Tehran
Team Melli defeated South Korea 1-0 in a match in a friendly match in Azadi stadium on Tuesday Evening. The only goal was scored from a free kick by Nekounam which hit the left post and rebounded on the right one before the rushing Azmoun headed the rebound into the goal in the 82nd minute.
The poorly attended match is the only official match of Team Melli in its preparation for the AFC Asian cup. South Korea , with the new appointed coach , the German Uli Stielike had seven players change from the last time the two met in Ulsan , while Queiroz stuck to his old guards except for the forced change with Pooladi being excluded due to military service issues.
Ehsan Hajsafy took the left back position as Beikzadeh was injured and played an excellent game in that position.
The slow starting match was suddenly came alive when the Koreans made several serious moves starting on the 9th when Hajsafi cleared a ball right of Heung-Min Son,
A minute later Heung-Min Son weaved passed his marker to shoot a powerful ball that Haghighi managed to parry for a corner. The sustained Koreans attack when Iran managed a counter-attack that threatened the Korean keeper.
The first half continued with a slow pace before Team Melli’s best chance of the match went astray. On the 36th minute Reza Ghoochahjad shoot powerfully into the goal , Jin-Hyeon Kim had difficulty in controlling the ball and only managed to deflect it in the path of Ando Teymourian. The Esteghlal midfielder had enough time to control the ball and a clear path into the goal , but he shoot wide from close range for Iran’s best match to be wasted.
The last serious action of the first half was created by the dangerous Heung-Min Son whose powerful shot was saved by Haghighi
In the 2nd half the match tempo decreased as both teams concentrated in keeping the ball in the middle of the field. Despite the Koreans being more energetic and active , with their younger team , their final ball was always going to be handled well by the excellent Team Melli defense or Haghighi in the goal. The Rubin Kazan keeper who is on loan to a Portuguese club was faultless and his timing was perfect on the crosses, an attribute that was found wanting in many of the former Team Melli goalkeepers.
A few half-hearted threatening moves by both teams was taking the game into a sleepy mode when the Uzbek referee whistled for a foul on Omid Ebrahimi by the Koreans right outside the box. There was no question who was taking the free kick with Nekounam building a name for himself as the one who terrorizes the Koreans.
Captain Nekounam beautifully struck ball hit the let post fort before rebounding behind the keeper to the right post , bouncing ball met gallantly by the 19 years old substitute Sardar Azmoun to head home from close range despite the desperate attempt by the Korean keeper Jin-Hyeon Kim to stop him.
Tempers flared in the closing stages, as the Korean players reacted poorly to time wasting tactics from their Iranian counterparts.
The apathy shown by the fans was highlighted in th poor attendance in Azadi stadium. Despite Team Melli’s win , the team has no change of strategy , and soon ran out of ideas when approaching the target. The midfield , despite being the highest experience of the 3 lines was also the poorest. The midfielders failing to feed Ghoocahnejad and Jahanbakhsh with any ball worthy of mention. Both the forwards were substituted without really being given the service they deserved. Despite the collective poor midfield, Dejagah , was arguably the best player. The midfield m however , was guilty of keeping the ball far too much , resulting in him being double teamed and easily losing the balls. He was also slow on some passing failure to spot free players. However, Dejagah was the player who created the most number of offensive moves troubling the Koreans to no end.
The absolute worst performer was Masoud Shojaei whose continuous inclusion in Team Melli is becoming a scandalous affair. His contribution to the team continues to be meagre, and paltry while he is taking a valuable place of young and emerging players.
The defenders were excellent despite a few scares when the fast Korean players managed to dribble past one or two, however there was always the final defender to deal with the threat and clear the ball. As a group , including Haghighi in goal , the defense is solid and still looks the best of the lot.
The apathy of the fans was clear in the performance of the team. Tactically speaking , it was another poor showing by Queiroz whose hands are so known by the other teams. The performance does not augur well for Team Melli and rather worrying , although the result was quite sweet especially against their nemesis South Koreans.
A hat trick of wins, is quite satisfying and morale boosting against one of the better Asian teams. It might even be a catalyst for a change of mentality by Queiroz in deploying a more adventurous & attractive football, better game plan ,and a wee bit more adventurous offensive mentality.