Iran is defensively the best team in the group and faster than other teams. Korea has the best organizational attacking team and Midfield of Uzbekistan is better in the group. Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
Let me explain. 1. CQ and IFF/Sport Ministry A. Back in 2012-2013 they were working together better B. Now, they have been fighting every 3-6 months eversince WC 2014 2. CQ is a defensive minded coach so he rely on good DMF, RB/LB/CB, GK. A. Back in 2012 we had Rahmati (arguably the best GK we have now, not considering his behavior) B. Now we have an out of form Haghighi and internationally inexperienced Beiro. A. Back then we had two solid RB/LB our LB was our best performing player in WC. Our CBs were all experienced veterans B. Now we are good at RB but not certain in LB. We have only Milad in LB which is more like a LW just like HajiSafi. Our CB veteran Seyd Jalal is 34. Our only promising CB/DMF, PAG is playing in Qatar. Our another CBs pourgaz is not very relaible and Kanaani has not been invited to the recent camps. A. In DMF position we had Nekonam as a good leader and ball distributor. He was good on long shots too. Ando was an aggressive MF who could complete Neko in midfield. The only disadvantage was their speed in counter attacks. B. Now we have Ebrahimi, Ezzatollahi and an older Ando. We are missing a leader in the team. Ando is old and out of form. Ebrahimi is a decent ball distributor but nothing like Neko. Ezzatollahi is young and full of energy but need more experience. I wish he won't get yellow/red card in matches with high pressure. Our MF is younger and faster which is a plus here. 3. Overall average age of the team A. Back then our team was full of veterans but had enough experience to lead us to WC B. Now, the team is much younger, faster, but still inexperience in many positions. Specially with constant changes which talks about a transition period in our team. Yes, our team is stronger in wings and forward positions which is a plus compared to previous WCQs. Our counterattacks are more dangerous now but our main source of strength which was our defense is a little bit shaky now in my opinion. If Bakhtiar Rahmani, Soroush Rafie and Khanzadeh come back from military service in good shape we will have a boost in MF.
^ No I disagree. You're making it much bigger than it is, most "negatives" that you posted have bigger positives that compensate them. For every weaker position you gave we have a better option than before in some other positions. I'm sure all Iranian fans will agree with me that, as I said, now we have more depth than we ever had in almost all positions, we have young promising talents in every single positions, some talents that have a very high ceiling which will show in the final round of the WCQ, an excellent mix between youth and experience which we also did not have, a coach more familiar with the team, the team more familiar with the tactics of the coach, we are better offensively now which is more important than a slightly weakened defense, this is AFC a team like Iran needs to be offensive against every team outside top 4, besides our defense is still the best in Asia even if it's not as good as in 2014, we know Korea/Uzbekistan/Qatar very well and we will deal better with them than last qualifiers. These factors alone are much more considerable than any of the points you listed, the issues that you pointed out may slightly influence our chances at the actual world cup, but if anything, we will most likely have an easier road to Russia than we did to Brazil.
Be more specific if you want to make a point. I pointed out to some issues. You can refute them with reason one by one. But just coming out and give a general statement is not persuasive. We had played with Korea, Lebanon and Qatar even before 2012 round so we should have been familiar with their team as well back then. I agree with this point While I agree with you as I said it before about our offensive strength, Iran has a habit of reducing its level according to its opponents (Turkmenistan and Oman were two examples this also happen to Japan vs Singapore). Our rough time scoring will be against Qatar if they play very defensive. (Although our chance is better now if Qatar is the same team in strength) The advantage we have now, is that we know roughly the strength of each opponent and can prevent another heck ride (last 3 WCQs must win). So there is no surprise of what Qatar might pull out. We should be prepared for any anti football behavior and garbage Qatar might throw at us. We should finish other teams and never be in a position that other match outcome helping us to go through. (there is only uncertain future of Syria, if Assad goes down and a team representing anti-Asad regime can come after Iran with full force to salvage some points having the full financial back up of Saudi Arabia which add to the hype ) *** Korean teams was coached by a retard coach and their team selection was usually based on K-League players in last qualifiers. This new Korean team is another beast in my opinion. As a result they are much tougher to defeat. Uzbek team has lost some of their veteran players too. Their goal keeper is getting old. They have some young talents injected to the team, so has good and bad consequences for them. They are faster but with less experience overall. Their coach seems to be like former Korean coach! I don't need to talk about Qatar. You can search their new naturalized players since last WCQs.
that is what most ppl dont get/ refuse to believe. In that whole WCQ campaign the idiot CKH favored k league players over european players. We never had close to a full strength squad in that tournament either due to poor selection or injuries. Our 2015 Asian cup run was the same scenerio due to injuries. We lost Koo Ja Cheol, and Lee Chung Yong early in the tournament due to injury and did not get to include Hong Jeong Ho b/c of another injury. Imagine not having Hajsafi, Sardar, and Hosseini. No one has faced Korea's full strength squad since 2010
Once again, South Korea and Iran will most likely qualify for the next World Cup. Having said that, China shouldn't be underestimated. I think China is a dark horse and has an outside chance of finishing in the top 2. As for the rest, I don't rate them at all. Syria is lucky to have made it this far, Qatar talks big but always fails to deliver, and Uzbekistan is extremely inconsistent.
Well seems like Park Ji Sung also expects Korea and Iran to go through, says Iran will be the toughest opponent Qatar coach: Iran and Korea are the favorites without any doubts
There are no horses in this group. No dark horses, no light horses, no grey horses and certainly no rainbow horses (sneers at 'stan). There is Iran, a pony, an ambitious mule, a sober mule, and a delusional mule.
Hajsafi is THE WORST Iranian player with more than 10 caps in a generation. Hosseini was good 5 years ago. He's old and slow now. He was partially responsible for our disastrous performance vs Bosnia. Sardar has a lot of growing up to do. He used to feign injury after scoring a goal in TM to get subbed... Just because he's better than anyone Korea has produced in the past decade doesn't mean he's irreplaceable. Gucci, Taremi, and Ansarifard are also all better forwards than any striker Korea has produced in the past decade. Yea brah, you shouldn't keep your full strength locked up in your pants for so long.
Come on now Valkyrie are you serious , what's happening to you are you constantly looking for someone new to get into a fight with these days?
Your away match (Iran) http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/round=257777/match=300191832/report.html JUNG Sung ryong(GK) (Suwon Sumsung), JUNG In Whan (Incheon United), KWAK Tae hwi (Ulsan Hyundai),KIM Bo kyung(Cardiff City), PARK Chu young (Celta Vigo), LEE Keun ho(Ulsan Hyundai), PARK Jong woo (Busan IPark), OH Beom Seok (Suwon Samsung) , Ki Sung Yueng (Swansea City), KIM Shin wook(Ulsan Hyundai), YUN Suk young (Jeonnam Dragons) Subs: HA Dae sung (FC Seoul), SON Heung Min (Hamburger SV), LEE Chung Yong (Bolton Wanderers) K-league(9) La Liga(1) EPL/ECL(3) Bundesliga(1) 9/14 from K-league Your home match (S.Korea) http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/round=257777/match=300191836/report.html JUNG Sung ryong (GK) (Suwon Sumsung),JANG Hyunsoo (FC Tokyo),KIM Kee hee (Al-Sailiya), LEE Myung joo (Pohang Steelers), SON Heung Min (Bayer Leverkusen), JI Dong won (FC Augsburg), KIM Chang soo (Kashiwa Reysol), KIM Shin wook (Ulsan Hyundai), KIM Chi Woo (FC Seoul), LEE Dong Gook (Jeonbuk Hyundai), KIM Young gwon (Guangzhou Evergrande). Subs: KIM Bo kyung (Cardiff City), LEE Keun ho (Sangju Sangmu) Absentee Ki Sung Yueng (Swansea City) K-League(6) J-League(2) QSL(1) CSL(1) Bundesliga(2) ECL(1) 10/13 from AFC
Mighty Korea does not play her full strength at mini mouse tournaments like the World Cup Qualification, the actual World Cup or Asian Cup. The full strength Korea team has been hidden from the public since 2010, kinda like Jesus and Mahdi, waiting to make a glorious return in future to play in an inter-Galaxy tournament where their world-renowned Korean legioners will be taking on the famous North Korean unicorn and other legends and alien species that are deserving of playing against the legend that is Korea's "full strength".
The biggest concern for us now is that good portion of our European based players are not playing regularly. Even the captain Ki is not playing. So our coach has vaguely gave warning to our players that if you're not playing your league games, it's unlikely that you'll get the national team call up. Even though our team went through a perfect second round results, still some questions are left to be answered heading into the third round. That being said, still long way to go, and for now the focus on the our mini euro 2016 in June with friendlies against Spain and Czech Republic. And three games in Brazil. I assume Iran and Uzis has their own mini euro 2016 set up too heading into the third round qualifying.
the strongest possible starting side for Korea for both matches would have been --------------------------Kim Seung Gyu----------------- Cha Du ri----Kwak Tae Hwi----Hong Jeong Ho--------Park Joo ho ----------------Ki Sung Yeung-----Han Kook Young/Park Jong Woo---- ----Lee Chung Yong--------Koo Jae Cheol-----------Son Heung Min---- ------------Kim Shin Wook/Lee Keun Ho/ Park Chu Young----------- first away match in Iran the true starting players in our squad are Son Heung min, Kim Shin wook, Kwak Tae Hwi, Park Jong Woo, Ki Sung Yueng and maybe Park Chu Young (depending on form, he was starting to lose form while at Spain. Son Heung Min and Lee Chong Yong on the bench should have been a dead give away of our coaches ineptitude. 6 real starters in the starting line up 2nd match in Korea Son Heung min, Kim Shin Wook, and maybe Lee Myung Joo (depending on form) 3 real starters in the starting line up like i said injuries and weird coaching decisions, really pissed off Korean fans during those times. Stielike also have been making weird decisions but they have been working.
Nothing wrong with the occasional friendly banter to keep things interesting while the games are months away. But let me be clear. I don't indulge myself in lascivious pleasures of #internetfights; however, lesser minds have been prone - specially in this thread - to be intellectually incapable of responding to facts, sarcasm or metaphors in kind and have resorted to engage in direct flaming. I don't even need to give 'em any more rope. Do you have any idea about howmuch your federation is paying for these friendlies? Or is your federation even paying anything or are they all sponsored and are actually making money for the federation?
Not sure the exact amount of money, but it was confirmed that our FA is paying for it. No complains from our side, it will be a perfect test to see where our team is at currently leading up to the qualifying.
I predict this thread will hit 1,000 pages before the first match Only 3x at the moment, Nurafshon; it will not happen at 20x because of all the Iranian posters in Group B along for the ride with Iraq to play its home games in Iran, and what that might mean for the Saudis !
I'm kinda Jelly... Wanna swap friendlies? We'll throw in Palestine, Somali pirates, and Mozambique on top to sweeten the deal for you.
I remember last year Italy was interested to play against Iran. The price tag was like 250k $ so our FA said no thanks. Sometimes these friendlies are just business deals specially for Brazil NT.
They may don't get it. This time around we got ourselves a real deal. We are going to play vs Iraq in an opening ceremony for Karbala Stadium! I hope Daesh won't blow up our football players there. We should travel to Pyongyang, Caracas, Havana, Damascus, or Harare for next match! Palestine shied away last time, so there is little hope for them to play against us now It grinds my gears whenever we are heading to a meaningful friendly, it gets canceled by CQ. There are some rumors about a possible friendly vs Australia this May/June. It was politely rejected last time by Aussies.
Socceroos already have full schedule of friendlies during those forthcoming FIFA windows - England, Greece, Greece - extremely unlikely they'd try to generate a match outside of those windows as they'd only get an out-of-season A-League squad; an August friendly could happen.
How do you know it was politely rejected? It could have gone something like this: IFF: Hello my friend, you vant to play friendly? P.s say hi to our friend mr Peter Hore Aussie fa: fukk off mate! Oi oi oi
I see your points. I remember how mad some Koreans were even before the match vs Iran in Tehran. They hated CKH and his selections. You were so lucky to qualify for WC last time. You were very close to be eliminated for the first time in last minutes. CQ wasn't so familiar with IPL and didn't like to follow Iranian league closely back then. His focus was mostly on a set of veterans and some second generation expats playing in Europe.So you could say our team was not at maximum strength as well but at least our coach was not as bad as CKH.
It has become painfully obvious that our lack of quality friendlies aren't a federation issue but a CQ issue. Italy, Paraguay, Peru, Czech, Croatia etc. The man prefers to play against Somali pirates and then bish about the preparation while pocketing some money from Somali pirates at the same time. But his wrist watch strap has the Iranian flag painted on it, so it's all cool.