By Majeed Panahi
PLDC - Esteghlal Tehran and
Perspolis, the most popular teams of Iran played in front
of a capacity 90,000 fans in Azadi on Thursday, who
surely left the ground disappointed with the result and
the performance of their beloved teams.
Bearing in mind the abysmal performance of the last few
matches, both teams started with purpose and the tempo of
the game picked up from the early minutes. Perspolis had
better control of the game and the midfield. The chances
war far and a few with the most serious ones going
Perspolis' way. Jabbari , a player who thrilled the
crowed on his debut last year and continued his good
performances early this season, had the best
opportunities. However, his form and confidence has
suffered lately leaving Parvin no choice but to bench him
in some matches.
Jabbari's ferocious shot was well saved by Tabatabaei
after he closely dribbled two Esteghlal players. On
another occasion, a 1-2 with Abolghassimpour left Jabbari
with a clear shot on Tabatabaei, but his final shot was
too weak to bother the in-form Esteghlal Keeper.
Esteghlal did not sit back though and they had a few
chances themselves,
from Navazi and the header of Pashazadeh. Hasheminasab
playing as a forward had a few good moves but there was
no coordination with Momenzadeh as they was far apart and
lacked understanding. Esteghlal defenders were tenacious
and performed well in this half, especially
Bakhtiyarizadeh and Pashazadeh who is approaching his
ideal form.
In the second half, the story changed with Esteghlal
taking the initiative with quick offensives moves on
Perspolis. But all their efforts were un-rewarded due to
poor finishing and solid defenses of Perspolis. Reza
Jabbari repeated his first half scene when he shot a
cracker towards Tabatabai's goal, but Taba saved
brilliantly for a corner. However, the most glorious
chance of the game by far fell to Behnam Abolghassimpour.
After a blunder by Esteghlal defense, Abolghassimpour
found himself in a one-on-one with only Taba to beat.
But.without much effort he shot the ball wide of Taba and
missed a golden chance that Perspolis could regret for a
long time.
Esteghlal had a few efforts themselves, but nothing too
serious to change the result. Fatemi was drafted in
instead of Hasheminasab to increase the offensive line,
but he was no where near scoring or threatening the solid
Perspolis defenses. The crosses sent by Navazi were all
cleared by Perspolis players or wasted by Esteghlal
forwards.
In the last minute of the game, a seriously flawed
Nikbakht had his marching order by Manuel Costa, the
Portuguese referee who awarded him a red card. This was
after Nikbakht, who already had a yellow card, obstructed
Ansarian from playing throw-in and then tried to handle
the ball after Ansarian finally managed to throw the
ball.
The furious uncalled reaction from Bakhtiyarizadeh , who
was the best Esteghlal player, and Fekri who attacked the
referee and physically mishandled him, could have easily
resulted in a couple of extra red cards for them.
But,,,the referee was wiser than that and let it go.
At the end, with extra 5 minutes added, no team could
score and the match ended 0-0 for Esteghlal to keep the
two points margin at the top , while Perspolis fans were
left wondering , what it takes for their team to score?
The match although lively and fast paced, lacked tactical
content. Both of the team's players took too much time on
the ball, and were slow in utilizing the spaces. The
final balls were disappointing and most of the serious
attacks (although a few) were result of opposition's
defensive errors rather than well planned plays.
It is always prudent to mention that Azadi grass and
pitch is still in a sorry state with the ball bouncing
badly preventing the teams from distributing the ball
efficiently.
Esteghlal was the happier of the two team at the end,
although the points difference between them and the rest
is decreasing. But, it is a hardly likely that other
teams in the league have the character and the strength
to overtake them in the few matches left. Bar Perspolis,
the other clubs falter when it counts and rarely take the
chance of toppling the big two. The threat to
Esteghlal/Perspolis domination of Iran's football is
still feeble which does not auger well for the National
Team.
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