Azadi Stadium.
Team Melli grabbed all the three points of matchday 1 of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 third round qualifiers after beating Syria with a goal to nil scored by the skipper Alireza Jahanbakhsh.
It was from the pretty or solid performance from the Iranian side, but considering lack of preparation, no friendly matches, and a camp of 3 days with both the Head Coach and his assistance missing due to Covid19, not much was expected.
Team Melli started with the lineup consisting of Alireza Biranvand, Shoja Khalilzadeh, Mohammad Hossein Kananizadegan, Jafar Salmani, Vahid Amiri, Ahmad Noorollahi, Milad Sarlak, Ali Gholizadeh, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Saman Ghoddos, and Mehdi Taremi.
The match went on as per the script, Iranian on the offensive while Syria defending en masse and waiting for the right opportunity for the counter. However, despite ta massive difference in ball possession for Iran, the players in white failed to create any meaningful threat on Syria’s keeper.
In the first half a serious-looking injury in a form of a concussion to Milad Sarlak, forced the coach Marjio Toth on an unexpected substitution where Saeid Ezatollahi came in for the dazed Sarlak.
The second-half substitution must have raised a few eyebrows as Saman Ghoddos was substituted out. He was by far the most creative of the Team Melli players. And what was even stranger is the introduction of a debutant in Saleh Hardani. Only the coaches can decipher that strategy. Introducing a rookie player in an important International match has never been the wisest of moves, not when the score is so close.
In the second half, perhaps the most beautiful of the Team Melli moves resulted in the ball reaching Taremi who squared it to Jahanbakhsh. The Feyenoord winger hit the ball purposely goalward but it was deflected by a Syrian defender to announce Iran’s only goal,
Nizar Mahroos, the Syrian coach failed to act on the weak points of team Melli, which were plenty. Insisting to pile up the defense, which deprived the Syrian attackers manned by two good attackers in the form of Mahmood AlMawas and Omer Khirbin, to form a serious threat. Both players found themselves isolated in attack and lacked support else their speed and tricky could have troubled Beiranvand. Instead, Iran’s keeper had a pretty comfortable day.
The biggest concern with Team Melli or this particular group of players in the serious lack of personal and tactical discipline. This match could have easily seen two red cards for Taremi and Khalizadeh. They were both lucky to escape being sent off by a weak Japanese referee who was constantly hustled by players without standing firm and giving a few cards. Iran received three cards and at this rate, there will be more suspension of players as the competition continues.
On the tactical discipline, despite the superiority of Iran in all departments, there was also a large number of lax passes, poor finishing, and some elementary mistakes by players especially towards the end of the match, which was most critical with only one goal margin.
Earlier today, Iraq forced a goalless draw on the hosts South Korea . At the time of writing this report, UAE vs Lebanon is goalless too, THis means Iran is setting at the top of the table on Matchday one with 3 points.
Team Melli next match will be against Iraq on Tuesday in Doha, Qatar.
\