Iran’s Friendly Way To World Cup Success

Friendlies are necessary for World Cup success, as a study of the build-up to the 2002 shows. Between summer 2001 and the draw for the World Cup groups in December, South Korea and Japan played six friendly games each, although it was easier for the co-hosts as they didn’t have to qualify.

This article is a very thorough analysis of the importance friendly matches have for the teams playing in the World Cups. Comparing teams like China, Japan, Saudi Arabia or South Korea, their results and their friendly matches schedule before the previous World Cups makes for an interesting analysis and a good read. Here is the full article:

In his first interview following Iran’s return from Korea in mid-October, manager Branko Ivankovich suggested that Iran would play only two friendly matches between now and June 2006, against Togo and El Salvador.
Goal.com

Naturally, this news was greeted with surprise and disbelief as it had been thought that Iran would play as many as 10 games. However, in a subsequent interview, Branko suggested that Iran would arrange six friendlies and would face Paraguay and not El Salvador.

By now, we know that Iran is scheduled to play Togo, Paraguay and Croatia in a friendly tournament in November, a tournament that is a very good start but it is just a start.

Friendlies are necessary for World Cup success, as a study of the build-up to the 2002 shows. Between summer 2001 and the draw for the World Cup groups in December, South Korea and Japan played six friendly games each, although it was easier for the co-hosts as they didn’t have to qualify.

Japan and Korea each played against counties from different continents prior to the grouping announcements. Not knowing which countries they would be grouped with, they faced leading teams of four continents and were very active playing friendly matches.

Saudi Arabia and China on the other hand qualified late in the process and therefore didn’t play friendly matches prior to the grouping announcements.

Japan

Japan was grouped with Belgium, Russia and Tunisia. As such, Japan selected mostly European countries (five) for friendly matches and ended up with seven matches in total.

Among the European opposition, Japan, then under the tutelage of Phillipe Troussier, faced Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine, teams that played in a similar way to Russia as well as Sweden and Norway who provided a taste of the western European style.

All in all, in the year leading up to the 2002 World Cup, Japan played 13 friendly matches and prepared herself well for the world cup, in which they reached the second round.

South Korea

South Korea was very active and played in another 15 matches in the six months that separated the draw and the start of the World Cup. The draw pitted Korea against Poland, USA and Portugal. That grouping represented two European countries and one from the CONCACAF region.

Interestingly, Korea played seven North and Central America and Caribbean countries to prepare and play against the United States’ team in the 2002 World Cup. Two of the seven matches were in fact against USA herself. By appearing in the Gold Cup and facing the USA (twice), Mexico, Canada and Costa Rica, Korea learned the style of CONCACAF countries and prepared herself well for the United States.

In the five friendly matches when Guus Hiddink’s team faced European opposition, strong teams were faced such as England, France, Turkey and Finland.

In the 12 months leading to the 2002 World Cup, Korea played in 21 friendly and friendly tournament matches and prepared herself very well for the world cup. Korea’s brave, active and aggressive schedule bore fruit in the summer of 2002.

Saudi Arabia

Like Japan, Saudi Arabia also played 13 friendly matches. In the case of ‘The Sons of the Desert’, all of these games were played after the draw when Saudi Arabia was grouped with Germany, Ireland and Cameroon. Reviewing the Saudis’ friendly selection process, one can see several problems:

- Saudi Arabia played most of their friendly matches (seven) against Asian and South American teams even though they weren’t too face teams from either continent.

- The European opponents faced were not among the top European teams. Two of the three opponents were Iceland and Estonia.

- Between March 28th, 2002 and the start of World Cup, Saudis only played in one friendly match and that was against an African team.

With such inconsistent, incomplete and weak schedule, the embarrassing results of Saudis in 2002 World Cup were not that surprising.

China

China was grouped with Brazil, Turkey and Costa Rica. The most populous nation in the world was the weakest Asian team in the 2002 World Cup and played the least number of friendly matches. China only saw action five times in the six months leading to the World Cup. Such a schedule gave the impression that Bora Milutinovic knew the team was not good enough for the competition and was trying not to destroy the Chinese confidence prior to the games.

Despite being paired with a CONCACAF team, China didn’t play a single match against a team from that region. Of the two European matches, one was against a weak Slovenia. As a result, China’s disappointing 2002 tournament was not a surprise.

Conclusion

It is clear that playing in friendly matches is essential for a good World Cup showing. It is also clear that opponents have to be selected carefully to represent the Germany 2006 pairings.

In the months leading to 2002 world cup, Saudi Arabia and China chose a much simpler and less complex route than Japan and Korea. They both looked conservative to the point of being scared with their schedules. Both suffered as a result. While one can argue that China was weak to begin with, the disastrous results of Saudi Arabia were unexpected.

It is not surprising to see Branko’s lack of desire for international friendly matches. In the six months leading to the 2002 world cup, Branko’s home country, Croatia played in just four friendly matches. They were all against Eastern European teams.

Similarly, when Branko was the assistant coach with his country in the 1998 World Cup, in the six months leading to the games, his team played in 4 matches. One of those four was against Iran.

In 2002, Croatia was eliminated in the first round but in 1998, Croatia got results. Iran is not the 1998 Croatia and is more comparable to the 2002 Japan and Korea.

It has been said that Iran will play somewhere between two to six friendly matches prior to the World Cup. If that in fact is the case, it is not enough. Playing in qualifying matches for the 2007 Asian Cup, as was stated by Branko, is a poor excuse to avoid the right level of matches against the right level of opponents. Matches against likes of Maldives, Syria and Kuwait in the 2007 Asian qualifying round will not make up for true preparation matches.

Iran’s Football Federation and the national team coaching staff need to be daring and professional in selecting the right mix of opponents over the next eight months. While there is no magic number for friendly games, between seven and ten carefully selected matches following the group announcements seem to be in line with what the rest of the world is doing. Well, in line with the rest of the football world except Croatia!