Shaky but fortuitous first step for Team Melli

Quieroz falters in our first game, but the referee and FIFA's insane insistence on having no technology tarnishing the beautiful game saves his & our hide.

With the start of the Asian World Cup qualifiers’ final round, Iran had to travel to Uzbekistan to face one of their main rivals in qualification to Brazil. But Iran was fortunate to face a depleted Uzbek side that saw as many  as 5 to 6 players, including stars like Maxim Shatskikh, Tursenov and Djebarov, suspended by AFC for the game. This is the kind of opportunity that knocks one’s door only once in a life-time and we all expected Quieroz to exploit this opportunity to the hilt. Well weren’t we in for a gut-kicking surprise!

The first punch to the gut was when we saw the players walk out onto the pitch and saw quite a new set of arrangement and roster set to start the game. Traktorsazi’s Ebrahimi was the biggest surprise of the day as his debut against Albania hardly encouraged anyone to think of him as a contender for the coveted starting line up. The next and an even bigger surprise was to see no recognized striker among the 11 man squad. What was Quieroz thinking? And while we were raking our heads to find the answer to the above, Pouladi’s absence just put the icing on the cake.

The 11 man team was Rahmati taking on the keeping spot with Montazeri replacing Aghili as Hosseini’s partner in front with Mahini on the right and Pejman Nouri on the left. Nekounam and Teymourian were the expected defensive midfield duo. But then came the strange and I must confess, quite irrational set of 4 players in front of this duo; Jabbari, Karimi, Hajsafi and Ebrahimi. To say this was unexpected is a major understatement. Imagine having your main qualifying opponents on the ropes due to  major suspensions. One would think this is one of those times you must grasp lady luck and squeeze the most out of it by dealing a death blow to a direct qualifying rival, and that too away from home. Apparently Mr. Carlos Quieroz didn’t think so! It seemed he is content with a nil-nil drab draw!!

The first 10-15 minutes of the game also went as expected with the depleted Uzbek team coming in very cautiously and wary of getting hit early on. But once they saw how toothless and impotent our team was, they got more bold and adventurous and started to come out and attack us in droves. Not having a forward in our  team also helped them as their defenders freely stepped up and joined with their midfielders to wrestle the center of the pitch away. It took them no time to actually overwhelm our team and dominate the middle of the park.

Well, it wasn’t only the lack of a forward in our team that facilitated that, as we had quite a few players severely under-performing. Karimi, perhaps had his age to use as excuse for coming in second best in majority of the clashes. But Ebrahimi and definitely Jabbari had no such excuses as these two faltered and bungled passes, runs and any direct clashes with their opponents. It was almost physically painful to watch such a talented line up (on paper) get owned and overwhelmed so easily and quickly by literally Uzebkistan’s reserves.

On the left flank, having two lefties, Hajsafi and Nouri, sort of made this side less vulnerable to the Uzbek attacks. But with Jabbari and Ebrahimi strolling around the park aimlessly and quite uselessly, I must add, the amount of pressure exerted on our right flank became too much to bear on the right fullback, Mahini.  The lad almost always faced at least two attacking opponents which almost always got the better of him. So when Quieroz, late in the first half, subbed Ebrahimi out for Heidari, there was relief that help and corrections will be on the way. And Heidari did help slightly bolster the right flank as he relieved some of the pressure off Mahini. But with Jabbari still aimlessly wandering around the pitch, hardly connecting with any ball, each passing second became an agonizing one for all of us as we wondered what Quieroz was doing or thinking by keeping him on the pitch. Frankly nobody would have been surprised had he taken Jabbari out at minute 20 of the first half itself. But he remained on the pitch for a scandalous amount of time; about 72 minutes … resulting in pretty much zilch!

Nekounam’s biggest contribution in the game was his long distant shot that proved too much for the Uzbek keeper, Nesterov, to handle and he spilled it in a very dangerous fashion with the ball dropping  feet away from him. But since we did not have any forwards in the line up, ready to pounce on such balls, the keeper took a few steps and calmly collected the ball with Karimi and Hajsafi as mere onlookers from distance!

Jabbari’s first and only contribution to the match was when he walked out of the pitch to make way for Khalatbari. Now, with at least one recognized forward, our team took a semblance of shape and with him busying a couple of Uzbek defenders, the amount of pressure on our midfield was reduced. However, we must not forget to credit the ever hard-running Teymourian for his relentless and tireless running to compensate for the lack of input from almost everyone in the midfield, including the captain Nekounam.

But there was much drama awaiting us as the Uzbeks attacked in waves with great pressing tactics, they finally found their way into the goal off a set piece from Geynrikh, as first their shot was mishandled by Rahmati with the ball dropping mere feet away, in front of their forward, Akhmedov, who in his haste hit the post. But the rebound ball was finely met by another attacker and the ball seemed to have crossed the line while Hosseini standing more or less inside our goal-line trying to kick it away. The ball was kicked away and eventually it was kicked farther by the garbled defense with many Uzbek players raising their arms, claiming the goal. But Nishimura, The Japanese referee, didn’t think so as his linesman did not raise his flag. Perhaps his view was obstructed by an Uzbek player blocking the view of the ball on that side. But the TV replays showed the ball indeed had crossed the line and this was a major tragedy for the deserving Uzbek team that gallantly took the match by its scruff and despite their suspensions, applied massive pressure on us.

After that extra lucky break, Quieroz finally brought in another striker, Ansarifard, for Hajsafi and finally made the team look like a real team with two strikers. And that was when for one last time lady luck smiled upon our team. During a final push by the hosts, the never-tiring Teymourian got into the thick of things with two Uzbek midfielders and came up trumps. His pass to the runner, Ansarifard was well timed and placed. But with a glance at the other flank, the most exquisite of passes from the young Ansarifard saw the ball passed to the on-rushing Khalatbari who slotted the ball first time (quite a departure from traditional Iranian strikers’ habit of over-handling the balls) into goal with mere seconds to spare.

One can only feel sad for the unlucky Uzbek team that truly deserved at least a draw. But they will come back stronger and should not be underestimated in their return tie in Tehran.

This win was unbelievable and a tremendous stroke of luck. It also spared Quieroz and Team Melli much blushes as they severely under-performed against an almost reserves side. I’m afraid we used up our  entire depository of luck for the duration of the campaign, all in one game. Quieroz may “announce” to the press he was satisfied with the team and it was all “planned”. But we know better. He has no more room nor excuse to turn up for Team Melli’s following games. Yes, he has a great resume’ filled with great teams and names. But that hardly matters when he gets the starting line up wrong and takes scandalously large amount of time to remedy his wrong picks. We face Qatar in our next game at home and that should be his best chance to put all the doubts to rest and calm all the nerves.

Highlights of the game, courtesy of PFDC-TV :  click here