Friday, Sep 19, 2003
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Football
By S. Sabanayakan
Bangladesh's Md. Wahid Murad (airborne) thwarts Iranian forwards, Nader Ahmadi (left), Milad Midavoodi (centre) and Oladi Ghadikolaie (second from right), in the JRD Tata Cup league match at Jamshedpur on Thursday. — Photo: Sushanta Patronobish
The victory enabled Iran to win its first match of the meet to log with five points with a match against India TFA Blue to go on Saturday. Bangladesh, having come here mainly for exposure, would have learnt many lessons. It finished last having lost three games and drawing one in the five-team league. It could have been slaughter of the lambs at the J.R.D. Tata Sports Complex. Aided by a fumbling Bangladesh defence, the big-built Iranians ran rings around their helpless opponents, but failed to score as much as they should have. Had Iran succeeded in all their endeavour, the scoreline could have been anywhere near 9-0 or more. The disappointment of drawing 1-1 with India TFA White, ought to have played in the minds of Iran. The team's strategy was quite clear from the start. The Iranians gave little away in the midfield, rotated the ball, attacked with understanding and used the speed and power to break through the defence. The onslaught was so severe that the Bangladesh defence failed to withstand the pressure and crumbled repeatedly. Bangladesh coach was very caustic in his comments about his team's play. "Our boys refused to fight. They played like novices,'' he said. Bangladesh did come into the game with a defensive frame of mind. It was more worried about not losing heavily rather than making a match of it. That did not help the team at all. The four-defender-five-midfielder formation proved inadequate. The Bangladesh players despised any physical contact with hard-tackling Iranians. Whenever the team from across the eastern border played crisp, short passes it looked better but the Iranians refused to concede time or space for long. Iran struck in the seventh minute through Milad Midavoodi. His on the run flick off Nader Ahmadi's pass from right rolled under the goalkeeper's body. After missing a number of scoring chances, Iran's next success came in the injury time of the first half. Captain Milad Nori dribbled through a host of defenders, side-stepped the goalkeeper with an outside dodge and placed home. When the game was 22 minutes old in the later half, came Iran's third goal. Substitute Mohsen Afrozin advanced on the left and placed a low centre to the penalty box. Bangladesh's substitute goalkeeper Khaled Mohammad Azam Biplob was beaten by the fast centre and substitute Hamed Rasoli trapped the ball and placed it into an empty net. Two minutes later came the fourth goal following a long throw-in by Mohammad Peidaei from the left. A fumbling Bangladesh defence failed to react to the danger as Afrozin rushed in to slam home. Friday's game: India TFA White vs Uzbekistan. League standings: (read played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points): India TFA White 3, 2, 1, 0, 6, 2, 7; Iran 3, 1, 2, 0, 6, 2, 5; Uzbekistan 3, 1, 2, 0, 6, 4, 5; India TFA Blue 3, 1, 0, 2, 3, 5, 3; Bangladesh 4, 0, 1, 3, 4, 12, 1.
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