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

Quieroz begins our World Cup campaign

Carlos Quieroz began his and our Team Melli’s World Cup campaign with a sound victory over the minnows of the group, Indonesia. The scoreline of 3-0 was attractive enough for the general fan, as it was also important to start the games with a confidence boosting victory. However, the way the team played left much to be desired. Despite the overall team performance showed signs of improvement in some periods of the game, but the overall quality of the team was nothing to write home about.

Next was the away game to Qatar. Had anyone proposed an away scoreline of 1-1 prior to the game, I’m sure many fans would have taken it. However the sheer number of chances created up front for our strikers and especially the three golden chances for Karim Ansarifard, all of which he scoffed with rather meek and lackluster shots that resembled mere passes to the opposition keeper, left me wondering what if we had a more competent selection and staring line up. We could have easily taken the game and perhaps finished handsomely by 2-3 goals margin. But Qatar got away with a draw and we hopefully will not reach a position to rue all those wasted opportunities. The hosts’ goal was a very soft one where they exploited the confusion created in the middle of our defense and slotted a goal to salvage a point for them. One cant and shouldn’t blame the loss of two points on the young Ansarifard and despite the knee jerk reactions of some fans, I still believe he has enough talent to remain in our overall squad. However, he can certainly work on his final shots and not try to insist too much on a silky touch or tap-in. Sometimes a little power is what the doctor prescribes.

Speaking of player selection and starting line up, I have a bone to pick with our new coach. Either it is is untimely vacation at the beginning of the league season that deprived him of keeping an eye on the in-form players or perhaps his reliance on his Iranian assistants to pick the right players that ended up with a roster that included a few our of form players, one or two of whom actually found their way into the starting line up as well!! Gholamreza Rezaei is a talented player with good amount of pace to create trouble for almost any Asian team’s defense. But in recent months he hasn’t been in form and that productive. Yes he still makes fast runs up and down and zig-zags to the middle with the same pace. But all these moves show no real purpose or design and at times they  even hinder the team’s attack. And yet, we see him not only picked for these games, he was also put in the starting line up. I can strongly say he was one of the weakest players in the first match with long periods of absence in the game until he was subbed (too late in my opinion) near the end of the game. And despite this weak performance, he was yet again in the next game’s starting line up and stayed on while more productive players like Khalatbari and Karimi were subbed out!

At the same time, the absence or neglect of the league’s top goal scorer, Reza Nowroozi of Foulad in any of Quieroz’s rosters (no matter how many he calls up) is something of an enigma. Surely in a 30+ man squad with  a handful of out of form players there is room for the league’s top scorer. That’s what any sensible, logical person would think. And yet … .

With the Bahrain game looming one can only hope with more serious outlook towards the league players and hopefully with more coordination among the players with some sound strategies, we should be able to get the 3 points and put some distance between ourselves and the rest of the group.