According to Tasnim news agency, Al-Bayan newspaper of the UAE has analyzed the match between the national football teams of Iran and the UAE in Dubai in today’s issue. The newspaper’s pre-match reads: “
The UAE is more desperate to win this game as anything less than that, even a draw, makes their mission of qualification that much complicated.
With only two points from two games and a single goal scored, this result does not look rosy for the UAE and a win, therefore, is quite essential for them. UAE can learn from Iran itself, as Team Melli suffered two bad defeats in the previous round, but they bounced back perfectly to clinch qualification for the third and decisive round.
So, the UAE players will enter the game with a lot of confidence and motivation and want to desperately be around the top of the table to clinch one of the promotion places. This game is very important for both teams as the Iranian side wants to maintain its lead in the group, so both teams will be looking for victory and the draw is not satisfactory for them, especially not for the UAE national team.
It is expected that Van Marwijk will first seek to solidify his defense and use counter-attacks in this game. However, this is where Skocic can outfox his Dutch counterpart and play on the vulnerability of the UAE defense. Van Marwijk uses Khalifa al-Hamadi in the central defensive role along with Shaheen Abdul Rahman, who has replaced Walid Abbas due to injury. The only goal conceded by UAE against Syria was the result of the elementary error of this pair. The Syrians forwards were so profligate in that match, the result could have easily been 3 or even 4 goals victory for Syria. Omar Khribin himself missed at least two easy setters.
Van Marwijk is well aware of the capabilities of Azmoun and Taremi in aerial battles, and how their Iranian pair’s superiority can harm his team from crosses on both flanks. He has been working on that aspect to limit that threat. What Skocic can do is supplement his offensive plan by penetrating through the center of Emirates defense using through balls and fast passing.
While depending on counterattack is perhaps the only way the UAE can threaten Team Melli, the transition from attack to defense must be organized well for Team Melli. Iran has been prolific in this aspect and must continue to do so in the coming games especially and particularly against the Koreans.
In midfield, Majid Hassan will be next to Abdullah Ramadan or Majid Rashid, and Khalfan Mubarak will be the team’s playmaker for the UAE. Lima, Caio, and Ali Mabkhout should form the team’s attacking trio. Mabkhout is the most dangerous of the UAE players and the most likely to score. He has however suffered from a slowdown in his mobility lately.
On paper, Iran looks the better of the two sides and a three-point is not too difficult to achieve. The only vulnerability of Team Melli and most of the Iranian teams, in general, is the mental toughness and discipline, both of which have resulted in bad consequences. The Arab teams are all well aware of that weakness of Iran and have mastered all sorts of tricks for many years to yield results. One can safely bet that the UAE will be resorting to intimidation tactics to provoke the Iranians.
With the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualification rounds at early stages, it is vital that the players keep their discipline and refrain from receiving silly yellow cards and possible suspensions. This needs to be implanted in them very strongly.
Team Melli DISCIPLINARY RECORD
18 YELLOW CARDS and ONE RED CARD in the 10 matches played in the World Cup qualifiers. This is an average of 1.8 cards per game which is quite high.
Five players received two cards: Azmoun, Taremi, Jahanbakhsh, Shojaei, and Pouraliganji.
3 players served suspensions, Azmoun, Shojaei, and Pouraliganji while two got away from it as per the FIFA regulations of clean records for the third round.
Card Details
Second round 10-Oct-19 vs Cambodia – PouraliGanji
Second round 15-Oct-19 vs Bahrain – Hajsafy – Azmoun
Second round 14-Nov-19 vs Iraq – PouraliGanji- Shojaei (two yellow)
Morteza PouraliGanji and Masoud Shojaei were suspended for the match vs Hong Kong
Second round 03-Jun-21 vs Hong Kong- Torabi
Second round 07-Jun-21 vs Bahrain – Kananizadeghan
Second round 11-Jun-21 vs Cambodia- None
Second round 15-Jun-21 vs Iraq- Nourollahi-Jahanbakhsh-Moharrami-Azmoun-Taremi
Sardar Azmoun was suspended for the match vs Syria Round Three
Third Round 02-Sep-21 vs Syria -Khalilzadeh-Mohammadi-Taremi
Third Round 07-Sep-21 vs Iraq -Ezatollahi-Jahanbaksh