Futsal World Cup 2008: Iran's Defensive Strategy

So far, I  love watching the Futsal World Cup. Compared to the previous cups, it is far more exciting. Most of the games are like a good action movie.

So far, I am really impressed with Iran and its coach. Iran is one of the best Futsal nations in the world. However, they always lacked the necessary self-confidence to stand up against big teams.

By contrast, this year Iran plays very relaxed and their defensive strategy has been the best and the most intelligent so far. It has even been better than Brazil, Italy, and Spain.

We saw how Brazil failed to score more than one goal and how other teams—like Spain—got nothing more than a lucky draw. This defensive strategy might change the face of the game in the future. 

Other coaches from all over the world will take a closer look at Iran's strategy and will implement it in their future games. Tomorrow, Iran will play against Italy in a do-or-die game.

The game is far more important than Iran's previous games for two good reasons:

1. Iran has to win to advance to semifinals.

2. Iran won't have two of their best players, including their Captain Vahid Shamsaee, who is Futsal's top international goalscorer of all time. Shamsaee is officially the world's Top Futsal goal-scorer with 14 goals, ahead of Manoel Tobias of Brazil's national Futsal team, the previous holder of the title with 302 goals.

Therefore, it will be even more interesting to see how Iran's coach will replace those players.

Will we see a defensive strategy again with counter attacks? Or will we see a different Iran with a different tactic that will surprise Italy?

Whatever the outcome, I think that Iran will one day export coaches to other Futsal teams and will win the World Cup eventually in the near future.