Thanks, good luck to you guys as well! The bulk of the squad consists of players from the domestic league, mainly from the two Tehran giants - Perspolis and Esteghlal. We have about 5 or 6 European based players.
Sucks we're in the same group, I would have rooted for Iran other wise, I do expect Bosnia to finish second
I also think Bosnia is favoured to finish second, as they qualified from a much tougher qualification zone/federation. It has a sharper squad, seeing as how almost all players are in very competetive European leagues. But I dont believe Bosnia are clear-cut and obvious to finish 2nd. I think it could be a tight race. We also dont know very much about Nigeria.
So looking at Nigeria's qualifiers you notice something interesting: They scored a total of 11 goals in 8 matches (All in the second half) with 7/11 of those goals coming from the last 10 minutes. http://www.goalzz.com/main.aspx?region=-7&team=363 What could you conclude from this? First it shows their superior stamina allowing them to take advantage of the more tired legs toward the end of the match. Second it shows they don't have too much firepower and can't score goals even against weaker opponents.
Based on my synopsis, and this being in the Iran forum; Iran should win the group followed by Argentina which is unddoubtedly stronger that the remaining two. Bosnia and Nigeria are pretty equal in my book.
Not sure whether you're joking or being serious but I don't think it's realistic to say we'll top the group over Argentina, yes it's football and anything can happen but we don't have a history of high level performance in the WC to make such predictions so I say it's best to remain humble and have low expectations. TM plays better when there's no pressure anyway so it can only help.
Any word on friendlies for Iran? I'm an Ultra from San Jose Earthquakes, born in America, but my parents and all of my family are Iranian. So as you can see, Beitashour in Iran is awesome in so many ways for me! Not really sure what to think of him internationally still, i think he needs some more minutes to get comfortable and show everything he's got. But based on the 2 games he's played, the team only allowed 1 goal and he played 180 min. I know he could have done better on the one goal vs Lebanon, but it was a broken play and he will learn from that
Ali Kaffashian, head of IFF, said today they'll arrange at least 6-7 friendlies before the World Cup that will include teams from Africa, Europe, and South America. He said the majority of those friendlies will be played outside of Iran during TM camps in Europe and Brazil. He also said a few friendlies have already been arranged and that the federation is waiting for Queiroz to return to Iran in order to finalize the games. Rumor has it Ghana and Italy friendlies are already confirmed.
So are CQ and Karimi not on good terms or something? Why hasn't Karimi been called up recently? We really need him as CM for the World Cup.
Karimi is like 35 years old and lost a lot of stamina. He's more of a defensive midfielder now (which we have plenty of in Nekounam, Ando, Haghighi), and rather slow. Dont mean any disrespect to him, but I think Karimi would just waste a spot on the squad.
Plenty of top world class players play well into their 30s. Zidane was 34 @ WC2006 and France nearly won the world cup. CM position doesn't necessarily need high speed, Karimi is a beast at holding possession and distributing the ball. Don't think we have anyone else in Iran who does the job as good as him.
Maybe. But I would rather want that CQ gives a shot to a younger talent that can perhaps attract interest from Europe. I think we have better players than Karimi. Payam Sadeghian is a hot prospect
got to think positively it has power I'm looking forward to serendipity occurring, and Iran topping the group. ps. Remember Brazilians have a huge rivalry with Argentinians, and will make it really tough for them throughout their campaign.
I agree. Would be very disappointed if Iran does finish first from this group. PS I'm not giving much of a chance to Nigeria, but Bosnia should have a thing or two to say. Argentina have maybe 1 or 2 good players and I have it on good authority that they will have an 'accident' about 48 hours before the game.
Wow so much confidence from you guys, for a team that has never advanced out of the group stage. I hope they advance, but im not getting my hopes up.
I agree with you, I didnt mean to brush Argentina off like that. Like !Bob said, they have a couple of good players, but nothing close to anything that should worry Iran. I'm just trying to figure out who Iran will play in the quarters and semis... I think thats when they really get challenged. The group stage is just formality at this point.
I definitely agree that we're being seriously underestimated by everyone else but I don't like to make bold predictions. We've never really proven our worth in the international stage. We should have done way better in 2006 but didn't. 2014 is another opportunity but until we get the actual results I say let's leave the talking to the players on the field.
Well, if we top the group we'll coast to semis where we meet Spain. But if somehow Argentina manages a draw against us and out thrash BiN - and we're talking double digits here - then we'd only coast till the quater finals where we'd meet Germany. Eitherway, we'll be coasting most of the way to the finals m8.
You are underestimating this group so bad. Iran will not coast anywhere my friend. As much as we hope, you cant be this confident in a team that has NEVER made it out of the group stages. I see us losing to Argentina and tying with Bosnia and Nigeria. Its ok to be hopeful but you are very over confident.