By Afshin Ganjoo
Iranian fans waited 8 years to see their
Team Melli in the World Cup. Team Melli answered their long wait with an early exit. While
many have concentrated on this disappointing performance, Iran was not the
only disappointment in this world edition of the beautiful game. In fact,
Iran was the best of the
worst.
The worst teams of the 2006 World Cup ended up at the
end of their groups. Costa
Rica, Trinidad & Tobago,
Serbia &
Montenegro,
Iran, United States, Japan, Togo, and Saudi Arabia
makeup the worst teams of the tournament.
The headlines show
that of the eight teams, Serbia & Montenegro with
no points and a goal difference of -8 was the worst of the bunch.
Iran, United States
and Trinidad & Tobago all had 1 point and a goal difference of -4.
Iran and United States
scored 2 goals while Trinidad & Tobago was kept scoreless. And one of
United States two goals was
an own goal by Italy's Zaccardo. So Iran can be crowned as the best of
the bunch based on the headlines. But behind the headlines, we can find more
evidence supporting this conclusion.
|
|
Group |
P |
GF |
GA |
Rank |
Average Competitors
Rank |
Shots |
Shot on
Goal |
Shot
Accuracy |
Average Possession
Percentage |
|
Costa
Rica |
A |
0 |
3 |
9 |
26 |
29 |
28 |
11 |
39% |
45% |
|
Trinidad &
Tobago |
B |
1 |
0 |
4 |
47 |
20 |
22 |
7 |
32% |
42% |
|
Serbia & Montenegro |
C |
0 |
2 |
10 |
44 |
15 |
21 |
8 |
38% |
38% |
|
Iran |
D |
1 |
2 |
6 |
23 |
23 |
30 |
19 |
63% |
41% |
|
United
States |
E |
1 |
2 |
6 |
5 |
21 |
21 |
4 |
19% |
51% |
|
Japan |
F |
1 |
2 |
7 |
18 |
22 |
27 |
10 |
37% |
48% |
|
Togo |
G |
0 |
1 |
6 |
61 |
24 |
27 |
12 |
44% |
43% |
|
Saudi
Arabia |
H |
1 |
2 |
7 |
34 |
24 |
26 |
9 |
35% |
47% |
The number of shots attempted by the gang of eight
varied from the lowest of 21 by United
States and Serbia & Montenegro to 30 by Iran.
Iran also led with 19 shots on goal,
by far the best. United
States only managed 4 shots on goal which is by
far the worst. The other six managed between 7 to 12 shots on goal each. When
calculating the shot accuracy, we find that Iran had the
highest shot accuracy of %63. United States had the lowest shot
accuracy of %19. The others varied from %32 to %44 in shot accuracy. Based on
these statistics, Iran was
not far from many teams who qualified for the next round, including
Mexico with 34 shots, 18 shots on
goal and %53 shot accuracy.
On average ball possession per game, the percentage
varied from the lowest of %38 by Serbia & Montenegro to the highest of %51 by the
United
States. Iran had the
second lowest ball possession of %41. Considering how little Iran had the
ball, it is amazing that they managed as many shots as they did.
Iran's competitors
Mexico, Portugal and Angola managed 40 shots on Iran and 22
shots on goal.
A review of FIFA's ranking
of the teams before the start of the World Cup identifies United States as
the most disappointing performer of the eight worst teams. Coming into the
tournament ranked 5th in the world, the average ranking of its
competitors was 21. In fact, United States was the only team in
the worst eight that allowed two lower ranked teams in its group to qualify for
the next round. Serbia &
Montenegro had the toughest
average competitor ranking of 15 while Costa Rica had the easiest average
competitor ranking of 29. The average competitor ranking of the rest varied from
20 to 24.
Iran matched the average rank of its
competitors and perhaps based on that, it should have done better. But at the
end, lack of warm-up matches, injuries to key players and less than average club
experience finished them off too early. Iran ended at the last of its group,
but among the worst, it proved to be the
best.
