Team Melli players and fans are in  real dilemma for Tuesday’s game against South Korea in the 4th round of the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers.

Tuesday is Tasooa and the following day Ashoora is commemorated by Shi’a Muslims as a day of mourning for the martyrdom of Imam Hossein ibn Ali , the grandson of Prophet Mohammad at the Battle of Karbala. These days are marked by mourning and no major activities or celebrations are conducted in Iran.

As the FIFA plan for the match against South Korea coincided with Tasooa , Iran’s FA requested a change of date as a sign of respect for the mourning periods in the Shia Islamic calendar. FIFA , AFC and South Korea all refused the Iranian request due to the busy world football calendar , a decision which put a lot of pressure on the football administrators and the IRIFF headed by Mehdi Taj who was in an unenviable position.

After it was clear that the game must go ahead as schedule, the president of IRIFF declared that his federation is under the command of the government and will obey any directive. Iran refusal to play the match, technically considered a withdrawal, would have been excessively costly and virtually would have signaled the end of the competition for Team Melli as the ruling body FIFA could disqualify Iran from the World Cup for withdrawing from a match. It also would have wiped all the 3 matches result.

The situation created an immense pressure on the government of the pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani. His opponents, the religious hardliners, found it an opportunity to discredit him and accuse his administration of showing disrespect to the Imam and bowing to foreign external (…) pressure!

The hapless IRIFF executives, the players, who could only observe in silence and the media, were all nervously awaiting the verdict on the match and whether the hardliners, a very small group in numbers but powerful and actively backed by Ayatollah Khamanei, would have their way by ushering the crowds to Hosseinia (mourning places) instead of Azadi stadium.

Sanity prevailed at the end, and the match was allowed to go on as per schedule. The hardliners and the religious hierarchy realized that they would be committing a grave mistake if they stood against playing the match. If Iran pulled out of the match and subsequently disqualified from the world most prestigious football competition, the history would have never forgotten that neither would have the passionate football loving fans. The popularity of the religious factions in Iran, already on shaky ground and beaten in many battles especially after the Nuclear Treaty with the west, would have dipped even further if Team Melli was victimized. Simply said, there was far too much at stake on one single football match.

Not entirely content with defeat however, the religious hierarchy is warning against any chants that express joy or enjoyment during the game on Tuesday and instead they are urging the crowds in Azadi to turn it into black and conduct the traditional azadari (mourning) instead of singing and chanting for Team Melli!

The Imam Juma of Tehran who leads the Friday sermon declared that he will be watching the crowd action very closely for any inappropriate behavior in Azadi that would be disrespectful to the memory of Imam Hossein. For all intents and purposes, that means any signs of joy normally associated with scoring a goals is deemed an insult and disrespectful.

It is one very complicated situation the like of it has never occurred in Tehran Azadi stadium. The illustrious and passionate Iranian fans have always adapted and normally carry a few tricks up their sleeves. Leaders of the fans, no doubt will be closely watched by the secret police and religious minders, would be urged and pressured to exercise azadari (mourning) rituals and the fans to follow them.

 What about the players?

Although none of them would like to be targeted by the religious hard-liners, however, even if they do celebrate scoring a goal or two, they would hardly be considered traitors to the cause while playing for the country. The religious hard-liners in Iran are mostly a pressure group in the parliament and unlike the Saudi extremist wahabis , the Shia equivalents are non-violent and much more savvy and wary of the public sentiments.

Team Melli shared the top of the table in Group A of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers 2018 after beating Uzbekistan 1-0 in the capital city of Tashkent. The lone goal of the game came from a header by Seyed Jalal Hosseini from an immaculate free kick by the rejuvenated Masoud Shojaei.

Iran and South Korea are both on 7 points after the third round of the qualifiers with Uzbekistan following closely on their heels with 6 points.

Queiroz , who must have been disappointed with the last two games of Team Melli made a major change in the starting line up. Dejagah , Azmoun , Teymourian were all benched, in their places Amiri, Taremi and Ghoochannejad started the match.

Despite the solidly built defensive team, Iran was in fact the side that took the initiative and for over 20 minutes attacked the host not allowing a single coordinated attack on Biravand goal in the process. Team Melli could very well have been 1-0 up in the first 15 minute except for the narrow miss by Ghoochannejad.

Before the half hour, Team Melli scored from a beautiful set play and an immaculate cross by  Masoud Shojaeui. The midfielder who was carrying the Captain’s armband for the first time , sent his perfect free kick from the left flank towards the box where Jalal Hosseini met it with a powerful header past the hapless Lobanov.

The first half ended 1-0 for Team Melli .

In the second , the home side took the initiative but all to no avail. Alireza Biranvand, excellent on crosses, hardly had any save to make during the half and the match for that matter. Iran’s defence marshalled by Hosseini and the excellent Pouraliganji was more than a handful for the Uzbek players who could not pass Go! The only question mark was the form of Milad Mohammadi who seemed to be uncertain and occasionally wild at some of his plays.

Carlos Queiroz introduced Azmoun , and Jahanbakhsh in the 2nd half and the duo’s substitution nearly produced a goal to increase Iran’s lead. Finally Teymourian was introduced to solidify the midfield defensive power.

It was an excellent performance by Team Melli. Much more slick ball movement and smoother touches while the number of fruitless crosses decreased significantly against the towering Uzbek defenders.

The next match at Azadi on Tuesday against South Korea will clarify the shape of the qualification.

This is hardly a do-or-die match for Team Melli, nevertheless a crucial one in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers double header.  They don’t come more difficult than that as the first match tomorrow in Tashkent is against table leader Uzbekistan with maximum points from two matches, followed by a home game on Tuesday against their nemesis, South Korea.

Iran is setting comfortably between these two opponents in the table with 4 points, a narrow defeat in Tashkent will not be the end of the road, but a good result in Azadi is crucial.

Queiroz has managed to build a solid back line and his defensive mentality has served the team quite well so far. However, this team needs winners as it needs to score goals. The ingredients are there but what is lacking though is a game plan that can surprise the opponents most of whom are so familiar with Queiroz mentality and can so neutralize Team Melli with ease.

In fairness to the coach, it is difficult to blame him entirely for the futile offence as the feeding of balls to the forward line has been seriously flawed. Ashakn Dejagah , who is the midfield dynamo and a player that the team depends on so strongly in midfield has not been firing on all cylinders. He lacked precision and seemed to run short of ideas at crucial moments. Ezatolahie who has shown a remarkable progress in his club still could not run the midfield with the efficiency that senior players can. Teymourian will be too occupied with his defensive duties and would not venture too deep either.

So, it is left to the qualities of the balls from the flanks to create much of the offensive weapons where Sardar Azmoun will be waiting and fighting the battle against the tall and strong Uzbeks. Mentioning Sardar, who has been a true revelation for Iran, he really needs to be at his best in these two matches

It is all a question of will. Does Queiroz have the guts to surprise the Uzbek at their own home or will he maintain his cautious approach? Most probably it will be the latter with the Portuguese coach who is much more comfortable holding back rather than venturing forward.

Samvel Babayan, Uzbekistan
“Thursday’s game see us come up against the group favorites. They are the number one ranked team in Asia and they have many high level players playing at European teams. But we have studied Iran very well and we will try to show good football.

“They are all strong teams at this stage of qualifying. For example, Syria showed a good performance against both us and Korea Republic in the first two matches. Each game we play becomes the most important game at this stage. But we are thinking only of Iran now. We watched many of their games and we will try to find way to beat them. My players are ready for any situation in the match and our aim is to win.”

Carlos Queiroz, Iran
“We will play against the best team in our group on Thursday. Uzbekistan won their first two matches and are leaders in Group A. Nonetheless, my team will try to secure the win for the Iranian people. My team is clearly improving year on year. When I began to work in Iran we had only one player playing for a European side, now we have 11 who are at various clubs in Europe.

“[Ashkan] Dejagah and [Alireza] Jahanbakhsh were injured some time ago, but they have recovered and are ready to play against Uzbekistan. It is good news for Iran and bad news for Uzbekistan. Of course, Iran has star players aside from those two, we are a team not individuals, and we have no player selection issues for the game.”