New-Look U.S. Set for Iran
The Farsi was flying fast and furious in the interview room beneath the Coliseum last Wednesday night, but Mansour Pourhaidari was unperturbed.
Iran’s 53-year-old national soccer coach handled the questions with ease and a sense of humor. A stylish 2-1 victory over Ecuador had undone the damage that an earlier 2-1 loss to Mexico had inflicted.
Finally, there came a question in English.
The United States team, which plays Iran today at 2 p.m. at the Rose Bowl, has changed significantly since the countries met in the first round of the 1998 World Cup, Pourhaidari was told.
What, then, does he know about the new-look Americans?
“We know they are a good team,” Pourhaidari said through an interpreter, former MLS and World Cup referee Esse Baharmast. “We have watched videotapes of some of their games.”
Only four Americans who were on the field for the U.S. team’s 2-1 World Cup loss in 1998 will have a chance to play Iran for a second time--Frankie Hejduk, Cobi Jones, Brian McBride and Claudio Reyna.
The Iranians will remember all four, but especially Reyna and McBride. Reyna, now playing for the Glasgow Rangers in Scotland, rattled Iran’s nerves with a shot that hit the foot of the right post.
And McBride, the Columbus Crew striker whose power in the air rivals that of Iranian star Ali Daei, hit the crossbar with a header, then later scored the lone American goal of an otherwise ignominious World Cup for the U.S.
The coaches from that first game--Steve Sampson and Jalal Talebi--have stepped aside, but the American team knows a lot more about Iran than the Iranian team perhaps knows about the U.S.
U.S. Coach Bruce Arena and MLS coaches Sigi Schmid of the Galaxy, Dave Dir of the Dallas Burn and Bob Bradley of the Chicago Fire all scouted Iran’s game against Ecuador last Wednesday.
Their verdict?
“They were dominant physically and certainly the better team, there’s no question about that,” Arena said. “We realize that Daei and [Seyed Ali] Mosavi and [Khodadad] Azizi are going to be dangerous strikers [whom] we’ve got to deal with.
“Their ability to counterattack is quite good. And I think they do a good solid job of defending as a team.”
Said Bradley: “They’re an organized team [with] a couple of very good individuals. I think they know what they’re all about and take advantage of their strengths. Certainly, a guy like Daei is useful to have. He’s big, he’s good in the air.
“Regardless of who you play, there are players whose talent you have to respect. When we played Morocco [in the most recent U.S. game, Salaheddine] Bassir was a terrific forward. Hopefully, we’ll get to the point where we have more and more guys [other teams have to respect]. I think that’s the whole point.”
Dir would like to have seen Ecuador give Iran more of a test, but the South Americans sent their Olympic team to Los Angeles, not their full national team.
“I thought Ecuador was really disappointing,” Dir said. “So it was difficult to judge Iran. Daei is definitely a player. He’s very athletic. But they didn’t seem to play through the midfield much to get to him.
“They had a lot of time, [and had] no pressure on them. So from that standpoint, it will be interesting to see how their game changes when they’re under more pressure.”
This afternoon, the Iranians will be pressured. Arena said the U.S. will go on the offensive from the outset.
“We’re going to try to get goals early in the game, there’s no question about that,” he said. “We’re going to try to be the aggressor.
“In the last World Cup, they didn’t give up a goal in the first half [in a 1-0 loss to Yugoslavia, the 2-1 victory over the U.S. and a 2-0 loss to Germany].
“They were basically in every game and against the U.S. they had a 1-0 lead. So, as I’ve tracked them over a bunch of international games, they’re a team that’s quite content with staying back, keeping their opponent off the board and then hopefully creating some chances off set pieces or off a counterattack.”
The U.S., which lost to Germany, Iran and Yugoslavia in the World Cup, has exorcised one ghost by since beating Germany twice. Today, it has the chance to banish another.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
TODAY’S GAME
* What: United States vs Iran.
* Where: Rose Bowl.
* When: 2 p.m.
* TV: ESPN.
* Story line: This is the final game
of a three-game tour for the Iranians, who are playing in the United States for the first time. By Friday, more than 42,000 tickets had been sold and attendance is expected to top 50,000. The game is the first of the year for the Americans, who next travel to South America to play Chile on Jan. 29 before competing in the CONCACAF Gold Cup Feb. 12-27 in Miami, San Diego and Los Angeles.
