Lol, why are you looking back at 2 years ago? Iraq for example had a completely different team back then. Only 3 players of the starting lineup which faced Iran last time are called up (Amir Al-Ammari, Mohanad Ali and Ayman). New coach, new FA, home advantage and many expats from all over Europe. We are deservedly in the top 6 nowadays
No, his time with Iran is done. In happy for everything he did, but its time to look forward. And yes he may have Been a failure alot of places but not in Iran. What he did for iranian football and players cant be praised enough. He installed proffesionalism in the players. He encouraged Them to go overseas. He has done alot of crucial things. It Would be a shame to Only judge him on weather he made the round of 16 or not
And yes, Iraq isnt the same team as the one we beat with ease at the last World cup qualifiers. They are a strong Young team that Can give any asian team trouble
My predictions: Group A 1. Iran 2. Uzbekistan 3. Qatar 4. UAE 5. North Korea 6. Kyrgyzstan -------------------- Group B 1. South Korea 2. Iraq 3. Jordan 4. Oman 5. Kuwait 6. Palestine ------------------------ Group C 1. Japan 2. Australia 3. Saudi Arabia 4. Indonesia 5. Bahrain 6. China
Matchday 1 Predictions Australia 2-0 Bahrain Japan 3-0 China South Korea 3-0 Palestine Uzbekistan 1-1 North Korea Iraq 1-0 Oman Iran 3-1 Kyrgyzstan Qatar 2-0 UAE Jordan 2-1 Kuwait Saudi Arabia 2-1 Indonesia
I have no problem if anyone thinks you are currently the 6th best team on the paper, but it is a laughable joke to me to rate Iraq above KSA before the start of WCQs.
Does that include the England game as well when Iran and Queiroz were embarrassed by 6 goals? Do you praise the group stage exit in 3 consecutive WCs and 2 poor Asian Cups? Nigeria sacked Peseiro despite finishing second in AFCON. South Korea sacked Klinsmann despite defeating Saudi Arabia and Australia in the last AC, but you praise Queiroz while he did not offer anything special in the WC and AC! Professionalism? What do you mean? Do you mean Iran soccer players were unprofessional, and they are professional now because of Queiroz? All coaches love to see their players in top Europe leagues. For example, Jurgen Klinsmann always encouraged American players to move into Europe and he recently encouraged Mexican players to seek opportunities in Europe (Mexico players would improve by playing in Europe - Klinsmann - ESPN).
Do you know what surrounded the England game? Do you know what was happening in Iran at the moment? Everything was chaos. Many iranian people had turner against the team. Their was the whole thing with not singing the national song and so on. Its disrespectfull not to calculate these stuff. Iran has never qualified to the round of 16. With or without Carlos. But he made Them compete. In 2018 he Got 4 points in a group with Morocco, Spain and Portugal. He was a last second miss from Taremi from qualifying. He made the whole respect Iran. For the first time ever we qualified for 2 consecutive World cup (which later became 3). He dropped players from the team, who made trouble and bad noice, even though they were Big players. He didnt tolerate that bullshit He reach out to players born overseas and invited Them to the national team. Something the current coach hasnt even done yet. Right now we have a striker in the Belgian League, born in America. No one from the national team has contacted him. They have asked a 3rd party to ask the player if he is interested or not. That is crazy and so unproffesional. And yes he made us qualify with ease and win against asian opponents rather easily. He didnt get us any trophies, which is a shame. But to only judge him on results, shows you know absolutely nothing about football
Back in my room after the match. A bit disappointed with the performance 1st half ok, just needed a bit of patience. 2nd half was like they’ve never seen a team try to run down the clock. We got frustrated then started giving away stupid fouls with unnecessary yellow cards and then a red to top it off. Got what we deserved in the end. If we qualify it will be through the long road again. Can’t afford to lose games like that at home.
It seems like Australia was up against vintage Bahrain. Grassrolling and time wasting. Nevertheless very impressive results by Bahrain. And even more Palestine who managed a draw away against South Korea. They are good at defending, and with their two attackers Dabbagh and Abou Ali, they should be able to also score goals. As we saw at the Asian Cup, there are not that many easy games in asia at this stage. No team should underestimate anyone at this point. Oh Yea China. Disappointing as always
This Korean team has been in crisis since they replaced Bento, and with this coach, they're going to struggle, even to finish in 3rd place.
First 3 points for Iraq Also first home game in the final round since 2001 and the first time we've beaten Oman in an competitive match since 1989.
Iran Kyrgyzstan 1-0… I have to rant. It was the most disgracefull Iran performance I have seen in more than 14 years! In the second half we were getting DOMINATED by Kyrgyzstan and they made several chances to score. The pitch was afwul, and the only reason we scored, was that their goalkeeper couldnt hold a shot from outside the box, because the pitch made the Ball bounce 20 times. We had no game plan at all. Just long balls and crosses. We couldnt create any chances and shot from outside the box 200 times, hitting the Moon a couple of times. The players underestimating the opponent. This is the lack og proffesionalism im talking about. What do you expect when the coach is a crook that dont give a fukk. I hope that persian monitor guy is happy now, and other iranian users in here, who loves to see our football fail. Im scared for the future, and im honestly scared he dont qualify. We Got lucky with our group, thats the Only reason we May qualify We were dominated at home by Kyrgyzstan
Most important thing are the 3 pts. Look at the other powerhouses in Asia bar Japan. Australia lost to Bahrain, Korea dropped points against Palestine and Indonesia is currently 1-0 up against Saudi Arabia.
Yes, but every team Can lose or draw a match. The thing is, that there is no vision. The gameplan wont get better. Their Will not be developed any tactics. The wrong players Will still start. Today we had 2 players starting who plays in Europe. We are used to having several players in Europe. Some of the players are without clubs. Why does this happen? Because you have a coach who doesnt demand anything from the players at all. He is playing his favourites who are thrash. Not inviting better players that are playing week in week out in Europe. Im literally jealous of Iraq. You dont have better players, but you have a plan. Better tactics. Better pitches. Better everything
So many upsets today. South Korea, Saudi and Jordan all drawing at home, while Australia and Qatar lost at home. I Think both the level of the smaller teams have gotten up, while the level of the bigger teams have declined. Uzbekistan and Iraq are getting closer and closer to the traditionel top 5. At this moment of time, they are around the same level, but I dont believe in moments in football. They have to do it over a longer period and qualify to the World cup regulary.
Qatar 1-3 UAE - that's a bit of a surprise but maybe we shouldn't write off UAE too much, they aren't that bad. Qatar looked pretty sluggish to be honest, when Afif is not having a good day out, the team is affected. UAE v Iran in a crunch match next. Qatar's next home game is Kyrgyzstan next month.
I figured we would easily finish among the top two. After watching today's game and seeing the results of other teams I'm not so sure.
It's fascinating to me, as an outsider from a nation that's not going to achieve anything noteworthy in football in my lifetime, seeing the fans of bigger, more established nations going through the five stages of grief. It's quite obvious now that the gap between the top and middle nations has decreased significantly since the 2018 cycle, and this added competitiveness can only be a good thing for Asian football. But of course, I can understand fans of the likes of Australia, Korea, Saudi, Iran etc. might not be too happy with this development.
You are right that its better for Asian football and I like that the gap is closing. But you know, its just passion. We all have expectations, and when we feel like they arent met, we sometimes fume over