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Kuwait City: Kuwait and Iran edged ahead of Lebanon in Group B of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers after the two sides played out a 1-1 draw at the Kuwait SC Stadium on Tuesday.

Despite being on the back foot for much of the first half, the visitors took the lead just before half-time when Mesoud Shojaei capitalised on some sloppy defending to put his side ahead.
But Kuwait stepped up the pressure in the second half and they rewarded when Fahad Awad kept his cool to convert from the penalty spot with 14 minutes left.
The result meant that both sides moved up to four points, one ahead of Lebanon, who downed Thailand 5-2 in their Group B match in Beirut last Friday. Iran lead the section on goal difference after they trounced Lebanon 5-0 in their opener while Kuwait only managed a 3-1 away win in Thailand.
Playing their first home game of the qualifiers, Kuwait began the match well and they had a number of chances to break the deadlock in the first half as Hamad Al Enezi and Bader Al Mutwas missed good opportunities.
Having failed to make the most of their chances, the hosts were stunned when Iran took the lead right at the end of the first half.
Ashkan Dejagah made a strong run down the right flank but his cut-back from the byline appeared to be too close to goalkeeper Nawaf Al Khaldi, who sprawled on the floor to gather the ball. However, it slipped loose from his grasp and defender Hussain Fadhel’s weak clearance only went as far as Mojtaba Jabari, who crashed his shot against the angle of post and crossbar.
The ball rebounded to Mesoud Shojaei who volleyed it back towards the Kuwait goal where Al Khaldi made a valiant effort to stop the effort but could not prevent it from crossing the goalline.
Iran tried to defend their lead after the interval and they frustrated the Kuwaitis until the home side were awarded a penalty in the 76th minute for a foul on Abdulhadi Khamee by captain Javad Nekounam.
Fahad Awad made no mistake from the spot, sending Iran goalkeeper Rahman Ahmadi the wrong way to ensure that honours were shared between the two sides.

Group B

#		Team	MP	W	D	L	F	A	D	P	Last 5 matches
1		Iran	2	1	1	0	6	1	+5	4	D W
2		Kuwait	2	1	1	0	4	2	+2	4	D W
3		Lebanon	2	1	0	1	5	7	-2	3	W L
4		Thailand	2	0	0	2	3	8	-5	0	L L

AFC.com Published on Monday, 25 March 2013 14:56

Kuwait City: Kuwait will be missing a pair of key players when they face Iran on Tuesday in a top-of-the-table clash in Group B of the AFC Asian Cup 2015 qualifiers.

The two teams enter the match at the Kuwait Sports Club Stadium with three points each after they began their qualification campaigns with solid victories in their opening games last month. Iran trounced Lebanon 5-0 in Tehran while the Kuwaitis returned from Bangkok with a resounding 3-1 victory over Thailand.
They have been joined on three points by Lebanon, who beat Thailand 5-2 in Beirut last Saturday although the winners of Tuesday’s game will open up a three-point lead at the top of the section.
But all is not well in the Kuwaiti camp with Walied Ali and Fahad Al Enezi both set to miss the showdown with the Iranians. Veteran midfielder Walied has been ruled out by a hamstring injury while Al Enezi has been barred from playing by the Kuwait FA for disciplinary reasons.
Unhappy at being taken off in the second half during the match against Thailand last month, the mercurial 24-year-old Kuwait SC winger had an angry verbal exchange with coach Goran Tufegdzic and team manager Osama Abdullah and he was duly suspended for four domestic matches as well as the Asian Cup qualifier against Iran.
Despite the absence of the pair, Tufegdzic is quite happy with his team’s build-up to the game against Iran, which included a 2-1 win over Palestine in a friendly last Thursday.
“I’m satisfied with the preparations of our team,” said the Serbian, who has been in charge of Kuwait since 2009.

“We will be playing against a well-developed team but we managed to study their weaknesses and strengths and hopefully we can get a positive result tomorrow.
“We had a good start in the qualifiers and we want to continue with the same motivation in order to please our fans. I believe that the match will be entertaining but at the same time we will surprise our opponents with our tactics.”
Iran arrived in Kuwait on Sunday in confident mood with coach Carlos Queiroz keen to see his side build on their positive start against Lebanon.

“We prepared well for the match and we know that Kuwait are not an easy side but we will give our best to get a positive result although it will not be an easy task as Kuwait have home advantage and the fans on their side,” said the Portuguese coach.
“We respect all our opponents but we will try our best to win and remain at the top of the group especially after the perfect start that we had with a big win against Lebanon.
“We have good information about Kuwait and hopefully we can use this to our advantage.”

Doha

Team Melli U 23 won the 11^th Friendship Football Tournament in style after beating Turkey 3-2 in the final match of the tournament. Turkey and Qatar were second and third after drawing lots. Team Melli , finished at the top with maximum points after erlier beating  Morocco 1-0 and then Qatar 2-1.

In a continuation of their passing and slick football , Team Melli once again dominated the match against Turkey. The German-born striker of Turkey Cenk Tosun put his side in the lead when he rose to head a second minute goal. Despite the early goal from a header that Turkey scored, the answer was swift as Payam Sadeghian lobbed a beautiful goal past the Turkish Goalkeeper to make it 1-1 in the 5th minutes.

Sadeghian scored his second goal at the 26th Minute after a quick counter attack initiated from deep inside Iran’s own half by Bakhtiyar Rahmani , who released Sadeghian on the left flank, in turn Sadgehian played a one two with Jahanbakhsh that resulted in a stylish goal with the Turkish goalkeeper stranded and nowhere near the ball that passed him.

The first half ended 2-1 for Iran.

While Turkey needed to attack and win the match to lift the title, it was Iran that took the initiative in the second half with series of attacks. On the hour mark there were couple of glorious misses by Iranian players that could have sealed the match early. Jahanbakhsh , Mosallman and a clear header at open goal by Khanzadeh all went astray. The Turkish keeper was at top form when he successfully saved two more scoring opportunities from Iranian players.

Eventually Team Melli scored the third goal to ease the pressure. On Alireza Jahanbakhsh assit , Mohsen Mosallman received the ball and calmly slotted the ball far away from Turkish goalkeeper reach . With a 2 goal margin cushion and the team easing the pressure on the Turks and with Mansourian starting his  substitutions , the Turkish team pounced on the opportunity and managed to score their second late in the match. However , Team Melli steadfastly defended and no serious threat to the goal was attempted by the Turkish U 23 team which engaged in some rough and un-gentlemanly playing tactics.  The coach of the Turkish team was also involved in a fracas with an Iranian player on the touchline, which should have resulted in him being ejected from the game.

With 3 wins out of 3 Iran also enjoyed a clean sweep of the individual honors as Payam Sadeghian won the top scorer award, Piravand winning the best goalkeeper and finally the MVP of the tournament went to Iran’s Captain Mohsen Mosallman.

“I am a happy man today as we have won the trophy,” Iran coach Ali Reza Mansourian said. “It is a proud moment for me as all the individual awards were also won by my players,” added the former Iran player.

Match Details

IRAN vs. TURKEY  3-2

Half time (2-1)

Iran : Alireza  Piranvand ; Amin Hajmohammadi, , Mohammadreza Khanzadeh, Milad Gharibi, Saeid Lotfi ,  Vahid Esmarilbeigi [91′ Zendehrouh] , Shahab Karami, Mohsen Mosalman , Alireza Jahanbakhsh [81′ Kaveh Rezaei],  Bakhtiyar Rahmani [66′ Omid Alishah], Payam Sadeghian [72′ PouraliGanzj]

Scorers:  Payam Sadeghian (5′ , 26′), Mohsen Mosallman (81′)

Yellow Card: Payam Sadeghian

Kuwait City.

Team Melli football team arrived in Kuwait City on Sunday evening. The team has left Dubai camp earlier that day and as soon as they arrived in Kuwait’s Crown Plaza hotel, the team started its preparation for Tuesday’s match against host Kuwait by hitting the Gymnasium and the swimming pool.

In statements to the press, Javad Nekounam said that being involved with Team Melli in a camp during the Nowrooz holidays is not a new thing to him. “As a professional we should be ready for duty anytime to represent our country. Unfortunately sometime this coincides with our national holidays and I have been through such engagement several times in my career. It is not a serious issue to us.” The Captain of Team Melli said.

Mehrdad Ouladi , who is once again selected for Team Melli after long absence said that Team Melli should not take Kuwait lightly. “We had a very good camp and there was a fine spirit between the players. The practice sessions were serious and all the players are determined to succeed.” The Malavan player said. “We will not have a comfortable match in Kuwait, however , we are determined to play an attractive football and gain the required result.”

Kuwait Team has suffered a major blow as their Left winger Hamad Aman has limped off the training session after an injury. The skilful winger remains doubtful for the match. Iran will also miss Khalatbary due to strained muscle he suffered during the training in Dubai. Last minute tests might change the fortunes of those players on both sides.

In a post match news briefing, Kuwaiti FA official stated that the match entry will not be free as it is customary with the rest of the Persian Gulf Arab countries. Mr Al Sahoo said “The Kuwait Football federation cannot afford to run free matches while there are many expenses and bills to pay. Only a few number of the 12,000 tickets are available. We knew beforehand that this match will be popular and we expect a capacity stadium for the match against a strong rival.”

Al Sahoo has denied that the postponement of the match was a barter deal with Iranian Football Federation. It was alleged in the local press that Kuwait FA agreed on Iranian request to postpone the match for one week because of Nowrooz , in exchange of Iran voting for the Kuwaiti supported candidate of AFC presidency, Salman Bin Ibrahim AlKhalifa of Bahrain. Al Sahoo said that agreeing with Iran’s request was a friendly and courteous gesture to our neighbors and nothing more than that.

Team Melli will be playing against Kuwait in Al Kuwait team football stadium on Tuesday as part of the qualification rounds matches for the AFC Asian Cup 2015 In Australia. Iran leads group B after one match by goal difference.

Group B

#		Team	MP	W	D	L	F	A	D	P
1		Iran	1	1	0	0	5	0	+5	3
2		Kuwait	1	1	0	0	3	1	+2	3
3		Lebanon	2	1	0	1	5	7	-2	3
4		Thailand	2	0	0	2	3	8	-5	0

Doha

Iran’s U23 team , scored its second win in as many matches in the Qatar International Friendship Tournament by beating the host Qatar 2-1 earlier today in the Grand Hamad Stadium in Doha. Two goals , one in each half by Kaveh Rezaei on the 41st minute and then Omid Alishah in the 58th minute was enough to seal the win and Qatar scored a consolation goal late in the 2nd half.

The win puts Iran in a commanding position in this tournament. A draw in its last match against Turkey is enough to win the title of this tournament and US $ 50,000.

Iran started the match is a well organized style disturbing the ball efficiently and clinically in the middle of the field. However , despite the superioriy , ball possesion percentage . and control of the midfield , TM players failed to capitalize on the chances. The offesnive moves mostly ended in the ball being lost due to wrong options, passing being cut by Qatar defenders , and lack of firmness and aggression in finishing.
Very few balls in fact reached the  Qatar GK who did not have to make any serious save, despite Iranian team superiority.

In the 41st minute , a superb defense splitting pass by the captain , Mohsen Mosallman sent Kaveh Rezaei on his way to the goal in the box. The Saipa player neatly slotted the ball under the advancing Qatar Goalkeeper body to score the first goal.

In the second half Iran started as they left off with even better ball distribution. In the 58th minute a lose ball was picked up by Omid Alishah who dribbled a defender then wiggle his way and shot a cracker into the net to register Iran’s second.

With a 2 goal cushion and a match to play in 48 hours, Manosurian made several changes including the substitution of the midfield dynamo Mohsen Mosallma. The 4 changes , upset the balance of the team resulting in loss of focus and concentration. A few nervous minute ensued where Qatar took full control even with one player down layer down after a Qatari defender was red-carded by the Egyptian referee. Qatar scored from a lose ball after a corner kick , where the cleared ball from Iranian defense reached a Qatari player outside the box , his dipping shot wrong footing Piravand.

A ball ricocheted from the right post to the left before being cleared, was the closed shave Iran experienced in the dying minutes of the match.

The 5 extra minutes of injury time did not yield any further goals as Iran won a match they could have easily sealed early in the second half.

Qatar coach Marcel Van Buuren said: “The first half was very difficult
for us. We though the number 10 player in the Iranian side is a very
good player. Every time we took possession of the ball, we lost it
very quickly and if you’re not comfortable with the ball, you will
lose it easily. Fighting with players who are physically stronger made
it difficult for us to win.”

He added: “I’m proud of the team because they fought hard and managed
to score one goal seeing that Iran was winning at the time.”

Commenting on the win, Iran’s head coach Alireza Mansourian said: “It
was a very good match. Qatar’s level has improved significantly since
the last match played in Malaysia. The last few minutes of the match
were quite difficult for us.”

The final match will be played on Monday against Turkey,

QATAR vs. IRAN  1 – 2 (0-1)

Iran : Alireza  Piranvand ; Amin Hajmohammadi, PouraliGanzj , Mohammadreza Khanzadeh, Zendrouh ,Saeid Lotfi ,  Mohsen Mosalman [62 Morteza Tabrizi], Omid Alishah, Alireza Jahanbakhsh [58’Hadi Dehghani], Kaveh , Rezaei [92′  Navid Khoshnava] , Bakhtiar Rahmani [75 Shahab Karami], [Vahid Esmarilbeigi 81 ]

Scorers : Kaveh Rezaei 41
Omid Alishah 58
Yellow cards: Amin Hajmohammadi 87 , Hadi Dehghani 94

Dubai

Dr. Khanlory , Team Melli medical officer declared two players unfit for the upcoming match against Kuwait on the 26th of March. MohamadReza KHALATBARY and Yaghoub KARIMI  are both declared unfit by the medical staff due to injuries sustained in the last week league games.

Khalatbary is suffering from ligament while Karimi has chest pain due to a tackle he received in the match against Esteghlal. Both players have been examined by the Team Medical staff then further tests were carried out at the Iranian Hospital in Dubai for confirmation.

The two players will be undergoing treatment and light training but will nt be available for the Kuwait match.

Doha

Iran’s U23 team defeated Qatar in the inaugural match of The Qatar 11th International Friendly Tournament which is held annually. A first half penalty by Payam Sadeghian was enough to award all the 3 points to Iran in a closely fought match played in the Grand Hamad Stadium of Al Arabi Sports Club.

The U23 team coached by Alireza Mansourian will be playing host Qatar, which drew 1-1 with Turkey,  in next match on Saturday.

The winning team will get $50,000, besides there are four different awards: Best Player Award, Best Goalkeeper Award, Best Team, and Top Scorer. Fans can enter the stadium for free as Qatar Football Association has decided not to charge fans for tickets, it was announced yesterday by a QFA official .

“We are expecting Iranian, the Moroccan and Turkish communities to come and support their Olympic squads,” he added.

Despite the free entrance, the match was played with only a handful of fans in the stadium with a marked absence by the ubiquitous Iranian fans due to the match being played on the Persian New Year,  Nowrooz.

The two teams started the match cautiously with both the goalkeepers having no real threat to deal with , however , The North Africans first real threat came with a free kick that shaved the top of the Iran goals and ended up safely out.

After the goal was scored by Sadeghian on the 29th minute , Morocco increased the pressure to score the equalizer but fail to capitalize on Iran’s retreat.

The second half was more about Iran keeping the ball and counter attacking. The Iranian defenders dealt quite well with all of the Moroccan attacks , which were shy in the first place, however , many chances were created by the superb performance of the Iranian midfield players , but no additional goal was scored.

 Commenting on the win, Iranian coach Alireza Mansourian said during a post-match press conference: “This match was one of the strongest matches in this tournament and Iran and Morocco are two of the strongest participating teams. Gaining these three points is a very positive start for the Iranian team and we are now preparing for the next matches against Qatar and Turkey.”

IRAN : Alireza  Piranvand ; Amin Hajmohammadi, Mohammad-Vahid Esmaeilbeigi , Mohammadreza Khanzadeh, Saeid Lotfi ,Milad  Gharibi, Bakhtiar Rahmani, Mohsen Mosalman , Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Shahab Karami, Payam Sadeghian

Yellow cards: Sadeghian , Khanzadeh

Dubai.

Daniel Davari, was introduced to the rest of Team Melli squad by Carlos Queiroz in the Training camp currently held in Dubai. The German born player has been selected by Queiroz to play for Iran a few months back, however,  Davari’s involvement in critical league matches where his team Eintracht Braunschweig is challenging for promotion to the Bundesliga, hindered his appearance for Team Melli.

While most of the European leagues are on a FIFA week break , Davari eventually managed to join the squad that is preparing to meet Kuwait in the AFC Asian Cup 2015 qualifying rounds.

In a short interview with the press, the German-Iranian player expressed his delight with joining Team Melli and said that he has no problem communication with the defenders or the rest of the players. “Fortunately, most of the team speak English while Ashkan Dejagah also speaks fluent German, so I have no real problem communicating with the players” Davari said.

“I am also learning Farsi and already know important words that we have to use during matches” Davari added after completing his first practice session with his teammates in the Iranian Club premises in Dubai.

Team Melli will be meeting Kuwait on the 26th of March 2013 and currently leading the table of 4 teams ahead of their rivals on goal difference. Lebanon and Thailand are the other two teams in the group.

A 20 year old second division Swedish league player by the name of William Atashkadeh  who currently plays for Örebro SK in the Allsvenskan is the latest adventures by Carlos Queiroz in his quest to make one of the qualifying spots for the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014.

The Swedish-Iranian player has no significant track record nor has he been prominent in the top flight Swedish football. He was rekegated with his team and managed 5 games in seasons from 2009 to 2011 with IFK Göteborg before joining his current club and relegated in the process.Yet, with Carlos Queiroz consistently and aggressively seeking the services of European based Iranians, he picked this second division player to join Team Melli.

Establishing a trend with a preference for European Iranian over over the home-based players.

Another second division player , Daniel Davari who plays for  Eintracht Braunschweig , has already made the roster and should be available for the training camp currently being held in Dubai.