Zandi is a major asset to Team Melli; at 1.85 cm tall Zandi is Iran’s best left footed player, he has unique skills in sending in crosses from left flank as well as taking corner kicks and free kicks, Zandi has played most of his football in Germany and has world cup experience.  Unfortunately Team Melli head coach Mr Ghalenoei has used Zandi in full back position in this tournament despite clear proof that Zandi is best used as an attacking left winger, Ghalenoei’s decision continues to puzzle the experts, despite being used as a defender Zandi took one of Iran’s free-kicks against China and scored a fantastic goal proving where his strength lies.

In the match against China Hussein Kaebi started the match on the right, after Khatibi’s poor performance against Uzbekistan I was relieved to see one of Iran’s best players Kaebi recalled to the starting line-up.  Sadly Mr Ghalenoei substituted Kaebi at half time despite Kaebi’s good showing in the first half, the substitution did not make sense since Iran were doing well on the right as it was, Kazemian replaced Kaebi.  For the record Kaebi has just signed a 2 year deal with English championship club Leicester City.

Then comes Ali Karimi; his lack of discipline in last year’s world cup proved quite damaging to Iran and Team Melli morale as a whole.  This was followed by poor performances at his club Bayern Munich which benched Karimi for most of last season, Karimi although a gifted player he is not a hard worker, in 2001 Karimi turned down an offer from Athletico Madrid of Spain in favour of Al Ahli of UAE, a decision which I heavily criticised at the time, Karimi was released by Bayern Munich at the end of last season and will play his football in Qatar next season, the question is why Mr Ghalenoei decided to include Karimi in his squad for Asian Cup finals despite Karimi’s poor showing of the last 15 months.  Karimi was taken off at half time and replaced by Mobalai, I would have preferred to see Masood Shojaee replacing Karimi, the on form Shojaee who plays a similar role to Karimi has not been used in the Asian Cups so far, Mobali did not do particularly well in this match.

Despite Enayati’s failure on the left flank against Uzbekistan he was once again used in that position against China, this decision kept Madanchi who is a lot more effective on the left on the substitute bench.  Enayati has not been convincing, the striker Hashemian up front is in a different league and carries the main threat for Iran, he is a total menace to the opposition and creates opportunities for others as well as beain a clinical finisher.  Teymourian, Mahdavikia, Nekunam, Husseini and Rezaei did well in this match, Iran totally outplayed China in the second half which makes me wonder what Iran could achieve if Mr Ghalenoei could plan his games and use his players in the right positions where their strengths lie.  Iran so far have been disorganised to start with conceding goals and then chased the game to make up for the damage done early in the match.  Lack of game plan (coach’s responsibility) is evident hence confusion in the first half.

Asian Cup 2007 has proven to be one of the poorest quality Asian Cups in a years with top guns Australia and South Korea collecting one point in their first two matches and Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand in the top two of their respective groups!  None of the 16 teams in the tournament have a 100% after two matches (i.e. no team has 6 points).  The title is there for the taking, Iran will not get a better opportunity to win the Asian Cup for a record fourth time with major opponents underperforming.  Iran have their most experienced and highest quality players ever with 7 European based players in the team.  I remain doubtful due to poor coaching Team Melli has suffered in the last year.  Iran’s two matches to date have been proof of the team’s potential in terms of quality on the pitch, at the same time there is evidence of poor coaching in terms of struggling on the pitch where Iran should be overwhelming their inferior opponents rather than struggle to come from behind. 

In the mean time thumbs up to the players who have done a good job in difficult circumstances.  The question is can captain Mahdavikia lead his team to the final in the absence of professional coaching to guide him?