Editorial: Welcome to Iran Clemente

Five Asian nations will travel to South Africa in two and a half years time, four of them fairly easy with very little bumps on the road and the fifth one with just a bit of a struggle. Back they will travel with a historically big bag of money and more importantly possibly the best performance ever seen from the country's footballers.  

Iran are destined to qualify and so would any coach that would sign the million dollar contract that has been offered to countless many coaches. Javier Clemente put pen to paper and came to Iran to revenge his previous World Cup failures. Alright he might not get further with Iran than he did with Spain but he came to Iran with the belief of qualifying the nation for South Africa and take one step further than any of the previous three Iranian World Cup coaches have done.

The Spaniard will have very little time to prepare the nation and get to know his players. A shocking defeat against Syria could end the adventure before it even begins. Certainly, therefore, there will be no time for big changes and even less revolutions in Iranian football, but the best advise must be to go with what works. Here is some guidance for you Javier, take the safe road straight to South Africa!

4-4-2 with flat midfield

Please don't experiment with a diamond midfield, it won't be successful and will be waste of valuable time. A diamond midfield will force either Andranik or Nekounam out of position. A flat midfield will allow you to play both of them in their own position and use your most dangerous attacking weapon (it used to be, but is it still? will it be tomorrow?), Ali Karimi, in between midfield and lone-striker Vahid Hashemian. Hopefully Clemente will make sure Karimi realizes that and have him run a few extra meters in training, because Karimi today sadly cant hurt that many teams. Hossein Kabi looks forward to be played in right back behind Mehdi Mahdavikia and once again form a leathal right wing. Vahid if you read this, your nation needs you, come and play for Iran! In Hashemian's absence the coaching staff will have difficulty finding the right player. Due to the lack of good strikers and the star packed midfield most coaches would naturally turn to a 4-5-1 formation.

4-5-1

One lonely striker system currently fits Iran very well as the nation is packed with talent in midfield and with the lack of it in attack. Iman Mobali and Massoud Shojaei are two examples of players who can replace an injured Nekounam, Andranik or Karimi in central midfield. Mobali could be one of two defensive midfielders in a three man central midfield. Mobali would probably shine next to Andranik or Nekounam in that role. If the coaching staff wants only one real holding midfielder, while Mobali can use his offensive strenghts from a more defensive position, this will open up for Mobali in a three man central midfield. If you are to use a triangle in central midfield, Nekounam fits best as the defensive option in a 1-2 while Andranik is best on the right. Ghalenoi did this and was blamed to play the Bolton player out of position, which was completely wrong as this was the position "Grando" had his breakthrough under "Big Sam" Allerdyce. Of course Karimi and Andranik could switch places, something which might be for the best if Karimi can find back to his and Mahdavikia's unique understanding. Madanchi currently would be the easiest and probably the best option for your left wing. Iran played a 4-2-3-1 against Costa Rica (with a 2-1 central midfield), a system that will fit the current squad, the only question is if that was Ebrahimzadeh's will or Clemente's?

4-3-3

What Ghalenoei called a 4-3-3 was far from it, but this attacking system could also fit Iran. Kazemyan possibly had a breakthrough in this summers Asian Cup and Ali Karimi could be used as the other attacking wing. Madanchi and Mahdavikia also are safe cards on the two wings. For left back you need to find a solution, Sweden's Behrang Safari could have been it, but that's too late by now since Sweden have capped him.

Good luck!