I remember back in 1999, Iran came to California to play a few friendlies....

[HeyBuddy]

Against Ecuador, Mexico and the US. They defeated Ecuador, faced a tight loss vs Mexico and drew with the US......fast forward 15 years later and all of those have overtaken us and are decent international sides.

What is Iran's excuse? Don't tell me its the lack of funding. Do we spend less than Ecuador? How about Costa Rica? Of course not. Yet they are not making excuses and moving forward. And also please don't tell me its due to poor governance. Guess what? NO government in this world is any good and I can assure you that Iran is far from being the worst. This kind of thinking will get us nowhere.

I sincerely believe that we lack two things: a modern understanding of the game and a little bit of heart and passion. If you can't connect 3 passes in a row or come out to a World Cup match with the intensity of an under 19 friendly, something fundamental is seriously wrong here.

 

[TeamMeli]

I actually went to all of those games you are right I remember those games very well Iran beat Ecuador 1-0 @USC, lost to Mexico but played well in Oakland 2-1 and tied 1-1 @ the Rose Bowl. It's not just lack of funding and government support it's also lack of facilities, resources and just overall good players in our league. Why can Mexico field good teams because they can hand pick players from Liga Mx and field a solid team. We can't hand pick players from the IPL and expect the same results as Mexico. Also you got to remember we had some great players back then in their prime guys like Ali Daei, Mehdi Madavakia and Azizi none of our current guys can even come close to those legends.

I think we have plenty of passion my friend so I disagree with you there but moderate understanding of the game goes to what I was saying. Our local coaches are not that good and they don't play a modern game. That is also another problem we don't have resources in place to coach our players. As for Ecuador and Mexico the reason why those guys are successful is they might not have money like us but they spend money when it comes to their FOOTBALL TEAM. Ecuador will spend money to play Germany at the WCQ and Mexico will pay as well to schedule top flight teams like Germany.

There is a big difference when your friendly is Germany vs Montenegro or Bulgaria wouldn't you at least agree with that? I'm not trying to come up with excuses but you can't ignore the facts. Iran surpassed my expectations by qualifying out of Asia over more talented teams and teams with better resources. How bad do you think KSA fans feel right now? They have a WAY better league than us with much better facilities and I'll bet you overall their players are better than ours. Their fans were watching Iran at the world cup so it could be worse at least we are not a RICH TEAM that didn't qualify.

 

[ChaharMahal]

to be fair in that team there was so much talent which made those results an actual failure.

 

[Zob Ahan]

I can't believe its been 15 years. Went to 2 of those games & had a lot of fun.

 

[HeyBuddy]

But we did spend money to play top sides. We paid top $$$ to play Brasil in UAE a couple years back ( 2010 I believe ) and also Germany in 2004, and what did that do for us? 3-0 losses in both games and a thank you very much.

I am one of those few who believe that our friendly schedule this year wasn't bad. Angola is a decent African side, Montenegro is part of the old Yugoslavia and also pretty good, Belarus played Spain / France in the qualifiers and Trinidad / Tobago, Argentina played them just a couple days before we did!

And like you said, Saudi didn't qualify ( thank god! ) and neither did China despite the billions they pour in. So in the end, its really not about money or facilities so much about our preparation and attitude. Maybe some of our coaches can spend $1000 to attend 3 day seminar hosted by Jose Mourinho!

 

[TeamMeli]

But we did spend money to play top sides. We paid top $$$ to play Brasil in UAE a couple years back ( 2010 I believe ) and also Germany in 2004, and what did that do for us? 3-0 losses in both games and a thank you very much.

I am one of those few who believe that our friendly schedule this year wasn't bad. Angola is a decent African side, Montenegro is part of the old Yugoslavia and also pretty good, Belarus played Spain / France in the qualifiers and Trinidad / Tobago, Argentina played them just a couple days before we did!

And like you said, Saudi didn't qualify ( thank god! ) and neither did China despite the billions they pour in. So in the end, its really not about money or facilities so much about our preparation and attitude. Maybe some of our coaches can spend $1000 to attend 3 day seminar hosted by Jose Mourinho!

I was with you right until that part if you think we are defensive now holy cow imagine how defensive we will be if our coaches attend a seminar by coach park the bus hahaha.

Now I don't think the guys we scheduled were total crap they are OK but that is just it they are OK not good or great. As for Iran the reason why we couldn't do much is dude this is probably the least talented TM team in over 20 years. Even in 2006 we had more talent.

Man I too cant believe it was 15 years ago. I remember driving up to Oakland and back in 1 day to watch the Iran Mexico game and we played so well. We came up short 2-1 but we gave the Mexicans a good run for their money. Man 15 years ago I was 17 years old playing another football(American football) and I was in high school. Man time goes by quickly.

 

[TeamMeli]

Oh ya and as for Germany the only reason why they came in 2004 was because Klinsmann ia good guy with compassion he wanted to help the Bam earthquake victims. Brazil in UAE in 2010 was the only real time we paid money.

 

[HeyBuddy]

I was with you right until that part if you think we are defensive now holy cow imagine how defensive we will be if our coaches attend a seminar by coach park the bus hahaha..

LOL. Ok, erase his name and fill it in with whomever you like

I really don't mind a defensive strategy for Iran, its completely understandable and sometimes necessary even for the top sides ( Real Madrid @ home vs Bayern Munich this year says it all ).

As far as TM players, Dejagah and Gucci are amongst the best players we've ever hard, their work effort and positioning on the pitch without the ball demonstrated that. As for the other 8 men on the pitch, there's no reason why we can't follow examples like Turkey in 03, Greece in 04 and Costa Rica today. Turkey, Greece and Costa Rica......3 sides I would have said Iran would have no problem defeating back in 1999!

Good times those days and it seems I'm the same age as you.

 

[TeamMeli]

LOL. Ok, erase his name and fill it in with whomever you like

I really don't mind a defensive strategy for Iran, its completely understandable and sometimes necessary even for the top sides ( Real Madrid @ home vs Bayern Munich this year says it all ).

As far as TM players, Dejagah and Gucci are amongst the best players we've ever hard, their work effort and positioning on the pitch without the ball demonstrated that. As for the other 8 men on the pitch, there's no reason why we can't follow examples like Turkey in 03, Greece in 04 and Costa Rica today. Turkey, Greece and Costa Rica......3 sides I would have said Iran would have no problem defeating back in 1999!

Good times those days and it seems I'm the same age as you.

well I don't have anything against Jose and his post game interviews are legendary I will give him that. I happen to agree defense is necessary and our attack is not bad I said this before our weakness was in the mid field that is where the 50/50 battles are won and lost and for us we got dominated in that position by Nigeria, Arg and Bosnia. Seems like we are the same age if you were in JR high HS or college at the time we are the same age, give or take a few years. Good examples with Turkey and Costa Rica but Turkey was a one hit wonder. Will the same happen to CRC, only time will tell that.