Mr. Branko, I supported you all along, now you have to produce.

[paymonM]

I would say that Bagheri is not "any" player and his record proves that more than anything you or I or 1000 like us could say... How many "any" players did we have that scored 40+ goals for Team Melli, as a midfielder? answer ONE: Bagheri. How many players did we have in our HISTORY of football that have scored more for TM than Karim? answer ONE: Daei...

How old is Bagheri? answer 32!
How many positions can the guy play? Three: defensive center fielder, attacking center fielder, sweeper....

How many other players do we have in TM that can do that? answer: NONE...

If Bagheri could not handle pressure, just how did he manage to score that record number of goals and even better BEFORE the age of 28????

And, oh one more thing! as much as I like the old Yahya...did he not break under pressure in Asian cup with that stupid penalty? should we ban him for life from TM for that? (NO) And, are u telling me the likes of ZAREH, NOSRATI and yes even ZANDI can handle pressure better than our most gifted midfield GENERAL EVER??? (and notice my web name is GHILICH....)

I guess maybe I wasnt clear enough in my previous post ..... Bagheri walked up to IFF and said "I quit". No one is debating Bagheri's past record. What we are saying is that the player himself did not want the pressure and he walked up to the iranian federation and quit. I don't understand why you are bringing Nosrati and zareh into the discussion.

and Yes, yahya did a stupid thing and did cost us a trip to the finals, but, yahya did not walk up to Branko and tell him that he can't handle the pressure.

and by the way, I did see Ghilich in games with Oghab in aryamehr stadium, and I can tell you that you would never see ghilichkhani buckle under pressure the way Bagheri did

 

[Kaz]

Bagheri stepped aside, knowing his form, and believing in the youth. At the time he did the best thing for all. Please, refrain from demeaning the gentleman's intentions with your rhetoric. During the season he expressed desire to return and made it public. Despite coming back to form, his rise was not rewarded. Unfortunately, there is a lot of politics in our football.

 

[oghabealborz]

and by the way, I did see Ghilich in games with Oghab in aryamehr stadium, and I can tell you that you would never see ghilichkhani buckle under pressure the way Bagheri did

By the time Aryamehr was bulit ,Oghab had siezed to exist !
you either watched them in Amjadieh ,or watched Ghelichkhani in another team ,possibly Perspolis !
But karim is the Ghelich of present time ,he is a true pahlavan who allowed players like Nekoonam the chance to establish themselves .
As Ali Karimi said ,it is treason to our football to ignore Karim and his qualities.

 

[azaad2004]

As others pointed out Karim left the team, maybe he should have stayed and fought for his place. I think giving it up for the sake of "younger players" was merely a politically correct excuse which he made up to exempt himself from commitment to national team but that's just my opinion and I have no proof for that.

Fair or unfair, Karim and Mobali are not in the list. Many great teams in this wc don't have some of their best players with them, so let's just move on. National team is not about Karim or mobali...or Branko; it's about Iran. Let's not forget that.

 

[oghabealborz]

Fair or unfair, Karim and Mobali are not in the list. Many great teams in this wc don't have some of their best players with them, so let's just move on. National team is not about Karim or mobali...or Branko; it's about Iran. Let's not forget that.

I totaly agree with you on this .team melli is not about names ,that is my whole argument .
But ..... But ! to ignore the best of the best like Karim and Iman is to deprive your team to do the best they can .
football is played right in front of our eyes ,we can not deny how well Karim and Iman have been playing .
And then overlook the fact that the likes Golmohamadi and Zare defend our goal against Portugal !

It is about IRAN all the way my friend !

 

[azaad2004]

Oghab jan, I agree. Personally I also wish Karim and Mobali were invited, because like yourself, I believe they are very capable players. Karim could replace Golmo, but for Zare we need a good left-back, not mobali! Although I would have dropped one striker like Daei to make room for mobali.

But we have to accept that they won't accompany this team to WC. Mobali will be an integral part of TM for WC2010, I am sure of it. It's very unfortunate for both Iran and Karim though, because this was his last chance to be a part of our WC squad. As much as I feel sorry for the karim situation, I also feel that we can't do anything about it.

However the current squad has enough talented players to make an impact, so I have not lost my hope. I am quite excited and looking forward to watch the games and cheer for our boys in Germany.

GO IRAN!

 

[oghabealborz]

azad jaan ,I am glad you see my point .
I have seen a lot players since the late 60s and I have not seen a player as complete and influential as Karim since the time of Ghelichkhani !!

and he is 185 cm !

to have a player like him and not use him is like ....... .. ??
I can think of tens of examples but not sure which one would bring my point across better !

My wish is for our team IRAN to go to battle with the likes of Portugal in their best possible form ... that is the best thing I can say to make my point about Karim !
Think of his timely tackels ,Ball winning ,long passes ,ability in the air ,shots ,great vision and technique and all his experience ....
Can you name one player apart from him with all of that ?
:iloveu:

 

[azaad2004]

azad jaan ,I am glad you see my point .
I have seen a lot players since the late 60s and I have not seen a player as complete and influential as Karim since the time of Ghelichkhani !!

and he is 185 cm !

to have a player like him and not use him is like ....... .. ??
I can think of tens of examples but not sure which one would bring my point across better !

My wish is for our team IRAN to go to battle with the likes of Portugal in their best possible form ... that is the best thing I can say to make my point about Karim !
Think of his timely tackels ,Ball winning ,long passes ,ability in the air ,shots ,great vision and technique and all his experience ....
Can you name one player apart from him with all of that ?
:iloveu:

You described it best. Karim was/is unique, and to top it all he's my azarbaijani hamshahri!! Typically Azari players are physically tall and very strong, but as you said beside his great physique Karim has great vision, tackles, shots and long passes. A true general who could have strengthened Iran's defence and add much needed firepower to our attack at the same time!

Before and during wc98, Karim was the motor of TM. when he played good, the whole team played good and when he played bad the whole team sucked! I remember the friendly with Croatia and although we lost 2-0 Karim really dominated the midfield in that game.

 

[oghabealborz]

Azad jan ,you are right ,by the way I am from Shemiran and a Taaj supporter and have no relation to Karim whatsoever ! LOL !

let me just add that we had Estili who covered Karim well and worked very hard ,something that javad and Ando can do very well with Karim.

 

[azaad2004]

LOL Oghab jan, I didn't assume you are related to Karim in any way. Neither am I related to the man, but they say all azarbaijanis are distant relatives.. meaning if you search hard enough you can find a great grandmother's aunt's daughter who is a sister of great aunt's mother of some random Turk guy.

 

[Maziar]

As others pointed out Karim left the team, maybe he should have stayed and fought for his place. I think giving it up for the sake of "younger players" was merely a politically correct excuse which he made up to exempt himself from commitment to national team but that's just my opinion and I have no proof for that.

Fair or unfair, Karim and Mobali are not in the list. Many great teams in this wc don't have some of their best players with them, so let's just move on. National team is not about Karim or mobali...or Branko; it's about Iran. Let's not forget that.

It wasn't even an issue of fighting for his spot, his spot was secure. Branko practically begged him to reconsider. Karim, imo was bored with playing the likes of Guam, Maldives and Oman etc... Now that we have qualified for the WC, he has shown interest again. Well, i say too late. If anyone thinks his statement that i'm too old for TM, wasn't disingenuous, i have a bridge for sale. We need warriors for TM, and not of the weekend variety.

 

[oghabealborz]

Well ,I belong to the camp that think when we play the likes of Maldives ,Guam and oman we should allow our prospects to play .
If we had done that ,we would have good back up goalies ,and few established centre forwards as well !
just like in midfield where youngtres like javad and navidkia found themselves .
In the 70s our reseves were almost as good as first team and most of them played in friendlies and against weaker opposition .

We even sent our second team to play the last wcqualifier in Kuwait and they won as well !
where is the glory in scoring against the likes of chinese taipe for someone who has played against the best in the world ?

 

[xoraster]

Oghab jan, I am a strong beliver of using our youth players in games against Taiwan etc but just by giving someone a game againat Guam or the Maldives will not turn a player into a star. we do not have ANY good keepers in Iran right now, even when we had Abedzadeh our back up was someone like Gholampour.
Both Taleblou and Roubarian have played in the U-23, Doha Games and the Islamic games, it did not turn them into a star did it. The lack of good or even decent goal keepers is beyond Branko or any other national team coach.

 

[Long-TimeFootbaleest]

And meanwhile, top coaches and teams in the world believe in giving exposure and helping their young (reserves, secondary players) future potential players gain experience. The fact that our respected coach is elementary, is proven, at least to me and many others, and as it seems not to everyone. Even in fornt of weak teams, or in not important matches, he would use exactly the same main players (most of the time, while that was not necessary at all). Maybe, when Karimi and Hashemian got injured before the world cup, that was a new education for him, on how wrong his consistent policy has been in the past, maybe.

 

[oghabealborz]

xoraster jaan , If you don't buy a ticket ,you will never win the lottery !
a lottery win in football terms is like having Parvin ,Ghelichkhani ,Hejazi ,Rowshan in the 70s and Karimi and Mahdavikia of present time !
Someone one day saw the poential in them and they took off !
I remember how Hejazi took over at the age of 18 ahead of big names of the time like Aziz Asli ,Faramarz Zelli .But after his outstanding game in Pyong yang which earned Iran a 0-0 draw every one agreed that Iran's goal was going to be insured for a long time to come!
Needless to say that Iran was to play north korea for the first time ,and they were almost the same team that beat Italy !! in the world cup and lost 5-3 to portugal in the quarter finals of the world cup !! they were 3-0 up !
so you can feel how everyone felt like and feared them back then !
after all they had kicked Italy out of the world cup and we were to face them !

I apreiciate your post longtimefootbaleest.

 

[Sly]

Mobarak bashe Brano jan!

 

[Long-TimeFootbaleest]

All said, of course, everyone is wishing for Iran to do great in the World Cup. I personally hope they will do so great that the folks who think Branco is a good caoch can come back and later say, see, we told you so (I would definitely welcome this situation, but would still be of the strong opinion, just like many, that he should be replaced in the future, due to being a B rated coach, at best).

 

[Maziar]

Well ,I belong to the camp that think when we play the likes of Maldives ,Guam and oman we should allow our prospects to play .
If we had done that ,we would have good back up goalies ,and few established centre forwards as well !
just like in midfield where youngtres like javad and navidkia found themselves .
In the 70s our reseves were almost as good as first team and most of them played in friendlies and against weaker opposition .

We even sent our second team to play the last wcqualifier in Kuwait and they won as well !
where is the glory in scoring against the likes of chinese taipe for someone who has played against the best in the world ?

I agree with you, that was IFF and Branko's fault, although players are made at the club level and not TM. That's irrelevant to the Bagheri situation. The coach' job is to call players, and the players job is to show up whenever called. period. Let the fans dispute who shouldve been picked for what game and so on. I for one still find it difficult to forgive Bagheri for turning his back on TM. I don't want to turn this into another Daei thread, but i admire him for showing up for all TM games when called, despite weakening his claim to a berth in BM and Hertha. If anyone is to be called Sardar in the current era, Daei is the one in my book. The epitome of gheirat and taasob.

 

[paymonM]

By the time Aryamehr was bulit ,Oghab had siezed to exist !
you either watched them in Amjadieh ,or watched Ghelichkhani in another team ,possibly Perspolis !
But karim is the Ghelich of present time ,he is a true pahlavan who allowed players like Nekoonam the chance to establish themselves .
As Ali Karimi said ,it is treason to our football to ignore Karim and his qualities.

Amjadieh .... and it was oghab

 

[paymonM]

Bagheri stepped aside, knowing his form, and believing in the youth. At the time he did the best thing for all. Please, refrain from demeaning the gentleman's intentions with your rhetoric. During the season he expressed desire to return and made it public. Despite coming back to form, his rise was not rewarded. Unfortunately, there is a lot of politics in our football.

it seems like you have difficulty distinguishing between factual events and rhetoric ... His comments of wanting to come back were published by the "credible" sports magazines in iran .... the same ones that had us playing Brazil, Argentina and other superpowers in friendlies. When they questioned him about his comments, he again said that he has no intentions of coming back to TM and that the quotes in the magazines were not right