We start off easy, should see a minimum of 6+ GD aggregate score against Maldives in a month. The next two rounds shouldn't be a problem either. Since Saudi Arabia has deteriorated so much we really have no excuses not to make it to the WC this time. Having a world class coach for a change doesn't hurt our chances either. The squad for round 1 against Maldives: Goalkeepers: Mehdi Rahmati, Shahab Gordan, Alireza Haghighi, Misagh Memarzadeh Defenders: Khosro Heydari, Mehrdad Pouladi, Jalal Hosseini, Hadi Aghily, Mohammad Nosrati, Pejman Montazeri, Ehsan Hajsafi, Hossein Mahini Midfielders: Andranik Teymourian, Maziar Zare, Pejman Nouri, Iman Mobali, Ali Karimi, Meysam Baou, Ghasem Hadadifar, Mostafa Seifi, Hamidreza Aliasgari, Milad Zanidpour Strikers: Karim Ansarifard, Mehrdad Oladi, Reza Norouzi, Saeid Daghighi, Hadi Norouzi, Mohammad-Reza Khalatbari, Arash Afshin, Mohammad Ghazi This is what I like to see: -----------------------Rahmati---------------------- ---Mahini-----Hosseini----------Aghili------Hajsafi---- ---------------------Teymourian--------------------- -------Khalatbari-------Karimi--------Noori----------- --------------Ansarifard--------Afshin--------------- With the inclusion of Shojaei, Nekounam, and hopefully Dejagah for the next rounds we should be able to beat the top 3 Asians at home and hold our ground on away games. Looking forward to seeing what CQ has up his sleeve.
Considering both of us didn't make it to the World Cup last year. We're not really each other's biggest problems
Yeah but we hurt each other enough to let a less deserving North Korea slip right past both of us. Had one of us gotten the 6 points from the two games either one would be in South Africa. This time around I'm expecting the full 6 points for us in case we meet again
I really can't predict what the score will be next game simply because Saudi Arabia is in a transitional period right now. We haven't played any games since the AFC Asian Cup and we're expecting major changes in the Saudi NT's lineup. So we have no benchmark to compare against.
When the world cup comes around, especially if we have a decent team free from interference (yep!!!), then it will be quite busy again! In the meanwhile, Aliasghari has been quite impressive. Might feature. I doubt if Karimi gets the starting position.
maybe my post does not belong in this thread, but did you guys see the u23 match against iraq? that player on the right midfield was a rocket!!! i think his name was fahredini or something. not saying he should be called up for the national team immediately or anything but certainly a future prospect. btw hajsafi is a BEAST on the left, but i think all of us already know that. finally a left sided player playing well consistently. hope to see him keep it up! beyond that i dont think things can get much worse than it was during ghotbi era, so with hard work and preparation (a proffesional coach in cq will surely help this cause) we will make it to wc2014, i believe.
Not sure who you are talking about (didn't watch the game) but a lot of people have been talking about an offensive midfielder called Hamidreza Aliasghari (I think). He plays for PP but often is played out of position since there are a lot of good offensive midfielders around. But right now, there are a lot of good young offensive players for the next generation - Hajsafi (if he is again ever played in the correct position), Ansarifard and again I've never seen him play but Afshin is meant to be very good too. Things can only get better - I hope!
actually now that you mention it, aliasgari plays right midfield... i think. that player i mentioned may have been right back. i didnt watch the whole game. but yeah things can only get better, i dont see how it could get any worse really. unless we lose to maldives... lol
I was seriously disappointed by Ansarifard and Afshin, Ansarifard screwed up every chance he got, was definitely expecting more from our most promising striker
honestly imo it seems ansarifard is a tad overrated or maybe the better word is overhyped. not say he is bad by any means, on the contrary. in fact i like him because he has that special touch in finishing that we witnessed during north korea match, not to mention the league games. and surely has the potential to develop into a deadly striker in team melli. it just seems to me that a good amount of people are holding him up on this pedestal and expects a little too much, and i havent seen much (not to that extent anyway) from him in TM that would warrant that. he needs more time and international caps for iran and we will see how it goes i guess. he is very young and still not fully matured.
what a horrible display by youth team. ansarifard was invincible as was arash afshin. the team in general played like crap. the only positive i saw out of this was fahredinis offensive initiatives. i was impressed by this kid. anyway i hope this doesnt disrupt the plans of CQ because what i gather from the PFDC forum is that he was in "supervision" of the u-23. certainly this shit can not be put on his shoulders.
There is the other story that they were told just before the game that they had lost the first leg 3-0 for fielding an ineligible player! Still a horrible game, but arguably more understandable for the younger players. Older players should know better to at least make sure they try their utmost not to lose the game in front of home fans (especially after winning the away leg 1-0) but younger kids... I don't know, it was a disaster as a whole.
OMG!!! !Bob you were right. iran lost to iraq 5-0 on aggregate (first leg in iraq 3-0). they used a player that was previously suspended and thus inelligible to play for iran in the first leg of iran-iraq. on top of it all, the players found out just prior to kick off which obviously crushed their spirit, seeing as how they knew they needed to win 4-0. i guess that explains why our defense was a joke today. LMFAO!!! im sorry, i know this is horrendous sad news for all iranians. but i really didnt know whether to laugh or cry. this IR federation is a GARBAGE (a real understatement) its laughable how incompetent it is yet so sad and pathetic at the same time. im disgusted! tell me friends, am i naive? am i naive to think that even though the intelligence of these clowns are really sub-par they are at least smarter than monkeys? i hope every single person in charge of iff and all their goons that they work for fall of a f*cking cliff and die a nasty agonizing death. im sick of this shit. marg bar IFF! marg bar jomhourie kesafate eslami! what a joke. colossal joke!
i take back what i said earlier. things can get worse. this system, this corrupt cancerous entity that has infiltrated every body and organization of iran has just showed us that today.
This is where the expression "only in Iran" really takes a life of its own! I can't imagine something this stupid happening anywhere else! The incompetence is unfathomable. I am not willing to say this was intentional, but time and time again when I think I have come across stupid people, the likes of IFF put things into perspective.
The whole 5-0 talk sounds like IFF bullshit to me, I haven't read it anywhere official. The AFC clearly says Iran lost 2-1 agg, there's no word about what the IFF claims supposedly happened. http://www.the-afc.com/en/tournaments/men-a-youth/olympic-qualifiers/35413-iran-0-2-iraq
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcmQ2Sf9ISE&feature=feedu"]YouTube - Iran's Olympic Disaster - Postmatch reaction‏[/ame]
So... -We don't know whether it was 3-0 in Iraq or not. -We don't know whose responsibility it was. And regardless of responsibility of the administrative staff, didn't the player know he had 2 yellows? Shouldn't the coach have known? -To top it all, the commentator made mention of the two yellow in the first leg!! No one picked this up?
Painful to watch: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cieh8DiYwP8&feature=player_embedded#at=78"]YouTube - Iran's Olympic Disaster - Interviews‏[/ame]
The asshole smiling at the end is the one to blame. He somehow always finds a reason to smile after every single IFF f**** up.