WC 2014 qualification: Iran - Qatar - Bahrain - Indonesia

[Persian]

WC 2014 qualification for Brazil: Iran - Qatar - Bahrain - Indonesia

Asian Zone Draw
Group A: China, Jordan, Iraq, Singapore
Group B: Korea Republic, Kuwait, UAE, Lebanon
Group C: Japan, Uzbekistan, Syria, Korea DPR
Group D: Australia, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Thailand
Group E: Iran, Qatar, Bahrain, Indonesia



جمعه 11 شهریور

ایران - اندونزی

بحرین قطر

سه شنبه 15 شهریور

قطر - ایران

اندونزی - بحرین

سه شنبه 19 مهر

ایران - بحرین

اندونزی - قطر

جمعه 20 آبان

بحرین - ایران

قطر اندونزی

سه شنبه 24 آبان

اندونزی - ایران

قطر - بحرین

چهارشنبه 10 اسفند

ایران- قطر

بحرین - اندونزی

[Persian]

The dates in English:
Match-day 1 September 2
Match-day 2 September 6
Match-day 3 October
Match-day 4 November 11
Match-day 5 November 15
Match-day 6 February 29/ 2012

I hope I can watch some of these live/in person.  Dodoro do Iran.  Dodoro do Iran.

[Afshin]

In the absence of professional management Iran football as always relies on individual talent to get results on the day.  There is no continuity in our football which means there is no progress.  The early stages of Asian Qualifiers should not provide any challenge to big teams, Iran's recent 1-0 win over the Maldives was a poor result; Iran are currently ranked 54th in the world while the Maldives are ranked 160th.  The Maldives being a chain of Islands in the Indian Ocean with a population of around 400,000 compared with Iran's population of 72 million.  Back in world cup 1998 qualifiers Iran beat the Maldives 17-0, now we only managed a 1-0 win!

Iran are drawn against Bahrain, Qatar and Indonesia in the next round of WC2014 Asian qualifiers, the top two teams will progress to the final round qualifiers and that is when the real test for Team Melli will come, when they would face the likes of Japan, South Korea or Australia.  Iran's group is not easy; Bahrain and Qatar have given Iran problems in the past, Bahrain an integral part of Iran till 1971 of course.  I am sure as usual the two Arab sides will play dirty against Persian Iran and try and help eachother out in the table, we have seen this many times in the past.

Iran must try and top their group (Group E) by beating both Bahrain and Qatar at home and draw or win away, we would be OK to face one of the three teams I named in the final round (Japan, South Korea & Australia), but if we face two of these three teams in the final round we have had it, we would end up third (out of five) at best and in the play-offs (again), don't forget in WC2010 qualifiers we finished fourth out of five in the final round qualifiers and did not even make it to the play-offs (Bahrain got the play-off place but lost to New Zealand).

I am not optimistic about Iran qualifying for WC2014 assuming we will overcome Bahrain and Qatar and make it to the final round qualifiers. we need professional coaching and management, the team needs to have a plan and logistics.  We certainly have talented players but they need proper management to fulfil their full potential.  After over ten years of intense on-line activity I gave up writing on Iran football over two years ago, I even worked for the BBC in 2008 and provided reports on Iran football, but then quit since our football failure was giving me so much headache and stress that it was affecting my health.  I now only follow Team Melli in moderation but not our league football at all.

I wish our players all the best, they have to represent their country without proper support or management from Iran's football federation, they have to face professional teams and teams that have far more resources and support than we have.  I feel for our players.  I hope we don't get to play a team like Japan in the month of Ramazan, or our players would have to play the match without drinking any water (ROOZEH), I hope they would be allowed to eat and drink behind closed doors.

[Arasti]

Iran will win at home against Indonesia.  Indonesia is as corrupt and has not better players, so Iran will win.

Maldives have imporved a great deal whereas our level has gone down.  1 - 0 is acceptable score without injuring our players.  I wish many new players were given a chance to play in this or other games which results are not important.

May Iran qualify.

[Arasti]

Some answers to our poor football:
http://www.footballitarin.com/video_page.php?id=261

[Persian]

September 6, 2011
Bahrain 2 - Indonesia 0
  not a good result for Iran...
Iran and Qatar will start in about an hour.   دو دورو دو ایران

[Persian]

Iran 1 - Qatar 1
Iran had 5-1 goal chances, but scored one.  Iran is playing better when Ghotebi was in charge.  CQ has passion for this game more than local coaches and other foreign coaches.

Next game, Bahrain will play in Tehran.  Iran must win this game.

[Afshin]

It is crucial that Iran win all their home games, drawing away to Bahrain and Qatar is not bad so long as we beat them at home.  We must beat Indonesia away as well as home (already beaten them at home).