Iran pump in four versus Germany in biggest upset

MARGAO: Iran coach Abbas Chamanian had stressed the importance of using the space between defenders if his team had to have any chance of upsetting Germany. On Tuesday, his frontline followed his instruction precisely to rip apart the German defence and cause the upset of the tournament with a 4-0 victory in Group C of the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Germany usually are thorough in their game plan but their under-17 footballers were anything but that as they showed no cohesion to stifle waves of Iran attacks. Allahyar Sayyad, who was leading the line, and his partner Younes Delfi often used the space between centre-backs Jan Boller and Lars Mai, who lacked co-ordination and on occasions left goalkeeper Luca Plogmann high and dry.

IRAN STRIKE EARLY

Iran’s first goal was scored by Delfi in the sixth minute after Germany failed to clear their lines and his shot from the edge of the box was deflected between goalkeeper Plogmann’s legs. The second goal also was a result of German failure to read the game. A regulation free kick from Mohammad Sharifi went over the German backline and Younes Delfi just had to head in.

Iran could have got more but Plogmann made some good saves and when he was beaten fair and square Iran lacked sharpness. The German midfield, which keeps them ticking, was non-existent much like their defence. Iran’s Mohammad Sharifi and Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh were too skilful for Sahverdi Cetin and Erik Majetschak in the middle of the park. Such was Iran’s domination that Germany’s hot-shot frontman Jann FieteArp hardly touched the ball throughout the match.

Iran scored two more through Allayahr Sayyad and Vahid Namdari to seal a comfortable win. Those goals were bound to come though with Iran landing the knockout blows in the first half and Germany pushing further up in search of equalisers.

Jose Mourinho always said good football is always played from the back. On Tuesday, Germany forgot all the principles of organised defence.

Iran coach Chamanian was happy with his players for following the game plan the team had charted. “Our plan was to control the German attack, which is of very high quality, and it worked,” he said.