Wensday 6 FEB 2008 World Cup Qualifier for South Africa 2010 Iran Vs. Syria AZADI Stadium,Tehran, IRAN 03:00 PM IRAN Time,Tehran 03:30 PM UAE Time ,Dubai 03:30 AM Western Time, L.A, Vancouver 06:30 AM Eastern Time, New York, Toronto 11:30 AM UK Time, London 12:30 PM Centeral Europe, Berlin 10:30 PM Australia Time, Melbourne Thursday 7 Feb 2008
Syria's squad : Goalkeepers: Radwan Al Azhar (Al Jaish) Mosab Balhous (Al Karamah) Defenders: Ali Diab (Al Majd) Adeeb Barakat (Al Taleiah) Abdulqadir Daka (Tishreen) Omar Hmeidi (Al Ittihad) Bakri Tarab (Al Ittihad) Midfielders: Adel Abdallah (Al Jaish) Bwrhan Sahiwni (Al Jaish) Firas Esmaeel (Al Karamah) Atef Jinyat (Al Karamah) Jehad Al Hussain (Al Karamah) Younis Suleiman (Al Taleiah) Maher Al Sayed (Al Wahda) Forwards: Raja Rafe' (Al Majd) Ziad Sha'abo (Al Karamah) Firas Al Khatib (Al Arabi, Kuwait) Majed Al Haj (Al Jaish) probable line up: ..............Balhous....................... ..........Diab....Hmeidi.....Daka.... Tarab..Esmaeel...Abdallah...Jinyat... ...............Al Hussain................ ........Rafe'(Al Khatib)....Sha'abo..... goodluck to both teams
First qualifier with the new coach (or so we hope). It will be shaky at best, yet a draw will be considered a disappointment.
lol syria is playing 3-5-2? i wont be surprised if it will actually play like a 5-3-2. we will win. draw at the very least. anything is possible though so there is a possibility of a loss just like any team playing any team but the chances are very small.
Iran's player list: Goalies Abbas Mohammadi Rahmati Taleblou Vaezi Defenders Aghili Asadi Bengar Hosseini Kaebi Nikbakht Nosrati Pejman Nouri Sheys Rezaei Shakouri Midfielders Jabbari Ali Karimi Madanchi Mahdavikia Mobali Ebrahim Sadeghi Shojaei Teymourian Maziar Zare Forwards Kazemian Khalili Meydavoudi Rajabzadeh Samereh *Nekounam is still recovering from an injury *Hashemian is not participating in the first round of WCQ *Zandi was not invited Potential lineup against Syria: --------------------------Mohammadi------------------------------ ----------------Hosseini----------------Aghili---------------------- ----Kaebi---------------------------------------------Nouri--------- --------------------------Teymourian------------------------------ ---------Mahdavikia-----------------------Madanchi-------------- -----------------------------Mobali--------------------------------- ---------------------Karimi---------Samereh---------------------- The front three are questionable, as Mobali, Jabbari, and Karimi are all potential candidates for the starting spot behind the strikers. As for the strikers, the possibilities are truly endless, and I wouldn't be surprised if we ultimately start Rajabzadeh, simply because he has more experience than Samereh or Khalili. Ideally, I'd like to try Nikbakht at striker, but he is slightly injured and uncertain for the Syria match. In any case, many Iranians are worried about this match due to Iran's recent inability to find the back of the net. These fans fail to acknowledge the immense impact that Mahdavikia has on our offense, and he has been missing in recent matches. Nekounam's presence will be greatly missed, but all in all, I am quite confident in Iran. I predict a final score of 3-0. Good luck to both teams!
I do miss Zandi, and I believe that Hashemian deserves a break, the man has single handedly rescued Iran on numerous occasions. The fact that he wont play is good, since we get to try new talents and alternative players in the forward position.
UPDATE: 1. Nikbakht is indeed fit for the match against Syria. 2. Javier Clemente is in Tehran and will be in charge of Team Melli on Wednesday for the Syria match. Source: http://goal.com/en-US/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=571918
While I don't mind Hashemian's absence, I don't think he "deserves a break," and I think Iran could certainly benefit from his presence. I completely agree that this is a great opportunity to try new names up front, but given the importance of such games (WCQ), I would have liked to see Hashemian on the bench. I wouldn't start him, but I'd put him in during the second half if we desperately needed a goal (especially since Khalili and Samereh were so frighteningly pitiful at finishing in the Costa Rica game ). I don't think he "deserves a break" because these are vital matches and the role of a dedicated national team player is to always be available and offer your abilities during crucial times.
I hope with Firas and our other Syrian Players we can do something,my prediction: Iran 2-1 Syria or Iran 1-1 Syria (that could be !) Goooooood Luck to both teams Syria and Iran. We all know that Iran is one of the best teams,but we didn´t join to 3rd round to play a little bit football.
That looks good, but I'd personally go with: --------------------------MOHAMMADI----------------------------- -----------------HOSSEINI-----------AGHILI----------------------- -KAEBI---------------------------------------------------NIKBAKHT- -----------------TEYMOURIAN-------MOBALI------------------------ -MAHDAVIKIA--------------------------------------------MADANCHI- ------------------------------------KARIMI------------------------- ------------------------KAZEMIAN---------------------------------- Or rather, for a more defensively sound formation: ---------------------------MOHAMMADI----------------------------- ------------------HOSSEINI------------AGHILI----------------------- -KAEBI----------------------------------------------------NIKBAKHT- ---------------------------TEYMOURIAN----------------------------- --------------MAHDAVIKIA---------------MADANCHI------------------ ------------------------------KARIMI-------------------------------- -------------------KAZEMIAN---------RAJABZADEH-------------------
The only issues I have with your lineups are that 1) Nikbakht doesn't play well when teamed with Madanchi on the left (and he leaves his defensive duties far too carelessly), and 2) Kazemian simply can't finish as a TM striker (he has proven this multiple times, most recently against Costa Rica). He is excellent with his crosses and speed, however, which is why he should only be played on the right wing (in my opinion). That being said, Mahdavikia still runs the show on the right, and Kazemian should replace him late in the game. I wouldn't mind seeing Nikbakht play striker alongside Samereh, as their heading abilities will be greatly beneficial, and the concept of 1 striker hasn't worked for TM. While Samereh certainly missed a number of golden opportunities against Costa Rica, I think he'll be far more effective alongside a complementary striker with whom he can create opportunities.
I just hope we see some goals!! Iran is defensively quite good but very wasteful in front of the goal. In the past, Syria did best on counter-attacks against Iran but one of very few teams that has played consistently well against Iran. I hope I am wrong, but gonna have to go with an odious 0-0 draw for this!
Iran is indeed very strong defensively. I dare say I'll be shocked if Syria, Kuwait, or UAE score a single goal on Iran (hopefully Nekounam will be fit for the Kuwait match, in which case our defense will only be that much stronger). You're right to say that we've been wasteful with our goal opportunities. Nevertheless, I strongly believe that the source of such a goal drought is primarily our continuous choice of playing with one forward. We currently lack a confident forward that can coolly finish a golden opportunity (that includes Hashemian, in my mind). As exhibited by the Costa Rica match, our forwards are capable of creating chances, but unable to finish. This is why we need a pair of forwards that can feed off of each other. The potential of a 4-3-3 formation has hardly been discussed, but it too may prove to be deadly, as proven in the Ghana match (Iran played a frontline of Kazemian-Hashemian-Enayati). I wouldn't mind seeing Kazemian-Samereh-Madanchi as a frontline. I'm aware of how attacking-minded this formation is, but I think it could be very effective against Syria. IN ANY CASE, the point is we need more than one forward .
Hey guys, Here is today's compilation of news articles from ISNA about and from TM's last practice session before Syria game: گزارشات امروز خبرگزاري ايسنا درباره**ي ديدار تيم ملي فوتبال ايران مقابل سوريه
My prediction Iran 1-0 Syria Against all expectations, Ali Karimi scores. But the truth is i'm not confident for a win at all.
Maybe on:www.fomny.com you can choose a arabic channel,channels which are broadcoasting:ART Sport 2,Irib 2, and Dubai Sports 1. My dish has got hotbird and Astra,so I have Dubai Sports 1! Salam Bruder!
I agree that scoring goals will not be easy tomorrow for either team, with the first game on line, a new coach, and the cold whether. I initially predicted a 0-0 draw, but later changed to 1-0 for Iran, primarily since the new coach will be in the stands, and the boys may actually score one just to please him!!! Good luck to both teams, and hopefully no one gets injured!