Misery. Iran lost their opening match of World Cup 2006 to Mexico.

A tale of two halves and Jekyll and Hyde. Iran played beautifully in the first half and had much better opportunities on goal than Mexico. The missed cross and the deflected header were heart-breaking. They defended well but gave away a lot of free kicks, one of which inevitably resulted in Mexico’s first goal.

The second half is typical of what little I’ve seen of Iran’s international play against quailty opponents: they played not to lose instead of playing to win. There was almost no offense – Iran had something like 6 shots on goal in the first half, but only 1 most of the way thru the second half. Reminiscent of the US-Iran friendly from a few years back where Iran dominated, got the go-ahead goal, and then basically stopped attacking.

Time for my rant – Branko Ivankovic (Iran’s coach) has done a fantastic job of making the team a professional outfit ready to do well on the international stage. Before Blazevic (Iran’s former coach, for whom Ivankovic served as assistant coach) Iran’s major tactic was the Rambo: each individual would attempt to dribble around the entire opposing team and score by themselves. Now they’re even too unselfish at times.

However, I don’t think Branko sees the team for what they are now, which is a good team ready to take the next step. I’m convinced he plays for the tie in far too many situations, favoring a good showing over the risk of more aggressive play leading to loss. In short, it’s painful to watch Iran play so well for part of the game, only to suddenly put on the brakes and drop back only to defense.

Mexico played poorly in the first half, but came to life in the second. I was disappointed in their play after hearing so much about them, but I’ll be rooting for them in future matches.

Tim mentions:

did anyone else think the Iranians looked just great? Hawk-faced, pale-skinned, raven-haired, with the brilliant red uniforms?

Tim, you were not alone, the ladies watching the game unanimously commented to the effect of “Iran may have lost, but they sure do look good”. Also heard: soccer players are the best looking athletes. No consolation for this loss though.