Iran won’t Roll Over

Even though their team has been eliminated from the World Cup, Iran is saying that they are going to play hard against Angola. Their coach has said, “I want my players to treat it like life and death.”

Every team in their position says the same thing, but will it prove to be true?

One thing that Iran has on their side is a lack of pressure. They can play without worrying about the next round or about goal differential. The same cannot be said of Angola. This is our team’s biggest game ever and the players know that. Even though the moment is huge, our guys need to play their game.

Iran has shown some flashes of being a solid team but they have also shown a tendency to fade during the end of the game. It is my hope that Goncalves uses his bench players effectively so that we can also wear down Iran and control the second half like Mexico and Portugal did against them. We need to make Iran be the team that is chasing the ball and make their players be the ones who are tired at the end.

Angola showed signs of being able to do this against Mexico. If we can continue to control the ball and hopefully show a little more impetus to attack, we will get the result we want and need.