Team Melli defeated Turkmenistan 3-1 in the group D match of the FIFA World Cup 2018 Asian Zone qualifiers.
The first half of the match in Azadi stadium ended with Iran ahead by one goal scored by Morteza POURALIGANJI . In the second half, two more goals from Saeid EZZATOLLAHI (64′) and Ashkan DEJAGAH (pen.) (82′) sealed a win for Team Melli. Turkmenistan’s goal was credit to Mekan Saparov 62′ after a serious blunder by Alireza Haghighi in goal.
experimental team
Iran’s line up resembled an experimental team in such an important match. It seems that Carlos Queiroz took a calculated risk and his confidence in the young team was duly answered by his players most of who had very few international games in their credit. Queiroz gave a debut to Ezzatollah POURGHAZ , the Malavan Anzali central defender to partner another relatively inexperienced defender in Morteza POURALIGANJI. Those changes in defense were forced upon Queiroz due to injuries to both his defenders Hosseini and Montazeri.
As predicted, Iran took the control of the match from onset and the early goal from a corner by Ashkan DEJAGAH met by a powerful header from the central defender Morteza POURALIGANJI, eased the pressure on the team. Iran midfield players did quite a fine job in the match with Mehdi Torabi showing once a gain his quality and promises of greater things to come. Full of running , finesse and amazing work rate, Torabi was the star of the half. It was petty that some of his work went to waste due to less the ideal finishing by his teammates.
second half
The second half was much the same, with Ebrahimi , Torabi, Ezatollahei and Dejagah ensuring that the opponents don’t get much ball possession as they seemed to be dangerous in their counter.
On the stroke of the hour passed, a serious blunder by Iran’s keeper Haghighi resulted in Turkmenistan scoring the equalizer and turning the stadium into silence. The goal came from a corner kick sent close to the advancing Haghighi who completely misjudged the flight of the ball as he hit the air for the ball wto reach the waiting Mekan Saparovwho without any defenders to mark him. The Turkman player had the easiest of tasks, simply touching the ball inside the net.
It was a disappointing goal and very much against the run of the match, however a minute later, Saeid EZZATOLLAHI restored Iran’s lead deservedly with a brilliant goal. After some skirmishes on the Turkmenistan box, EZZATOLLAHI had the control the ball , and with a clever turn , passed his marker and sent a curve ball to the far right of Mamad Orazmuhamedov in Turkmenistan goal. 2 -1 for Iran and the fans breathed with a sigh of relief.
Turkmenistan tried quite hard to get some result and to their credit they displayed some remarkable resilience and skills especially from the flanks, but the Iranian defense stood strong not allowing much balls to penetrate towards Haghighi.
The final break came in the 81st minute when Reza GHOOCHANNEJAD was fouled from behind for the Korean referee to whistle for a penalty. Team Melli’s Captain for the day Ashkan DEJAGAH scored with ease to make it 3-1.
shortcomings
Team Melli played quite well despite the low experience. It is certainly a work in progress and there are gaps that has to be modified. The goalkeeper has left a lot to be desired. Haghighi , once again showed everyone and stubborn Queiroz himself, why it is important for a player to play regular competitive football for his club as a major condition to be selected for the national team. Haghighi has not played a single league game this season, yet he is No. 1 keeper for Iran. Queiroz need to come to his senses and his modify his dogmatic attitude.
The other shortcoming of this team , has little to do with the coaching staff or Queiroz and much to do with the players themselves. The final ball and the finishing was quite a setback and disappointing. Iran could have been 4 goals up within a couple of minutes just before the Turkmenistan equalizer. Two identical misses from identical situations in both times Kaveh Rezaei and then Mehdi Torabi missed open goals and shot wide after the initial ball hit the Turkmenistan woodwork and rebound back to them. Ashkan DEJAGAH despite his goal and assist was guilty of many poor last balls and committed many errors. Vahid Amiri had an off day as well and was substituted in the second half with the energetic AliReza JAHANBAKHSH who played well and created more than 4 scoring chances.
promising
At the end , it was three sweet points for Iran taking it to the top of the group ahead of Oman on goal difference and a good show from a group inexperienced players however a promising bunch and a delight to watch.