Thoughts on our performance in the WAFF tournament? Players to be included on the main team (bench or starting lineup)? Here are some of my thoughts: 1) Although he was not particularly sharp today (WAFF final against Jordan), Rezaei has improved steadily in each match and has proven to be very effective. He is both fast and strong, enabling him to continuously beat defenders to the ball and maintain possession. He creates plays, finishes well, draws penalties, covers the entire field, and plays well both in midfield and up front. I don't see how anyone can exclude him in our main team's starting 11. 2) Ohhhh Meidavoodi. The potential is evident. Although he displayed a truly horrific finishing touch throughout the tournament, a complete analysis of his game reveals that he does indeed have great football instinct. He is undoubtedly a smart player, in my mind, which is honestly more important than a finishing touch. You can teach a player to become a stronger finisher, but you simply can't teach innate football instinct. Milad was consistently in the right place at the right time, which is quite impressive. Furthermore, he runs his butt off and he appears to work well with Rezaei. He's still young, so I'm sure with some time and more experience he'll develop a better finishing touch and move into the starting 11. Don't lose hope on this kid! 3) Sadeghi impressed me, although the weak opposition in this tournament can yield deceiving conclusions about our team. Nonetheless, he played quite well, and I've noticed that he plays exponentially better on the wing than he does in central positions. Given Ando's poor form recently, I'm no longer distraught over the thought of starting Sadeghi . 4) I'm not nearly as impressed with Alename as many fans seem to be. Personally, I feel more comfortable starting Shiri at LB, as Alename seems to panic every time he has the ball. Multiple times he tried to boldly dribble his opponents, which is deadly for a player at his position. Shiri was much more confident on the ball, and although he's not as strong as Alename offensively or in the air, I'd take his defensive coolness over Alename at the moment. While I don't hate Zare, as most fans do (undeservedly, in my opinion), I think Shiri deserves a shot at the starting 11. 5) Rahmati is a pretty solid player, and I think he deserves a spot on the bench for our main team. He's not a bad back-up for Nekounam, as they play quite similarly. 6) While Hajsafi has not met the hype, he's still very young. His passes are hardly accurate, both on set-pieces and in action, but he works hard and has displayed moments of brilliance (his goal against Qatar was fantastic). I think he's more effective in a central role than on the wing, due to his poor crosses and his strong shot. I certainly see potential, which is why I would include him on the main team's bench. As for the rest of the players: -Kazemi is not TM material -Both Nouri and Khalatbari have good vision, and at least one of them deserves a spot on the bench. I choose Khalatbari. -Rafkhaei is alright, but I don't know if he's sharp enough for a spot on the main team's bench. I guess it depends on who the alternative is! -Gholamnejad is talented and deserves a spot on the bench. I would probably still start Kaebi simply due to his speed and experience. It seems clear that Daei will start with Gholamnejad, however. -Bengar is not as reliable as Hosseini or Aghili, but I guess he can be used as a sub. My starting 11 for the Saudi Arabia match-up: 4-2-3-1: -------------------Rahmati---------------------- ---Kaebi----Hosseini------Aghili------Shiri----- ------------Sadeghi----Nekounam-------------- ------Rezaei------Shojaei-------Zandi--------- ---------------Hash/Meidavoodi----------------- 4-4-2 (my preferred line-up): -------------------Rahmati---------------------- ---Kaebi----Hosseini------Aghili------Shiri----- ------------------Nekounam-------------------- ------Sadeghi/Kia---------------Zandi------------ -------------------Shojaei----------------------- -------Hash/Meidavoodi-----Rezaei------------
