Who's Laughing Now?

Iran started the match slowly and without much impetuous, failing to penetrate a compact Syrian defence. Leaks were visible behind the Syrian defence but time and again the Iranians failed to take advantage, with the best chance falling to Mahdavikia, who slotted the ball with his left foot towards the bottom hand right corner, but the ball was pushed away by the Syrian goalkeeper. One of the key paradoxes of the first half were the performances of Madanchi and Nikbakht who both looked like they were playing the same role. If Madanchi was playing as the attacking midfielder, and the link between midfield and attack, then he failed miserably as he drifted off to the left and directly into the zone of Nikbakht way too often. Organization was also lacking in the first half, and too many short passes went stray. The hosts main source of attacks were long balls launched by Javad Nekounam from deep within his own half towards Khatibi. One such pass saw Khatibi lay the ball off for an incoming Teymourian who blasted the ball at the keeper, who again managed to parry it to an un-marked but offside Enayati who slotted the ball home before hearing the whistle.

Whilst everyone thought that things could only get better in the second half, much to everyone's surprise it was more of the same. Khatibi was guilty of missing an especially good chance off a low and hard Madanchi cross. Changes soon took place and Mahdavikia, named captain for the first time, was taken off and replaced by Kazemian and Mobali replaced Nikbakht, and began penetrating through the middle more than his colleague had done. However, the end result was the same. Iran could not muster many clear opportunities in front of goal and when they did, their players were guilty of poor finishing.

It took a lucky deflection off a Nekounam shot from 25 yards to finally beat the Syrian goalkeeper. However, the joy was short-lived as Ghalenoei committed the fatal error of pulling his players back and sitting back on the one goal lead. Just as soon as he replaced Khatibi with another defensive midfielder in Kazemi, Talebloo misjudged a corner kick and the Syrian attacker Ziad rose above two defenders and headed the ball from the far post in between a further two defenders who were guarding the line. Five minutes of stoppage time were not enough for Iran to push on and score an undeserved winner, although Kazemian looked to have been fouled by the Syrian goalkeeper for a penalty in injury time. Javad Nekounam blasted Iran's last chance high and over deep into stoppage time from within the penalty box.

With the disappointing result and even more disappointing performance, Ghalenoie could'nt have realized before this match how big the task ahead was and must have felt that the ghost and shadow of a certain Croat was hovering over him. He must realize now that he cant do without some of his key players such as Rezaei, Hashemian, Kaabi and Karimi, who were all missing, although this was no excuse against a poor Syrian team who had been there for the taking from the word go. Ghalenoei, one of the most vocal critics of former coach Branko Ivankovic, must pick the team up for a crunch tie in Seoul in a fortnight's time, where defeat can seriously jeopardize Iran's chances of qualifying for next summers tournament.

Iran 1 - Syria 1

Line-up (3-4-3): Talebloo - Shakoori, Fekri, Sadeghi - Mahdavikia (c) (Kazemian), Nekounam, Teymourian, Nikbakht -  Khatibi (Kazemi), Enayati, Madanchi (Mobali)