Confident Iran sets sights on North Korea win
26 March 2005
by AFP
Iran's 2-1 win over Japan in the Asian Group B World Cup qualifiers has given
the Middle East side a boost in confidence and left their top Asian rivals
wrangling over tactics.
Iran made sure their World Cup dream was kept on track Friday with a convincing
home win, largely thanks to their trio of Bundesliga-based stars - Vahid
Hashemian of Bayern Munich, Mehdi Mahdavikia of SV Hamburg and Kaiserslautern's
Fereydoun Zandi.
Iran now share the lead in the group with Bahrain. Both teams are on four
points, while Japan are in third with three and North Korea fourth on no points.
"We are going to North Korea to get the full three points," Iran's Croatian
coach Branko Ivankovic said, underlining his confidence before their trip to
Pyongang to face North Korea in a few days' time.
"We have overcome the champions of Asia. We have lifted the biggest obstacle in
front of the World Cup," he said of the game against Japan, which drew a crowd
of 100,000 to Tehran's Azadi stadium.
Ivankovic said the Pyongyang fixture is set to be missed by veteran captain Ali
Daei due to injury - he was substituted in the first half of the Japan game -
but the side appeared to have managed well without him and in the face of a
fierce Japanese counterattack.
Both of Iran's goals came from Hashemian, with Ali Karimi, Mahdavikia and Zandi
showing themselves to be strong playmakers.
Iran's press was predictably full of praise for the national side, thanking them
for a "new year's gift" and a "memorable day" coinciding with the Persian new
year's holiday season.
With only the top two teams in each group qualifying automatically for next
year's tournament in Germany, Japan will now be under pressure to win their home
game, against Bahrain, at the Saitama stadium near Tokyo on March 30.
And this will be no walkover. Bahrain held Iran to a scrappy goalless draw last
month and beat North Korea.
Japanese coach Zico was under fire for gambling too much on out-of-form
Fiorentina midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata, and for having opted to switch from a
3-5-2 to a 4-4-2 to accommodate him.
"If we had played with the old style we would have played better," Asian Cup
star Shunsuke Nakamura, who played alongside Nakata, told reporters after the
match.
Time to toughen up, Nakata
tells teammates
Michael Church / Daily Yomiuri Sportswriter
Hidetoshi Nakata's year-long exile from international football may have ended on
a losing note on Friday, but the Fiorentina midfielder left the Azadi Stadium
with a message for his Japan teammates: It's time to toughen up. Nakata put in a
typically robust performance despite his controversial inclusion in the team and
the 28-year-old said the bruising encounter against a physically intimidating
Iranian team highlighted an area Japan needs to improve.
"I think we need to be tougher," the two-time Asian Player of the Year told The
Daily Yomiuri. "We knew that the referee would not stop the game all the time,
but now we have to look forward to the next game against Bahrain." The Japan
team will face the Bahrainis at Saitama Stadium with Wolfgang Sidka's team one
point ahead of Zico's after Friday's 2-1 win over North Korea in Pyongyang added
three points to the one picked up in a 0-0 draw in the opening clash with Iran
in February.
Nakata, though, said he was not concerned about the toll Friday's game plus a
12-hour flight from Tehran to Japan would take on the team ahead of its third
round of qualifiers for Germany 2006. "I think we have enough time, we have
something like five days and Bahrain also played today," he said. "Plus the game
is going to be in Japan, our home, so we have an advantage."
The former Perugia, Roma and Bologna star was encouraged by Japan's showing in
the second half against Iran, a 45 minutes in which Takashi Fukunishi equalized
and the Japanese controlled much of the play.
"We lost and that's all that matters," he said. "There was a lot of pressure on
the team but Iran scored the first goal, which was important, although I thought
we played well in the second half. "I thought we were playing well just after we
scored and we had a lot of chances, from the right side especially. But we
couldn't score another goal."
Nakata was expected to start the game wearing the captain's armband after Zico's
declaration upon naming his squad that the ex-Bellmare Hiratsuka star would lead
the team if he was fit enough to play. But, after a discussion between
Nakata, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto and Zico, the Gamba Osaka defender--who led Japan to
the Asian Cup in China in August--retained the captaincy he has held during
Nakata's lengthy absence. "Before the game Hide and I talked, and Hide
also talked to the coach," said Miyamoto. "He told him that this is a winning
team and that we didn't need to change the rhythm of the team. So Zico agreed
and he said before the game that I was today's captain."
Decision to switch system
blamed for Tehran defeat
Michael Church / Daily Yomiuri Sportswriter
Where confidence and good fortune were once the buzzwords of Japan's World Cup
qualifying campaign, self doubt and indecision have begun to appear as the
attempt to reach Germany 2006 approaches the halfway stage.
Friday's 2-1 loss at the hands of a physically superior Iran, whose individual
parts were marginally greater than the sum of Japan's disjointed team effort,
has left Zico's players suddenly wondering if automatic qualification for a
third World Cup can be achieved.
Bayern Munich striker Vahid Hashemian twice exposed Japan's weakness in defense
as he claimed both goals for Iran, the pair split by Takashi Fukunishi's second
half equalizer that looked for a grand total of nine minutes like it might give
Japan a hard-earned draw. But, after Hashemian had opened the scoring with a
close range drive following Japan's inability to clear a Mehdi Mahdavikia free
kick, the man known as "The Helicopter" hung in the air, unmarked and in the
heart of the visiting side's defense, to head Ali Karimi's cross past Seigo
Narazaki.
Hashemian's winner raised the intensity of the atmosphere inside the sold-out
Azadi Stadium to incredible levels, the ear-splitting volume of the noise made
by 100,000 Iranian supporters drowning out the intrepid band of traveling
Japanese fans that numbered less than one percent of the home crowd. Those fans,
many of whom had arrived in Tehran on the morning of the game and who made the
flight back to Japan just hours after its conclusion, will no doubt have endured
a longer journey home than if Fukunishi's drive had been the final goal of the
game.
A point in Asia's most intimidating arena would have felt every bit as
satisfying as a win elsewhere.
As it was, Iran not only picked up the win but joined Bahrain at the top of
Group B in the battle for the two automatic spots in Germany, a situation that
places increased importance on Wednesday evening's showdown in Saitama Stadium
with the Bahrainis. Following on from the poor performance in the narrow win
over North Korea and the loss to Iran, the mood within the camp is downbeat and
much of the dissatisfaction is being directed at Zico's decision to switch
formations on the eve of the Iran game. The most outspoken critic was striker
Naohiro Takahara, who called on Zico to revert to Japan's favored 3-5-2 setup as
soon as possible.
"I didn't know how to get the ball today," said the SV Hamburg forward after a
disappointing performance. "Everybody knows this 4-4-2 system doesn't fit. I
want to turn back to the style we had before so we can win again as soon as
possible. Otherwise we can't win." While stopping short of joining in Takahara's
criticism, Shinji Ono agreed the Japanese fell well short of playing to their
potential on Friday, particularly in the opening 45 minutes. "It was a difficult
game and we played too many long balls from our defense," said the Feyenoord
midfielder. "We didn't play to our usual form. We talked about it in the
changing room after the first half and we understood what we had to do to win.
But we couldn't do it."
The loss means victory on Wednesday is vital against a Bahrain team that drew
0-0 with Iran before Friday's 2-1 win over North Korea in Pyongyang. "In that
game we need three points, only a win will do," said Ono. "We have to make sure
our condition is good for the next game. We are all professionals so we should
be able to do to that and we have to have a good rhythm."
Zico, for his part, remained upbeat despite the loss and, given the nature of
Asia's qualifying tournament for Germany, he has every reason to remain
optimistic. While the top two teams from the group will automatically qualify
for the finals, the team that finishes in third also retains a chance through
playoffs against the third-placed nation in Group A of Asia's qualifying
tournament and against the fifth-placed team in CONCACAF. "I have 100 percent
confidence that we will still qualify," said the Brazilian. "Even if we had not
won either of our games so far I would still be confident.
"We lost because we conceded two goals and before we conceded the two goals we
gave the ball away. That's why we conceded the goals. Iran has experienced
players who have very good technique, therefore that's the reason that we lost."
Worryingly for Japanese fans, though, Zico conceded he had yet to pay close
attention to the Bahrainis ahead of his team's latest home match, games the
manager said before the qualifying campaign began that Japan must win.
"We need to get at least one point in our away games and we missed a lot of
opportunities today," he said. "Our movement was quite good but we couldn't
win...At the moment, I don't have any idea about Bahrain because we were
concentrating only on Iran. I haven't thought about them yet."