Bosnia Herzegovina V Iran World Cup 2014

Bosnia and Hertz V Iran Fifa World Cup 2014

After match synopsis in red!!

Beers: Group F of Beer World Cup: http://thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-beer-group-f/Who is set to win the battle of the beers? ? V ? Unfortunately I couldn’t source any beer from either Iran or Bosnia because they are pure muslim nations that don’t partake in the devils juice. They can have their virgins the d.o.b’s and I will take my chances in hell, suckers. so this will be a dour draw. But at least it gives me time to have a nice donner.

And I leave you with the words of Frank Zappa (again!)

“You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline — it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.”

Doner was nice, did the business. Cant beat a good doner.

PreGame:

Bosnia and Hertz: Poor poor Bosnia, not only were they out muscled by Nigeria in the last game, they also were up against some dodgy officiating. A perfect goal from Edin Dzeko, was wrongly disallowed for offside. Replays proved it was clearly onside at the time. Some were also questioning the Nigerian goal as Spahic looked like he was fouled in the build up to it.

But the Bosnian’s still had most of the game to play, since those two controversial decisions came very early in the game, and overall I don’t think they deserved to go through. Edin Dzeko and co simply didn’t do enough in the first two games that I saw to warrant progression in the competition. Nigeria had more hunger in the last game, and that’s what ultimately won it for them in the end.

Bosnian coach Safet Susic has also come under some fire for changing the way his team play. Previously in qualifying the team had a more attacking slant but caution ruled the day once they got to the World Cup finals. He is expected to field a more attacking line-up today to appease the Bosnian supporters back home, as his side will want to sign off with a first World Cup win before they head for the exit. Iran will be tough to break down but in this game Iran need to win to have any chance of qualifying for the next round. This open play might suit Bosnia. Can see Edin Dzeko finally getting on the score sheet, unless of course its called off for offside.

Iran: What a great team performance from Iran in their last game against Argentina. They played it perfectly right until Messi did his thing. Unlucky. No one would have expected them to have played so well against one of the hot favourite for this years World Cup. We all thought Argentina with Messi in attack would run rings around them. Hats off to their coach, Carlos Queiroz, for molding one hell of a solid defensive unit. If they had only held out for another few minutes they would have made footballing history. A pity.

Iran showed how a well drilled team can have a chance against the big boys of the footballing world. They also could have easily had a penalty. To be fair to the ref it didn’t look like a penalty in real time, but on closer inspection it looked like Ghoochannejhad got clipped in the box.

Reza Ghoochannejhad was excellent in the last game. Brilliant at holding the ball up, was also prepared to take on the Argentina defence at times and bitterly unlucky not to score. I was also very impressed with Dejagah who more than once caused problems for the Argentinians with his dangerous in swinging crosses. He also was a solid rock containing the forward play of Argentina.

The Iranians must win today to have any chance of reaching the last 16. They will have to score their first goal in the competition, but their performance and the chances they created in the last game must give them huge confidence in taking on a wounded Bosnian team. However, a 1-0 win for Iran coupled with a 1-0 defeat for the Super Eagles would leave the two sides completely level, and mean their fate would be decided by the drawing of lots. Looks like today’s games will go right down to the wire for Iran and Nigeria. What chance another dramatic late finish?

A more detailed review on Bosnia here and on Iran here

Only looked at the highlights of this game as watched the Nigeria V Argentina match live.

Dzeko gave the Bosnians a deserved lead with a pinpoint shot from about 25 yards out. Goalkeeper had no chance as it went in his left hand corner. Great goal, and fully deserving for Dzeko, as he finally got on the score sheet in this years World Cup.

Iran were under pressure for much of the game but a Masoud Shojaei shot did manage to hit the crossbar just after Bosnia scored. I am not so sure if he meant to strike that but it was unlucky not to go in.

Bosnia really played this game out as a friendly, letting the reins loose and playing with some panache. They scored another two goals to win out easy and record there first ever World Cup victory. For Bosnia they can go home and reflect on what might have been, but also not to feel too disheartened as they can look forward to the upcoming European Championship qualifiers with renewed vigour. They have the taste of the big time, now lets see if they will be back for more.

In between the two Bosnian goals, Ghoochannejhad managed to get a consolation goal for Iran. Was good that he got on the score sheet as his performances in the three games of this world cup definitely deserved at least a goal. He had a magnificent World Cup, and hopefully he will be back in four years time stronger and better for this experience.

Music to get you in the mood

Deep Dish V Adi Lukovac & The Ornaments