Last Kick » Blog Archive » Yet another draw for Iran

TEHRAN â€“ Iran remained winless in Group Five of the Asian World Cup qualifiers after being held to a goalless draw by group leaders United Arab Emirates at the Azadi Stadium on Monday.

The draw kept UAE at the top of the group with five points, two ahead of the Iranians, who have been held to three consecutive draws so far in the qualifiers.

The home side dominated the first half but Ali Daei's men were unable to create any clear-cut chances for much of the time against an Emirates side content to sit back and absorb pressure.

However the Iranian attacks became more dangerous in the last five minutes before the interval and Seyed Hadi Aghily nearly broke the deadlock when he met Masoud Shojaeiâ€™s corner from the right with a first-time shot that went over the crossbar.

Iran had a pair of quick chances a minute later as Hossein Kaebiâ€™s cross from the left was turned by Alireza Vahedi Nikbakht into the side netting and, seconds later, Shojaei's shot from outside the area went wide.

The home side continued to ask the questions at the start of the second half and had another opening two minutes after the restart as a free kick by Shojaei was turned wide by Seyed Jalal Hosseini.

Iran threatened again in the 49th minute as Kaebiâ€™s cross from the right was met with a powerful header by Vahedi Nikbakht that flew over the crossbar.

UAE responded three minutes later reply through Abdulraheem Juma, who received a pass from the left and unleashed a powerful shot from the edge of the box that shaved the right post.

The visitors had an appeal for penalty on the hour when Aghily brought down Ismail Matar in the box but Korean referee Lee Gi-young was uninterested and allowed play to continue.

The Emirates had their best chance with 20 minutes remaining as a cross from the left by Juma picked out substitute Faisal Khalil, who headed wide.

Iran nearly stole a winner with five minutes remaining when skipper Javad Nekounam met a cross from the left with a powerful header that goalkeeper Majed Nasser did well to tip over for a corner.

Luck was against us, says Daei

TEHRAN – Iran coach Ali Daei felt his side were unfortunate not to claim all three points after they were held to a goalless draw by the UAE in their World Cup qualifying clash at Azadi Stadium on Monday.

Iran held the upper hand throughout the contest but were unable to convert their superiority into goals, although Javed Nekounam nearly snatched victory with five minutes remaining only to see his powerful header tipped over by keeper Majed Nasser.

UAE, meanwhile, were content to play on the counter with substitute Faisal Khalil wasting their best chance 20 minutes from the end and the result means Iran are still searching for their first victory in Group Five ahead of the return clash in Al-Ain on Saturday.

However, a defiant Daei felt his players deserved credit for their display and underlined only wasteful finishing prevented them from triumphing after a small minority of fans called for the 39-year-old to resign just three months into his reign as national team boss.

"I did my job as the coach," he said.

"I prepared the players to win but a coach can't put on the kit and go onto the pitch and score goals. We needed more luck.

"We played the better football and we had more chances, which we didn't take.

"I knew the United Arab Emirates would come to counter attack and I told that to the players. They shut down the space in the middle so we had to attack down the wings.

"That's football and we're used to it. I'm optimistic that we'll beat them (on Saturday). We're only interested in taking three points from the last three matches."

UAE coach Bruno Metsu, meanwhile, was far happier with a point that ensures his side will at least enjoy a share of top spot in Group Five and paid tribute to a resilient defensive performance from the visitors.

"We defended with 11 players, as a team," he said.

"My job as coach is to get a result and I did that.

"But I'm only half satisfied because we didn't win. Both sides had good spells in the match but we came away with the better result in the end."

"We don't have a very good record against Iran but today, we came to Tehran and earned a point."

Posted by Afshin Afshar @ 2:19 pm. Filed under Iran

[Comments (27)]

27 Responses to “Yet another draw for Iran”

Aghooli Says:
June 2nd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Any coach that blames “Luck” for a loss needs to be fired.
gholi Says:
June 2nd, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I disagree.
kia Says:
June 2nd, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I say give him until Saturday and then fire him (If he does produce results). He can not be unlucky 3 times in a row. I think after Saturday, he will have had enough time with the team and enough chances to prove himself and will have to take responsibility for their success/failour!!!
Afshin Afshar Says:
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I am not sure if I agree with the general sentiment against Daei here. Forgetting about how he got the job (That we all agree on), we must consider the circumstances under which he is working. The IFF consistently fails to arrange friendly games for the team’s preparation. As of a couple of weeks ago, Daei and his crew still did not have contracts, the IFF bans and unbans (is there such word in English?! ) players as they please, ….. need I go on?!

I have watched two of the last three games, and I must say that under the circumstances, they hare playing decent football. If they get three or four friendly games under their belt they can actually be a good team. The problem is that we do not have time (as kia points out) and unfortunately we may not make it out of this group, and in that case all the blame will be laid on Daei, which is completely unfair.
JAhan Says:
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Even if Iran with some strange luck advances to the next round, it won’t be able to qualify for the world cup in such a shape. By the way why Enayati is playing in the team. Maadanchi should have been invited instead. I am very sad to see the team in a situation like this.
kia Says:
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Afshin jan,

I agree with you that Daei has had to deal with lots of shortcomings as you listed (except ban/unbans – it was a single incident and Karimi was not fit to play anyway. I’m sure any coach occasionally will have to deal with things like that). But keep in mind, the teams that we have been playing against are not top notch and have not been free of problems either. My point: we are not playing at our peak but we don’t have to be to beat teams like Kuwait or UAE.

And by the way, It is a fact that Daei will take a lot of blame if we don’t make it out of this group. It is unfair but he knew this when he took the job. He knew IFF more than anybody else in Iran. If he was smart, he would not have taken the job, at least not now! Pretty much he got what he asked for…. Too bad for him.

Just my opinion…

P.S. As I mentioned in previous post, before we judge him for good we should give him another game. He still has an opportunity to redeem himself. And I really really hope he will. For the sake of himself and for the sake of Team Melli…
kia Says:
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:21 pm
I forgot to say, it is true, we don’t have much time left. But for the same reason, we should stick with Daei for now. But if he really can not get a result on Saturday’s game, then something is fundamentally wrong and I don’t see much good in keeping him… By then we are finished for this World Cup anyways, so better get a head start with a new and better coach…
Behrad Says:
June 2nd, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Afshin,

I agree that a series of friendly games against tough opponents could undoubtedly have had a positive impact on our team’s performance today. I also agree with your point that Daei has not had a whole of a lot of time to prepare his team. On the other hand, I feel that he should learn from Ghotbi and be prepared to admit to failure or credit the opponents, when appropriate, rather than blaming his luck, etc.
Overall, I thought our team particularly had issues in creating space, as often in many crucial moments our players on the attack seem to be battling one on two against the UAE players. The finishing also seemed lacking; I found Nikbahkt quite disappointing, as on many occasions he seemed to lack basic ball handling skills. Shojayee on the other hand and perhaps Satar Zareh seemed more impressive and playing more intelligently than some of the others and Kaabi was hard at work. However, since I did not see the match in its entirety, I admit that I may be wrong in my observations. Unless our team improves significantly, even if it qualifies to the next round (which unfortunately is becoming increasingly uncertain), it is not likely do well against better opponents in the 2nd round of qualifiucations.
Afshin Afshar Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I generally agree with both Behrad and kia, so I am not going to go over the details that we all to various degrees know to be true. Instead I want to talk about why we spend so much time on Iranian football.

The only reason we, and I think I speak for all of us, bother to spend as much time as we do on Team Melli and Iranian football in general is our love for the game, and the Iranian version of it. We love and care about Iranian football because that is where we learned about the game, and we all have our special memories (e.g. 2-2 result in Melbourne, 2-1 against USA in France 98, etc.). We also have memories we wish we forgot (e.g. Bahrain game in 2002, Rezaei and Baddavi playing slap-a-face on the field in China, the 2-0 loss to Ireland in Dublin, etc.).

We love the TM despite all its imperfections. We know that everything about TM is severely imperfect, but that does not stop us from tuning into the next game.

Those of you who have been reading lastkick.com for the last couple of years know that I am not shy about criticizing what I perceive to be wrong with our football. I think our football is run and sometimes played by the wrong people, but I refuse to let that take away from my passion and love for TM.

For most Iranian fans TM is an idea; something that represents everything good and bad about us, our culture, and our country of birth. We are a nation full of paradoxes and that shows in our football. A footballer can be a jerk, but the moment he puts on a TM jersey and does something heroic on the field he will instantly become our hero! We love the team so much that we can hate it with passion when it fails, only to love it again come the next game!

We are passionate people, and very few things can stirrup our emotions the way our football can. I still choke up when I remember the feeling of euphoria that engulfed the entire nation when Azizi scored the second goal in Melbourne, or when Estili scored his in France. I enjoy feeling and seeing us feel that way, and I donâ€™t want to see the idiots in IFF and Iranian football in general take that away from us.
kia Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Let’s hope Saturday’s game won’t become one of those “memories we wish we forgot”!!!!
behrad Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Afshin,

All well said. There is no question that the reason we closely follow and show interest in Iranian football is neither the quality nor always the likability of players/coaches. The fact that Iranian football is Iranian tends to be the more notable attribute to many/most of us, compared to the football. Let’s hope to see better performances and better results in the next few weeks.
Gholi Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Fire Daei for what? What have we accomplished in the past 30 years? We had the worst team ever in 2006 and the only claim to fame was that in 98 we had a semi descent team. Iran is the same level as Kuwait,U.A.E. Qatar and othe power houses in the region. Which of our euoropean based players have been more than a bench warmer? Face the facts. Daei does what he can work with,Iran is an asian team who can always beat Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan . However Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Japn and others are at best anybody’s game. Are you actually shocked that we tied yesterday? Firing Daei is pointing fingers and resolves nothing.
kia Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Gholi,

Kuwait and UAE are not regional power houses!!! Japan is in a different league. There is no comparison between current Team Melli and Japan.
Afshin Afshar Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:26 pm
I would divide up the regional teams as follows:

A Teams: Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Australia
B Teams: Iran, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, China

Let’s say the following teams qualify from their respective groups:

Group | Teams
1 | Australia, Qatar
2 | Bahrain, Japan
3 | N. Korea, S. Korea
4 | Uzbekistan, KSA
5 | UAE, Iran

They will get divided into two groups of 5. That means we could have any two of the A Teams, and at least one B team in our group. What do you think our chances of going to the World Cup would be if we do not improve and improve soon?

Does not look good, does it?

References:
FIFA Ranking (May 2008 / AFC)
Asia / Groups and Standings
gholi Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Kia,
There are no power houses in that region. Least of all Iran .
Afshin Afshar Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:36 pm
LOL! I have to agree with gholi, but I think kia specifically said “Regional Power Houses”. See the link to FIFA ranking in my post above.

Granted that FIFA rankings can be misleading, but I think in case of Asia they tend to be more reflective of reality than say for Europe.
gholi Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Branco , Parveen, Mayelikohan, etc, etc . All bad coaches according to the Iranian fans , and the latest casualty probably Daei. People, when Iran became a european team? When in the past 30 years the Iranian national team becam so ahead of others in the region? Let’s have a reality check.
Afshin Afshar Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:22 pm
gholi jAn, I don’t think anyone here is saying that. But you are right, there are fans who still think we are what we were in the 1970s. Those days are long gone.
kia Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:16 pm
gholi,

I really was not the one who first used the term “power house” to refere to Asian teams…

But then everything is relative, so on “relative” terms, I would consider Japan or Saudi Arabia “regional” power houses. Some used to consider Iran an Asian power house. But my point exactly: The current Team Melli is far from that…

Afshin,

Nice analysis. Consider this draw:

Iran, Japan, Australia, Uzbekistan

That’s group of “our” death!!!!!

(All this only if we make it to 2nd round)
Afshin Afshar Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Yikes! THat is the group of death allright.

btw that could make Qatar the 5th team in our group! UAE can not play Iran again.
kia Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:55 pm
gholi,

Branco , Parveen, Mayelikohan, etc, are were good coaches! Only Daei is a bad coach! LOL….

Joking aside, I still think even with the current team he should have done better. We are not ahead of every body else but in terms of players and potential we are not behind everybody else either. We have better players than UAE both physically and technically. We never talked about details of the game…. but why does Daei insist on using Enayati when he has proven not to be that good over and over. And him as the sole striker for the entire first half when we know we need to win this game. That’s too conservative playing against a weak Asian team. We are being eliminated anyway so why not take some risks…

Like I’ve been saying, with current condition we should not expect to win against Japan, Australia, or even Bahrain. But with good coaching, we should be able to make it out of this group. You guys keep mentining the IFF/structural shortcomings but the fact is that these deficiencies have always been there and are nothing new. They were there in 2004 and they were there in 1996. We still qualified for respective WCs…
kia Says:
June 3rd, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Afshin,

I think Bahrain is tougher than Qatar tow overcome, don’t you think so?!
gholi Says:
June 4th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Let’s hope for the best.
Afshin Afshar Says:
June 4th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
kia,

I think Bahrain is tougher not only because they have a better team, but also because of the intimidation factor since that nasty loss in Manama on October 21, 2001
kia Says:
June 4th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
There you go! The group of death is complete:

Iran, Japan, Australia, Uzbekistan, Bahrain

I feel bad for Syrians, because the way it’s going, they’r the ones that gonna be in there not us!
Do or die time for Iran - Iran Says:
June 5th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
[...] The latest draw was against UAE at home. The team played better than it did in its first two games, but not by much and it was certainly enough. [...]
Afshin Afshar Says:
June 5th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Well, here is what Kaveh entered on his lastkick blog:

Kaveh’s Blog

Apparently he is not very optimistic either