It was only a friendly match, but it was nice to see Iran dominate Syria at Azadi Stadium in Marc Wilmots’ debut as head coach of Team Melli.
Mehdi Taremi was obviously Man of the Match with three goals and there is no way we can forget his amazing bicycle kick goal in the second half.
It was also nice to see Alireza Jahanbakhsh open the scoring and the match was finished off perfectly when youngster Allahyar Sayyadmanesh scored in his Team Melli debut to complete the 5-0 victory.
I am really glad that Iran dominated in Wilmots’ first game in charge.
But at the same time I was not surprised because we all know that Wilmots is coaching an Iran team that was molded by former TM manager Carlos Queiroz.
It will take time to see changes with Team Melli under Wilmots. But in the meantime, I think the friendly match against South Korea on 11 June will be a good test.