11/20/2008
By Afshin Dastafshan, PFC Editor-in-Chief

PersianFootballCenter - Iran survived a UAE onslaught and salvaged a point in their third world cup 2010 qualifier. Playing away against a UAE side that was yet to pick up a point in this round Iran were hoping to collect all three points but at the same time they had no doubts about the tough challenge they were about to face since anything but a win for UAE would effectively eliminate them from the world cup campaign.

UAE went on the attack from the outset and put Iran under pressure, there were worrying signs in Iran’s defence from the start, Rahmati in goal was once again the hero for Iran as he made numerous crucial saves but there was nothing he could do when UAE cut through Iran’s defence on the right sending a low ball to the unmarked Jumaa who made no mistake and scored with only the keeper to beat and UAE were 1-0 up after 20 minutes.

The main concern for me was the similarity between the way Iran conceded this goal and the goals conceded to North Korea and Saudi Arabia in their previous two world cup qualifying matches. Against Saudi Arabia in particular Iran were exposed in the same area and an unmarked Saudi player in almost exact same spot as UAE’s Jumaa scored, Iran are failing to address the weakness in defence and are paying a price for it.

I have mentioned in previous articles that Bengar and Aghili offer the best defensive partnership for Iran in full back, I strongly believe that it is time Daei and his coaching team gave this partnership a try before further carbon copy goals are conceded. Sepahan duo Bengar and Aghili play with extreme composure in the back and do well as a defensive unit, Team Melli has struggled in this area for the whole of this year with half backs such as Nekunam forced to move back and assist the full backs.

Iran’s four European based players Mahdavikia, Hashemian, Nekunam and Shojaee were not in their best form, Mahdavikia and Hashemian arrived in UAE only 48 hours before kick-off while Nekunam and Shojaee got there the day before the match, they would not have had enough time to recover from the flight and adjust to the new time zone and warmer climate of the Persian Gulf.

On the plus side once again as in recent matches Iran’s substitutions had the desired effect, in the second half Mahdavikia, Hashemian and Zareh were replaced by Gholamnejad, Seyed Salehi and Madanchi respectively. The incomers gave Iran the much needed hunger to score and added pace to Iran’s attack. For the first time in the match Iran put sustained pressure on UAE and forced the keeper into making saves, for the third match in a row Osasuna’s Shojaee assisted a goal this time with an accurate long Beckham type cross from right, Karim Bagheri on his return to Team Melli made no mistake and buried the ball with a powerful downward header to bring Iran back to level terms.

UAE were not done yet and threatened Iran’s goal again before the whistle went, once again and deep into injury time Rahmati was called into action in a one-on-one situation, Rahmati’s last minute save gave Iran a 1-1 draw. In the other group B match South Korea beat Saudi Arabia 2-1 to go clear at the top of the group on 7 points, Iran on 5 points are second followed by North Korea and Saudi Arabia on 4 points, UAE are on 1 point.