Team Melli drew with Angola 1-1 in an eventful match in Hartberg stadium. Angola scored late in the first half by Silva, while Ansarifard broke the deadlock for Team Melli with his goal in the 56^th minute. Like the previous match played against Montenegro , the small stadium was filled with loyal Team Melli fans coming from all across Austria and neighboring countries to cheer the Team.

Both teams started the match with what looked like a 2nd string teams as they were involved in matches few days back. That forced both coaches to use other players . Team Melli had Nekounam and Ghoochannejad playing from the previous match.

The African team started the match with some pretty rough tackling similar to the expected style of coarse treatment that team Melli will be receiving with Nigeria. However , that rough handling was quite costly for Team Melli. As early as 23^rd minute , Both Javad Nekounam and Sardar Azmoun had to leave the field due to injury.

The first real threat from Iran came in the 12^th minute, Ansarifard headed wide off the crossbar from a neat Hajsafy’s free kick.

The match continued in an uneven rhythm with some wild tackles and lots of inaccurate passes by both teams.

In 36^th minute Reza Haghighi heads weakly into the arms from Hajsafy Free Kick

Much of Team Melli Offensive moves were paltry and disorganized with players finding difficulties in finding each other . Poor passing , was prominent while there was not a single shoot at the Angolan Keeper.

The only line that has the confidence of the fans to perform well is in the World Cup is the defense line. That tight defense, however crumbled like a house cards with astonishing ease on the first and only serious attack by Angola. In the 4ast minute Angola wins a corner on the right some 40 meters out. The free kick taken by Gilberto is sent deep inside Iran’s box where Silva met it and had the easiest of tasks to head into the net unchallenged by any Team Melli defenders, Davari was a spectator , just watching the ball goes past him! The goalkeeper made no attempt at all to save the ball , while his positioning and ball watching was pathetic.

A few minutes later , The referee blew for half time in a what was a disappointing performance by the standard of the second string Team Melli team. The exception was Ashkan Dejagah who continued to display a high standard of football and played well up to expectation. The rest came out short.

The second half started with Bakhtiyar Rahmani coming in, The foolad Captain’s impact was immediate as he energized the attack.

In the 48^th minute, at last the Iranian fans see the ball end up in the net by Rahmani but was disallowed by the referee due to a foul by Bakhtiyar on Angola defender,

Minute 49 Reza Haghighi lifts his foot so high while jumping which resulting in two victims. The worst off being His own teammate Ansarifard.

While Team Melli has more of the ball , the last pass was poor and the promising moves failed to this inaccurate passing

 

Minute 56: Karim Ansarifard scores the equalizer and breaks the deadlock after 263 minutes, but it was a goal worth waiting for. Hajsafy beautiful y controls a cross on his chest from over 30 meters sent by Haghighi, The Team Melli new captain (after Nekounam left the field) , then easily passes his marker and diagonally send s a ball to the on rushing Ansarifard. Karim with his exceptional skill of half turn and shoot, does exactly that and blasts the ball into Angola’s net ,

Iran was looking the much better team while Angolans had little to offer but some rough tackling.

Minute 64: Ghoochannejad on the right passes his marker but his shot is intercepted by the keeper for a corner.

Minute 72 Ghoochannejad wastes a perfect opportunity to score and put Iran ahead. The central forward receives a ball from a cross. Unchallenged from no more than two meters, he only had the goalkeeper to beat, but poorly places the ball in the welcoming arms of Angola goalkeeper

For a striker like Ghoochannejad who scores on half chances, that was a regretful miss.

In the dying minutes, the referee blows for a foul on Angola keeper just inside the box. The subsequent indirect free kick is taken by Ale Nemeh who thunderous shots hits the Angola wall for a corner.

The referee not only did not account for any injury or wasted time due to substitution and game delays, he actually blew the final whistle 15 seconds before the regulation time! Obviously he was not enjoying the match as the fans in the stands.

The final result of 1-1 would probably satisfy both sets of coaches. Carlos has used and tested all the 28 players in these three matches. Montenegro was the toughest test which Iran should have wrapped up with a narrow win, but even this second string team Queiroz has used, would have given the Portuguese foods for thought as far as the final list composition.

 

The concern remains on the extent of Nekounam’s injury which did not look as bad as Azamoun’s. However , close medical examination will reveal the true level of injury.

Azamouns in the 20 minutes or so of this match showed some beautiful moves and it would be cruel if he misses the World Cup due to an injury.

Team Melli will fly to Tehran arriving at 3 Am on Saturday. They will next get together on Monday after spending some needed time with their families.