Team Melli defeat by a second string Omani team , was characterized as a “Wake up call” by Carlos Queiroz who also added that “ this defeat was a bitter pill to swallow.”
This wakeup call coming only a fortnight before a decisive tie against Qatar, where a defeat could very well end any real hope of making it to the World Cup finals, seems to be late realization for Mr. Queiroz. A long series of below par performances, historic defeats, lethargic display of football , odd selection of squad players and host of other anomalies has failed to alert Queiroz that all is not too well with this team. Hiding behind his own logics and self-justifications while on the other hand demanding the full and unquestionable support from everyone, the now beleaguered coach might find it too late to put things in order with the acute shortage of time in the compressed World Cup Schedule.
Granted that there were several conditions that has led to this embarrassing defeat at the hand of the Omanis, such as the unbearable hot temperature and high humidity plus the absence of 10 regular team players. It is, however, prudent to mention that the opposing team was player under similar restrictions with most of their regular players missing and playing under the same harsh weather conditions. Yet, Oman played a nicely balanced game and scored three wonderful goals in a match that raised serious alarms about the physical condition of the Iranian players and their susceptibility to weather, plus the usual poor tactical shortcomings.
Comes June the 4th, Doha weather will be much the same as Muscat, if not worst and if the match in Muscat was anything to go by , the endurance of the Iranian players will be tested to the limit in the s
corching temperatures and unbearable humidity.
More alarming than the physical conditions if the players and their adaptability to adverse climatic conditions , is their lack of variation in attack and what seems like inability to have other options. The age old tactics of sending crosses from the flanks and hoping for some prolific header of the ball to yield result has been a hallmark of Team Melli during Queiroz era. The problem is that if this system fails, Team Melli has shown little other options to open up the opposition defenses.
Admittedly, time is too short to re-build a solid winner team or inject enough enthusiasm and confidence in a team that has lost badly. Iranian players have shown time and again that they do bounce back under demanding and difficult conditions and turn out to be winners. This is probably the only hope that Team Melli has going into the next three matches, else not much other perhaps bright areas can be seen from this squad. No technical prowess or exceptional players are seen to be saviors otherwise.