This evening, our first national football team will finish its preparations for the fiery confrontation that will bring it together with the Iranian national team tomorrow at Rashid Stadium in Dubai, UAE, in the fourth round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.
Yesterday, Al-Anabi went through his main training in preparation for the match, and the Spanish coach, Marques Lopez, the team’s coach, put the final touches on the preparations in all technical and tactical aspects, as well as the basic formation that he decided in the last training session today after examining the condition of all the players.
The players performed their training yesterday in high morale after they regained confidence by defeating Kyrgyzstan 3-1, reducing the points difference between Al-Anabi and their competitors, and the determination and challenge appeared on all the players in training in order to reach the second victory and continue the march towards the front.
The players realize that the task is very difficult, not only because of the strength of the Iranian team, but also because of its desire to compensate for its first draw with Uzbekistan last round, and the Iranian team is striving with all force to avenge its 2-3 loss to Al-Anabi in the semi-finals of the 2023 Asian Cup in Doha.
Therefore, everyone inside the Annabi camp is extremely focused on the match, and Lopez has drawn up a plan that will help him win or emerge with a draw at the very least.
From the performance of the Iranian team against Uzbekistan, it can be said that it is not a terrifying team, and that it is tactically less than Al-Anabi, but it depends on its experience and the experience of its players, and on the strength of performance and pressure on our players, and if Al-Anabi deals with it with tactical intelligence, it will be able to achieve victory.
From the Uzbekistan match also, it can be said that the Iranian team is suffering from serious problems between the two centre-backs, and these problems almost caused it to lose the match, and it also escaped from being awarded a penalty kick after the two centre-backs violently clashed with one of the Uzbekistan strikers.
Attack is the best means of defence
In order for Al-Anabi to succeed, he must start the defense from the attack and not from the midfield, meaning that our team’s attackers put pressure on the Iranian team in its stadium, not letting its players play freely, and constant pressure on our defence. This method will also not give the Iranian team the opportunity to gain space in our stadium, and force its defenders who They suffer from problems in making mistakes, and if Al-Annabi did that, he would kill two birds with two stones. The first was depriving the Iranian team of increasing numbers and pressing with the largest number of players and forcing our team to retreat to defend, and the second was causing the defenders to make mistakes on their field and in front of the penalty area, thus having the opportunity to snatch any goal. .
If Al-Annabi did that as well, it would gradually deplete the Iranian national team’s physical fitness, especially while they were playing on their home field and demanding victory.
Al-Annabi and his coach should not play defensively from the first minutes, so as not to give the Iranian team the opportunity to put pressure and try to reach Mashal Barshim’s net early.
Of course, this matter requires Al-Anabi to have an abnormal rate of physical fitness for the players so that the team does not decline physically over time, and it needs a certain type of physically distinguished players who can confront the Iranian team.
Almoez Ali and the scoring continues
Among the positives that were achieved in the Kyrgyzstan match, Al-Moez Ali, Al-Anabi’s top scorer, continued to score and score against the opponents, as he scored his first goal against North Korea and his second goal against Kyrgyzstan.
Al-Moez’s continued scoring is a good thing. It raises Annabi’s morale and increases problems for the Iranian defense, which may have to monitor Al-Moez with more than one player.
Almoez Ali knows well the way to the goal and the Iranian net, as he scored the third goal in the last match between the two teams in the 2023 Asian semi-finals, which was held last February.
A strong return for Hatem
Abdulaziz Hatem, Al-Anabi’s captain and midfielder, played a great match against Kyrgyzstan. He was an impenetrable block in the midfield and repelled all attempts by the opponent to reach our goal. Hatem has not performed at this level for some time due to his injury, which kept him away from the field and matches for a period of time.
His appearance at this good level represents a great strength for the Al-Anabi midfield in tomorrow’s match, alongside the also brilliant star Ahmed Fathi, who enjoys high physical fitness and a great fighting spirit that Al-Anabi needs to face Iran.
The Iranian team is the weakest team offensively
Based on the numbers and statistics achieved so far in the three rounds, the Annabi attack appears much stronger than the Iranian attack, as our team scored 6 goals in 3 matches, compared to only two goals for the Iranian team, which is considered the weakest among the teams in the group, while North Korea and Kyrgyzstan scored 3 goals each, while The UAE and Uzbekistan rank second in attacking power after Al Annabi, with 4 goals each.
AFC: The victory increases Al-Annabi’s optimism
The Asian Football Confederation website confirmed that Al-Anabi hopes to have turned the difficult corner after its 3-1 victory over Kyrgyzstan.
The next match for Akram Afif and his teammates with the Annabi national team will be against Iran, and a victory in it will complete their transformation, and Annabi can then look forward with optimism to the rest of their campaign in the qualifiers.