Friendly: Bosnia and Herzegovina - Iran; Info, Updates and Live Reports (12.11.2020)

[Keano]

My man of the match: ESPN commentator How the hell does he know Farsi and what Shoja means?

Obviously he did his homework on Iran and I was surprised and impressed with his vast knowledge of Iranian football. (Also he was kind of being partial towards Iran which I loved!)

Are there any highlights of the match by ESPN?

[Leicester City]

Are there any highlights of the match by ESPN?

For highlights, not that I am aware of.

They do have a replay of the full match on their site provided access to through your cable provider/accessible through a college or university network amongst a few ways: https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/...5-5f33c66c3d4e

[Futbaldoost]

Again, overall good match yet one other observation was the passing accuracy. It was 285 out of 412 or 69%. That's low. You could also sense many bad passes by watching yet the stats support the viewing observation. As others said, Ehsan is done. I am not sure why he gets invited. I appreciate all the hard work he has done in the past yet its time to move on.

Go TM!

[BacheLot]

But BL jaan, in all fairness, we can't compare a friendly match to an official World Cup match. Mind you prior to 2014 infamous loss, we had encountered Bosnia 5 times, with 4 wins and a draw, and then all of a sudden after all those fancy victories, we were beaten by them where it really mattered (World Cup) Also keep in mind in that game we HAD TO win the game in order to qualify. So our arrangement for Bosnia match was almost offensive (Although I do agree that with Argentina we also played quite offensive, not sure if it was momentums or CQ's game plan)

Anyhow we played quite impressively. Our defense was almost as flawless as CQ's team, while midfield and offense lines also were pretty good. We need to keep in mind that this was almost Team Melli B. Kudos to the boys as well as Skocic.

indeed big difference between the intensity levels of a WC game and a friendly with mostly experimental squads ..!
im just saying sometimes you gotta recognize the more superior opponent (especially offensively as Bosnians were back in 2014) and approach your game with them with one that is most probable to yield an ultimate positive result, which was often the strength of CQ's coaching anyways..!! sure we needed a win to advance outa group but we didnt really need to open ourselves up so soon in the game and try to play an uncharacteristically attacking tactic, especially considering the ton of defensive players he had taken along with to WC14...! he made a somewhat similar mistake vs Japan in Semifinal of AC..! both backfired on us..! I think had we played a similarly defensively resilient mostly defensive and counter attacking tactic like the argentine game prior, and left risky offensive play till later on in 2nd half, we had a far better chance of yielding a positive final outcome..! but chances of winning that game were slim regardless of approach as that Bosnian squad somewhat similar to Argentina's were stacked with top eu talents almost all over the pitch ..!

i think much of today's good display vs Bosnia came down to excellent analyzing of the opponent by dragan and coming up with good game formation and tactics to counter them..!
playing 5 back and the High Press gave much trouble to bosnians today and they really couldnt get shitt going against us today with their starters and subs ..! sure they were missing some key players but so were we..! and sure they seemed to be more experimental than us, especially in the deciding 2nd half, with more subs than us and that early on ... but still we had a good game plan to neutralize them and it showed throughout and reflected in final outcome..!

[Roozbeh-G2006]

This is what the coach siad:

وی ادامه داد: بوسنی تیم با کیفیتی است که می*داند مقابل حریفش چگونه بازی کند.متاسف هستم که این تیم مقابل ایران شکست خورد ولی مطمئن هستم سطح تیم ملی این کشور خیلی فراتر است.

Obviously he thinks Bosnia is a superior team and this is a surprise result. Unless it is poorly translated.

[TM4LIFE]

My man of the match: ESPN commentator How the hell does he know Farsi and what Shoja means?

Obviously he did his homework on Iran and I was surprised and impressed with his vast knowledge of Iranian football. (Also he was kind of being partial towards Iran which I loved!)

Is there any way to leave feedback for him? Would definitely want to give him credit for that! He must've had a pep talk from one of you all before the match

[O-ZoNe]

We really missed Masoud today!!! Lol jk. With all due respect to Shojaei the last few years having him on the pitch was equivalent to being a man down! Looks like Dragan is moving away from him...likely Hajsafis time is done too..

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[kapenak]

Well. I have to be honest, that was not what I was expecting from the game. Not that I thought we were going to get thrashed or anything, but I was not expecting a resounding 2-0 win in style. Bosnia is a very good team with world-class level players. For us to field the team we did, play the way we did, and get the result we did is a big statement and makes me very hopeful of not only qualifying for the WC, but having a very good one at that. Obviously, we have to take it all with a grain of salt given the friendly nature of the game, but still. Take nothing away from this win, it was a very valuable one. It increases the players' trust in the coach. It brings our swag back. It makes us believe again.

A couple notes:
- I think this game showed that Gholizadeh is a must starter going forward. For me this is a no-brainer. He didn't even have his greatest game today. But he is by far our most creative and explosive player, and will be key to breaking down defenses. I don't care if ARJ has to get benched. If it's for the better of TM, then it has to be done.
- Welcome back Saeed. Him coming into the game gave me a calming feeling, and it looked like it was the same for the players. Any time we had the ball in the midfield, players were looking to give him the ball. He won challenges. He controlled the pace. He solidified the midfield. IMO, having Saeed healthy and in good-form is the most important thing for TM. He is truly our only irreplaceable player, and takes our game to another level.
- Going forward, Kaveh and Mehdi Ghaedi should be playing major roles in the team. I can't see either one starting just yet, just too much competition. But they can be used as super subs, and they can deliver. Both scored exceptional goals today. And what a way for Ghaei to introduce himself to TM. This kid is here to stay, and will be a big part of our team for years to come.


Again, great win. To follow our win again Uzbekistan by this will do us a world of good, and really lift spirits.

[milad_b]

I think we should wait and see how we play in next 3 friendly games then see the difference. Cuz as of right now im not that impressed with the game plan. Not trying down grade bosnia but Bosnia has been piss poor in their 2020 games. 4 Loss - 2 Draws out of 6 games. and 6 loss out of 9 games.

If you remember we also did great with Wilmots in our friendly games.

I guess we have to wait and see how we play in our future friendly games.

My take on this game is:
A. The team is really starting to believe in Skokic! This is a big difference to when Wilmots was the manager. This gives me hope that we will qualify for the WC.
B. Our attacking has much depth! He basically won with our B squad attackers.
C. Defense is still sharp and has more depth with Shoja in the fold now!
D. Midfield is the weakness of the team currently. Hajsafi needs to be a bench player. Saeed needs more playing time to improve fitness.

[diz]

An overlooked conclusion from today's match:

Sanjabak >>> Nike

[Iranianarsenal11]

For highlights, not that I am aware of.

They do have a replay of the full match on their site provided access to through your cable provider/accessible through a college or university network amongst a few ways: https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/...5-5f33c66c3d4e

Rezayee Coffee Man this commentary is golden!

[Futbaldoost]

^ He had done his homework on our TM, players and clubs yet he got the first and last names mixed up! He was much better than many of the arrogant sportscasters we have on this side of the ocean who mix sports and politics in amateurish fashion when it comes to Iran.

Go TM!

[rdwrrr]

happy for Ezzatolahi, we really need him in the middle. With Ezzatolahi, I feel confident going through the qualifications.

Time for Ansarifard and Hajsafi to retire.

Sardar, Taremi, Kaveh and Ghaedi will be our forwards.
Jahanbakhsh, Gholizadeh, Saman and Amiri look to the wings.
Back four should be Mohamadi, Moharami, with PAG and Khalilzadeh in the middle.
Midfield is up for grabs. I think Ezatollahi should be set, who is he going to partner with?

[Prowess]

2-0 is a very good result for our B side against a team like Bosnia. We won’t know how things will pan out until the WCQ matches (higher intensity, more seriousness). But I did notice our team today had a strong intent to play short passes and build up after stealing the ball from the opponent in our own box.
I don’t remember during CQ’s era we did that too much, which was good to see. It’s a riskier tactic, but would really elevate our team if we’re able to do it with better competence.
If only we could get more friendlies against quality teams.

[Keano]

Not that it should really matter, nor should we really care about, but I was wondering how this convincing win would affect our FIFA ranking!?


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