Sports > Football > IRAN BEAT VFB STUTTGART AS GHALENOEI IS SENT OFF! BY AFSHIN DASTAFSHAN
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Iran made seven changes to the team that played Hamburg SV for their second friendly match of UAE four sided tournament against VfB Stuttgart. Iran and VfB Stuttgart both lost their opening matches 2-1 to Hamburg SV and UAE respectively. Considering the way Hamburg outplayed Iran I was expecting to see an even stronger game from VfB Stuttgart since they are currently in fourth place in Germany’s Bundesliga and challenging for the title whilst Hamburg are in the relegation zone. VfB Stuttgart have won 9, drawn 5 and lost only 3 matches in the league so far this season but their performances against UAE and Iran was not worthy of a top Bundesliga team, they seemed a tired side (it’s the winter break in Bundesliga) and not so interested in the tournament, VfB Stuttgart lost both their matches to Iran and UAE whilst the weaker Hamburg beat both Iran and UAE!
Ironically the off form VfB Stuttgart provided an ideal opponent for Iran in this friendly practice match, the results of this tournament was never going to be important so it was a good testing ground. Roudbarian started for Iran in goal in place of Taleblou, Mobali, Rahmati, Shakuri, Aghili, Asadi, Badamaki and Rajabzadeh were all in the starting line-up. But the highlight of this match was the sending off of Iran’s head coach Mr Ghalenoei from the field, more on that later in the article.
First the match; Iran was the better side in this match, apart from facing a weaker opponent than Hamburg (performance wise on the day) Iranian players used in this match played better than those used against Hamburg, Rajabzadeh and Badamaki gave Stuttgart defence plenty to think about by cutting through their defence line, Mobali although not as effective as in his first match still played well and fired more long range free kicks at the opposition, Enayati did better in this match and played a part in Iran’s goal, Roudbarian did well in goal and made a couple of crucial saves, Roudbarian was in control of his penalty area and made up for the mistakes made in Asian Games last month, Shakuri and Aghili did well in defence.
The only goal of the match came from a low cross fired from left by Nikbakht Vahedi, the accurate pass beat the defenders and the keeper finding Rajabzadeh at the far post, he made no mistake and scored for Iran. Stuttgart went on the attack after conceding a goal but Iran defence and two good saves by Roudbarian kept the Germans out.
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I was puzzled about Iran’s game plan in this match (as in previous ones), I saw no change of tactics during the match or the two halves, Iran’s head coach Mr Ghalenoei made no substitutions in this match until around the 80th minute when three substitutions were made trying to hold on to the one goal lead, Kazemian was replaced in the first half as a result of injury as he could no longer continue (so not a change of tactic). The passive mentality and conservatism of Ghalenoei went against the principal of using this tournament to test different players, after Iran’s defeat to Hamburg Mr Ghalenoei claimed results in this tournament were not important, however, in the match against Stuttgart his substitutions all coming late in the match suggested he was desperate to win the match. I also wonder whether any of these players would have been used in this tournament had Iran’s European based players been available.
Now Ghalenoei’s sending off; there was a hand ball incident in the first half when Stuttgart’s Osorio made contact with the ball when he lost his balance and fell down in the penalty area, since this was not a deliberate hand ball but a genuine fall no penalty was awarded (this is inline with FIFA Rules, the referee was correct), however, Mr Ghalenoei challenged this decision and got involved in a heated argument with the fourth referee official, not prepared to back down Ghalenoei’s assistants and team officials came to his support right by the touch line, the referee was forced to stop the match, we then had four referees having a heated argument with some six Iranian coaches and officials, it was ten minutes before the match would resume and not before the referee had ordered Mr Ghalenoei off the field, he had to watch the remainder of the match from the stands.
This embarrassing incident reminded us (if we needed a reminder) of the unprofessional and irresponsible nature of the men who govern the Islamic Republic of Iran Football Federation (IRIFF), it was totally unnecessary for Iran’s head coach to challenge the referee’s decision in this meaningless friendly practice match where according to Ghalenoei himself the result was unimportant, had this incident occurred in the world cup finals Mr Ghalenoei and his entire assistants would have been ordered off the field and banned from the dugout for several matches.
This season Iranian players have shown lack of discipline and professionalism in the league, in the world cup we witnessed lack of discipline and professionalism from one of Iran’s top players Ali Karimi who kicked a medical kit in protest to being substituted. Mr Ghalenoei’s lack of professionalism and irresponsible behaviour during the Stuttgart match will just have set another bad example for the players to follow, when the head coach behaves in the manner Ghalenoei did then what can one expect from players such as Karimi or Azizi both of whom damaged their careers as a consequence of lack of discipline and professionalism.
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