Month: September 2013

Team Melli sponsorship deal falls through at last hurdle!

Tehran

After the announcement by the FFIRI that the federation has managed to agree terms with a local organization for sponsoring Team Melli to the FIFA World Cup 2014 following successful series of negotiations,  Abbas Torabian stunned the media today by announcing that the deal has fell through because the representative of the sponsors did not turn up for the final meeting !.

According to FFIRI the details and the name of the sponsor would have been announced anytime soon.

The meeting on Sunday was supposed to be the formality where both parties of this sponsorship deal would have signed, sealed and delivered. The absence of the sponsor representative can only mean that the two parties have not agreed terms and conditions, despite what the Federation has led the public and the media to believe. According to Abbas Torabian , who is the head of the marketing division of the FFIRIR, among other posts, the deal was quite lucrative and would have covered all the expenses of Team Melli to the World Cup 2014 without the need of financial aids from the government.

With the failure of this deal, the FFIRI will have to start all over again. The loss of time and revenue will not be good news for Team Melli already suffering from the lack of funds in FFIRI to support its activities and training schedules.

   Commenting on the deal breakdown, Torabian said “We had a fruitful meeting with this sponsors and we even had a meeting last night which lasted until 10 PM. We agreed to meet today (Sunday) for the final time to  conclude and close the deal. However, they did not turn up!”

It is highly unlikely that the version of Torabian is the full truth. FFIRI have not been very transparent about this sponsorship deal and the selection criteria. FFIRI also refused to formally acknowledge if a tender was submitted in order for all interested organizations to bid. Despite the pressure from the media, the FFIRI kept all the news and events about the sponsorship negotiation close to their heart for fear that announcing details of talks might jeopardize the deal.  However, the federation broke the good news a couple of weeks ago, in which they announced that an Iranian organization has been selected as the sponsors of Team Melli for the World Cup after gaining the confidence of the FFIRI. The preference of this, yet unnamed local Iranian organization, was despite the better offers from foreign organizations which would have meant a larger income. The refusal of accepting foreign sponsorship was due to cultural issues, as FFIRI announced, while citing that a signing of a sponsorship deal with the Local organization was imminent.

It was not to be, as the FFIRI is desperate to finds another sponsor soon.

Iran U16 team finished in style after defeating the UAE 3-0 to assure qualification to the final rounds of the AFC U-17 Championship, while UAE has to wait for the rest of the sub-group results.

While the UAE were considered to be the toughest opponents in the group, the match on Sunday was far from a severe teat for the young Iranians as they scored what looked like an easy win. Two goals in the first half , first by Shekari on the half an hour mark , then by the prolific Mokhatri in the injury time, ensure a good margin for Iran at the end of the half.
With only a couple of minutes into the second half, the fate of the Arab team was sealed after Mokhatri added his second and Iran’s third. The Iranian never looked back while UAE despite their efforts were left cursing their luck.

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Iran vs. UAE

3 – 0 ( 2-0)

GOALS: Reza Shekarighezelghayeh (30′) Nima Mokhtari (45+1′ , 47′)
29-09-2013
Punjab Stadium, Lahore,
Referee Jameel Jumaa (Bahrain)

Iran: Farid Nejatpashaki,  Mahdi Abdollahvand, Nima Daghestani, Fathollah Darzi,  Saeed Hasseinpour, Vahid Aftari (c) (62′ Mohammad Shamsi), Reza Shekarighezelghayeh  Bagher Niari (81′ Reza Karimipiraghoom ), Nima Mokhtari (71′ Hesam Soltanpour), Reza Dehghani, Mehran Derakhshanmehr
[divider]

AFC U-16 Asian Championship

Qualifying rounds

Group E

Rank Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 IRAN 3 3 0 0 13 0 13 9
2 UAE 3 2 0 1 8 3 5 6
3 PAKISTAN 3 0 1 2 0 4 -4 1
4 SRI LANKA 3 0 1 2 0 14 -14 1

[divider]

 

Iran U16s Goal Scorers.
Goals Players Name
5 Nima Mokhtari
2 Reza Shekarighezelghayeh
2 Reza Karimipiraghoom
1 Fathollah Darzi
1 Ali Khodadadi
1 Reza Dehghani
1 Mohammad Shamsi

 

 

Iran U-16 cruises to the Final rounds.

Iran U-16 continued its perfect record in the AFC U-16 Asian Cup qualifiers by beating host Pakistan 2-0. In the match played in the Punjab stadium in Lahore, the Iranian youngsters scored a goals in each half to wrap up the match and qualify for the final rounds of the competition.

Captain Nima Mokhtari scored on the half hour mark for Iran to take his personal tally to 3 goals in the competition while substitute Mohammad Shamsi added a second in the late stages of the second half.

Iran has 6 points from 2 games , same as the UAE who beat Sri Lanka 6-0. Iran will be meeting UAE on Sunday in the final match. The result of that match is academical as both the teams have qualified for the final tournament.

 

Pakistan vs. Iran
0-2 (0-1)

GOALS: Nima Mokhtari (30′), Mohammad Shamsi (78′)
27-09-2013
Punjab Stadium, Lahore,
Referee Khamis Al Merri (Qatar)

 

Iran: Farid Nejatpashaki, Nima Daghestani, Fathollah Darzi, Saeed Hasseinpour (62′ Hesam Soltanpour), Vahid Aftari, Reza Shekarighezelghayeh (77′ Bagher Niari), Reza Karimipiraghoom (52′ Mohammad Shamsi), Nima Mokhtari (c), Mehrdad Pour Abdoghasem, Reza Dehghani, Mehran Derakhshanmehr.

 

Mahdavikia speaks out

 

Mehdi Mahdavikia was highly critical of the commotion and the controversies created in the aftermath of the Sepahan Perspolis match. The ex-Team Melli player who has recently retired from football was speaking to the ISNA reporter about the progress of Iran’s U-17 team which is currently in a training camp in Germany.

Mahdavikia was asked to express his thoughts about the storm created by Perspolis coach Ali Daei and the club CEO Mohammad Rouyanian after the duo explicitly accused the referee of the match against Sepahan , Mohsen Ghahremani , of corruption, bribery  and favoritism.  the ex-Perspolis player , who spent most of his professional career in Germany , said “Unfortunately, all the news we hear nowadays about Iranian football is negative. Instead of promoting the beautiful side of football, these people are creating controversies and ugly side of the game. Problems exist in many countries where football is played, but it is dealt with by civilized and dignified manner. If there are cases of suspicion of corruption, it has to be pursued legally and in quiet manner with the appropriate authorities.”

“In Iran , it is all different. Because of the popularity and influence of the club, these people utilize the media, as the newspapers seem to be more than willing to use hot news, to talk and I mean only talk about so-called corruption in football. In doing so , they are publicly prosecuting a person and put him on trial without following the proper procedures or use ethical means. If these people are genuine and have a case, then they need to refer the case to the authorities by using legal channels.  They do not need to create a storm of controversy.  By such improper action, all they achieve is to give the wrong impression to the fans and especially the young ones about the affair of football. This puts the football’s reputation of the country in disrepute” continued the soft-spoken Mahdavikia

Mahdavikia in Perspolis jersey.
Mahdavikia in Perspolis jersey.

“About the scene that created all this controversy, in the limitation of the TV angle, it looked like Sepahan defender committed the initial foul, built it is difficult to say for sure. The referee was close to the scene and he is the only person who can call the shots and it is what the referee saw that resulted in his action. If it is only dependent on the TV angle, then it seems that the referee made a mistake.”

Mahdavika was asked about his role in preparing the training camp for Iran’s U-17 team in Germany. The reporter asked “ what do you have to say that if it was not for Mahdavkia using his influence and connections, this camp would not have been arranged.?”

The ex-Hamburg and Eintracht Frankfurt player said” I have a lot of respect for Doustimeher. He was my coach and mentor and I owe my success to him. It is repay time and I am honored to be in a position to help him set up the camp. The problem, as many people are aware of, is the football federation financial situation. The federation is in a dire financial situation which does not enable it to support many of its plans. I have been working with Doustimer for some time now and he informed me that we might end up going to the FIFA U-17 World Cup in October without a camp or meaningful friendly preparation matches.”

“On a visit to Germany, I sought the assistant of a good friend of mine, Dr. Naraghi in Germany, who is in food processing business, and Mr. Hedayati in Iran and we managed to arrange and finance a training camp for the young players in Germany. I am personally very happy that we have managed this achievement under the difficult circumstances. We also succeeded in picking up some good teams for friendly matches. They are in an older age group than our U-17 team; nevertheless they will be good tests for our boys”

 

Asked about his role with the U-17 team, Mahdavikia said that the federation has included him in the technical team and he will be accompanying Dousitmehr with the team in the UAE for the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Mahdavikia also said that the project of arranging a farewell testimonial match for him with Perspolis is cancelled. The Ex Perspolis Captain said that he did not want to put any pressure or undue burden on Perspolis which having its own share of financial problem. “As such I am not willing for the club to arrange a testimonial match in Tehran. Instead that testimonial match will be arranged by Hamburg SV probably in Germany.”

Iran U-16 routs Sri Lanka.

Iran’s U-16 team routed Sri Lanka 8-0 in the opening match of the AFC Asian U-16 championship qualifiers in Lahore, Pakistan.

The match was a one sided affair with the first half ending 5-0 in favor of Team Melli. 3 more goals was scored in the second half for an easy win to the championship contenders. In the other group match , UAE managed to beat host Pakistan 2-0 to share the top of the table , with Iran leading on goal difference.

Iran’s U-16 next match will be on Friday against host Pakistan.

 

AFC U-16 Championship

Qualifications Round – Group  E

Iran – Sri Lanka

8-0 (5-0)

25-09-2013
Punjab Stadium, Lahore,
Referee: Dmitrii Mashentsev (Kyrgyzstan)

GOALS:  Reza Karimipiraghoom (13′ , 25′) , Fathollah Darzi (30′), Reza Shekarighezelghayeh (37′) ,Nima Mokhtari (67′,85′), Ali Khodadadi (68′)

Iran: Farid Nejatpashaki, Mahdi Abdollahvand, Nima Daghestani (55′ Ali Khodadadi) , Fathollah Darzi, Mostafa Rokhbinzadeh, Saeed Hasseinpour (67′ Vahid Aftari), Reza Shekarighezelghayeh, Reza Karimipiraghoom (46′ Mohammad Shamsi), Nima Mokhtari (c),Reza Dehghani,Bagher Niari Shamasbi

Team Melli beach soccer bow out in style.

Iran’s Beach soccer bowed out of the 2013 FIFA Beach Soccer World cup after a gallant display against the defending Champions, Russia.

Russia , who recovered a two-goal deficit to edge Iran 6-5 , booked a FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup semi-final date with hosts Tahiti. Dmitrii Shishin, the star of a stunning upset of Brazil in the Ravenna 2011 decider, settled an engrossing game in the defending champions’ favor with just 124 seconds remaining. The game which saw both teams exchanging the lead in three periods of the match was heading for a 5-5 draw and extra time, when a hopeful mild shot form the Russian Shishin bounced off an Iranian defender leg to end up in the roof of the net with Team Melli’s goalkeeper Hosseini at full stretch, but unable to save it and .

Russia were the heavy favorites before kick-off, but they were given a grueling examination in Papeete. Moslem Mesigar and Farid Boulokbashi fired Iran into a 2-0 lead and although Egor Eremeev swiftly pulled one back, the Asians’ stellar marking and physical approach largely stifled Mikhail Likhachev’s game plan for long periods.

Yury Krasheninnikov did equalize midway through the second period, before Anatoliy Peremitin capitalised on a seldom defensive error to put Russia ahead for the first time. That advantage lasted just 12 seconds as Boulokbashi thumped home his second to ensure the teams began the concluding third at deadlock.

Mesigar completed his brace shortly after the restart to restore Iran’s lead, but Russia began to exact their superiority thereafter. Goals from Kirill Romanov and Eremeev sent the Europeans 5-4 ahead, only for Mohammad Ahmadzadeh to level the scores, against the run of play, on 32 minutes.

Likhachev urged his charges to find a winner and cometh the hour, cometh the man. That man was the ever-reliable Shishin, who netted an engrossing contest’s 11th and final goal to keep the Russian dream alive and move himself joint-top of the tournament’s scoring chart.

Russia and Tahiti, who stunned Argentina 6-1 in their quarter-final, will now have a one-day rest before meeting on Saturday for a place in the final.

RUSSIA vs. IRAN

6:5 (1:2, 2:1, 3:2)
Match 28 , Papeete ,  To’ata Stadium
Goals Russia

 

Group matches

19/09  vs Brazil  1-4

21/09 vs Senegal 5-3

23/09 vs. Ukraine 2-3

 

Fulham coach: “Dejagah must fight for his place.”

Fulham manager Martin Jol has warned winger Ashkan Dejagah that he must fight for a place in the starting XI.

The Iranian international made 24 appearances for the club last season before an ankle injury sustained against Queens Park Rangers prevented him from competing in the final two months of the campaign.

However, Dejagah has played just once for the Whites this term, in the Capital One Cup win at Burton in August, and appears to be down the pecking order at Craven Cottage.

[box title=”Martin Joll , Fulham coach” style=”bubbles” radius=”10″]”I want a number one in every position. They have to fight for their place.”[/box]

Bryan Ruiz and Damien Duff are ahead in Jol’s plans while 20-year-old Buomesca Tue Na Bangna was preferred for Saturday’s 2-0 derby defeat at the hands of Chelsea.

Martin Jol has demanded high standards from the former Wolfsburg attacker.

“I want a number one in every position,” he told the Fulham Chronicle. “On that wing I’ve got Dejagah, Damien Duff, Bryan Ruiz and Mesca. They have to fight for their place.

“The only thing I say to Dejagah is you have to show us that you’re the number one, and the same applies to Damien.”

The 27-year-old joined Fulham on a three-year deal in 2012 from Bundesliga side Wolfsburg for a reported fee of 2.5million euros. Dejagah did not feature in the Capital Cup match against Everton last night.

If Ali Daei is not bluffing , there is a big corruption scandal in Iran’s football.

Tehran

In the ‘Navad’ TV show , the same program that Daei likes to ridicule and criticize when he fancies, the Perspolis coach has stunned millions of Iranian viewers   by his revelations and accusations of corruption and bribery in the domestic league.

Speaking to Ferdouwsipour on telephone, Daei said that he has evidence and documents to prove that corruption exists in the league and his team was victimized by the referee Mohsen Gharemani who sent off Perspolis defender a few minutes into the game. When asked about the evidence that he has , Daei rebuffed the presenter and told him that he is not here to be investigated and he does not have to answer to the presenter of  “Navad”  show. “It is the football federation’s job to investigate and ask for evidence. I do not need to explain myself for you her. All the evidence that I have was presented to the FFIRI in our meeting today.” Daei said.

Rouyanian , CEO of Perspolis club and Ali Daei were summoned to the headquarters of FFIRI in the aftermath of their accusation for a hearing with the top brass of FFIRI on Monday.

Daei’s wrath

The blazing accusations boarding insults and ridicule towards the match referee Mohsen Ghahremani who was on the other phone line included not just poor decision making and poor vision ,  that Daei accused the referee of in a live TV broadcast , but also included a direct accusation of match fixing and bribery.  Daei explicitly mentioned that Gharemani was leaning towards Sepahan and was paid for it. When Ferdowsipour asked Daei  to elaborate what he means about leaning , the Pesrpolis coach played on the words and refused to provide a direct answer by saying “it is sufficient that that all the evidence that I have , are already submitted to the proper authorities “ , The authority is the football federation ethics committee. When pressed further to mention what type of evidence Ali Daei has regarding the corruption accusation , Daei responded by saying that the Match footage is the greatest of evidences!.

As a consequence to that, many recent news and developments in relation to bribery scandals in Iran’s football came to light.  There was footage of an Azadegan league Club CEO who gave details of a referee who allegedly demanded a bribe in order to fix a match for the club. The CEO apparently named many people , although IRIB censored those names for legal reasons. Further to those accusations, the longtime member  of the disciplinary committee Alipour , was interviewed regarding these accusations and detailed description by the Azadegan league Club CEO. Alipour confirmed that they have also received such information, however , every time they requested that CEO to attend a hearing , he kept coming up with excuses of ill health. The matter was never fully investigated by the federation.

Azadegan corruption scandal

What the FFIRI firmly acted upon was the scandal of last year in the Azadegan league ( First Division).  This was by far the biggest corruption scandal that shock Iran. The main Instigator & culprit was Shahrdari Tabriz team which won the title and promotion to the top flight of Persian Gulf League. After what was a deemed to be a rapid accelerated investigations, the federation found that Shahrdari Tabriz was guilty of match fixing in collaboration with another team , Chalamsheh.  Shahrdari was stripped of the tile and the promotion while the other team was relegated down to the third division.  The two teams match was fixed for a Shahrdari win which would assure the Tabriz team of promotion. Many famous names were involved in this scandal, including Fraz Kamalvand, a well know coach, Sadegh Varmazyar , ex-Team Melli player who was the assistant coach,  Peyman Sahib Jaamei , another well know footballer originally from Khuzestan. All of the three were found guilty on several counts of corruption, and subsequently were suspended from all football activities up to two years. There were also other players involved who received lighter punishments such as Sheys Rezai , the controversial ex-Perspolis defender who also made a brief appearance as Team Melli player, Mehdi Vaezi and Ali Alizadeh all of who represented Team Melli.

Courts of Law

All sort of accusations of match fixing , favoritism , and bribery has been circulating in Iran football in the last few years,  however apart from the aforementioned Azadegan league scandal, none was seriously investigated or dealt with by the football federation or by the courts of law. What the federation has failed to do is to take a stern action against the profligates.  When people started spreading accusation or rumors, there was no action taken to stop them or demand proof of their accusations. As such, those accusation took the round and very easily reached the stands where the fans became disillusioned by this football. In general , there is a lot of trash talk but little action, however , with Ali Daei’s recent accusations which is nothing but allegations at this point that requires full investigation  and proof, it is clear that match fixing and bribery which has been suspected to be widespread in Iran’s football, is a reality that has to be immediately and forcefully dealt with by the law and the courts in Iran. Simply depending on a weak federation with lethargy and hesitancy to rock the boat, is a time bomb.

Iran qualifies for the Beach Soccer quarter finals.

Iran’s Beach Soccer team qualified for the quarter finals of FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup despite the loss against Ukraine

Ukraine have scored a hard-fought 3-2 win over Iran but it was not good enough for the Europeans who missed the knockout stage.

The match was a tight and bruising affair throughout with scores tied 1-1 at the first interval with goals from Iran’s Mohammad Ahmadzadeh and Ukraine’s Andrii Borsuk.

Olexandr Kornichuk put the Europeans in front at the midway point of the middle period with a superb strike.

Iran looked more dangerous in the third period but Ukraine goalkeeper Vitalii Sydorenko remained a challenging obstacle. Captain Igor Borsuk then put his side ahead with another excellent strike for the Ukrainians.

Goalkeeper Peymann Hosseini reduced the deficit late on, leaving Ukraine chasing more goals to have any hope of progressing.

Ukraine put a field player on goal in the last minute, but that was not enough to avoid elimination despite the victory.

Why FFIRI needs to hang on to Queiroz?

In the past few weeks, Team Melli’s coach Carlos Queiroz had a few issues and grievances concerning the status and the preparation of Team Melli for the 2014 World Cup. Issues such as Team Melli camps , friendly matches arrangement , the scheduling of the league , differences of opinions with Club coaches among many other niggling and frustrating matters created an unpleasant atmosphere around Team Melli .

The result of all that led to Carlos Queiroz publically expressing his frustration to the extent of  even threatening to quit his job. In an interview, Queiroz said that he is not willing to work under this inauspicious environment or facing the hostility of the people who seem to be working against Team Melli’s interest. Another grim statement came from Carlos Queiroz when he said that it did not bother him one bit if Ali Daei or Amir Ghalenoei replace him as Team Melli coach.

That last statement is the one that really interest us here and right now. Whatever one can think of Queiroz, he is still professional coach who is well aware of his working environment and the atmosphere surrounding it.  Perhaps he has heard that Kaffashian and his men are working on their options if Queiroz decided that he has enough and his demands cannot be met by the federation. Queiroz knows that Daei and Ghalenoei, are the closest candidates to the job of coaching Team Melli, in case he resigns. The nomination of those two does not take much intelligence to figure out as the pair coach the two most popular clubs in Iran by far. In this bi-polar football, everything has to revolve the two.

Can the task of Team Melli be safely handed to Ali Daei or Amir Ghalenoei and expect success and honor in Brazil?

Ali-daei

The answer is a big question mark. One match on Friday emphasized the vulnerability of Ali Daei’s character and painted a very dim picture of Iran’s footballing legend as a responsible person who can act gracefully under pressure.  The episode started in the early few minutes of the game between Daei’s  club Perspolis and host Sepahan coached by the Croat Krangcar. The referee, Gharemani , awarded a penalty for Sepahan and then red carded the offending Perspolis  defender for kicking an opponent in the box. Whether the referee’s decision was right or wrong is academic and not a subject of our discussion here, it is Daei’s post match conduct and statements that is the subject of interest in this article. What was said by the World highest Scorer in international matches, and a legend in his own right, is certainly a huge concern and puts a big question mark on the character of the person and his ability to be the mentor of Team Melli in the World Cup, if he ever takes over.

Daei , quite well-known for his outburst and a coach who hardly smiles during matches, which is a good indication of amount of stress he endures, has accused the Referee of Sepahan-Perspolis match of bribery. He claimed that he has evidence of Gharemani received bribes from Sepahan and will produce if asked ! A couple of days later, Daei , who many thought was emotional after his team loss to bring such serious accusations at the end of the match was unrepentant. Two days later when it was thought  that he has cooled down, the Perspolis coach said he does not care about the consequences of his accusations as long as he tells the truth.

Amir Ghalenoei, again no stranger to controversy and clashes with referees and the media, was at it again after the derby match. When everyone was talking about How dour and boring the top clash of the league was between his team Esteghlal and Perspolis which ended in yet another goal-less draw, Ghalenoei opened fire on all fronts. One of the most interesting targets of his wrath was ‘Navad’ TV show. Ghalenoei said that Navad, which is by far the most popular on Iran IRIB network, and its presenter, Adel Ferdowsipour is the reason for Iran’s football ills and misfortunes! He also told the critics to go and analyze Team Melli if they dare a team which has not played a decent football at all since the takeover of Queiroz!, according to the ex-Team Melli coach. Ghalenoei bemoaned the fact that during his days of coaching Team Melli he was scorned and blasted by the media, similar thing happened to Daei , but no one is concerned with the current poor form of Team Melli.

Such rhetoric, outbursts and wild claims by the two of the most popular Iranian coaches, does not augur well for any of the two to be considered for Team Melli coaching job. When a coach and leader needs to maintain dignity, composure and grace under pressure, those two have shown very little of it and in a scene such as the World cup , where the whole world is watching ,  it could be truly embarrassing.

This brings us back to Carlos Queiroz. No one claims that Queiroz is perfect but right now he is the best man for the job. Any differences between him and the federation or the league need to be sorted out for the Portuguese to continue all the way to next summer’s world cup. He is tried and tested and compared to the options available from the domestic scene, he is well versed and has better self-control and composure. For the sake of a presentable and respectable Team Melli in the World Cup, it is vital that FFIRI does everything possible within reason and logic, to maintain Carlos Queiroz.  Whether the Portuguese man will endure the pressure is simply another question.