Actually, I think Shojaei will start vs. Argentina for these two reasons:
1- He has played against the likes of Messi so he won't be scared shi...less which will rub off on the other players. So has Neku by the way.
2- He holds the ball pretty good and slows down the game ( against ARG we need to slow it down) and he can also get fouls near ARG goal which will work to our strength on set pieces. Jahanbakhsh will be the substitution for Shojaei around 70th minute.
1- He has played against the likes of Messi so he won't be scared shi...less which will rub off on the other players. So has Neku by the way.
2- He holds the ball pretty good and slows down the game ( against ARG we need to slow it down) and he can also get fouls near ARG goal which will work to our strength on set pieces. Jahanbakhsh will be the substitution for Shojaei around 70th minute.
If Teymourian continues to play the way he did against Nigeria and if he doesn't get carded to get banned, I wouldn't be surprised if he got a contract even at this age! He was hands down our best player in the field. and I'm the one who usually don't complement him as other people do, left and right.
IMO, he made the difference in TM and without him in the midfield we would have been in big big trouble! I watched the game again (this time without stress but with analyzing eyes) and again that was confirmed to me! Even the commentators were praising him a lot.
IMO, he made the difference in TM and without him in the midfield we would have been in big big trouble! I watched the game again (this time without stress but with analyzing eyes) and again that was confirmed to me! Even the commentators were praising him a lot.
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Why Argentina Will Stick with Their 4-3-3 Formation Against Iran
By Jonathan Wilson , Guest Columnist
Jun 18, 2014
There was something mystifying about Argentina’s team selection in their victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday. For the majority of qualifying, they had played a 4-3-3 that seemed ideally balanced and topped Conmebol qualifying.
In the first of their two warm-up games, they played 4-3-3 and impressed in beating Trinidad and Tobago 3-0. And then, unexpectedly, in their final warm-up game against Slovenia, they switched to a back three. The assumption was that the coach, Alejandro Sabella, was simply testing his options, but for their first game at the tournament, Argentina started with a 5-3-2 instead of the 4-3-3.
To the extent that the move had been widely trailed the day before, it was not unexpected, but it was hard to explain. Sabella, who is usually relatively open with the press, was strangely evasive in the pre-match press conference. It wasn’t so much that he wouldn’t say what system he would play—that is only to be expected—but that he said his selection was not to do with how he expected Bosnia to line up but "more with other things, but I can’t say what publicly."
That was enough to set the rumour mill in full swing: Were there cliques within the camp? Had Lionel Messi, whose influence over the squad is a source of great concern to the Argentinian media, demanded to play in a front two with Sergio Aguero?
Victor R. Caivano/Associated Press
Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella raised eyebrows with his team selection against Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Even now, a few days on, the selection seems baffling. The most likely explanation is that with Gonzalo Higuain not fully fit and Rodrigo Palacio injured, Sabella didn’t want to risk all three of his fit forwards at once, although given Higuain is close to full fitness and Angel Di Maria could play on the left of the forward line if necessary, it isn’t fully satisfying.
Or perhaps he remembered the friendly last November when his side, playing 5-3-2, defeated Bosnia 2-0 in a friendly. That, though, was at the time when Bosnia played a 4-4-2. Playing a back three against two central strikers makes sense: Two markers with a spare man.
But Bosnia had made fairly clear their intention to switch to a 4-2-3-1 for the Argentina game at least. A back three against a single striker means a marker, a spare man and a redundant player. Sure enough, having fallen behind to that early own goal, Bosnia were able to control possession.
Felipe Dana/Associated Press
Sabella—correctly—pointed out that his side had held Bosnia at arm’s length relatively successfully, one header from Senad Lulic aside, but that seemed to miss the point: Argentina should, surely, be aiming at rather more than merely holding Bosnia, and if they hadn’t got the break of the early goal there might have been real tension.
As it was, that goal gave them breathing space and, at half-time, Sabella switched to the 4-3-3. Immediately there was more space, for Messi in particular, as Higuain and Aguero pulled defenders wide. That was what created the chasm through which Messi ran to score the second. "
In the first half we gave up possession to Bosnia,” Messi said after the game, “and so I was too deep: I was alone and Kun (Aguero) was alone. It was very difficult. We like [the 4-3-3] better because when you go forward you have more possibilities of passing the ball and scoring. We strikers and forwards are favoured by this formation.”
Sabella, surely, will stick with the 4-3-3 for Saturday’s game against Iran, who showed against Nigeria how well-organised they are. They operate two banks of four very deep, with Ashkan Dejagah dropping back to become a fifth midfielder. Finding space will be difficult for Argentina, which is why they’ll need Messi’s close technical skills in advanced areas, and perhaps the aerial threat of Higuain to prevent Iran dropping too deep.
But that still leaves the mystery of the back five. If it was indicative of discontentment on the Argentinian camp, that could be the snowball that launched the avalanche. If not, it may be the oddest quirk at the start of what could be a very successful campaign. [/SIZE]
Why Argentina Will Stick with Their 4-3-3 Formation Against Iran
By Jonathan Wilson , Guest Columnist
Jun 18, 2014
There was something mystifying about Argentina’s team selection in their victory over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday. For the majority of qualifying, they had played a 4-3-3 that seemed ideally balanced and topped Conmebol qualifying.
In the first of their two warm-up games, they played 4-3-3 and impressed in beating Trinidad and Tobago 3-0. And then, unexpectedly, in their final warm-up game against Slovenia, they switched to a back three. The assumption was that the coach, Alejandro Sabella, was simply testing his options, but for their first game at the tournament, Argentina started with a 5-3-2 instead of the 4-3-3.
To the extent that the move had been widely trailed the day before, it was not unexpected, but it was hard to explain. Sabella, who is usually relatively open with the press, was strangely evasive in the pre-match press conference. It wasn’t so much that he wouldn’t say what system he would play—that is only to be expected—but that he said his selection was not to do with how he expected Bosnia to line up but "more with other things, but I can’t say what publicly."
That was enough to set the rumour mill in full swing: Were there cliques within the camp? Had Lionel Messi, whose influence over the squad is a source of great concern to the Argentinian media, demanded to play in a front two with Sergio Aguero?
Victor R. Caivano/Associated Press
Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella raised eyebrows with his team selection against Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Even now, a few days on, the selection seems baffling. The most likely explanation is that with Gonzalo Higuain not fully fit and Rodrigo Palacio injured, Sabella didn’t want to risk all three of his fit forwards at once, although given Higuain is close to full fitness and Angel Di Maria could play on the left of the forward line if necessary, it isn’t fully satisfying.
Or perhaps he remembered the friendly last November when his side, playing 5-3-2, defeated Bosnia 2-0 in a friendly. That, though, was at the time when Bosnia played a 4-4-2. Playing a back three against two central strikers makes sense: Two markers with a spare man.
But Bosnia had made fairly clear their intention to switch to a 4-2-3-1 for the Argentina game at least. A back three against a single striker means a marker, a spare man and a redundant player. Sure enough, having fallen behind to that early own goal, Bosnia were able to control possession.
Felipe Dana/Associated Press
Sabella—correctly—pointed out that his side had held Bosnia at arm’s length relatively successfully, one header from Senad Lulic aside, but that seemed to miss the point: Argentina should, surely, be aiming at rather more than merely holding Bosnia, and if they hadn’t got the break of the early goal there might have been real tension.
As it was, that goal gave them breathing space and, at half-time, Sabella switched to the 4-3-3. Immediately there was more space, for Messi in particular, as Higuain and Aguero pulled defenders wide. That was what created the chasm through which Messi ran to score the second. "
In the first half we gave up possession to Bosnia,” Messi said after the game, “and so I was too deep: I was alone and Kun (Aguero) was alone. It was very difficult. We like [the 4-3-3] better because when you go forward you have more possibilities of passing the ball and scoring. We strikers and forwards are favoured by this formation.”
Sabella, surely, will stick with the 4-3-3 for Saturday’s game against Iran, who showed against Nigeria how well-organised they are. They operate two banks of four very deep, with Ashkan Dejagah dropping back to become a fifth midfielder. Finding space will be difficult for Argentina, which is why they’ll need Messi’s close technical skills in advanced areas, and perhaps the aerial threat of Higuain to prevent Iran dropping too deep.
But that still leaves the mystery of the back five. If it was indicative of discontentment on the Argentinian camp, that could be the snowball that launched the avalanche. If not, it may be the oddest quirk at the start of what could be a very successful campaign. [/SIZE]
Iran 0 Nigeria 0
Link to watch BBC MOTD Show's pre-match , full match & post match.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...e-day-live-2014-fifa-world-cup-iran-v-nigeria
Link to watch BBC MOTD Show's pre-match , full match & post match.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...e-day-live-2014-fifa-world-cup-iran-v-nigeria
Report from Belo Horizonte
Thursday AM:
My son and I arrived wed. pm from NY. In Savassi. Algerians are all depressed and
leaving. We saw Chileans in the Patio Savassi park and placa diogo de vas conselos
celebrating with boogh and viva chile chants.
Argentinians walking in groups of tens chanting uno dos tres viva argentina.
We have our red hair and face paint.
Meeting place for all Iranians (houman)
8 pm placa diego de vas conselos savassi.
I will put up the pics tomorrow .
ps. the weather is getting cloudy.
Thursday AM:
My son and I arrived wed. pm from NY. In Savassi. Algerians are all depressed and
leaving. We saw Chileans in the Patio Savassi park and placa diogo de vas conselos
celebrating with boogh and viva chile chants.
Argentinians walking in groups of tens chanting uno dos tres viva argentina.
We have our red hair and face paint.
Meeting place for all Iranians (houman)
8 pm placa diego de vas conselos savassi.
I will put up the pics tomorrow .
ps. the weather is getting cloudy.
Hope you get better, IF you need any medical help with anything, let me know . It is to happen Both nights thursday and friday at 8 pm. We will have white iran jerseys
and red hair at placa diogo de Vasconselos at avenida Cristovao Colombo . Tonight the English are coming also (after their supposed win:12: let me know if you are coming we will meet up. There are 100 iranians at our hotel at holiday inn at Savassi BH:4kerim: Mehran
and red hair at placa diogo de Vasconselos at avenida Cristovao Colombo . Tonight the English are coming also (after their supposed win:12: let me know if you are coming we will meet up. There are 100 iranians at our hotel at holiday inn at Savassi BH:4kerim: Mehran
Well i never expected anything else. A few weeks ago during the friendly game in austria i said CQ seems to have figured out the strengths and weeknesses of IR players and he seems to make those players understand their limits. IR effectivly is not able to strech the field and play an offensive game against any semi decent football team. They are offensively very very limited and under average, they are not creative, they are not skillful to dribble past opponents players decisively...so the only thing they can do is: to be physically fit and try to close the distance between themselves. They atleast seem to know that they are not gonna beat anyone offensively so they focus on defense. Parking the bus, playing close to eachother to close the gap between eachother, to tighten the space and trying to get a zero at the end. This team is not gonna go out and play offensively as it would be their sudden death. To play offensively you have to strech the field, your players have to get away from eachother and go long ways up and down, they will have to do things on their own, beat their opponent in one on one situations and the IR players are not able to do anything close to that. In order to play offensive you need to neglect the defense a bit and the IR players are so limited that they couldnt afford to neglect the defense even for a second or the opponents would open up the scoring on them. They seem to have understood that the only way to not getting raped is to stay close to eachother to be able to help eachother in dangerous situations. As i said before, this IR team is not there to score or to win, they are just there to prevent getting raped, their whole focus is on not conceding goals they dont even think about scoring goals themselves which actually is a pragmatic stance and shows CQ has gotten that disgusting gonde goozi out of IR players. CQ seems to have hammered the following in these guys heads: You are this and not more so play what you can and stop fooling around and try to be someone you have never been and never will be.
As soon as IR players start playing football, they will lose games by 4. They need to do the same in their next two games aswell. The only problem is, Nigeria at some point became frustrated fruitlessly attacking the IR bus. Argentina and even Bosnia have more weapons to attack this kind of defensive approach and we still dont know how the IR players react once they concede that first goal. A lot of limited defensive teams break down after they concede the first goal and many more goals follow.
However they played to their potential. In daaro nadaareshoone and they atleast showed they can be tenacious. Another thing is that they seem to be physically well prepared which has to do with those physical sessions in Austria where people couldnt even sleep because of muscle pain. To play this kind of game, they need to be physically prepared because its all you can count on. You need to fight, you need to destroy, you need to disrupt and you cant do it when you are not physically well prepared. Nigeria is the biggest team in this world cup, their players weight about 80 kg in average which is huge for a football player and the IR players barely got intimidated by their physical presence. The IR players made them even lose a lot of physical battles which i never thought would happen against these young and strong africans. However, when people realize how limited and hectic IR players are, they will start attacking them from all angles. You basically only need to press the IR players and they will lose the ball after the first touch. They are not able to secure the ball, they cant even pass the ball to eachother 3 times in a row let alone if they get under pressure from all sides.
Talking about the players performance, i think Haghighi could be a good goalie but he once did exactly the same mistake i have seen from Ahmadi aswell: He went up in a crowded area and tried to catch the ball instead o punching it away! Man these things are basic stuff that these guys refuse to understand. All these crosses into the box are high and the ball has a lot of cut and spin. You simply cant go up and try to catch these balls let alone in a situation where you have 3 other guys around yourself who will go up to head the ball aswell so they hit and jam you in the air too. He was lucky that the ball he couldnt catch didnt end up falling right infront of a nigerian player to just kick it in from close distance.
The biggest disappointment was Dej Aagah. That pouladi guy was promissing. He fought hard and even won running duels which Heydari, Teymourian and Dej Aagah constantly lost.
Dej Aagah was a complete tane lash. Vaaghean tane lash. He seems to be overweight and not very motivated. In a lot of cases, other people had to make up for his mistakes which is not an ideal situation. Against Nigeria other players might still be able to help him out here and there and bail him out but against other, better opponents, all other players will have all their hands full with their own opponents and wouldnt be able to make up for his mistakes. Heydari was trying but this guys physical shortcomings were all obvious. He simply is not very fast and not very physical. He is the prototypical player for an offensive and dominating team, there he can play out his abilities without coming under pressure but the IR team is not offensive nor dominating so he will have to defend, to fight, to run and tackle and thats not his game. In an ideal world and in a team with more depth, Heydari would be a clear example of a player that needs to be benched due to tactical reasons.
As soon as IR players start playing football, they will lose games by 4. They need to do the same in their next two games aswell. The only problem is, Nigeria at some point became frustrated fruitlessly attacking the IR bus. Argentina and even Bosnia have more weapons to attack this kind of defensive approach and we still dont know how the IR players react once they concede that first goal. A lot of limited defensive teams break down after they concede the first goal and many more goals follow.
However they played to their potential. In daaro nadaareshoone and they atleast showed they can be tenacious. Another thing is that they seem to be physically well prepared which has to do with those physical sessions in Austria where people couldnt even sleep because of muscle pain. To play this kind of game, they need to be physically prepared because its all you can count on. You need to fight, you need to destroy, you need to disrupt and you cant do it when you are not physically well prepared. Nigeria is the biggest team in this world cup, their players weight about 80 kg in average which is huge for a football player and the IR players barely got intimidated by their physical presence. The IR players made them even lose a lot of physical battles which i never thought would happen against these young and strong africans. However, when people realize how limited and hectic IR players are, they will start attacking them from all angles. You basically only need to press the IR players and they will lose the ball after the first touch. They are not able to secure the ball, they cant even pass the ball to eachother 3 times in a row let alone if they get under pressure from all sides.
Talking about the players performance, i think Haghighi could be a good goalie but he once did exactly the same mistake i have seen from Ahmadi aswell: He went up in a crowded area and tried to catch the ball instead o punching it away! Man these things are basic stuff that these guys refuse to understand. All these crosses into the box are high and the ball has a lot of cut and spin. You simply cant go up and try to catch these balls let alone in a situation where you have 3 other guys around yourself who will go up to head the ball aswell so they hit and jam you in the air too. He was lucky that the ball he couldnt catch didnt end up falling right infront of a nigerian player to just kick it in from close distance.
The biggest disappointment was Dej Aagah. That pouladi guy was promissing. He fought hard and even won running duels which Heydari, Teymourian and Dej Aagah constantly lost.
Dej Aagah was a complete tane lash. Vaaghean tane lash. He seems to be overweight and not very motivated. In a lot of cases, other people had to make up for his mistakes which is not an ideal situation. Against Nigeria other players might still be able to help him out here and there and bail him out but against other, better opponents, all other players will have all their hands full with their own opponents and wouldnt be able to make up for his mistakes. Heydari was trying but this guys physical shortcomings were all obvious. He simply is not very fast and not very physical. He is the prototypical player for an offensive and dominating team, there he can play out his abilities without coming under pressure but the IR team is not offensive nor dominating so he will have to defend, to fight, to run and tackle and thats not his game. In an ideal world and in a team with more depth, Heydari would be a clear example of a player that needs to be benched due to tactical reasons.
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bah bah ! jenabe chinaski tashrif avordan ... welcome !
you raised some good points , bear in my mind this was our first serious game together , they had some stress in their game and could not keep the ball , i am hoping that they will get more comfortable on the ball and find each other better now that their stress levels are much lower and their confidence higher , it is about getting used to the atmosphere and the enviroment of the world cup against mighty opponents ,
Dejagah ran 9.5 km and did his job which was helping defence very well , he didn't do well in offence by his own standard but i wouldn't call him what you called him .
Haghighi showed some nerves at the start , specially on the one you mentioned , he should have been out earlier from his line and get up before it reached the forward , he was a bit late and then when he got there as you mentioned he should have punched the ball in that crowd rather than trying to catch it.
you raised some good points , bear in my mind this was our first serious game together , they had some stress in their game and could not keep the ball , i am hoping that they will get more comfortable on the ball and find each other better now that their stress levels are much lower and their confidence higher , it is about getting used to the atmosphere and the enviroment of the world cup against mighty opponents ,
Dejagah ran 9.5 km and did his job which was helping defence very well , he didn't do well in offence by his own standard but i wouldn't call him what you called him .
Haghighi showed some nerves at the start , specially on the one you mentioned , he should have been out earlier from his line and get up before it reached the forward , he was a bit late and then when he got there as you mentioned he should have punched the ball in that crowd rather than trying to catch it.
Chinaskijan,
Dejagah was not really a Tanne-lash man! The guy ran a lot, but was very inaccurate in passes. Iran didn't really have a tanne-lash player. Everyone worked a lot.
Dejagah only had 2-3 instances where he could possibly do something worthy and he kind'a failed. That's not much. Iran was really not playing to score, so it's not really fair to call Dejagah a total failure. Even if he dribbles past 5 players, he still only has a comfortably marked Ghoochannejad to pass the ball to. No one else is supporting him on either side. Our captain Nekounam is often busy hiding in our own field raising his hand dictating a "back pass" or "calm down" approach.
Dejagah was not really a Tanne-lash man! The guy ran a lot, but was very inaccurate in passes. Iran didn't really have a tanne-lash player. Everyone worked a lot.
Dejagah only had 2-3 instances where he could possibly do something worthy and he kind'a failed. That's not much. Iran was really not playing to score, so it's not really fair to call Dejagah a total failure. Even if he dribbles past 5 players, he still only has a comfortably marked Ghoochannejad to pass the ball to. No one else is supporting him on either side. Our captain Nekounam is often busy hiding in our own field raising his hand dictating a "back pass" or "calm down" approach.
BT jan i know Dej Aagah from his times in Wolfsburg and playing for the german youth nationalteam. He is capable of a lot more but he is off. Something has died in this guy, he never played the game the way he played it at Wolfsburg again. Not at Fulham nor for the IR team. Incompare to his times at wolfsburg, he was a complete tane lash he has lost all his agility which he was known for.
chetori china jan?
i don't think Dejagah is tanelash . Dejagah came back from a long injury , even in Fulham he wasn't playing full game , but i agree and even CQ admitted it Dejagah wasn't good ( for his standard) and i even believe CQ should subbed him out earlier .
i hope to see better game from him .
i don't think Dejagah is tanelash . Dejagah came back from a long injury , even in Fulham he wasn't playing full game , but i agree and even CQ admitted it Dejagah wasn't good ( for his standard) and i even believe CQ should subbed him out earlier .
i hope to see better game from him .