Yemen 1-4 Iran

Source: the-afc.com

Tehran: Hosts Iran fough back from conceding an early goal for the second time in the 2012 AFC U-16 Championship on Monday, recording a 4-1 victory over a Yemen side left counting the cost of having a player sent off in first-half stoppage-time.

Mohammed Al Dahi put Yemen 1-0 up with just three minutes at the PAS Stadium played but after defender Alawi Fadaaq was red-carded for a violent tackle in first-half stoppage-time Iran made the most of their extra-man early in the second-half through Ali Rigi’s equaliser.

Free-kicks from Saeid Ezatolahi (60th) and Sasan Jafari (65th) put Iran firmly in the driving seat and after Iran twice hit the woodwork substitute Reza Karmollachaab scored number four with eight minute remaining to seal the win that guarantees Iran’s place in the quarter-finals.

Iran showed two changes from the side that defeated Laos 3-1 in their tournament curtain raiser with Danial Kazemni replacing Seyedsajjad Seyed in goal and Rigi spearheading the attack in place of Reza Karmollachaab while Yemen coach Amin Al Suanini brought in Mahdi Majfan at the expense of striker Abdulrahman Al Kumaim alluding to what might be a more defensive strategy against the tournament hosts.

But it was Yemen’s attack that had the early impact with Mohammed Al Dahi, scorer of the 79th minute penalty that earned Yemen a share of the spoils against Kuwait, shrugging of the attention of two Iran defenders to fire a low angled drive past Kazemni in the third minute as the hosts conceded an early goal for the second time in the tournament following their second-minute setback in the opener against Laos.

Iran were asking questions of the Yemen as they sought to get back in to the game but the Yemeni defence was holding strong with half-time approaching.

But Iran were handed the numerical advantage for the second-half when Alawi Fadaaq was red carded for a studs up challenge on Mohammadreza Bazaj in first-half stoppage time.

It was an over-exuberant and certainly unnecessary action from the Yemeni defender and Iran’s extra-man advantage told eight minutes after the restart when Rigi latched onto a defence splitting pass and lifted the ball coolly over Yemen keeper Abdulwahib Ebrahim for a deserved equaliser.

Five minutes later Rigi’s neat pass fashioned an opportunity for Amirmohammad Mazloum, who displayed some nimble footwork to before unleashing a powerful shot that was well saved by Ebrahim.

Iran got the lead their pressure deserved on the hour-mark when Saeid Ezatolahi’s free-kick deflected past a helpless Ebrahim before the hosts extended their advantage five minutes later when another free-kick, this time from Sasan Jafari found its way through a forest of players in a crowded area and straight into the back of the net.

Substitute Karmollachaab, who replaced Rigi in the 70th minute, made it 4-1 for Iran in the 82nd minute to cap a deserved victory for the home side.

Despite the defeat Yemen are still in with a chance of joining Iran in the last eight but they will need to beat Laos and hope that the host nation does the same in their final match against Kuwait.

 

Group A reaches its climax on Wednesday when Iran take on Kuwait at PAS Stadium while Yemen face Laos over at the neighbouring Rah Ahan Stadium with both games kicking-off at 1700 Tehran time.

 

“Football is like chess and the smallest of mistakes can cost you the game.”

– Ali Doustimehr

Tehran: Iran may have booked their place in the last eight of the 2012 AFC U-16 Championship with a 4-1 win over Yemen but head coach Ali Doustimehr expressed his concerns over his side conceding a goal in the first few minutes of a match for the second game in a row.

After being breached by Laos with just two minutes of their Group A opener played, Iran were again playing comeback in their second fixture when Mohammed Al Dahi put Yemen 1-0 up with just three minutes played at the PAS Stadium .

Yemen were more than a match for the tournament hosts up until stoppage-time in the first-half when Yemen were reduced to ten men with the sending off of defender Alawi Fadaaq.

Iran made the most of their extra-man early in the second-half through Ali Rigi’s equaliser before free-kicks from Saeid Ezatolahi (60th) and Sasan Jafari (65th) and a fourth from Reza Karmollachaab eight minutes from time comfortably sealed the hosts’ place in the quarter-finals.

For the fans, a win is a win, and the four second-half goals will serve as a fillip for the young Iranian players but for Doustimehr alarm bells are already ringing.

“I must apologise to the Iranian fans and media because we didn’t play well in the first-half and just as we did against Laos we conceded an early goal,” reflected the Iran coach.

“Yemen are a very good team and I knew it would be a tough game and after we didn’t play well in the first half I spoke to the players and was able to motivate them for the second-half and we scored four times.

“I agree it might be the pressure of the occasion because they are young players and they don’t have much experience. But we need to talk about this issue of conceding early goals as this will cause greater problems for us during the later stages of the tournament when we are up against the much stronger teams.

“Football is like chess and the smallest of mistakes can cost the game. We are not thinking about Yemen, Kuwait or Laos and we will do what we have to do achieve our goal of qualifying for the World Cup.”

Yemen’s dreams of a place in the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup in the UAE are now out of their hands with 2002 runners-up needing Iran to defeat Kuwait in addition to a victory for them over Laos when Group A reaches its climax on Wednesday.

But before Yemen coach Ali Al Sunaini turns his attention to the must win clash against the ASEAN side that surrendered the lead three times and conceded two stoppage-time goals to lose 4-3 to Kuwait in Monday’s earlier match at the PAS Stadium, he reflected on what might have been against Iran.

“As you saw we were leading the match and there is no doubt that the red card completely changed the game,” he said, referring to Fadaaq’s over-exuberant studs up challenge on Mohammadreza Bazaj that left his team-mates playing a man-short for the entire second-half.

“Our players didn’t adapt to this situation as they don’t have the experience.

“I don’t think we deserved the 4-1 result and it wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t receive the red card but this is football and we have to accept everything that happens.

“We still have a chance to qualify and Inshallah we will but we don’t know what will happen. Nobody expected Iran would score four times in 45 minutes in this match.

“We will look to recover from this game and do our best to qualify but nobody knows what will happen.”

Group A concludes on Wednesday when Iran take on Kuwait at PAS Stadium while Yemen face Laos over at the neighbouring Rah Ahan Stadium with both games kicking-off at 1700 Tehran time.

With just about 22 days to go to the defining match for Team Melli against South Korea , Carlos Queiroz, Team Melli’s coach is in dilemma after seeing many of his main players or those he has named in the squad, tumble in one way or another.

Perspolis Club of which the Portuguese coach has selected no less than 7 players in his squad (Karimi , Ghazi , Ansarifard , Nouri , Hosseini , Pooladi and Mahini) on regular basis and also has named Gholamreza Rezaei in this list whenever he was fit , is struggling near the end of the league table.

The most popular club in Iran , has been going through turmoil on and off the field with lackluster performances. On Sunday , they lost to the current champions Sepahan Esfahn by 2-0 to register their fourth losses in 9 matches while lingering at the bottom of the table one point away from the lowest ranked club, Zob Ahan. To add insult to injury, the star studded team has played the match against Sepahan without Ali Karimi , a player Queiroz has depended on so heavily in his line up in Team Melli. Karimi was dropped from the Perspolis squad by Coach Manuel Jose due to his poor form and disciplinary issues. Furthermore, the Portuguese coach of Perspolis also dropped Karim Ansarifard , another of Queiroz men , due to poor form. Ansarifard was the league top scorer last season with Saipa last season, but has scored one goal this season with Perspolis.

Outside of Iran, the Team Melli legionnaires did not fare much better either. Masoud Shojaei who has only recently recovered from a long term injury, yet used by Carlos Queiroz in the last two matches for Team Melli, did not even feature in the 18 man squad for Osasuna this weekend. The bottom team of the La Liga registered its fourth loss in 5 matches with 1 point only. Neither of the two performances of Masoud Shojaei was encouraging as the Osasuna man looked heavily lacking match practice and out of sync with his teammates.

The recently transferred Ashkan Dejagah , did not have much better luck with his team Fulham. The Ex-Wolfsburg player and undoubtedly one of the better current Team Melli players, was not included in Fulham’s 18 player squad for the visit to Wigan where the Londoners won the match 2-1.  With 9 points and a solid looking team, Dejagah will have a difficult time gaining a regular starting position in Martin Jol’s team thus being deprived of competitive match practice which is so crucial at international level.

Further closer to home, Teymourian and Aghli play in the QSL (Qatar Star League). Aghili was quite unfortunate when he was injured chasing a long ball which eventually resulted in a double whammy for him. Not only his slip cost his team a goal, he also injured his thigh in the process and will be off football for an estimated 1 month ruling him out of the Korea match.

Ando Teymourian who has also played his first official match for Al Kharitiyat , was not much luckier than his compatriot as his slip and misguided wayward header reached the opposition forward player who utilize the mistake by Team Melli midfielder and scored the only goal of the match.

 Such events does not augur well for the Portuguese Carlos Queiroz who has been heavily criticized for selecting players from weak performing teams or sticking to players regardless to their current form.  His selection of several players for Team Melli while they are not even in their club’s regulars or not even in the squad, has been a source of concern. With such sort of selection , it is no wonder that Team Melli has performed so poorly under Queiroz, as various experts have been quoted. Recently , even Ali Daei , a staunch supporter of Team Melli who has been rarely critical of the team spoke out at Queroz selections , yet the ex-Team Melli coach has demanded that the public support the team and the coach.

While the Football Federation has publically announced their support for Queiroz , it remains to be seen how long this support will last in the current football atmosphere and the tension around Team Melli. Ali Kaffashian , the beleaguered head of Iran’s football federation who himself is in the center of controversy and demands for his removal circulating in the league , has a track record of announcing strong support for a Team Melli coach, yet such verbal support did not prevent him firing the coach. This happened during the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers 2010 when under fire Ali Daei was sacked after the home loss to Saudi Arabia despite the earlier declaration of total support by Kaffashian for Team Melli coach!!

After the series of poor results by Team Melli , the players have boycotted the media and none of them is willing to be interviewed or talk to the press citing unfair criticism of the players. Queiroz ,. Himself has also refrained from answering questions by the press and keeping a low profile. However, he has always maintained his stand that he and Team Melli needs full and unconditional support by everyone.

It remains to be seen what , if any , changes Queroz would do in the players’ selection after these hard times for the current squad and whether Karimi and Ansarifard would be selected again.

Last week , Iran’s national TV Legal Adviser accused the Singapore based World Sport Group of extortionate policy over the broadcast right of FIFA World Cup qualification matches. WSG is an Asian Football Federation partner and has the right to sell the matches under a long term agreement which includes Asian clubs competitions in addition to the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Gholamreza Rafiee, the jurisconsult of IRIB, discussed the recent problems between Iranian television and World Sport Group over buying broadcasting rights of Iran’s national football team in World Cup qualification matches. In the weekly popular program hosted by Adel Ferdowsipour , Rafiee accused the other side of ask far too much for broadcasting rights which is breaching international rules.

“Four years ago at the same time we paid $4 million to broadcast Team Melli matches in World Cup qualification. But now World Sport Group wants to charge us over $40 for the same service. We paid $7.5 to broadcast World Cup 2010 and we bought the London 2012 broadcasting right for only $1 million. World Sport Group is trying to swindle Asian countries for broadcasting World Cup qualification matches.” Said Gholamreza Rafiee during the live TV show watched by million of Iranian TV viewers.

“Lebanese television also didn’t buy the broadcasting right of the match between Iran and Lebanon. The same problem has occurred for South Korea.” Gholamreza Rafiee added.

World Sport Group angered many Asian football fans by increasing the price of the broadcasting rights for the AFC World Cup Qualifiers 2014.

Veteran journalist and soccer scholar James M. Dorsey has recently published a report about the controversial $1 billion contract between AFC and World Sport Group. Dorsey has revealed an unexplained payment of $14 million to Mr. Bin Hammam by one of the company’s shareholders. His statements are backed by formal and reliable documents. WSG has filed a complaint against the reporter in Singapore High Court.

WSG reacted to those accusations by sending a formal statement on this subject to Kabir News, in which  Shyamala Velappan, Communications Manager of WSG, said:

“World Sport Group strongly refutes the claims made by Mr. Gholamreza Rafiee in the media this week with regards to the cost of broadcast rights for the FIFA World Cup 2014 – AFC Qualifying Rounds.   The information Mr. Rafiee has presented is incorrect and misleading.   Firstly, the previous agreement to broadcast various AFC events for the period 2009 – 2012 was valued at US$4.5 million.  The broadcast rights fee which we are negotiating with IRIB for the new cycle is US$11 million for all AFC national team and club competitions, which consist of approximately 1,300 matches over a four year period, not just the FIFA World Cup 2014 AFC qualifying matches.  To put this figure into context, it represents only a tiny fraction of the rights fees being paid by other countries in the Middle-East for the same number of matches.”

Despite the refusal to pay for the broadcast rights, Iran’s national TV broadcast the 30 minutes delayed match by using Al Jazeera Sport TV signal.

WSG Nature of Business

Singapore-based World Sport Group is Asia’s leading sports marketing, media and event management company. WSG manages almost 600 days of sports events and produces more than 5000-hours of sports programming annually in 30+ countries across the region including the Barclays Singapore Open, AFC Asian Cup and AFF Suzuki Cup. It also owns the global media rights for the Indian Premier League and is a member of the Singapore Sports Hub Consortium.

Queiroz: I love this job