Doha – Katara village.

Iran’s Beach football team won its first ever Asian title by beating the defending champions Japan. The thrilling and eventful match ended 6-6 in regulation time , with the added 3 minutes extra time failing to find a winning goal.

In the penalty kicks, the sudden death , Iran scored all 5 goals while Japan’s fifth kick was saved by Peyman Hosseini , Iran’s  brilliant goalkeeper.

With both teams already qualified for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Tahiti next September , the match was expected to be an open affair and entertaining. The two teams did not disappoint the full capacity arena and from the word go , the excitement started,

Japan started the match in a spectacular style when Ouzo , the Brazilian born Japanese center half scored right from the kick off with a ferocious shot that flew in to the upper left corner of Peyman Hosseini goal. The Iranian keeper, despite his  remarkable attempt with a jump to his right, could not prevent this unstoppable ball.

The Match clock has passed 2 seconds only at the time.

This quick and sudden goal , seriously disturbed the Iranian players and soon they lost their concentration, however Iran managed to equalized through Ahmadzadeh resulting in some calm amongst the their player . But no soon after that equalizer Japan scored two quick goals by Ouzo make it 4-1 for the Japanese

 Iran games was marred by rough play and loss of discipline which resulted in many free kicks 3 of which resulted in goals for Japan.

Despite the Iran’s Brazilian coach request for calm , the Iranian players continued commuting fouls with their over zealous tackles and then pleading innocence, and that cost them heavily.

Whenever Iran players played calmly and remained focused on the games, they threatened the Japanese goal with their individual skills and quick moves.

Iran then scored two goals by Mehran Morshedizadeh from a nicely chipped free kick before the team’s top scorer Moslim Meisigar scored Iran’s third with a deflected ball. It was 4-3 for Japan and the game was certainly on. However, the tense Iranian players continued making the same  mistakes and committing fouls for Japan to score two more to make it 6-3.
Iran scored  by Mohammad Ali Mokhtari wrong footed the Japanese goalkeeper to score  from a penalty with 6 minutes to go to make it 6-4.
Barely a minute passed when  Akbari , Iran;s youngest pkayer found the net to score Iran’s 5th. The Japanses , who felt quite secure with the tthree goal margin , suddenly found themselves threatend and now it was their turn to lose focus and concentration

In dramatic fashion with only 35 seconds to to go , Iran’s Moslim Meisigar the tournament top scorer , scored the equalizer with a bouncing ball off the sand . The ecstatic Iranian fans in Katara roared in delight with Meisigar running to the bench to celebrate with the coach. The whistle blew for the end of regulation time with the result 6-6 and extrea time.

The 3 extra minutes did not yield any results and the two teams went into penalty shoot-out Iran scorers where ;Morshedizadeh  , Ali Naderi   , Mokhtari , Ahmadzadeh    and Moslem Meisigar.

Iran;s keeper Peyman Hosseini saved Japan’s 5th penalty kicj to declare Iran as champions of Asian Beach soccer, Although this is Iran’s first title in this particular competition . Team Melli is current;y the holder of the titke for the beach games.

Daneil Davari’s debut for Team Melli is in doubt after the German newspaper Braunschweiger Zeitung has reported that the German-Polish-Iranian goalkeeper is declining the invitation for the Lebanon game to be held on February 6^th citing an important match that his club Eintracht Braunschweig is scheduled to play 48 hours after that AFC Asian Cup 2015 qualifier in Tehran.

On Friday 8^th February , Eintracht Braunschweig who are now second in the Bundesliga II table is schedule to play VfR Aalen. From the onset of the invitation of Davari for the Lebanon game, doubts have been raised that the 25-year-old goalkeeper will follows the example of teammate Domi Kumbela and decline an invitation to the national team of Canada in order to concentrate fully on the promotion battle with the blue and yellow team.

Iran’s Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz has invited the Brunswick goalkeeper, whose father is from Iran, for the next qualification game for the Asian Cup 2015 against Lebanon. This was confirmed by Christoph Leutrum, who is Davari’s business manager and advisor. Davari’s invitation was already widely reported in Tehran’s media and on the web.

“The contact with the Iranian Association has been going on since last summer,” says Leutrum. “They want to have Daniel and he was quite happy.” Davari would have been following the footsteps of Ashkan Dejagah (Fulham / England), Omid Nazari (Ängelholms FF / Sweden) and Reza Ghochannejad (Standard Liege / Belgium), as the fourth European Legionnaires in the Iranian squad.

That the native of Giessen was nominated for the first time this week, probably was the consequence of the fact that Iran’s current number 1 goalkeeper, Mehdi Rahmati, had announced his retirement from the national team, claiming  “personal reasons”. However, many insiders have doubted his reasoning and considered the 29-year goalkeeper as a pre-emptive step before the coaching staff benching him or even ousting the long serving Esteghlal keeper. After several blunders, the 75 times capped keeper had come under wide criticism especially for his poor timing and mishandling of crosses.

In another development, Omid Namazi , one of Carlos Queiroz assistants, was quoted today by ISNA, that he is not aware of Davari’s declining to join the squad nor was he informed verbally or officially by anyone in the squad or IFF.

Doha- Katara field

Iran’s Beach Soccer team defeated the UAE 3-2 in the semi-finals of Asian Beach Soccer competition to book its place in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Tahiti which will be held in September 2013.

This will be Iran’s 5th appearance in FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup tournament. Team Melli beach soccer team qualified for 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2011 tournaments,

In a closely fought match , Iran’s Muslim Mosaiger opened the scoring in the first half with a nice half turn beating UAE goalkeeper.

The Uae equalized through Ali Karim’s free kick that beat Yousifi from long range.

Abdollahi scored Iran’s second with a beautiful long header in the empty UAE net as the UAE keeper Humaid Jamal cleared a ball right to Abdollahi’s head who did not hesitate to head straight into the net from jsut inside Iran’s half.

Iran then scored the third from Ahmadzadeh beating two markers before making a half turn and shooting past the stretched UAE Keeper to make it 3-1

Ali Karim scored  kept UAE’s hope alive by scoring a spectacular overhead kick to make it 3-2 in the third period with 6 minutes to go

Despite the desperate effort by UAE m they did not manage to equalize while Iran came close to a fourth goal in the final seconds.

Iran will be meeting Japan after the defending champions beat Australia in another closely encounter ending 2-1.The final will be tomorrow Saturday 26th January 2013.

Iran edge China to fight for one of three World Cup slots

Iran came back from two goals down take their place among the best four sides in the continent after edging out China in a tense top of the table clash.

The Iranians came into the decider in brilliant form, but were guilty of a schoolboy error when Ahmadzadeh’s misdirected backpass found his own goal. Iran then had goalkeeper Hosseini to thank for keeping the score at 1-0, displaying superb reactions to deny Lui’s rocket from a dead ball.

Still, Ongaro’s China remained determined to ruin Iran’s evening, as Han finished off a great counterattack to give the Chinese a two-goal lead going into the first break.

Iran quickly re-grouped and commenced a heroic comeback, with number 10 Mesigar central to their resurgence, reducing the deficit to 2-1 before Naderi headed home a pinpoint cross to bring the sides levels.

Mesigar completed his brace inside the last minute of the second period to give the Persians a decisive advantage. And, having taken the lead, they made their vast experience count to limit China’s chances and see the game out.

Mokhtari put the icing on the cake midway through the third segment, crushing China’s semi final dreams.

The final whistle sent Iran into the semi finals of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2013 – Asian Qualifier Qatar, where they will have a chance to fight for a place in Tahiti.

“Iran have too much experience. There was too much pressure, but, we’ve improved a lot,” said China’s coach Rosario Ongaro after the narrow loss.

Goals: 0-1: Ahmadzadeh, min. 5 (1); 0-2: Han, min. 0 (1); 1-2: Mesigar, min. 0 (1); 2-2: Naderi, min. 3 (2) 3-2: Mesigar, min. 1 (2); 4-2: Mokhtari, min. 8 (3);

Iran will meet UAE in the semi-final to book its place for the Beach Football world cup in Tahiti.

Matches for tomorrow  Fri 25.01.13 
14:00 – Philippines vs Uzbekistan (Play-off for the 13th place)
14:00 – Iraq vs Saudi Arabia (Play-off for the 9th place)
15.15 – Afghanistan vs Bahrain (Play-off for the 9th place)
15.15 – China vs Palestine (Play-off for the 5th place)
16:30 – Oman vs Lebanon (Play-off for the 5th place)
17:45 – Qatar vs Thailand (Play-off for the 13th place)
19:00 – IRAN VS UAE (SEMIFINAL 1)
20:15 – AUSTRALIA VS JAPAN (SEMIFINAL 2)

Qatar’s iconic Katara Beach is currently playing host to the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Asian Qualifiers for the very first time. Asia’s finest beach soccer talent are in action as 16 nations go head to head to take one of three places in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2013 – Tahiti.

Iran team is participating in this edition as one of the title contenders and a candidate for qualification to FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2013 in Tahiti. Team Melli is joined in group “D” by the Philippines, Lebanon and Chine PR with high hope of being one of the two teams in the final on  January 26th, 2013.

No Iranian mercy for the Philippines

22 Jan. 2013 – Philippines 0-20 Iran

Iran inflicted severe pain on the Philippines on the first day qualifiers. The Persian side could not find a better way to send the message that they intend to go to their fifth FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup than by smashing the Philippine National side by a 20-goal margin.

Needless to say, this record-breaking goal difference has lifted the Iranians to the top of Group D, and gives them a tyrannical lead.

After Iran’s captain, Naderi, opened the scoring account in the sixth minute of the game, the goal-shower never ceased, with the ball hitting the back of Mercado’s net one too many times.

The heavy defeat puts Philippines in a very difficult position, with virtually no options to proceed to the next stage.

Iran will have to keep performing at their best against China and Iraq, if they want to seal their ticket to semifinals.

Goals: 0-1: Naderi, min. 6 (1); 0-2: Ahmadzadeh, min. 5 (1); 0-3: Boulokbashi, min. 0 (1); 0-4: Ahmadzadeh, min. 11 (2); 0-5: Naderi, min. 11 (2); 0-6: Boulokbashi, min. 6 (2); 0-7: Mokhtari, min. 6 (2); 0-8: Boulokbashi, min. 6 (2); 0-9: Mokhtari, min. 5 (2); 0-10: Mesigar, min. 0 (2); 0-11: Abdollahi, min. 10 (3); 0-12: Morshed, min. 9 (3); 0-13: Mokhtari, min. 8 (3); 0-14: Mesigar, min. 5 (3); 0-15: Mesigar, min. 5 (3); 0-16: Naderi, min. 3 (3); 0-17: Ahmedzadeh, min. 2 (3); 0-18: Ahmadzadeh, min. 1 (3); 0-19: Mokhtari, min. 0 (3); 0-20: Abdollahi, min. 0 (3);

Iran hammers Iraq to go top of the group

Iran topped Group D of the 2013 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup AFC qualifiers with a 10-3 win over Iraq in Doha, Qatar on Wednesday.

Omid Jamali , the IRIFF international relation officer , stated that Daniel Davari, the Iranian-German goalkeeper has been successfully registered in AFC records as part of Iran’s squad and is cleared to play for Team Melli in the AFC Asian Cup 2015 qualifiers. However , Davari is still not cleared by FIFA to play in the World Cup qualifiers.

Apparently , there is still some issues with the player’s name as his two passports carry two different names. FIFA’s strict regulation requires that the player should carry identical details in multiple passports.

Jamali said that it is not a serious issue and the matter would be resolved in time for the next match against Qatar. Meanwhile , he also confirmed that Syria has requested a friendly match any time between January 20th to 30th , but Queiroz has turned down this offer and hence there is no friendly matches scheduled for Team Melli ahead of their official matches in AFC Asian Cup or FIFA World Cup preliminaries.

Team Melli’s coach , Carlos Queiroz has been issued a two match suspension by FIFA  for his vehement protest in the FIFA World Cup 2014 qualifying game against South Korea. The Portuguese coach protested heavily in two occasions and was warned by the referee before being sent to the stands by the referee.

Masoud Shojaei was also sent off in that match won by Iran.

Queiroz was immediately suspended for the next game , which was against Uzbekistan in Azadi , where Iran lost the match, however after the FIFA disciplinary committee reviewed the incident and referred to the referee and the match commissioner report , the international ruling body decided to add another match suspension. It is alleged that the Portuguese coach has used foul language against the South Korean player, while Querioz has indicated that player was constantly elbowing his players.

The ruling will leave Carlos Queiroz out of the match against Qatar will will be played in Doha.

In a statement to the press, Ali Kaffashian has indicated that IRIFF will appeal this ruling in the hope of reducing it to one match to enable Queiroz to accompany his team in Qatar.

Sources in Tehran have doubted that FIFA will change the ruling on appeal , due to the powerful lobby of the Qatar football and the influences they have amongst the governors and decision maker of FIFA.

Carlos Queiroz continues to look west in his quest to find European players with Iranian parentage or those who are eligible to play for Iran to supplement the local based players of Team Melli. His latest find is the 25 years old German-Iranian goalkeeper, Daniel Davari , whom will be included in the squad that will be announced at the end of this month, as confirmed by the Portuguese coach himself.

Davari follows Ashkan Dejagah , Omid Nazari and Reza Ghoochanejad in this respect.

The 1.92 m goalkeeper is currently playing his football in the second division of the German Football League (Bundesliga II) with Eintracht Braunschweig. Davari never featured for a main Bundesliga club , although he started his footballing career at youth level in FSV Mainz 05.

Born in Giessen (Gießen) a small university town in the German federal state of Hesse, 60 Km north of Frankfurt , with a population of approx. 76,000, (about 24,000 university students), from an Iranian father and a Polish mother, Davari eventually ended up playing youth football in FSV Mainz 05. He featured for the reserve team and played 32 matches until 2009 where he was transferred to his current team Eintracht Braunschweig.

Davari was the reserve goalkeeper until the main keeper Marjan Petković had an injury early during the 2011–12 season. Although the German goalkeeper, from Serbian descent returned back from injury , Davari’s good performance during his absence convinced the coach to keep him while Petković sat on the bench awaiting his chance to regain his starting position in the team.

Carlos Queiroz was alerted about Davari and it is believed that the Portuguese coach has been to Germany to watch the player in action. Selection of Davari is a vote of confidence in the young Goalkeeper and his abilities and will heat up the competition especially after the announcement by Mehdi Rahmati , the long standing Team Melli Goalkeeper , that he is not interested in playing with Team Melli anymore.

A glitch in the system , delayed Davari’s clearance to play for Iran. The German born footballer has two passports. The German passport has the name of Daniel while his Iranian passport has Mohammad Daniel. This discrepancy delayed the proceeding by FIFA but with some diplomatic help , the issue was resolved and Davari is eligible to officially represent Iran.

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Carlos Queiroz , Team Melli’s coach , demanded proper programming of the League and coordination with Team Melli in order to prepare for the upcoming crucial matches which will decide the fate of Team Melli in World Cup qualification.

With 2 weeks to go to the match against Lebanon as part of the Asian Cup 2015 qualifiers, Queiroz was critical about the uncertainty of the fixtures and league program and demanded that decision to be taken as soon as possible in order to set up the training camps dates for the upcoming matches both in Asian Cup and World Cup preliminaries.

Queiroz mentioned the case of Manchester clubs in England, both owned by foreigners; with City being owned by Arabs and United by Americans, yet their fixtures are quite clear from the start of the season thus allowing their national team to properly prepare its program. Queiroz said, in Iran where both sides , the clubs and the National team,  being owned by the same organization which is ultimately the government of Iran , he is surprised why they cannot coordinate in order to serve Team Melli and the clubs’ interest. He added that there is no point of setting up a camp if the players are not available because of club commitments in the league or cup competitions.

Asked if he has any difference with the head of the football league, Queiroz dismissed such notions and focused on the requirement to coordinate the programs and that is all he is worried about. “All is required to sit round the table and discuss these issues.”

As for Rahmati’s unexpected announcement of his retirement from Team Melli, Queiroz thanked the Esteghlal goalkeeper for his services to Team Melli and said that he respects his decision to retire. Every player has his own priority and motivation and Rahmati has made his decision. Queiroz added that as long as he is the coach of Team Melli , he will not invite Rahmati to the squad !

Queiroz also said that he is actively looking for replacements at that vital position and confirmed that the German-Iranian goalkeeper Daniel Davari will be in the squad when the list will be published on 30^th January.

Daniel Davari currently plays for Eintracht Braunschweig in the second tier of the Bundesliga 2.

Seyed Mehdi Rahmati, Team Melli’s goalkeeper has surprisingly announced that he will not be available for selection for Team Melli in the time being. In an unexpected move, Esteghlal’s goalkeeper who has been a fix choice for Carlos Queiroz and 3 times winner of Persian Gulf League tittles with Esteghlal and Sepahan, refrained from mentioning the reason behind his decision.

The 29 years old goalkeeper has been a target of much criticism lately and is believed to have been despondent by the negative comments especially after the recent two defeats by Lebanon and Uzbekistan in the FIFA World Cup 2014 qualification matches.

Despite the criticism , Mehdi Rahmati remain the top goalkeeper in Iran and his post in Team Melli never seemed to be in threat by any other keeper. Rahmati , however , was given a rest for the recent WAFF championship in Kuwait , along with many other fixed players. Iran failed to qualify for the next round for the first time in its history in Rahmati’s absence.

Rahmati who has 76 matches under his belt , made his debut for Team Melli in June 2004 against Lebanon while playing for Fajr Sepasi of Shiraz.