Sports > Football > TEAM MELLI KNOCKED OUT OF ASIAN CUP BY AFSHIN DASTAFSHAN
Poor Coaching Costs Iran Dearly
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Team Melli were knocked out of Asian Cup finals at quarter final stage by a South Korea that has been using the tournament as a test run to build a new team for their world cup 2010 campaign leaving several of their top players out of their squad. The more experienced Iran were favourites to win this tie and progress to the semi finals, Iran enjoying their most experienced players ever and had a golden opportunity to win the cup for a record fourth time but as explained in my recent articles I had doubts on Iran winning the cup due to poor coaching team in charge. In the end the match produced no goals after 120 minutes of play, South Korea won 4-2 on penalty, we’ll take a close look at where Iran went wrong.
Team Melli head coach Mr Ghalenoei used a 3-5-2 formation with Nosrati, Rezaei and Husseini as full backs, Iran’s chosen midfield raised a few questions with right wingers Kaebi and Kazemian both left out on the substitute bench, infact neither player was used in this match, Kaebi and Kazemian are Iran’s fastest players and strongest right wingers, they both link well with Mahdavikia, their absence weakened Iran’s traditionally strong right flank! Why Mr Ghalenoei benched his best right wingers is anybody’s guess. Another puzzling decision was the absence of Shojaee and Mobali in midfield, neither player was used in this match but Karimi who has not been at his best played the full match, although he tried hard Karimi was not the same player as three years ago and had no impact on the match, Shojaee or Mobali should have started the match or replaced Karimi at some point.
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On the left Madanchi started as a winger and worked hard with his pace, he also helped out in defence; Zandi replaced Madanchi in the second half and made a difference with accurate crosses from left. Iran’s two strikers Vahid Hashemian and Rasoul Khatibi were out of synch; I did not see any one-two passes or any effective passing between the two strikers, they were not operating as a unit, amazingly the better of the two strikers Hashemian was replaced in the second half with Gholamreza Enayati who has been as ineffective as Khatibi in this tournament, this decision was nothing short of shooting yourself in the foot and a waste of substitution.
With the match ending 0-0 I expected Kaebi or Kazemian to be used in extra time to try and win the match, but another shocking decision was ahead, Mr Ghalenoei had clearly decided to hold on to the goalless draw and win the match on penalty, in the last minute of the extra time (120th minute) Mr Ghalenoei used Iran’s last substitution to change the goalkeeper; Rudbarian was replaced by Esteghlal keeper Talebloo! The theory behind this move was that Talebloo was better at saving penalties than Rudbarian, he saved one penalty but could not match the Korean keeper who saved two. I found the idea of substituting goalkeepers an extremely passive one, Iran’s last substitution should have been used to strengthen the outfield players with the intention of winning the match, this move would have been in the interest of the more experienced Iran, the young Korean side that had the veteran goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae from world cup 2002 finals was only too happy to take the match into penalties.
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Iran will never find a better opportunity to win the Asian Cup, they were in an easy group in the first round and avoided the stronger Saudi Arabia and Japan sides in the knock-out stages, yet the opportunity was wasted due to an incompetent and stubborn head coach who did not have the ability to come up with winning tactics and would not listen to criticism of his suicidal decisions, consequently the team, the fans and the country paid the ultimate price of elimination from Asian Cup 2007 finals. I hope we shall now see the back of Mr Ghalenoei and that a professional coach with a record of achievements at international level appointed as Team Melli head coach. Needless to say Iran football problems cannot all be blamed on one individual; Iran’s football federation has got a lot to answer for also including their appointment of an incapable coach. However, Mr Ghalenoei’s tactics, use of players and no game plan in Asian Cup finals cannot be blamed on anyone other than himself, he had quality players aty his disposal but had no idea how to use them, his stubbornness of the last 12 months has done incalculable damage to Team Melli.
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