Battering Bahrain, Iran finally exorcises a ghost

If the ghosts of the 2001 match in Manama were not exorcised by  the  4-2 win in the Asian Cup 2004 or the 1-0 win that sealed Iran’s qualification for the 2006 world cup, then today’s 6-0 route certainly put it to a final rest.

In 2001 Iran lost to Bahrain under extremely suspicious and strange circumstances and ended up watching Bahrain players wave not their flag since they  were already eliminated, but the flag of Saudi Arabia over their heads and rejoice as if it was them who had qualified with this win.  That memory had remained with most Iranian fans and ever since this tie had carried a certain grudge match baggage that have seen plenty of rough and rash plays, scuffles and fights and generally bad blood between the two teams.

But today, Bahrain had nobody else to blame but their usual rough (and often unsportsmanlike) tactics for the disparity the faced for nearly the entire game. A rash two-footed lunge on the feet of Teymoorian saw the Bahraini defender see the (brave) Australian referee whip out the red card. From then on, it was smooth sailing for Iran and an up-hill battle for the Bahrainis.

An early goal within the first 20 minutes also made sure the Bahrain players would not resort to their usual time wasting tactics and they were forced to open up and come forward to get the equalizer. This played right into Iran’s hands as now they were allowed to play football in a more relaxed and open atmosphere.  With some great performances from the likes of Jabbari, Teymoorian and Ghazi we exerted tremendous amount of pressure and eventually scored 3 goals and missed a few more by the halftime.

This was pretty much the same plot for the second half as Teymoorian scored the fourth goal soon. The goal that dropped the heads of the opponents and after this the Red team were only desperately waiting for the referee to blow the final whistle. But Iran was not done yet. With goals from substitutes Ansarifard and Rezaei they finished the match with half a dozen goals that made the 83,000-plus fans  in the stadium jubilant and in festive mood.

Players that impressed were Mahini, who’s been blazing a trail in recent months in both club and national team. Teymoorian, who looked tireless and full of drive and energy. Jabbari, who made Karimi’s absence not felt and Ghazi, whose role as the big, strong center forward  paid off very well. Ghazi’s duties resembled the old Daei who used his body strength and height to gain the upper hand in aerial balls, shield the ball well and feed the surging players from sides. This was a welcome addition to the usual Team Melli strategies as it brought in a British direct style of play into the team.  Flanks and the wide players ruled the day as we had cross after cross raining in on the opponent box which caused much trouble for them.

Another positive was seeing the team attempt long rangers, most of which were either on target or whizzed by very close to the posts. Not to mention the best goal of the game, a thunderous 30+ yarder from Teymoorian.

But it is the final point that brings me joy. And that is to see Team Melli not retreat and retract as soon as it scores a goal or two. Until the dying seconds of the game our lads showed hungry and went looking for more and more goals. This is what has been missing in quite a few years in Team Melli as coach after coach, in continental and international games adopt an overly cautious side that often caused the team to suffer loss of  precious points as they either exchanged wins with draws or in some cases, a defeat. But today I saw the hunger not only in the faces and movement of the players, but also in the face of the coach. And this gives me hope.

Scorers: jalal Hosseini, Mojtaba Jabbari, Hadi Aghili, Andranik Teymoorian, Karim Ansarifard and Gholamreza Rezaei.

Highlights of the game (Courtesy of PFDC-TV, www.persianfootball.com ):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP6RpQoOmtg&feature=player_embedded

Miserable day at ACL for Iranian clubs

Only in Iran do we see a team win both home and away games and still get eliminated. 

Yes, it is true. Sepahan, despite winning the return leg 2-1 has been eliminated. It was just in form with the rest of the day (unless one is a Volleyball fan who would have been delighted with the semifinal victory over South Korea) as we saw Zob-Ahan throw away an excellent chance of advancing from the tie with some lackluster and overly cautious performance in the second half and the extra time.

 

Zob-Ahan’s coach, Mr. Ebrahimzadeh failed to heed all the danger signs of the away leg as the Korean club Samsung Bluewings continued to use the flanks and create chance after chance until they scored their equalizing goal (after Ghazi had put Zob ahead, earlier) which seemed to pump most of Zob’s fight out of them. 

But the biggest blow came not from the opponent’s team, but from the referee who, during a Korean set piece, in the melee in our box somehow saw something that even the TV replays from various angles failed to show. Zob’s Ahmadi was red carded and the team left with 10 men. The resultant penalty was slotted and it was literally mission for the 10-man Zob-Ahan who now had to score 2 goals in the remaining 18 or so minutes!

 

I believe Hadadifar’s absence in the middle of the park, controlling and directing the play for Zob Ahan was really a big blow for them and they looked weak in creating opportunities for their forwards.

 

Sepahan was not to be left behind, although they did make a great match out of it. They started very brightly as they scored a goal within the first minute of the game through Emad Reza’s well placed shot from range and doubled their tally by 12^th minute by Ashjari’s long ranger from the middle leaving the Qatari team and their fans jittery and busy biting their nail for most of the match. Halfway through the game, Talebi scored a goal which was correctly called offside, Seyed_Salehi had a great header cleared on the line by the acrobatic Al-Sadd keeper,  and Emad Reza was fouled just outside the box which was wrongfully ignored by the Japanese referee.  

Thus was the story until that infernal and eternal law of football came to play; "if you dont score and make use of your opportunities, be sure that you will concede". Despite dominating the game and possession, creating several dangerous chances, Sepahan conceded a goal near the end of the game which deflated their players and much like their compatriots, Zob-Ahan, stared down the line with little hope of scoring 2 goals in a very short period. But Al-Sadd's coach, the Argentine Fossati's reaction after scoring their only goal of the two leg tie was quite pitiable. Pumping his hands in the air and running around pointing to their club supporters, one would have thought they have beaten Barcelona by 4 goals in the World Club tournament ... and not merely for the single goal in the game that they still lost and made the totaly tally of "scored goals" 3-1 ... had it not been for the foolish mismanagement of Sepahan's officials. It was quite the peculiar reaction of a losing coach indeed.

Thus was the miserable day of Sepahan and Zob-Ahan in their bid to make an all-Iranian semifinal ... which turned out to be a non-Iranian one eventually.

Zob Ahan, a class above Asia

Zob Ahan’s game had everything a Hollywood blockbuster needs; Drama, fast paced action, flair & trickery, tears and even one deadly missile. But what stands out the most in this game for me is how truly elegant and classy they performed as a team. Today Zob Ahan could have been a team playing in a top European league vying for honors.

I don’t know if I should start with their fluid passing, positional plays, constant movement that confounded the Saudi team, their intelligence or the sheer amount of flair and skills displayed by many of its players, with Khalatbari at the top of the heap.

Khalatbari was an unstoppable dynamo who ran riot throughout the match and Al-Nassr simply did not have a response to his runs, dribbles, passes. Some friends in PFDC compared him with a certain Lionel Messi. Today, I think this comparison was not beyond imagination. Yes, he was THAT GOOD. Oh, and by the way, he had 2 magnificent assists that resulted in a 2-0 scoreline with hardly 5 minutes into the game.

The first goal saw him weave through a crowd of Saudi defenders as if they were sticks rooted in the ground, supplying Ghazi with a deft pass. And Ghazi picked up where Khalatbari dropped off and he, in turn, scrambled the defenders even more and slotted the goal by the hapless goal keeper.

Khalatbari, then, supplied the corner through which Igor Castro scored an easy header and the first of his brace. From this moment on, Zob Ahan was in control of match and except a few minutes in the middle of the second half, they never relinquished this control till the final whistle.

But the drama was just starting in a match that saw the Al Nassr coach forced to make substitutions in 32nd minute and then by 45th minute, desperately trying to wrestle some control of the ball and make a headway. However it was not so as the Iranian midfield maestro, Hadadifard, produced one of his signature through passes that fed Castro who shot past the keeper to score his second and put Zob Ahan 3-0.

This had a feeling of a rout from the beginning of the game and things were moving according to the script. So much that even the opponent’s lone goal didn’t really faze the Isfahani team and they stuck to their coach, Ebrahimzadeh’s plans which saw the best goal of the Asian Champions League as their fourth. A long range cruise missile by Shahin Kheiri, zeroing in on the crumbling Saudi goal keeper which finally broke the opponents’ resistance … not to mention make the keeper weep!
In a game that saw Zob Ahan score 4 goals and fail to score at least another 4-5 goals, we also must give credit to a defender, Ahmadi, who saved at least 3 one-on-ones with impeccably timed tackles.



All in all, this was a magnificent display of prowess by a team that has made intelligent and team oriented football its trade mark and sits on top of the Asian clubs’ ranking in the world (fifa). While Sepahan’s game yesterday provided great satisfaction for the Iranian fans, Zob’s game was an absolute joy to watch. Thank you Mr.’s Ebrahimzadeh & Saleh for preparing a team that oozes class and intelligence. Thank you very much.