0:0 HT Iran started poorly but began creating chance after chance, some well saved by the Iraqi keeper, one hit the post, some wasted. Iran deserved at least a goal from all those chances, with Jahanbaksh on fire and Taremi doing well and not showing any adverse effects from his troubles arriving late. That said, Iran has had a few nervous moments in the back and Iraq is actually playing well. Better than they did under Dick Advocat.
Iran qualified as 14th team overrall and 1st Asian team for Qatar 2022. Congrats. It was a very impressive performance bar finishing. Iran should have scored three four goals. It was a game with very good pace. Iran created numerous chances. Nice combinations, overlaps. Iran can be hopeful for the World Cup. I sound like a broken record but Iran and South Korea are AFC's brightest prospects for a strong showing at the World Cup.
I think in modern times we had only groups of six in 2018 and this time. So it's not fair to compare to all the pre-2018 editions. 2006 for example was groups of four. Then it went up to groups of five.
Congratulations to Iran, our wonderful players, or manager and coaches, to our fans and to all those whose hearts beat for Iran. After so many hardships the past few years, some shared in common with many people around the globe ever since Covid, and others unique to Iran and all that it has been put through, touching on all facets of life in Iran including football, its great to see our team bring smiles and celebrations to our people.
https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/mens/worldcup/qatar2022/news/taremi-and-skocic-savour-irans-success Taremi and Skocic savour Iran’s success
Iran leading 1:0 at HT, Taremi scoring after Gholizadeh's header rebounded off the post. The first 30 minutes were boring, with all the action in the middle of the pitch but Iran began creating chances afterwards.
This time it was smooth sailing. In 2018 you guys had to wait up until the last second of the last matchday. That shows that your team went a long way.
We had had the piss poor manager during the last WCQ campaign. The guy almost cost our WC final berth. Paulo Bento has done fine job thus far, along with better support from Korea Football Association this time around.
Will we perform better than 2018? Yes. That's guaranteed. We are much better prepared this time. Will we make knockout stage? Not so sure about that. We have critical weakness at fullback and the depth is very thin. It is hard to win big without quality of service provided by fullbacks in modern era of the game. PB and co must find some measures to mitigate the weakness to go as far as we could possibly go.
South Korea deservedly qualified after winning 2-0 versus Syria today. Congrats to South Korea and wish them the best of luck at the World Cup.
Iran v UAE 1:0 FT While Iran had the much better chances despite being a man down, it was a tense 2nd half with Iran down a player. I'll take the 3 points and look froward to our match against S.Korea.
I'm looking forward to South Korea-Iran in March. I expect a quality game and it might give us a hint who the best Asian team right now is.
There may not be a single best in Asia, but it will give us a sense of which side can claim to be the best in Group A.