Indeed it is appropriate to say Sabai Di or
greet the Laotian football team for the match against Iran.
Iran plays its last match in the first
round of 2006 World Cup qualifying on Wednesday, November
17th against Laos in Tehran. A victory
by any margin and Iran would advance to the next round
of the qualifying matches, along with 7 other nations.
Iran had two must-win road games against
Jordan and Qatar and won them both. While facing its third
must-win match against Laos, Iranian
side is a much less-stressed team since a simple victory
will send it to the next round while Jordan has to
defeat Qatar and pray for a miracle provided by Laos against
Iran in Tehran.
On paper, the game against Laos is an
easy one for Iran to win. Iran is ranked 20th in FIFA's world ranking while Laos is ranked 166th. While Iran is below Uruguay and ahead of Nigeria, Laos is tied with Dominica and San Marino.
Iran defeated Laos 7 - 0 in the first leg back in March in Laos.
On paper, there is no comparison.
Who Will Play and Who Will Not! Iran's
head coach, Branko Ivankovich is now a veteran with the Iranian
football. He knows the players, their tendencies, Iranian fans and the
media. He is
also a careful planner and one that would not take a chance for the sake
of taking
one.
Given the lack of strength of Laos,
many in Iranian sports media have talked about allowing
younger players to play in this match. Branko,
correctly in my opinion, is treating these requests as nonsense. This
game is as
important as the games against Jordan and Qatar. No chances must be
taken until Iran
is comfortably ahead in the match.
No one should expect England to rest David
Beckham in
a game that would determine if England would qualify for
the World Cup.
We already know that of the 28 invited
players for this match, Hashemain, Mahdavi Kia and Rezai will
not be on the pitch. These are the European based players that Branko has
agreed to let stay with their clubs and use them in the next round.
Add to that the injured Nikbahkt Vahedi and Farzad Majidi,
both from Esteghlal of Tehran, whom should not be available
for this match. Also, Azizi didn't
play for his club last Thursday due to injury. Azizi did
practice with the national team this week and yet may not make
it. Now, all
of a sudden, the list loses 6 players, 5 of which are marquee
players.
On the positive side, Capitan Ali
Daei seems
to be ready and certainly very eager to return and lead the
team. Daei missed
the last match against Qatar and saw the emergence of Hashemian as
the next new great forward for the national team. Daei is
two goals shy of 100 goals scored for the national team in
official matches.
He already
owes
the record
for most
goals
scored for a national team and should reach the century mark
on Wednesday.
Good Evening Laos,"Gnindi
Ton Hap"Iran! Well,
as hosts of the Laotian team, it is only appropriate to "Gnindi
Ton Hap", welcome, Laos to Iran.
After the scoreless tie of Maldives
and South Korea during the same World Cup qualifying matches,
no game should be taken lightly. We
need to simply remember how last month Laos scored 2
goals against
the
stingy Jordanian
defense and
how it was ahead in that match until the 66th minute
before losing the game 3 - 2.
The ball is round and could find a net
at any given time.
The ball is round but no logical and
for that matter illogical argument could persuade anyone
that Laos has a chance to beat or tie
with Iran. It is true that Maldives did the miracle against
South Korea
and Liechtenstein
tied
Portugal but lets repeat that despite the roundness
of the ball, nothing short of at least a 3 goals margin
of
victory
on Wednesday
could be
acceptable.
With the victory and advancement to
the next round of
the world cup qualifying, an appropriate "Santiphap",
Peace, with you and "Sok
Di", Good Bye, should be told to the Laotian
team that is trying hard to matter in the Asian football
word
and lets
not forget
to say "Somseuï",
congratulations, for your hard work and better luck
in the future.
Iran shall win easily and will know
the likely
group
configurations
for the next world cup qualifying round at the conclusion
of the match.
Expect a 5 - 0 win for Iran and at the end
of the game, we shall say "Khob
Chai" , thank you, to the Laotian players.
