World Cup 2018 Knock-Out stage, updates, news & results !!!

oghabealborz

Elite Member
Feb 18, 2005
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It is not like Iran doesn't have technical finess players is more like because of CQ system, we are playing a direct game so technically he doesn't need many finess players, that is why Khalatbari was excluded 4 years a go. Soroush Rafiei, Dariush Shojaeian this time around. Gholizadeh didnt make the list of 23(24th player) and Torabi didn't play a single minute.
I don't think they are good enough to do their fancy stuff in a world cup stage ,to be honest I have not seen any exceptionally gifted player who can go past players since Ali Karimi ,this Mehdi Ghaedi showed some sparks and raw talent but he has a lot to learn and develop his game .

In 1978 team we had the likes of Roshan ,Danayeefar ,Qasempour ,Sadeghi ,Parvin ,Nazari who were exceptionally gifted ,years later we had the likes of Azizi ,Bagheri ,Karimi but since them we have not seen any ,if we don't have the tools we can't do it .

Even that Khalatbari although he had good technique but mentally he was not smart enough and not team melli material for world cup games , in my opinion.

We have been a bit poor in that department ,maybe one of those guys like Delfi or his team mates or Ghaedi can become one.
 

Pooya

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Sep 23, 2004
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Disagree, if Iran did what Japan is doing, we would have lost 3-1 to the more technically gifted Morocco, probably drawn 1-1 with spain and lost 2-1 to portugal. Have you forgotten Bosnia 3 - 1 Iran when we opened up a bit in 2014?
No I did not forget, let me ask you this, are you suggesting Iran has not improved since 2014 ? If so, then I see your point, however, I think TM now is much better than 2014 and as a result must play with bigger goals ! losing with a low margin is NOT the goal anymore!
 

ChaharMahal

Elite Member
Oct 18, 2002
16,563
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So apparently Zlatan wanted to come out of retirement and join them for WC but Sweden coaching staffs refused and he replied Sweden won't go far without him. Lol
apparently he was just pretending for marketing reasons to be interested in coming back.

talk to a bunch of swedish fans and none of them believed that he was seriously contemplating coming back.
 
apparently he was just pretending for marketing reasons to be interested in coming back.

talk to a bunch of swedish fans and none of them believed that he was seriously contemplating coming back.
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You don't help your team or country to qualify to the WC you don't deserve a spot. especially When they had to pass from Italy to reach Russia
 
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oghabealborz

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Feb 18, 2005
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You don't help your team or country to qualify to the WC you don't deserve a spot. especially When they had to pass from Italy to reach Russia
You gotta point there, perhaps as you say they don't need him and have done all right without him.


But if they were in a situation that they needed him if I was the coach I would definitely called him.


Same thing with Karim Bagheri in 2006, he showed his interest to come and help for the world cup but branko didn't pick him, or he was told not to.


We were definitely in a different situation than Sweden of this world cup.

We definitely needed him, the most complete player since Ghelichkhani, second best goal scorer with 50 goals in 87 games... as a midfield player!


If you have a gem of a player with outstanding personality it is a crime like treason if you don't use him.
 
Nov 29, 2002
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No I did not forget, let me ask you this, are you suggesting Iran has not improved since 2014 ? If so, then I see your point, however, I think TM now is much better than 2014 and as a result must play with bigger goals ! losing with a low margin is NOT the goal anymore!
Definitely not, but beating a team considered a dark horse for the tournament who outplayed portugal and spain and conceded not a single goal in their qualifiers (against aubameyang's gabon, ivory coast and mali) was a pretty damn good result. Drawing the european champions is pretty good too. These results are the best in our history. In any other group, Morocco would have gone through to second round, they are a very strong side.

Given the multitude of unique problems our team faces, i'm really proud of getting 4 points from this group. Of course I dream of us to go to the second round. I was crying in the stadium and was on TV around the world, but I have to be realistic. More than anything, this is a young team and, just like Japan finally reaped the dividends of their 29-33 age range, I hope that if CQ stays we can finally get into 2nd round before the format changes.
 

Bache Tehroon

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Oct 16, 2002
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Naive but brave. The best half of football I've seen in many many years. They made the game look worthy to watch and they won the admiration of the entire world for their gutsy performance against one of the most talented teams in the world. Well done Japan. You represented
Asian football in the most glorious way.
Exactly. That's what really matters. If they had parked the bus after their first goal and eliminated Belgium, no one would remember any of it in 2 weeks. Even Japanese people would probably yawn at the thought in a few years. But, who can forget this game?
 

Khabalood

Elite Member
Sep 26, 2004
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Toronto
I thought the Japanese were supposed to be smart. Up 2-0, and they didn't park the bus or switch to a defensive strategy. Worse yet, they let Fellani score on them and perpetuated the myth that he has actual talent and is a real footballer.
 

Behrooz_C

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Dec 10, 2005
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I thought the Japanese were supposed to be smart. Up 2-0, and they didn't park the bus or switch to a defensive strategy. Worse yet, they let Fellani score on them and perpetuated the myth that he has actual talent and is a real footballer.
They are intelligent but they are short. The Belgians dwarfed them.
But on the last goal they played very naive.
 

Payandeh Iran

Elite Member
Feb 4, 2005
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Some people may remember brave Japan display for next few months but they will always remember that the only Asian team ever made it to final 4 was Korea in 2002. Nobody would care how they played or how refs favored them. Also Japan only played entertaining (and ineffective) against Belgium. Beating a 10 men (since first minute) Colombia and the average and poor display v Senegal and Poland respectively is nothing to brag about.
 
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