International Friendly Preview: Iran - Brazil

Posted Thursday, October 07, 2010 by Goal.com

It's a historic match as the two sides will face each other for the first time in history...

Preparing For The Asian Cup

For Iran playing Brazil even at the Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi and not on home soil is one of the biggest things to have happened in their entire footballing history. For a nation that is often politically scrutinised, a match against the world's most popular footballing nation is indeed a great thing to look forward to.

This might be just a friendly for Afshin Ghotbi's side but it will also be an important preparation for their Asian Cup adventure in 2011. Asia's most prestigious international competition will be held in Qatar in January and Iran have been pitted against North Korea, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates in Group D.

Nevertheless, it will be a special occasion for Team Meli, who will also bid farewell to veteran midfielder Karim Bagheri, who has announced that he will retire from international football after Thursday's game against Brazil.

Looking ahead to the match, Ghotbi explained: "Brazil are so good they expose all your weaknesses. But I'm 100 per cent my players will play better given the high motivation and pride at stake.

"This is an opportunity for us to play at the highest level and will be a good yardstick by which to measure our progress. We'll take this chance to showcase ourselves and demonstrate that we're not so far from the world's top footballing sides."

Getting A New Identity

Brazil's new era under coach Mano Menezes commenced two months ago when the former world champions played against the United States of America in an international friendly. It ended in a 2-0 victory for the Selecao, who will be looking to register their second successive win under the 48-year-old.

Even though this is merely a friendly, Brazil are taking the match seriously as they are endeavouring to grow out of Dunga's shadow and craft a new identity for themselves. Indeed, star player Robinho, who made the switch from Manchester City to Milan in the summer, says: "We must respect them like other national teams. It will be a difficult match for us. We should focus primarily on winning.''

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Sandro explains further: "I've already worked under Mano for a week but had no friendlies that time.

"Now we have two games (the other friendly match is against Ukraine in England on Monday) to try to get the team playing how he likes. This time working together is useful because we have big goals for the national team in the coming years.''

TEAM NEWS

Iran

Osasuna midfielder Javad Nekounam is likely to start for the Asians on Thursday evening and will be an important figure for the Iranians with his European experience.

Brazil

Defender Alex is out with a thigh injury. High-profile players such as Lucio, Maicon, Felipe Melo and Diego were left out of the squad and so was Ronaldinho and Neymar.

Nilmar, who has been in great form with Villarreal in the Spanish Primera Division, was ncluded but it's been reported that the front-three will consist of Alexandre Pato, Philippe Coutinho and Robinho.