Opinions on the Iran-Croatia game

There is an ongoing debate in the Croatia blog over the Iran-Croatia game. I read everyone’s argument and here are some of my thoughts for what they may be worth (I know they are worth approximately ziltch!).

1. Both teams are coming off a week of heavy training. So everyone’s body is in the process of recovery and far below match shape. Both coaches mentioned this in their post game interviews.

2. Both teams played below their potential. I have had the luxury of watching Croatia play more often than most Croatian fans have seen Team Melli. So, I can tell you with certainty that this was not a good day for Croatia. I guarantee you that they will be much, much better come Brazil game. As far as Team Melli goes, this was not their best or anywhere near it either. Believe me; we will play a lot better when we face Mexico in a couple of weeks.

3. The referee made too many mistakes (watch the highlight video and see the offside call on Borhani). However, I must agree with those Croatian fans who say the penalty call was correct. I think it was a good call. Watching the reply, from this angle it looks like a good call to me.

4. Mistakes are a part of the game. Unless we are talking about a team that is so good that it can recover from mistakes, teams with most number of mistakes usually lose. In this case, it was even. Both second goals in this game were terrible defensive mistakes. Iran’s second was a gift by the Croatian defender and Croatia’s second was a mistake by Iran’s defender and goalkeeper. The other two goals were also on defensive mistake, but the errors were not as big as in the other two goals. They were missed marking assignments that may happen during the course of a game without resulting into goals.

5. Let us get real. Croatia is the BETTER team overall, no questions about it. But on this day they could not get the result to prove it.

All and all, this was a good confidence booster for Iran. And Croatia has nothing to worry about. This game does not prove anything.

Can we all be friends now?!