Month: April 2014

Iran’s Futsal starts Asian campaign with a convincing win.

Futsal Team Melli started its campaign to regain the Asian title by defeating Indonesia 5-1. The match played in Ho ch Minh city was in group B of the AFC Futsal Championship Vietnam 2014.

Team Melli started the match controlling the game as expected , but lack of concentration , brilliant goalkeeping by the Indonesian keeper, and a few wild shots, some from impossible angles, kept the Iranians at bay for initial part of the first half. While the match was progressing , Indonesian players grew in confidence and started matching Iran on attacks , although none of their players really threatened Alireza Samimi in goal.

Iran finally opened the scoring which was long due on minutes 8 when Hossein Tayebi beautifully scored with a half turn eventually beating the brilliant Indonesian keeper. Indonesia countered a minute later and created its most scoring chance  but the ball was cleared on the goal line by Iranian defense.

From then on Indonesia grew in confidence as the match worn on , looked more organized and adventured forward more often , leaving their defenses exposed. on  minute 15 Taheri misses an open goal , followed by Hassanzadeh who missed a sitter while Candelas was getting frustrated by now with the wasted opportunities by his players.

However , a minute later on 17th Farhad Tavakoli put Candleas mind at ease when he scored the 2nd from a nice long diagonal pass.

on 18rh minute Alireza Vafaei gets injured and as soon as the play resumes Tavakoli scored his second and Iran’s 3rd with some nice giggling work.

A minute late Hassanzadeh smashes in the roof of the net after a swift counter attack to make it 4-0 Iran could have added another  in the remaining minute but the half ended 4-0 for Team Melli.

The second half started similar to the first with Iran having much of the play and creating the chances while wasting them. And the inevitable happened when Indonesia scores it 1st goal on the 10th minute of the 2nd half.

Shafei scored Iran’s 5th when he was released to become one on one against the fast advancing Indonesian keeper. Shafei dribbled with ease to score in the open goal.

Iran first match ended with a convincing 5-1 win.
Iran’s next match will be against China on Friday at 16:00 Tehran time.

AFC Futsal C’ship 2014: Group B Preview

Published: 29 April 2014

Ho Chi Minh City: Coach Jesus Candelas insists Iran have their sights set on winning an 11th AFC Futsal Championship in Vietnam this month ahead of Wednesday’s Group B opener against Indonesia.

Iran are comfortably the most successful side in the history of the AFC Futsal Championship having won 10 of the first 11 editions, although they were forced to settle for third place in the United Arab Emirates two years ago after losing 5-4 after extra-time to Thailand in the semi-finals.

But ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with Indonesia at Ton Duc Thang University Stadium, Candelas is eyeing a return to winning ways after Japan claimed a second AFC Futsal Championship two years ago.

“Our objective is to do our best and take the cup. We should prepare well to do our best,” said Spanish coach Candelas.

“There is no pressure for us, it is a responsibility. We must try and relax when we are under pressure so we will not encounter stress.

“We are not looking at the past. We will concentrate on these players and put our focus on them.”

Indonesia finished bottom of their group two years ago after losing all three games which included a 5-2 defeat by China, although Andri Irawan’s side are boosted by reaching the semi-finals of the 2013 AFF Futsal Championship.

“It is a very tough group, but we believe we can go to the next round,” said Indonesia coach Irawan.

“We know Iran are the best team in Asia and also China and Australia are good. We will do our best and fight with these teams.”

Also at Ton Duc Thang University Stadium on Wednesday, 2014 semi-finalists Australia face China.

Two years ago in the UAE, Australia lost 3-0 to Japan in the semi-finals before suffering a 4-0 defeat by Iran in the third place play-off.

“We have prepared for nine weeks, one day per week with two sessions per day. I expect the team to perform as well as they can following the preparation. I hope the team gets through the first round,” said Australia coach Steven Knight.

“Iran are the strongest team in the group and I think the other teams are similar, so the opening match with China will be very difficult.”

China also featured in the 2012 edition, although they failed to reach the knockout stage after losing to Uzbekistan and Kuwait despite beginning their campaign with a win over Indonesia.

“We have not had the preparation we wanted as we had a short time to prepare, but it is the time we have had,” said China’s Portuguese coach Andre Lima.

“We know it will be difficult, as in my opinion, this is the strongest group and they will all be hard games. I hope my young team can improve and learn by the end of the tournament by getting more experience.

“Iran are favourites to win the championship, so Indonesia, Australia and China will fight for second place and all will be tough games.”

A close loss for Team Melli against Mamelodi Sundowns.

Johannesburg

Team Melli lost its third match in the South African camp 1-0 against Mamelodi Sundowns. The goal was scored on the half hour. Karim Ansarifard wasted a penalty kick in the match to Keep the South African league leader on top of the game.

Despite Queiroz men effort in the 2nd match , the players fired blanks and could not turn the match result around.

The match played on Tuesday and will be followed by a final practice match against another South African club , Mpumalanga Black Aces FC , which currently lies in 4th place in the table.

Queiroz has cancelled an international match against Mozambique which would have given the players some serious challenge in preparation for Nigeria. Queiroz has not offered any reason for this match cancellation despite his continual moaning about lack of teams available to play Team Melli. But when a Team is available and willing , Querioz cancels the match without offering any explanation.

Team Melli has played 3 match winning one, drawing the other and losing the third.

Only 4,350 tickets sold to Iranians for 3 World Cup matches!

Marketing committee of the Football Federation announced that only 4,350 tickets has been sold for Iran matches in the 2014 FIFA World Cup so far.

The figures are from the official source of online ticket purchase system by FIFA and for the 3 matches against Nigeria, Bosnia and Argentina. Mohammad Derakhshan , the committee spokesman said that of the total of 4,350 tickets 1,400 was sold for the first match against Nigeria, 1,700 for Argentina and 1,250 for the last match versus Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Derkhshan noted that these figures are for the matches where the ticket buyer has registered as being an Iranian nationality or purchased from electronic addresses in Iran. “There has to be lots of dual-nationality Iranians that have purchased tickets who registered their names and tickets according to their current country such as Canada and USA”

FIFA has previously announced that the Iran vs Bosnia-Herzegovina was the least sold tickets in the entire World Cup matches program.

 

Undercooked Iran face challenge to score goals and points

By Patrick Johnston

(Reuters) – Iran head to Brazil as Asia’s top-ranked nation but their hopes of reaching the knockout stages of a World Cup for the first time have been hampered by a lack of top class friendly opposition and a wave of negativity surrounding the team.

Since booking their spot in the finals by winning their Asian qualifying group last June, Iran, ranked No.1 in Asia and 37th in the world by FIFA, have only played one international friendly match against Guinea in Tehran, which they lost 2-1.

By contrast, Asian champions Japan have faced World Cup finalists Uruguay, Netherlands, Belgium and Ghana in friendlies, aiming to give their squad an experience of the task they will face In Brazil.

Iran’s Portuguese boss Carlos Queiroz bemoaned the situation, believed to be down to politics and finances, after the loss to Guinea, which drew withering criticism from a local media fed up with the sluggish performances of an aging team.

“We try our best, we have limited resources, we have some issues in our preparations but the federation make a lot of efforts to give the best to the players and the team,” Queiroz said at the Asian Cup draw in March.

“In the last three years despite all the difficulties, Iran has showed the number one most important thing in the soccer world – passion.

“If you have passion for the game, that is always a good starting point. with the passion of the players and the fans, we were able to qualify for the World Cup.”

The former Real Madrid and Portugal boss, who is expected to step down after the World Cup, tapped his contacts to help fix a training camp and warm-up matches in South Africa, whom he used to coach, and his homeland of Mozambique last month and the team will continue preparations in Austria in May.

There they will face Belarus, Montenegro and Angola before taking on Trinidad and Tobago in Sao Paulo eight days before their Group F opener against Nigeria in Curitiba on June 16.

Queiroz will hope the games can provide him with a chance to find a solution to their struggle for goals, which has led to him scouring the Iranian diaspora to help boost his defence-oriented side.

Team Melli managed only three goals in the first five games of their final Asian qualifying group before striker Reza “Gucci” Ghoochannejhad, who was born in Tehran but emigrated to Netherlands as a child, was found and fired the team to a fourth World Cup.

Although grouped with one of the tournament favorites Argentina, hopes were raised that they could advance to the last 16 for the first time after they were also drawn against Bosnia and Nigeria in an expected three-way battle for second place.

However, the task of adding to their sole World Cup finals victory over political foes the United States in 1998 looks beyond them.

“(We must) take this World Cup as a learning process, and that doesn’t mean that we go there for tourism. We go to Brazil to create a legacy and the legacy is to put the team in a good position to be stronger after the World Cup but better prepared and more experienced,” Queiroz said.

“No doubt since I arrived, there is great progress in the players, great progress in the team. There is a great potential in Iran, it is just a matter of putting things in the right place.

“Three years ago Iran was fourth or fifth in Asia and today is the number one country.”

Expect a cagey, counter-attacking approach in a brief Brazil appearance.

 

Nekounam has abundance of responsibility for Iran

(Reuters) – Playmaker, captain, penalty taker and free-kick specialist, Iran midfielder Javad Nekounam has an abundance of responsibility as Team Melli prepare for their fourth World Cup appearance.

The 33-year-old, though, has a wealth of experience to draw on having made more than 130 appearances for the three-times Asian champions since making his debut 14 years ago.

His abilities have not faltered with age as his six goals in the Asian qualifiers proved, with Iran topping their groups in both the third and fourth rounds to reach Brazil.

Composed on the ball with a strong passing game, Nekounam is the fulcrum of the Iranian team in his number six shirt and anchors the midfield from where he instigates swift counter-attacks.

He played in Iran’s opening two World Cup matches in Germany 2006 and although the team left without a win – following group defeats by Mexico and Portugal and a draw with Angola – he impressed enough to earn a contract with La Liga side Osasuna.

His transfer made him the first Iranian to play in Spain’s top flight where he spent six years scoring over 20 goals in close to 150 appearances.

His spell in Spain ended in 2012 and he returned home to Iran with Esteghlal, helping them to the Pro League title and the semi-finals of the Asian (AFC) Champions League.

His performances resulted in him being shortlisted for the AFC Player of the Year award but he missed out to China’s Zheng Zhi for the title.

He moved away from Esteghlal at the start of the year to join Kuwait SC where he has continued to add to his goal tally, albeit it at a weaker level.

With Iran drawn against Argentina, one of the tournament favorites in Group F, Nekounam will need to be at his best anchoring the defensive effort alongside Andranik Teymourian against a likely barrage of attacks.

He should get more of a chance to show his attacking threat in the opening match of their Brazilian campaign against Nigeria in Curitiba on June 16.

They then face Argentina, before facing Bosnia in their Group F finale with any hope of the team adding to their sole victory in the finals against old political foes the United States in 1998 resting on a strong showing from their skipper.

 

UHLSport “Queiroz has a personal vendetta against us”

The Regional Manager of the German sports goods manufacturer UHLSport GmbH, the provider of the official kit for Team Melli reacted strongly to the comments made by Carlos Queiroz against it.

Earlier in Navad program aired on Monday, the show anchor Adel Ferdowsipour established contact with Queiroz who was in Johannesburg, to discuss the progress of Team Melli preparation. Part of the grievances that Querioz had , and he had a whole lot of it , was the status of the kits provided by UHLSport for the camp particularly that there was only one track suite per player for the whole duration of the camp which is scheduled to last for 3 weeks.

After the conclusion of the interview with Queiroz , Ferdowsipour contacted Vahid Jaffary , the Regional Manager of UHLSport GmbH in Iran to seek his opinion on Queiroz allegations.

Jaffary responded by saying that he is surprised by Queiroz allegation , yet he should not be if we look back at the events of the past.

“We are legally bound by contracts, specifying the amount , the volume and number of kits to be provided also the quality. If there are any shortages , problems or discrepancies , then the supplier (UHLSport) should be contacted directly to resolve the problem if problems exists in the first place. This the civilized and professional way of dealing with such matters.”

“However, Carlos Queiroz comes on TV and accuses my company in public which is in real term a slander. Queiroz motives are personal. I don’t want to discuss the details of it , suffice to say that during negotiations for this contract with the football federation , Queiroz demanded a few things that were not acceptable to us and we turn them down. Since then , and after we won the contract and signed with the FFIRI, the coach of Team Melli took a stand against us by bad mouthing , complaining and trying to find any excuse to  ridicule our company.”

“Queiroz public display of opposition and personal vendetta started from the date we set up a ceremony to introduce the New World Cup kit. He did not attend the ceremony” Jaffary said.

 “I want one of the accountable mangers of the federation who countersigned the contract and come forward , even on TV , to say whether we have carried out our part of the deal or not. Let me tell you that we already have shipped 700 kgs worth of kit to Austria for the next camp. We have also said that we are ready to provide extra kits beyond the contract up to the World Cup.”

“The interesting part of this allegation is that Querioz’s request for kits , far exceeded the number of players in the squad”

On the other hand , ALi Kaffashian was taken by surprise by the Queiroz’s allegations against UHLSport. The head of the football federation said “I don’t know what Queiroz is complaining against , we have invested 3 billion tomans for the two camps in South Africa and Austria. We have to talk to him and find out what he meant by his statements.”

Kaffashian threatens to ban IRIB cameras from stadiums

Ali Kaffashian said that his federation will ban all the IRIB cameras from football stadiums, if the two sides cannot come up with an agreement on TV broadcast rights.

Kaffashian said “By the end of this season , the agreement with IRIB , the official and government owned broadcaster,will tome to an end. “We have talked to Zarghami (Head of IRIB) several times and told him about our intention to provide the State Run TV , an exclusive right of covering Iranian domestic football for a contract worth 160 billion toman ( Approx US$ 62,713,100 )” US total . If we do not reach an agreement , we will stop them broadcasting and covering matches. We are sticking to this contract , but we will give them a leeway by providing some discount !”

Currently , football federation receives a minute figure for the TV stations which broadcast the league and the Team Melli matches to the public.

There is no privately run TV stations in Iran and the failure to strike a deal with State Run IRIB means that there is no other choices but to have a TV football black out. Kaffashian and his administration are trying to provide a deal with the broadcasters on par with FIFA guidelines

“This Camp is a complete failure” Queiroz

Carlos Queiroz said the South Africa Training Camp was a total failure because of lack of players.

The statement comes only a day after Ali Kaffashian announced to the press that the Training camp is going well and achieving its objective !

The head coach of Team Melli , in a TV interview , continued his line of denunciation against those who have not supported Team Melli directly accusing Sepahan Esfahan and Esteghlal clubs of  ignoring the Minster of Youth & Sport wishes, destructing Team Melli program and creating complications for the squad.

Queiroz added “with such arrangement and program failures, don’t expect much from Team Melli in Brazil. We will not make it to the next round because of the failure of the South Africa Camp!”

Queiroz went on about how he arranged the preparation program for Team Melli  including this camp from 12 months ago, “ it was not only me who planned it , but I had a inputs from others in the program.”

Asked if the decision to set up the camp was his decision or other personnel influenced it, Queiroz said “it was a decision made by the Minster of Youth & Sport and the head of the football federation to go ahead with the camp. I am only a coach here (..), so all those who disregarded the instructions and refused to release the players ( meaning the two clubs Sepahan and Esteghlal) have actually disrespected the minister ! Even up to our departure time, we did not know if those players will be joining us or not.”

For the record, both Sepahan and Esteghlal have confirmed several times publicly and to the federation in writing, that they will not be releasing their players to Team Melli as long as they are involved in official competitions.

“This training camp was vital for the team’s prospect. We came here to prepare the players to play against African Teams. I did not come here for leisure I have never promised anything, the only promise I give is that I will work hard.”

Despite having 23 players at his disposal in Johannesburg, Queiroz said “We are missing key players and that affects our preparation.” The only non-European player missing is Javad Nekounam while Queiroz elected to ignore Sepahan players except for the goalkeeper Rahman Ahmadi .

Queiroz then went on complaining about UHLSport the official kits provider for providing only one set of track suites for players for three weeks. “We paid US$ 30,000 for our excess baggage, we could have bought more kits for our player’s training instead.”

Asked if there will be additional domestic players added to Team Melli current list, Queiroz firmly rejected that, hence closing the door in the face of Rahmati and Aghili the two outcasts, for good. However, he indicated that some new faces from Europe might be added!

Queiroz concluded that he is a “Positive person”

“I am sorry if I sound negative and despondent, but if I do not say these things, then we will not get any support for Team Melli.”

Candelas admits possible error of judgment on missing players.

On the eve of Futsal Team Melli travel to Vietnam, Jesus Candelas talked to the press about his team, the championship and missing players.

In a very rare case for a coach in  Iran’s, and certainly by futsal/football coaches , Candelas admitted that not inviting Nazari and Keshavarz to Team Melli  could turn out to be an error of judgment from his side!

Candelas expressed his satisfaction with the training camp and the preparation matches played in Tashkent and Moscow which helped him to identify some weakness points, fill some gaps and rearrange the team in preparation for the AFC Futsal Championship in Vietnam. Candelas said that Keshavarz , the Team Captain was recovering from slight injury. “I made a decision to take him along with us to Uzbekistan to complete his recovery with the team. In hindsight, I should admit that this might not have been the best decision as far as Keshavarz was concerned, but I must commend him for his effort and perseverance during the trip.” Candelas said

On the reasons why the famous goalkeeper Mostafa Nazari was not invited to the team, Candelas said “I try to do my job within a specific framework and criteria. I have to say that the decision made on both Keshavarz and Nazari were difficult ones. I also do not want to say that it was definitely the right decision, but from the angles I was looking at , I came up with such decision which I thought it was right at the time based purely on technical issues. The question now is not about inviting them or not which was taken on technical merits. Of course, we could have had other consideration when taking the final decision, in any case I think we have a strong squad capable of challenging for the title.”

Asked about Keshavarz statement yesterday, where he said that he was disrespected and hence he will temporary announce his retirement from the team , Candelas preferred not to comment on the issue on the eve of his team’s departure. However , he emphasized that both Keshavarz and Nazari are quality players and while he is around, Team Melli’s doors will always be open for them. “I have no problem at all inviting them again for the next tournament or matches that we have to play. Right now , my focus is on the AFC Futsal Championship and I will leave it at that”

Futsal Team Melli will play Australia, Indonesia and China in Group C of the 2014 AFC Futsal Championship starting on 30t April in Ho Che Min City , Vietnam.