Iran U20 and danger from defenders

* Vietnam - Iran: 5pm today, on MetaSports.

While the national team is always at the top of the continent, Iranian youth football is not too strong. They only made it through the group stage twice in the last 10 Asian U20s, and twice did not even qualify. Their best achievement this period is also the semi-finals in 2016, like Vietnam. But the two teams have not met at the tournament, since 1975.

Explaining the fact that the Iranian youth are not as strong as the national team, Team Melli wrote: "Iranian coaches do not meet international standards to train young players, facilities are inadequate, the federation is not qualified and qualified. also not attentive."

Coach Samad Marfavi is also not appreciated at the current Iran U20, although he was the third most impressive player in Asia in 1991. "Like many other coaches in Iran, Marfavi is outdated and lacks current football knowledge. great", the Iranian football news site added a paragraph. "The Federation also does not have a strategy to send former players abroad to study and improve their coaching skills. The achievements of Iranian youth in the past belong to individual shining moments, not their talents. Coach".

In both of Iran's past two matches, the number three left-back Hajizadeh Seifi regularly advanced more than the 14th winger Erfan Ghorbani. And Seifi also created the most chances for his teammates in both matches despite just defender. Part of the reason is that he takes most of Iran's corners and free kicks. But Seifi has seven times passed the ball to teammates to finish in the past two matches, the highest number of the tournament.

Not only Seifi, Iran's central defenders also often participate in battles and finish from fixed situations. No. 5 Amin Hazbavi and No. 6 Milad Kor have scored a total of 10 times over two games, even if only at centre-back. Meanwhile, number 15 right-back Amin Pilali rarely advanced.

Seifi has a lot of space to climb the border, partly thanks to midfielder Ghorbani often appearing on the inside border, even in the middle. This midfielder grew up from the KIA training academy, which is rated the best in Iran. Ghorbani has good technique, having successfully dribbled 10 times in just two games. But his weakness is his ability to pass the ball, with an accuracy rate of less than 50%. In other words, Ghorbani is like a character who breaks the way in Iran's play to create mutations, but also risks losing the ball.

In the past two matches, Iran has kept the ball more than the opponent, thanks in part to the number 9 striker Saeid Saharkhizan. He is not a central striker, but often jerks back to coordinate the ball with his teammates. The passing chart above shows that Saharkhizan is not out of place in Iran's ball control play. But his weakness is that his body is quite thin and not even 1.8 m tall.

The advantage for Vietnam is that the team only needs to draw to reach the quarterfinals of the U20 Asia, so the team can play counter-attack according to its forte. But with the attack having finished 43 times after two matches like Iran, goalkeeper Cao Van Binh and his teammates will also need more luck to avoid conceding a goal.