Beikzadeh will probably miss the World Cup since he is out for at least three weeks but Hosseini has a minor one so he should be fine. But still the fact Beikzadeh is out is quite worrying IMO, we lack a decent left back..
Iran GK Daniel Davari from Eintracht Braunschweig to Grashoppers Zurich FC: http://www.gcz.ch/news/gc-news/news...niel-davari/ac3a0c392c5c38fec3260c5f8e6bb4cb/ Good move.
our 3-1 with Ghana was disappointing? I don't see anything disastrous in a draw. Angola beat Morocco 2-0 the other day.
I'm not surprised about the result, this was Iran's B/C team with only 2 starters both of which were subbed out. Nekounam and Dejagah.
A-team, B-team, Z-team... These are only friendlies matches, just before World Cup. Don't rely too much on the results.
They are friendly matches but they reveal the state of the team. 1 goal in three matches against Belarus, Montenegro and Angola is an indication that our offence is going to be practically non-existent. Especially since we go up against 10 times better opponents in the World Cup. We have no engine in the midfield like we used to, ala Karimi. The main positive is Dejagah but one player cant carry an entire team. Defensively is still a question mark. We have not been truly tested against world class teams. Angola had one 1 chance to score today and they took it. Our starting goalkeeper is a statue. He does not react, slow on reflexes and is also bad at exits. Furthermore he doesnt speak farsi so he cant communicate well with the backline. Unless CQ does not start him. To sum up: things are looking pretty grim for us.
Iran's 23 man squad announced: Goalkeepers: Daniel Davari – Grasshoppers, SUI Alireza Haghighi – Rubin Kazan, RUS Rahman Ahmadi – Sepahan Esfahan Defenders: Hossein Mahini – Persepolis Tehran Steven Beitashour – Vancouver Whitecaps, CAN Pejman Montazeri – Umm Salal, QAT Jalal Hosseini – Persepolis Tehran Amir-Hossein Sadeghi – Esteghlal Tehran Ahmad Alenemeh – Naft Tehran Hashem Beikzadeh – Esteghlal Tehran Mehrdad Pouladi – Persepolis Tehran Midfielders: Javad Nekounam – Kuwait SC, KUW Andranik Teymourian – Esteghlal Tehran Reza Haghighi – Persepolis Tehran Ghasem Hadadifar – Zob Ahan Esfahan Bakhtiar Rahmani – Foolad Khuzestan Ehsan Hajsafi – Sepahan Esfahan Strikers: Ashkan Dejagah – Fulham FC, ENG Masoud Shojaei – UD Las Palmas, ESP Alireza Jahanbakhsh – NEC Nijmegen, NED Reza Ghoochannejhad – Charlton Atlethic, ENG Karim Ansarifard – Tractor Sazi Tabriz Khosro Heydari – Esteghlal Tehran
It'll still take a couple of weeks to heal. If it doesnt, he will be replaced by Khanzadeh (who otherwise got cut from list)
Iran one of the first teams that arrived in Brazil, here we come baby...ready to reach the round of 16 for the first time of our history
Iran won their final game 2-0 against Trinidad & Tobago! Congratulations to Javad Nekounam for playing his 140th national team game.
Ghana 3 x 0 Korea so far Korean defense looks like the japanese defense in the game against Zambia. Also, terrible goalkeeping by Jung
All according to plan. Hong Myungbo's strategy is to mimic Takeshi Okada's 2010 WC philosophy. Lose all your preparation games leading up to the world cup to give the opposing teams false hope then surprise them come WC time.
Ok, I said friendlies aren't important but 0-4 it's a big fail... Hope we'll have a good surprise next week. It's not impossible. (I think Ghana won't pass the group stage)
You don't know. I see Ghana over Ivory Coast. With a bit of luck they can produce the big surprise against Portugal.
Korea: tough to play cohesively when you have multiple stars who are essentially one-way players. When you already have shaky defending at the back, defensive liabilities in the attacking positions are a recipe for disaster - need to swap one of them out and sacrifice some offensive flair for work rate/defensive contribution. Maybe Koo, but the captain's armband makes it awkward...
I think too but this time their group is a bit too tough IMO. I'm not even sure they can beat United States (they seem better than in 2010)