First Matches Group E; Preview

-------------

Match 5 Calabar (http://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/destination/cities/city=4573/index.html) - UJ Esuene Stadium (http://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/destination/stadiums/stadium=5006376/index.html)
25 October-16:00
http://www.fifa.com/imgml/flags/home/irn.gif (http://www.fifa.com/imgml/flags/home/irn.gif)http://www.fifa.com/imgml/flags/away/gam.gif (http://www.fifa.com/imgml/flags/away/gam.gif)
Iran (http://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/teams/team=1889611/index.html) vs Gambia (http://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/teams/team=1889597/index.html)

Referee Pablo POZO (CHI)

Calabar's champion collision

The opening game of the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup Nigeria's Group C pits two continental champions in direct competition. Iran, reigning kings of Asia, will be slight favourites against African toppers Gambia, who lost 11 influential players in a squad shake-up last month. The Iranians' slick passing and smooth technique will be seriously tested by the athletic and defensively astute Africans as the U.J. Esuene Stadium opens its doors for action.

The game
Iran - Gambia, Sunday 25 October, Calabar, 16.00 (local time)

The stakes
In a section that also includes European runners-up the Netherlands and South American grafters Colombia, both the Iranians and Gambians will be keen to put some points on the board and get among the goals early. Gambia may well struggle after coach Tariq Saigy dropped 11 important players last month over concerns regarding the random age tests to be conducted here in Nigeria. Even so, the best of the best in Africa will be bolstered by the fact that at their only previous U-17 world finals - in 2005 in Peru - the Baby Scorpions opened with a sensational 3-1 win over mighty Brazil.
Iran are also playing in only their second FIFA U-17 World Cup and coach Ali Doustimehr has set the bar high. Having proclaimed publicly that he expects a place among the top three here in Nigeria, it remains to be seen if the boss's bluster will have the desired effect of spurring the lads, or heaping too much pressure on their young shoulders at the outset. A win on Sunday would be the first-ever for the Middle Eastern nation at a U-17 finals, as they lost all three of their games at Trinidad and Tobago 2001.

The stat
2 - The number of goals scored by Iran at the FIFA U-17 world finals. Both came from current PAS Hamedan FC man Mansour Ahmadzadeh at T&T 2001, in the last ten minutes of their meeting with Paraguay.
The words
"No matter what, we come in as champions of Africa and we feel the pressure to defend our title. Our strength will come from our defence, which is spirited and athletic. We have to wait and see. After our first game here we will know how we measure up. We're waiting to see what happens," Gambia coach Tariq Saigy.
"The junior Team Melli features the most promising young talents from our country, who are in their best condition. Our team have no weaknesses otherwise we wouldn't have won the Asian championship last year. I have a strong faith in my team and I believe we can return from Nigeria as one of the medallists," [B]Iran coach Ali Doustimehr.

---------------
Fifa.com wil have live coverage for Europe, ESPN360.com for America, also use rojadirecta and myp2p for other links

http://fifa2.feedroom.com/

http://www.rojadirecta.com/

http://myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=52983&part=sports

Damnit Eurosport aint showing the game so I have to use the links too.

Iran leads 1-0, Sadeghian scored, Gambia with 10 men.

If you cant watch the game view the play by play of Fifa.

http://www.fifa.com/live/competitions/u17worldcup/matchday=2/day=1/match=300102238/index.html

Cant watch the game myself either, that is fucked up, Eurosport is showing another game and Fifa aint working properly.

Rezaei scored, 2-0 Iran.

Another Gambia player got sent off.

Game over - Iran wins 2-0

Eurosport showing the game now :D. dont know if its just highlights or more.

thanks kaesra.

any news on colombia-NL?

how did turkiye do?

Colombia vs NL will be at 19;00, I will watch that match, the dutch matches always get shown here in NL, the dutch have a real good team, they have a really good striker.

Turkiye won 1-0 against Burkina Faso.

Iran made a good step at qualification, as they might get qualified even if they become 3rd.

Iran actually didnt play that well, gambia was the better team atleast the first halve, got 1 gifted goal. Defensively still weak, but the win gives them a real good chance to go through.

Colombia vs Netherlands about to begin.

Netherlands vs Colombia 0-0 HT

Both teams pretty strong and matched, dutch somewhat better / more offensive.

Castaignos(striker) and their Cap(arsenal player) are their best players but they are pretty good overall. Their striker is lethal if given enough space, we need to step up our game if we want to get points from both these guys, its do-able though.

Colombia scores 1-0

Match 5 Calabar (http://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/destination/cities/city=4573/index.html) - UJ Esuene Stadium (http://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/destination/stadiums/stadium=5006376/index.html)
http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/weather/weather5.gif
25 October
http://www.fifa.com/imgml/flags/home/irn.gif (http://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/teams/team=1889611/index.html)http://www.fifa.com/imgml/flags/away/gam.gif (http://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/teams/team=1889597/index.html)
Iran (http://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/teams/team=1889611/index.html) vs Gambia (http://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/teams/team=1889597/index.html)

2:0 (1:0)


Payam SADEGHIAN (44')
Kaveh REZAEI (84')


Referee Pablo POZO (CHI)

=========

Iran hang on against Gambia


Iran edged Calabar's battle of champions, beating African toppers Gambia 2-0 in the first match from Group C of the FIFA U-17 World Cup Nigeria 2009. The Africans looked in fine fettle early on, but some rough play, general indiscipline and a howler by goalkeeper Ousman Darboe allowed the Asian champions to shade the result.
The match began with the Gambians trotting into their rythm, captain and top scorer from African qualifying, Ebrima Bojang twice going close early. As the first period wore on, though, indiscipline got the better of the lively African champions. Three bookings in the opening 25 minutes were prelude to Buba Sama's sending off in the 33rd minute, his intentional handball bringing a second yellow and an early bath.
Iran, reigning Asian champions produced very few chances of note in the first half, only outstanding captain Payam Sadeghian's free kick forced Gambia goalkeeper Ousman Darboe into a comfortable save. Even so, it was the Iranians - with playmaker Afshin Esmaeil pulling the strings, who went into the changing room a goal to the good. A calamitous error by Darboe, perhaps losing concentration after his light workload in the previous minutes, fluffed a routine free kick out from the back and the ball went directly to the grateful Sadeghian, who curled a simple shot into an unguarded net with just a minute to go in the half.
Iran began to turn the screws from the start of the second period, taking full advantage of their numerical superiority in the sweltering heat. The Gambians, in response, pressed forward valiantly and even created chances through Bojang and Dawda Ceesay, but Iran's organisation won the day. They even grabbed a late goal to put the result beyond doubt, Kaveh Rezaei slamming low and hard from the edge of the box with minutes left to make it 2-0. The Iranians, temporarily top of Group A, take on Colombia on 28 October while Gambia - who finished with nine men after substitute Dembah Janneh saw red - will be looking to rebound when they meet the Netherlands that same day.



------------
Line-up

http://www.fifa.com/imgml/flags/s/irn.gif IRN
GAM http://www.fifa.com/imgml/flags/s/gam.gif



1 Iman SADEGHI (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=307657/index.html) (GK)
2 Omid ALISHAH (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=314222/index.html) http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/yellow.gif http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/outHome.gif (-59' )
3 Bahman MALEKI (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=314235/index.html) http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/outHome.gif (-79' )
4 Iman SHIRAZI (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=307661/index.html)
5 Ali GOUDARZI (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=307621/index.html)
6 Mehrgan GOLBARG (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=307619/index.html)
9 Kaveh REZAEI (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=307655/index.html) http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/goal.gif
10 Afshin ESMAEIL (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=307613/index.html) http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/outHome.gif (-67' )
11 Payam SADEGHIAN (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=307659/index.html) (C) http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/goal.gif http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/yellow.gif
13 Mehrdad YEGANEH (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=307665/index.html) http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/yellow.gif
15 Saeid LOTFI (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=314256/index.html)




(GK) Ousman DARBOE (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=316150/index.html) 1
http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/yellow.gif Lamin Sarjo SAMATEH (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=316155/index.html) 2
(-82') http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/outAway.gif Dawda CEESAY (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=307398/index.html) 3
Lamin SAMATEH (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=307400/index.html) 4
Pateh NYANG (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=307402/index.html) 5
Baboucarr SAVAGE (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=307404/index.html) 6
(-69') http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/outAway.gif DARBO (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=316170/index.html) 10
Kemo FATTY (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=307414/index.html) 12
(C) Ebrima BOJANG (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=307396/index.html) 16
http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/yellow.gif Lamin GIBBA (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=316164/index.html) 17
http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/yellow2red.gif http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/yellow.gif Buba SAMA (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=316147/index.html) 20


Substitute(s)


12 Hadi RISHI (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=314265/index.html) (GK)
21 Hossein HOSSEINI (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=314255/index.html) (GK)
7 Ali HEYDARI (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=307599/index.html) http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/inHome.gif (+59')
8 Akbar IMANI (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=307629/index.html) http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/inHome.gif (+67')
14 Hamid AMALI (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=307601/index.html)
16 Reza GHIYALI (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=314263/index.html)
17 Hossein GOUHARI (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=307625/index.html) http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/inHome.gif (+79')
18 Saeid GHADAMI (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=314241/index.html)
19 Milad GHARIBI (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=314261/index.html)
20 Morteza POURALIGANJI (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=314249/index.html)




(GK) Baka CEESAY (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=316167/index.html) 13
(GK) Ebrima SAHO (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=316154/index.html) 21
http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/red.gif (+82') http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/inAway.gif Demba JANNEH (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=316168/index.html) 7
Sanusi JABBI (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=316146/index.html) 8
Bakary SANYANG (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=316158/index.html) 9
Kissima BOJANG (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=316149/index.html) 11
(+69') http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/inAway.gif Buba JALLOW (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=316153/index.html) 14
Ismaila SUWANEH (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=316159/index.html) 15
Omar BOJANG (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=316157/index.html) 18
Saikou JAWNEH (http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=316148/index.html) 19


Coaches
Ali DOUSTIMEHR (IRN)
(GAM) Tariq SAIGY
Officials


Referee: Pablo POZO (CHI)
Assistant Referee 1: Patricio BASUALTO (CHI)
Assistant Referee 2: Francisco MONDRIA (CHI)
Fourth official: Carlos BATRES (GUA)






<table summary="summaryStatistics" class="summaryStatistics"><thead><tr><td class="r bold medium">Iran (IRN)</td><td class="c bold medium">Statistics</td><td class="l bold medium">Gambia (GAM)</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr class="odd"><td class="r">15</td><td class="c">Shots</td><td class="l">12</td></tr><tr class="even"><td class="r">8</td><td class="c">Shots on goal</td><td class="l">6</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td class="r">2</td><td class="c">Goals Scored</td><td class="l">0</td></tr><tr class="even"><td class="r">18</td><td class="c">Fouls Committed</td><td class="l">19</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td class="r">16</td><td class="c">Fouls Suffered</td><td class="l">17</td></tr><tr class="even"><td class="r">4</td><td class="c">Corner kicks</td><td class="l">1</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td class="r">1</td><td class="c">Free kicks Shots (scored)</td><td class="l">0</td></tr><tr class="even"><td class="r">0 / 0</td><td class="c">Penalty Kicks (Goals/Shots)</td><td class="l">0 / 0</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td class="r">3</td><td class="c">Offsides</td><td class="l">2</td></tr><tr class="even"><td class="r">0</td><td class="c">Own goals</td><td class="l">0</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td class="r">3</td><td class="c">Yellow cards</td><td class="l">2</td></tr><tr class="even"><td class="r">0</td><td class="c">Second yellow card and red card</td><td class="l">1</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td class="r">0</td><td class="c">Red Cards</td><td class="l">1</td></tr><tr class="even"><td class="r">26</td><td class="c">Actual playing time</td><td class="l">25</td></tr><tr class="odd"><td class="r">51%</td><td class="c">Possession (%)</td><td class="l">49%</td></tr></tbody></table><table summary="cardsStatistics"><caption>Cards</caption><thead></thead><tfoot></tfoot><tbody><tr><td>

http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/yellow.gif 13 Mehrdad YEGANEH (38')
http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/yellow.gif 2 Omid ALISHAH (57')
http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/yellow.gif 11 Payam SADEGHIAN (71')


</td><td>

(5') Lamin Sarjo SAMATEH 2 http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/yellow.gif
(13') Buba SAMA 20 http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/yellow.gif
(23') Lamin GIBBA 17 http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/yellow.gif
(33') Buba SAMA 20 http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/yellow2red.gif
(87') Demba JANNEH 7 http://www.fifa.com/imgml/icons/events/red.gif


</td></tr></tbody></table>================

Iran-Gambia: Quotes

"This is football. Sometimes players make mistakes, like our goalkeeper did on the first goal, but we play together and we win or lose as a team. We will pick up the pieces and work at it in training and hope for the best next time around. This is a new team, we were hampered by the MRI tests, and this is the first time that a lot of our players have played together. I think, considering some of our hardships, we played a decent game. We will be better next time, even with the two players we lost through red cards." Tariq Saigy, Gambia coach.

Gambia played a fine game today and I would like to congratulate them for the fight they put in. I consider them to be our main opponent here in the group and we are happy to have beaten them. We have a very prepared team here in Nigeria; we put in a lot of effort to be ready. We knew a lot about our opponents today and we executed our game plan. I asked my boys to do a job and they did it perfectly tonight. I am a happy man.
Iran coach, Ali Doustimehr

Colombia the better team the second halve.

Penalty for the dutch.

1-1

The cap scored, Usyakup or something like that, the dutch are pretty multicultural, they also have a Afghan in their team and more I guess.

Colombia scores 2-1, this group is mainly offensively built so it seems.

Iran goals

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/InSZjg7t7vo&rel=0&color1=0xe4e4da&color2=0xe4e4da&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/InSZjg7t7vo&rel=0&color1=0xe4e4da&color2=0xe4e4da&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Sadeghian
http://irangoals.net/TeamMelli/U17/WC09/IranGambia/irangambia10.wmv

Rezaei
http://irangoals.net/TeamMelli/U17/WC09/IranGambia/irangambia20.wmv

Colombia wins 2-1, Colombia solid defensively and good enough offensively too, the dutch seemed to have problems with the weather mostly, they didnt bring their A-game, they'll try to go all out against Iran and Gambia now. It must be said the bad pitch is in Hollands dissadvantage too, they mostly tried long balls, something seen with more teams here. Iran hasnt brought their A-game either, need to get better defensively, good start atleast in result.

I'd say the best team is Columbia, followed by the dutch, shortly followed by Iran and then Gambia. But thats just in terms of strenght, the teams are closely matched and everyone can beat everyone.

Thanks for the coverage Kasra jan.

Thanks man. I'd totally missed this tournament.