouldn't be as bad if we had simply stagnated!

But you don't know ANY of this, because you haven't lived or worked in Iran the last 40 years. Everything you post is a dead giveaway that you lack perspective not just in football but about the state of things in Iran. Only those with that kind of perspective are able to appreciate what CQ achieved with this team. Between your lack of perspective and your fear of admitting being wrong any attempt to reason with you is a waste of time, aziz. Happy Xboxing.

[O-ZoNe]

But you don't know ANY of this, because you haven't lived or worked in Iran the last 40 years.

Again...false. Personal attack without basis. These types of post remind me of the days police would seek a psychics help to solve crimes. I went to school in Iran, have worked in Iran, got married in Iran Merry Xmas to you too!

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