Iran settle for a disappointing draw against Costa Rica

Persianmirror – Iran settled for a goalless draw with Costa Rica in a warm-up match played in preparation of world cup 2010 qualifiers, Iran will take on Syria at home in their first world cup qualifier on Wednesday February 6th. Team Melli's newly appointed head coach the Spaniard Javier Clemente is due to arrive in Tehran this Saturday February 2nd, but there is little time for him to make an impact on the team for next week's match.

Iran playing a 4-2-3-1 formation against Costa Rica got off to a good start in the match creating several goal scoring opportunities but their final touches let them down, the lone striker Ali Samereh could so easily have scored a hat-trick in the first half, Samereh who plays his football in UAE played well in this match but failed to score and as a striker his primary role is to score goals, the gap left by Ali Daei upfront is yet to be filled in Team Melli. Iran's European based players missed the match against Costa Rica.

In the back Iran proved solid, Sepahan keeper Abbas Mohammadi was in goal for Iran, he hardly had a save to make in this match but two Costa Rican free-kicks from outside Iran's penalty area came dangerously close to his goal in the second half, two well taken free-kicks narrowly missing the target. Aghili and Hosseini did well in the heart of defence; Bengar who plays next to Aghili in Sepahan defence is another solid defender who could be used in full back position next to Aghili.

Iran's right flank with Kaebi and Kazemian was a big disappointment, Iran enjoyed a decade of reliable service from right between 1996 under Mayeli Kohan through to 2006 under Branko Ivankovic, one could always count on the right to deliver the goods and deadly crosses, in recent years the Kaebi Mahdavikia combo always proved deadly on the right. Kaebi failed to produce the top form he produced till 2006, there is no doubt that Amir Ghalenoei's decision to drop Kaebi from Team Melli when he took charge in July 2006 hurt this young talented player, things have not gone Kaebi's way at club or national level in the last year.

Iran's match against Costa Rica served as another reminder of the damage Arab leagues (UAE in particular) are doing to talented Iranian players who move to the wrong side of the Persian Gulf to play their football thanks to higher income and better facilities, but the standard of Arab leagues remain lower than Iran's Persian Gulf League with two or three strong teams in their leagues and the rest just making up the numbers while in Iran no team is a pushover hence a more challenging environment for the players to better themselves. Shojaee's performance against Costa Rica was another example of a talented Iranian player whose form has dropped thanks to playing in an Arab league. Madanchi who also plays in UAE missed a clear cut chance to score early in the match. Ali Karimi and Iman Mobali who play their football in Qatar and UAE respectively did an OK job but nowhere near the best we have seen of them. Persepolis FC men Nikbakht and Khalili were disappointing, Kazemian who also plays in UAE league did not impress.

So the goal draught continues for Team Melli, Iran have now failed to score in their last four matches drawing 0-0 with Costa Rica and Qatar, losing 2-0 to Germany club Hansa Rostock (all in January 2008) and their last Asia 2007 match against South Korea which ended 0-0 after 120 minutes of play.

Management incompetence and corruption in the Iranian football federation (IRIFF) meant it took over one year to elect a president for the federation; this in turn meant Team Melli did not have a coach since July 2007! The new Team Melli head coach Javier Clemente from Spain has got his work cut out, he has to deal with consequences of his predecessor Amir Ghalenoei's failure to build a new team for Iran in the year he was in charge. Strangely enough Iran find themselves in a situation where they will have to rely on players from Branko's world cup 2006 squad that were so heavily criticised for their poor performance at the time, however the experience of such players as Hashemian, Mahdavikia, Teymourian and Nekunam at International level is crucial to Team Melli right now even though the likes of Hashemian and Mahdavikai will be in their mid-thirties in WC2010.

We wish Team Melli all the best in world cup 2010 qualifiers and will support and monitor their progress.

Afshin Dastafshan
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