November 18, 2016
At the mid-point of the final Asian elimination round for the 2018 World Cup, Iran remains on top of Group A, but only by a solitary point after drawing 0-0 against Syria.
Iran is proving to be tough on defense but weak on offense. It is the only team of the 12 in this round that hasn’t given up a single goal. But it has scored a mere four goals, ranking it a lowly 8th of the 12 on offense.
Iran got a helping hand to stay in first place when South Korea, previously in third place, defeated Uzbekistan, previously in second place, 2-1. Had Uzbekistan won, it would have gone ahead of Iran. But instead, South Korea and Uzbekistan exchanged rankings in the Group standings.
Those three top teams all have three wins. The difference in the standings is because Iran has two draws, South Korea one draw and Uzbekistan no draws. The other three teams are all struggling and do not appear to be a threat.
The top two teams from Group A and from Group B will go to the World Cup finals in Russia in 2018. Any one of the top three teams in Group A—Iran, South Korea and Uzbekistan—could easily be eliminated, so Iran’s fans cannot breathe easily yet.
At the mid-point of the round, Iran has now played each of its five opponents once. It has beaten its two main rivals—South Korea at home and Uzbekistan away. It has also beaten lowly Qatar at home. But it has tied two teams it ought to have beaten—China away and Syria in a game played Tuesday in neutral Malaysia because of the civil war in Syria.
Tuesday’s game was a hard slog—literally. The start of the game was delayed 45 minutes by rain. And after the game did begin, the field soon looked more like a pigsty.
Iran had the first real chance inside the first five minutes when Ashkan Dejagah rolled the ball to Mehdi Taremi. But Taremi’s low shot was saved by Syrian goalkeeper Ibrahim Alma, who was in great form throughout.
With the muddy field and Syria sitting back and defending in numbers, it proved to be tough for Iran to find any space. Syria tried to disrupt Iran’s rhythm, but Iran managed to pile on the pressure as the game progressed.
Chances were few and far between. The best chance of the game came with three minutes remaining. Iran’s Milad Mohammadi galloped down the left side and sent a perfect cross to the far post where Alireza Jahanbakhsh rose unchallenged, only to send his downward header wide of the post.
As reported last week, Alireza Beiranvand, who was perfect in goal for the first four games, was out with an injury. Iran played a friendly match last Thursday against Papua New Guinea, winning 8-1. Coach Carlos Queiroz used that match to test his backup goalkeepers, playing Sosha Makani in the first half and Mohammad-Reza Akhbari in the second half. Akhbari allowed Papua’s sole goal and Makani played the entire game against Syria.
All the teams now have a quiet spell as there will be no elimination matches until March 23, four months away.