Yeah, Shojaie is shit more often than not. I really hope he doesn't start. All he does is turn the ball over or try to draw fouls in random useless positions on the pitch.
Ezzatolahi is a starter for your team right? I have watched him before against Korea or China I think. He is pretty good despite being so young. I think he can find a top 5 League offer if he performs well this tournament. You guys can go far if you guys rotate well this tournament, like I said you guys have good squad depth and don't seem to be reliant on a few players. I think maybe you guys should aim for a point against Spain.
You know a ranking is bonkers when the worst team in Conmebol (Venezuela) currently sits above several WC teams, including both Morocco and Iran. Thank goodness that such ranking will go away on July 2018.
Honestly I just wish FIFA rankings would go away permanently. The system is so flawed. The fact they use it to seed teams is hilarious...
La FIFA da a conocer que Amine Harit (Marruecos) fue elegido 'Man of the Match' del Marruecos 0-1 Irán. #MAR pic.twitter.com/VszTQ23I3O— Fútbol Total ⚽ (@FT_Total) June 15, 2018
He is usually a starter for us. FIFA suspended him from the first World Cup game due to his silly foul and red card in the second leg of World Cup Qualifiers 2018 against South Korea. IMO we have many players that have the talent, quality, and potential to play at least in mid-table to below mid-table clubs of top 4 Europe leagues but It is very hard for Iranian players to find a club in top 4 Europe leagues due to many reasons such as zero marketability for Iranian clubs and players, Lack of exposure to Iranian football, Closed environment in Iran, geographical situation, political reasons, etc. In last World Cup, the gap between our top 7-8 players and the rest of our squad was too much. After the second game, our team really did not have any more energy. In this World Cup, we have good depth except AM position and there is not much difference between starters and bench players. As you can see, we do not use the same starting lineup in all games unlike 4 years ago. However nothing has been changed. The fact is that Spain and Portugal are definitely favorite. We should not think about final standing or any scenario. All we need to focus is doing our best in next two games.
Spain might be easier than Portugal imo. They just changed their coach like last week. A draw is possible for you guys.
Sadly we lost one of our Center Backs Roozbeh Cheshmi (He can also play as DM which is a better position for him IMO) due to injury who had an excellent day in the first match. Now we have to replace him with either Montazeri or Hosseini. Personally I rate both Montazeri and Hosseini higher than Cheshmi as CB but the problem is that Hosseini is still young (He is only 21 years old) and Montazeri did not play for the national team in last a few games although he is an experienced player.