Well, I guess Kaebi might be suspended for the match against Saudi Arabia... He receieved two yellows in the last round of WCQ matches (his second yellow in the last match of the round), which means his suspension carries over to the next round. According to a "general rule" of FIFA, Kaebi should be suspended for the Saudi Arabia match. However, I wonder if by chance there are particular exceptions to this rule? Why would Daei even bother playing Kaebi, let alone for 90 mins, in our last prep-match before the big day if he wasn't eligible to play? Either Daei isn't aware of the suspension, or Kaebi's case is an exception to the rule... Personally, I'm a little worried with the potential absence of Kaebi, because his speed and experience on the wing are unrivaled. I know G'nejad can do a fine job at RB, but he's not nearly as fast, not nearly as aggressive (for better or worse), and not nearly as solid defensively. We'll see what happens...
Judging from the Saudi fan's point of view, they strongly believe that the 3 points is already in their pocket. I wish their players are also having the same mind-set. Only then we would be able to strike where it hurts, and end their campaign in the very first game, and only have the 2 Korea's to worry about. But thats not gonna happen now, is it?
If (AND ONLY IF) we lost it will not be the end of the world.. btw حـلول مـاه رمـضـان مـبـارک بـاد I don't think all members are athiests.
It seems like he isn't suspended because the Iranian media at least are saying he is almost certainly in the starting line up. It is however possible that they haven't done their research on the matter!
Well, Daei played Kaebi for 90 mins against Azerbaijan, so he was clearly flirting with the potential to use him (start or bench) against Saudi Arabia. For this reason I think that Daei expects Kaebi to play. I also read that IFF has sent a petition to AFC and hopes to get the clearance to play Kaebi.
Well, FIFA sent a warning today about this to all Federations in Asia. Kaebi is not gonna play aginst Saudi Arabia. and the yellow cards still remain with the players in the 4th round. It's Official! I guess Gholam Nejad is the sub. right?
No. Mahdavikia is not invited for the match against Saudi Arabia. Gholamnejad is indeed the alternate RB. He's a solid player that has good vision, provides very good crosses, an is very composed. He's not as strong defensively as Kaebi, however.
I think Rostam was having a side dig at Daei not inviting Mahdavikia. It is still unclear who exactly will play and there are rumours that Nosrati will be playing too because of his superior speed to most other defenders in order to cover Qahtani (the suggestions are that he will unfortunately play for 90 minutes!) If Nosrati does play, it is unlikely that he would play as a centre back given that Daei has played Hosseini and Aghili together for most practice games. Zare seems to be fixed too, so instead of Gholamnejad, we might see Nosrati at RB.
If in fact Nosrati is going to start against Saudi Arabia, I have no idea where he will play. You would think that Hosseini and Aghili are the established CBs, but if Daei wants Nosrati to hold Qahtani (as the rumor goes), he would play Nosrati at CB... I guess he could play at RB or LB, but that doesn't really explain the Qahtani argument, because such a duty is suited for a CB. I really don't know where Nosrati will play, and to be honest, I'm not entirely convinced that he's going to start at all, haha. The most likely scenario, if you ask me, is that Nosrati will start in Hosseini's place.
Just FYI for my fellow Persian-Americans, this game will be on Fox Soccer Channel (613 DirecTV; 149 Dish Network) tape delayed at 3:00 pm Central time on Saturday. If I'm reading the time right, its only an hour delay. I didn't know they'd be playing at 11 pm Saudi time but whatever...
FT Saudie Arabia 1-1 Iran Very dull game overall. We played horrible until the last half hour ... like usual. Our defence was awful, so was our passing. Some very ordinary situations became dangerous in front of our goal because of a bad pass who looked so simple to make! We missed 2 or 3 very good chances too by making a horrible last pass or a stupid extra-dribble(i'm looking towards Shojaie here). In a positive note our goalie had a very good game. We snatched a point even by playing so bad and the Saudie team looked very average. Ali Daie seems to be the man of the situation, so i'm still confidet for the qualifications and topping our group.
I agree that we played very poorly until the last 30 mins or so. Our players looked petrified throughout the entire first half, and nobody seemed to want the ball. Although we missed a couple of good chances, we were lucky to see the Saudis miss golden chances as well. Rahmati definitely played an excellent match (man of the match, in my opinion). I have to disagree with you, however, on the comment regarding the Saudi team. While they play a very peculiar type of game, the Saudis are quite efficient. They don't look to dominate possession, but rather control the game through counter-attacks and quick passes (especially one-twos). They congest the center of the field while defending, and immediately launch two wing players when they obtain possession of the ball. After they gained the lead, they fell into the trap of allowing us to dictate the game. In order to beat the Saudis, you must slow down the game and control the tempo. In the first-half, the Saudis were really an excellent team. Understand that our inability to play decent ball was due largely to the Saudis' strength. Nonetheless, for whatever reason (fatigue, poor coaching- strategies, subs, etc.), they were a completely different team in the second-half. Credit must be given to Daei and our boys, however, for coming out aggressively in the second-half. The Saudis didn't know how to respond, and it's clear that they really lose momentum once the opposition begins to dictate the game's tempo. What can I say... We're a second-half team! We should be very pleased with a draw in Riyadh . We're still making progress as a team! We beat weak teams like Syria and Kuwait, proved our strength against slightly stronger teams like UAE and Azerbaijan, and now we've shown that we're already capable of keeping up with one of Asia's top teams, away from home. As I said earlier, I think this game was the hardest of the entire group, as I rate Saudi Arabia higher than N.Korea, UAE, and S.Korea.
You did great job today guys. Shojaei was good in the match. Good luck in the coming matches (But not aginst KSA ).
Thanks, man. I don't know if we were "great" at all, but we fought back in the second-half and I'm proud of our boys. Shojaei really did show some skill on the ball, although the kid can't finish . The Saudi team really demonstrated its skill during the first-half of the game. You have a very capable side, although your coach makes questionable decisions, to say the least... UAE should be a breeze for you guys, and S.Korea should be a rather easy task as well, in my honest opinion. I think N.Korea's defensive-minded game may cause some trouble for the Saudis, however.