4 things that I hated about Iran's game against Tunisia: 1- The pitch was soaked with water due to the rain. It made it hard for both teams to play well. 2- Low attendance. The 60,000 stadium was mostly empty. My guess regarding attendance would be something like 5,000. It made the game even less interesting. 3- Mistakes. There were far too many mistakes by Iran's players in terms of errand passes and rather dangerous decisions. And last but not least: 4- No clear backups for Ezatolahi. Iran will suffer without him as our d-mid, as neither Karimi or later Ebrahimi made me feel comfortable in the post. The only positive for me from this match was that even on this pitch, Iran was able to create at least 3-4 good scoring chances. Tunisia probably had as many if not more, but given the totality of circumstances, I was happy with our attacking players even if they aren't necessarily our first choice players.
Portugal 0 Egypt 0 HT Portugal had a goal ruled off side and a shot cleared off the line although Egypt should of scored ealier.
Beiranvand did great. It's going to take some time to find a solid DM combo. Although what I love about CQ is that once we make a mistake we seldom make that mistake again. Mohammadi own goal was unfortunate but it happens. Our right side needs patching up. Also we need Azmoun to stretch out a defense and frustrate. I know some hate the guy's childish attitude but he is our best striker by far. Amiri out, In with Alipour. Heck I'd even play Ghoddos there.
Morocco defeated Serbia 2:1. Tunisia beat Iran 1:0. And Egypt is leading Portugal 1:0 with that game almost over. Great day for the North African teams.
Germany 1-1 Spain Good performances by both teams. Great chances on both sides, De Gea and ter Stegen showed why they're top class. Entertaining match overall.
Portugal 2 Egypt 1 Salah scores brilliantly first time from outside the box 56´ Just when it seems that Egypts normal tactics of good defensive formations with desisive strikes it going to yield. Quaresma assist Ronaldo headed golo 92' Quaresma assist Ronaldo headed golo 95´ Coming from one of Quaresmas harshest critics before 2016, the people who think Quaresma should not go to the WC are just plain wrong, so decisive off the bench with game altering assists.
Quaresma and Ronaldo seen to be able to read each others minds. How many times have we seen this already? We can't question Quaresma anymore.
Not only Tunisia/Iran but you got Morocco/Serbia correct and you were seconds away from getting Portugal/Egypt correct. I'm gonna have to keep my eye on your future predictions.
But there’s plenty of player who need hard questions asked of them this morning. Egypt played like it meant something to them and I understand it’s just a friendly but Portugal were absolute garbage today. The worst performance I’ve seen in since the Albania loss nearly 4 years ago.
Many candidates for most boring/pathetic Portugal friendly, watched many such games. We turn the page usually when the competition starts and get far or go out early, usually the group stages. Not worried about the performance today, more worried about the statistics, like how many asists hás Quaresma now for Portugal, Ronaldo is up to 81 (3rd all time) behind Puskás and Daei) and vs Egypt, W3 L1 D0.
None of the results in this group look encouraging for Iran. I had not seen Iran lose in a long time and it happened. What's more: even though Iran were robbed of a clear penalty IMO, Tunisia outplayed Iran. Our defense was error prone. Our midfield was overpowered by a Tunisia side that was surprisingly strong physically. The only good thing about the game for me was that it confirmed that we have enough depth and bite on offense to be able to sting those who face us. Iran will need to figure out a solution to its d-mid/central midfield weakness. Just like against Tunisia, we won't have Ezatolahi against Morocco either and none of our backup d-mids are up to the task. Defensively, we are thin too: without Pouraliganji and Hosseini, our regular two starting center backs who weren't featured against Tunisia, we are error prone and nothing like I have seen in our other matches.
Of course we have to ask some questions of a few today, that's one of the benefits of friendlies. However these are the stats for the game. Portugal 59% possession Egypt 41% Portugal 18 shots Egypt 5 Portugal 7 corners Egypt 0 Portugal 6 shots on target Egypt 3 A disjointed effort today, I'm not saying it was good, but I've certainly seen worse. Game against U.S.A in November comes to mind, though it was a more experimental line-up. The game against Cape Verde a couple years back comes to mind also. Not a good game, but I think hindsight will prove it wasn't as bad as first perceived. Disappointed in J.Mario though, hope he regains form. Moutinho and Neves also a big let down today. But mostly sad that B.Silva was essentially non existent today.
If any Morocco supporters know where I could get a replay of the Serbia game, it would be appreciated. Impressive result, but don't wanna make any judgments until watching it.
Saw the highlights and It is obvious Iran will be weakest team in this group. All this talk about their world class coach and a solid team was just hype. Now it is obvious, Spain will be the first team to advance from this group and second place will be a hard fight between Morocco and Portugal. Case is closed. I think Morocco can defeat Portugal.
It wasn't that good, especially the second half. A lot of failed passes. Some players, like Da Costa or Bouhaddouz, who played should not be in the world cup squad.
To be fair the result was rather deserved, even if a draw could also reflect the game pretty well. Serbia started the 10 first minutes strongly, then Morocco had more control all over the game. Not a lot of big chances in the game overall, both teams played seriously and a bit rigid.
Ziyech is a difference maker. His passing is almost unrivalled. I'm thinking he could reach KDB levels...
While today's results aren't encouraging for Iran, saying the "case is closed" is going too far based on a single away friendly. Iran started without the following players, each of whom are first choice starters for us: 1- Sardar Azmoun (didn't play at all) 2- Mehdi Taremi (didn't play at all) 3- Alireza Jahanbakhsh (played only 10 minutes once we fell behind) 4- Morteza Pouraliganji (didn't play at all) 5- S. Jalal Hosseini (didn't play at all) 6- Ashkan Dejagah (didn't play at all) 7- Saeed Ezatolahi (didn't play at all) p.s. If you watched the highlights, tell me how was that foul on Ansarifard in the first half not a penalty?
I don't think so. His passing is phenomenal indeed, but he is a less good dribbler than De Bruyne and he lacks some strenght in his playing.
Given the pitch conditions and the heavy rain, I believe CQ made a game-day decision to bench all the key players to avoid injuries.