WC 2018 Group B: Spain Portugal Iran Morocco

I challenge you to compare our selection on transfermarkt on all positions you want. The only postition Iran has better players is #9. Morocco dominates every other little piece of grass on the pitch.

I want to end our discussion because you seem to be out of this planet.

The last thing i want to say to you is even the players who are not even selected in our NT are better than your players.

Adel Taarabt
Omar el Kaddouri
Munir el haddadi (if Fifa allows him)
Carcela
Labyad

 

I have already compared the XI for both teams upfront.

The transfer market value comparison I posted for the 3 players that start for each of these teams upfront wasn't done because I believe that is the legitimate comparison to make. It was to point out that even on such factors, upfront on offense, in terms of who will start for Iran and Morocco, I don't think Morocco has any edge.

To be sure, however, I have said this before and it is true: there are literally dozens of players of Moroccan origin playing in various leagues in Europe and, in that sense, Morocco can field 3-4 teams composed of such players. And each of them would rate pretty high on paper even if none of them would have a quality center-forward! Ultimately, who is or should be a starter for Morocco when the choices aren't really among players who have been competing against one another and coming up the ranks within Moroccan football, is going to be quite an interesting exercise!

Anyway, football is not played on paper. On the pitch, as a team, Iran to me is slightly stronger than Morocco. Not just to me, though, to a lot of people who actually know the game and have watched Iran play as well. I have given the applicable power rankings to stress that my view on this issue, isn't unique.

 

Labyad is having a good season in Holland. While he rates below Alireza Jahanbakhsh, both on the transfer market as well as in player ratings and by other factors, it was indeed interesting that at the moment Labyad is chosen by many as part of the Eredivisie XI team of the half season (alongside Jahanbakhsh) while Morocco's best player, Ziyesh, is not as often rated among the best XI right now. That goes to emphasize what I have conceded already: Morocco has a lot of depth when it comes to players of Moroccan origin in Europe.

All the teams below had Alireza Jahanbakhsh. 2 of them had Labyad and 1 had Ziyesh.
http://www.football-oranje.com/eredivisie-team-season-far/
Eredivisie Team of the Season So Far

Michael Statham


James Rowe



Michael Bell
This one doesn't have Labyad but Ziyesh instead.

 

You are talking about transfermarkt value but how can you compare Morcco and Iran when Iran has a total value of 43.9 million and Morocco 124.55 million?

I dont get it?

 

Do you find it a bit strange that literally the only people who agreed with you are other Iranians?
You have a team of no name players who play in third rate teams. How do you still go find ridiculous arguments to support your position?
These posts must take you hours to put together. I mean it's agonizing to read again and again how Iran has dominated competition the last 2 years, that competition - war torn third world country after war torn third world country.

 

Bro seriously, you are talking like Iran has some world class players? But in reallity Iran has 0 players playing at good clubs in Europe and 0 world class players. You are disrespecting the Portugal and Spanish people on this forum. Their NT are like 100 times beter than Iran.

You think the only reason why Morocco has players in Shalke,Juventus,Real Madrid,Southampton is because there is a large Moroccan diaspora in Europe?

MOD NOTE: Cool it. - Paul Calixte

 

You have to be honest with yourself bro, i agree Iran had better #9 players but thats te only position. All other positions Morocco dominates iran except goalkeepers which are the same level. I as a Moroccan agree and dont disrespect Portugal because i know they are better, both on paper and on the pitch.

 

And Morocco best player is Mehdi Benatia not Ziyech. I even rate Boufal higher than ziyech.

 

He's a lawyer.

 

Well at least a Morocco fan finally admited Iran has better central forwards, that’s a first here despite the fact that even Iran’s 6th choice forward would start over Boutaïb, if he played for Morocco. And no Morocco doesn’t “dominate” Iran in every position. Iran’s total set of attacking players is better or at least on par with Morocco. However, Morocco does have a clear advantage over Iran when it comes to defensive players.

 

Seriously guys he is a lawyer. He can sit there and argue with you that the earth is flat and he will respond to any and every argument that you can make no matter how irrefutable it is. And on top of that he already covered his bases by saying that he will be happy if Iran came out with a point or two from this world cup. So the dude can't lose LOLz.

Seriously, how crazy it is that Iran is represented by a lawyer on this forum? Unbelievable.

 

OMG you guys are so delusional. Boutaib actually scored 9 goals in the Turkish league this season against teams with players like Quaresma and Pepe and Feghouli and Maicon, while your striker whatever his name is who plays at Rostov scored one goal this season playing against Chechen teams. Our third striker Achraf Ben Charki carried his team all the way to winning the African Champions League a few months ago and played the clubs FIFA World Cup and was selected in the 2017 African Team of the year by CAF next to Salah, Eric Baily etc.

Dude, Hakim Ziyech, Amine Harit, Younes Belhanda, and Boufal alone are worth more than the whole value of your team (59 million for those four vs 43 million for Iran's 26 best players) . You guys are so out of touch with reality it's so funny hahahahahahhahahahaha

 

I refer you to my detailed post a few pages back comparing Iran’s forwards with Morocco’s forwards with objective stats. It’s laughably delusional that you would even try to compare Boutaïb, a washed up 30 something year old playing for a bottom-table team in Turkey, with someone like Azmoun who has scored 22 goals for his country, and 5 goals in the Champions League against the likes of Bayern Munich/Atletico Madrid, and has already accomplished more at the age of 22 than Boutaïb will ever achieve before the end of his career. Azmoun > Boutaïb , Ansarifard the top scorer in Greece > Boutaïb , Rezaei the top scorer in Belgium > Boutaïb , Ghoddos> Boutaïb, Ghoochannejhad > Boutaïb, even Taremi > Boutaïb. I’m not even gonna bother with your no-name Morocco-based striker.

 

Even lawyers have to have a somewhat plausible argument as their starting point. But I generally agree, if IM were a pig farmer there is no part of the pig he wouldn't find a way to make ham out of.

 

http://www.ecaeurope.com/tabbed-content/country-ranking/
Top Leagues in Europe:

6. Russia
9. Belgium
10. Turkey
13. Holland
14. Greece

Yet we have Morocco fans here who claim Boutaïb playing and scoring a few goals for a bottom-table side in Turkey, somehow gives him a more impressive resume than the Iranian forwards playing and being the top scorers for Champions League sides in Belgium, Russia, and even Greece. No player will pick playing for some no-name Turkish club over playing for the Greek giant Olympiakos with so much pedigree and history.

 

IM’s arguments are for most part backed by impartial facts, if anyone is annoyed by them , it’s because you’re annoyed by facts and live in a lala land as is the case with some of the fans here. It’s also a fact, as IM has stated and no reasonable Iranian fan here would argue against it, that neither Iran nor Morocco are expected to advance from this group. As good as Iran or Morocco maybe in their own right, the realistic expectation for both teams should be 1-3 points from the 3 matches. That’s why I like this group, the low expectations which means no pressure. It’s a win-win situation for the team and the players, unless we go out with 0 points and lose badly against Spain and Portugal which is an unlikely scenario, albeit still possible for both Iran and Morocco.

 

Oh my bad. I made a mistake in my previous post... I didn't need to include Belhanda. Three offensive players of the Moroccan squad (Ziyech + Harit + Boufal (50 million) are worth more than the best 26 Iranian players all put together (43 million).

 

That’s funny because I remember you arguing here that Azmoun’s market value doesn’t mean anything, when IM pointed out that he was valued three times Boutaïb.

Anyways, I’ll tell the Morocco fans what I predicted for Bosnia fans 4 years ago, and boy was I right. Enjoy your moment in the spotlight, because (1) You’re overrating your players and so you’re in for a rude awakening this summer, I just have this gut feeling Morocco is going to be eliminated before match-day 3. Morocco is the perfect prey for Iran under CQ who is an expert at pyscological mind games with opponents, which works perfectly against emotional peoples like Arabs and Koreans. Not to mention how extra-motivated Iranian players get against Arab opponents for non-footballing reasons (2) In all likeliness, you won’t even qualify for the next World Cup, but we will still be here to endlessly argue with the unfortunate fans of whatever teams that get grouped with Iran in 2022.

 

@Salas033

Upfront, Morocco's lineup is typically as I have indicated: Boutaib is their target forward, with Ziyesh - Amrobat behind him. Conversely, there has never been a lineup for Morocco where they play without a target forward, without a winger behind him, and instead with 3-4 players who are classified for the same post (Attacking Midfielder) just to making the starting XI be composed of Morocco's most expensive players!

With reference to the players you mentioned:

Hakim Ziyesh's -- classified as an Attacking Midfielder but used by Morocco as a left wing player -- is Morocco's highest rated player on the transfer market with his transfer market value now increased to 20 million Euro. In terms of transfer market value, that is more than twice the market value for Alireza Jahanbakhsh (9 million Euro). But in terms of how Ziyesh rates right now playing in the same league (Holland) as Alireza Jahanbakhsh, well I posted the ratings and selections from the most reputable English language website on Dutch football.

Amine Harit, also classified as an "Attacking Midfielder" has a transfer market value value is 15 million Euro. He has been with Morocco's squad for a while now, but he sits on the bench behind Ziyesh and others. He is not going to suddenly become Boutaib's replacement! That is not his position.

Bouufal is also classified as an "Attacking Midfielder" and his transfer market value is 15 million Euro. He too is not a starter for Morocco and has only 1-2 caps for Morocco overall.

 

By now, everyone has probably forgotten how this whole argument started! A while back, I had said that even in terms of talent, I am fine with the talent Iran boasts on offense compared to Morocco. That started a wave of comments about how Iran's wasn't even in the same league as Morocco in terms of talent.

In terms of what I have watched from Morocco, with the players I have seen actually start for them, and not in terms of players that can be theoretically put together in some video game based on club pedigree and transfer market value, my subjective assessment is actually even borne by a measure (transfer market value) that underrates Iran's players anyway.

Maybe in some fantasy football league, Morocco starts with Amine Harit, Boufal and Ziyesh upfront and they prove a smashing success. But for now, that is not Morocco's lineup upfront.

 

There isn't anyone on Morocco's team which is valued even close to South Korea's Heung-Min Son on the transfer market. Or put differently, the transfer market value of Morocco's most expensive player, Ziyesh, and their second most expensive player, is still roughly equal to just the transfer market value of Heung-Min Son, who plays for the Spurs and does well for them in the EPL.

Son is one of the most outspoken players for Korea whenever Iran and Korea are supposed to meet one another. He has often been quoted promising to beat Iran this time -- and pictured literally crying afterwards when he couldn't keep his promise. He has started for S.Korea against Iran in 5 matches, losing 4 of them with the only one that they didn't lose, a draw in their home in Korea against a 10-man Iran team that has already clinched first place and qualification to the World Cup.

The idea that Iran would get intimidated by the transfer market value of Morocco's players or their club pedigree is simply silly. Morocco hasn't been to the World Cup in a long time and with all due respect to their fine talent, they rank behind Iran officially and according to many power rankings. If Iran was going to be intimidated by Morocco, it might as well not even show up to face Spain or Portugal! In fact, it will be the reverse as Iran's players will want to show off their best against the best teams, in part because they know that there is a lot more chance that some scout will notice if they shine against the likes of Argentina or Spain or even Portugal than if they shine against Morocco!

 

The only and probably real reason why Morocco has more players in Europe is because of their huge diaspora in Western European countries. As someone who lives in Holland I reckon Moroccans are talented but lack the top mentality to succeed.

I think this is where Iran as a team can beat Morocco whom players don’t have any World Cup experience, while Iran’s team have players who nearly played 3 tournaments (2006, 2014 and now 2018).

Anyone with football knowledge should give Iran the edge given our solid performances throughout the last years, Morocco on the other side continously failing in the African championships...

 

One thing I should add is that Iran is not seen as a typical Asian team by our Asian rivals. Quite often, indeed, you will read comments like the ones below from the teams we face in Asia. Above all, what distinguishes Iran from other Asian teams is a combination of factors, most notably our physical strength. Even the best Asian teams often struggle against Iran physically. Here are a couple of reports which allude to this fact and how Iran is often likened to a European team by our Asian rivals.

http://www.espn.com/soccer/south-ko...eel-pressure-vs-european-iran-in-wc-qualifier
South Korea to feel pressure vs. 'European' Iran - Park Ji-Sung

Similar comments were made by South Korea's coach as well before they faced Iran in their last match:

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/culturesports/2017/08/23/0702000000AEN20170823009200315.html
S. Korea football coach says Iran similar to European teams

 

Iran has best players in the world! Even if teams like Morocco have 3 players worth more than our entire selection (Ziyech,Benatia, Boufal)

We have the best selection in the world! Even better than Germany, France, Brazil but transfermarkt gives our players bad value because they are from iran! In reality our players are better than Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Germany! We have the top scorer in the swedish league! (Ranked n3 highest league by ELO rankings and a couple of other people. Our star player plays in GREECE league!! Atm ranked n1 league in the entire world!!!!

 

In 1840 we played a friendly against the Roman empire, We won 3 - 0. We dominated that game!