Quarter-finals: France – Colombia – Belgium – Costa Rica
Round of 16: Chile – Uruguay – Mexico – Greece – Nigeria – Algeria – Switzerland – USA
A: Croatia – Cameroon B: Spain – Australia C: Ivory Coast – Japan D: Italy – England
E: Ecuador – Honduras F: Bosnia – Iran G: Portugal – Ghana H: Russia – South Korea
IRANWorld Cup progress: Group stage Team rating: 4 Top scorer: Ghoochannejhad (1) |
Brilliant against Argentina, but too conservative against Nigeria, Iran finished bottom of Group F as expected. Mark Siglioccolo assesses their tournament.
Irritating Iran
Ranked 43rd in the world, Iran were given little hope of progressing from a group containing a former mondiale winner and the current African champions. Yet Team Melli got off the mark in their opening game with a hard earned draw with Nigeria.
They fared even better against Lionel Messi and Co and were desperately unlucky not to snatch a famous win. Ashkan Dejagah was denied what would have been a famous headed goal but the confidence from that performance was not enough to get the job done against already eliminated Bosnia. A lack of ambition and penetration cost them qualification.
The Coach – Carlos Queiroz
Nullifying tactics certainly kept Nigeria at bay but the Iranians offered little going forward. Against Argentina they were like a different team and their aggressive play almost paid dividends. By then it was too late to beat a talented Bosnian side and Queiroz afterwards quit as Coach.
Player of the Tournament – Ashkan Dejagah
At the forefront of Iran's best moments going forward, which were few and far between. Looked threatening and was unfortunate not to score.
Memorable moment
Dejagah's brilliant header from a Pejman Montazeri cross forced an excellent fingertip save from Sergio Romero. More memorable than their goal for what it would have represented.
Results
| 16-Jun-14 | Iran | 0-0 | Nigeria | Group F |
| 21-Jun-14 | Argentina | 1-0 | Iran | Group F |
| 25-Jun-14 | Bosnia | 3-1 | Iran | Group F |
| Group F | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| Argentina | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 9 |
| Nigeria | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Bosnia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Iran | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
Squad
| No | Pos | Player | Apps | Goals | Assists |
| 1 | GK | Rahman Ahmadi | – | – | – |
| 12 | GK | Alireza Haghigi | 3 | – | – |
| 22 | GK | Daniel Davari | – | – | – |
| 4 | D | Jalal Hosseini | 3 | – | – |
| 5 | D | Amir Hossein Sadeqi | 3 | – | – |
| 13 | D | Hossein Mahini | – | – | – |
| 15 | D | Pejman Montazeri | 3 | – | – |
| 17 | D | Ahmad Alnameh | – | – | – |
| 19 | D | Hashem Beikzadeh | – | – | – |
| 20 | D | Steven Beitashour | – | – | – |
| 23 | D | Mehrdad Pooladi | 3 | – | – |
| 2 | M | Khosro Heydari | 3 | – | – |
| 3 | M | Ehsan Hajsafi | 3 | – | – |
| 6 | M | Javad Nekounam | 3 | – | 1 |
| 7 | M | Masoud Shojaei | 3 | – | – |
| 8 | M | Alireza Haghigi | 1 | – | – |
| 11 | M | Ghasem Haddadifar | – | – | – |
| 14 | M | Andranik Teymourian | 3 | – | – |
| 18 | M | Bakhtiar Rahmani | – | – | – |
| 21 | M | Ashkan Dejagah | 3 | – | – |
| 9 | A | Alireza Jahanbakhsh | 3 | – | – |
| 10 | A | Kirim Ansarifard | 1 | – | – |
| 16 | A | Reza Ghoochannejhad | 3 | 1 | – |
For a complete review of the 2014 World Cup, check out the next issue of Soccer Italia, written by the team at Football Italia and available on worldwide subscription.
