Iran took a two goal lead against Kuwait early in the match in their second world cup 2010 qualifier but failed to kill the game off with a third and were duly punished with Kuwait pulling one back in 36th minute and equalising late in the second half.
Iran playing a 4-2-3-1 formation got off to a good start with their lone striker Vahedi Nikbakht scoring the opener with a fantastic scissors kick 2 minutes into the match, you can watch Nikbakht’s goal here
<![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/HZeK6Xj2cjo&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/HZeK6Xj2cjo&rel=1</a>]]> Two minutes later a long free-kick from deep inside Iran’s half taken by full-back Jalal Hosseini found its way in the back of Kuwaiti net thanks to Kuwait keeper misjudging the speed and height of the bouncing ball which went over his head! Iran were 2-0 up after four minutes.
Iran’s complacency after taking such early lead was to cost them dearly as Kuwait started to play fast attacking football, the breakthrough for Kuwait came before half time when Ajab pulled one goal back for the home side taking advantage of a poor back header by Jalal Hosseini. Leaving the experienced right-back Hossein Kaebi on the bench proved a mistake in this match, his replacement Gholamnejad was less than convincing, Kaebi has pace and world cup experience under his belt, he is an effective player on the right. Despite the blunder by Jalal Hosseini that led to Kuwait’s opening goal he did well enough in this match assisting the first goal and scoring the second for Iran, having said that I prefer the Sepahan partnership of Bengar and Aghili in full-back position, I believe Daei’s decision to drop Aghili from the squad due to his club commitment in the Asian Champions League was a mistake.
Half time talk by the coaches was to decide the outcome of this match, Kuwait’s Croat head coach Rodion Gacanin made a double substitution at half time as the home side took the initiative looking for the equaliser, two dangerous shots went wide of Iran’s goal half way through the second half before Rahmati made a crucial left handed save in 65th minute punching a powerful shot away from close range, with Iran pinned back and under pressure the writing was on the wall, Kuwait scored in 78th minute but the goal was ruled out for off-side, however poor marking in the box led to Kuwait’s equaliser 5 minutes later with substitute Al Rashidi heading the ball home for Kuwait, the match ended 2-2 despite a late surge by Iran, Daei and his coaching team will have learned a few lessons from this match.
Iran were in desperate need of all 3 points from this match having dropped points in their first match at home to Syria, but on balance of play Iran can have no complaints about the two draws they have had to date leaving them 2 points behind UAE in Group 5, Syria are level with Iran on 2 points.
It would be unfair to blame Iran’s poor show on one individual be it the head coach Daei or any player. Iran has had little preparation for world cup qualifiers, Kuwait for instance played 7 friendly matches in preparation for Iran while Iran played only 1 friendly against Bahrain last week. Daei has only been in charge of Team Melli for a few weeks, no coach could have an impact on the team in such short period of time.
On the plus side Daei has introduced new players to the team giving youngsters a chance to shine, Daei has also injected much needed passion and stamina into the team, but in yesterday’s match it must be said that Kuwait’s resilience was more noticeable than Iran’s passion. Iran have to play a lot better than they have done so far if they are to qualify for WC2010 finals. Daei’s arrival has made a difference but he still has a lot of work to do before finding the winning formula, in the mean time Iran ended their 6 match goal drought scoring twice against Kuwait. Iran’s next world cup qualifier is against UAE in Tehran on June 2nd.
Listen to Afshin’s interview with BBC on WC2010 qualifiers Asian region which took place after the above match here:
http://www.soundupload.com/audio/xvczz9u4g4mqgze Iran squad against Kuwait: Rahmati (GK)- Gholamnejad, Hosseini, Bengar, Beikzadeh - Teymourian, E. Sadeghi - Shojaei (88' Khalili), Karimi, Madanchi (58' Meydavoudi) – Vahedi Nikbakht (71' Jabbari)
Afshin Dastafshan
adastafshan@persianmirror.com 
