Category: AFC Asian Cup 2015

The reasons behind Carlos Queiroz popularity.

Some would argue against it , but Carlos Queiroz has won the approval of many Iranian football fans in his 4 years at the helm.

 Despite Iran  being knockout of the quarter finals of AFC Asian Cup 2015, despite the paltry showing in the FIFA World Cup 2014 , despite his team performing a dull defensive style lacking in finesse and the beauty of the game, and despite his team lacking creative players or stars , Carlos Queiroz remains a popular figure amongst the fans.

There could be quite a few reasons behind this popularity. Normally, a football coach who does not win anything of significance or championship titles does not endear himself to the fans and neither does he become popular. In Queiroz’s case, there are a few elements that defy the theories of popularity.

There are diverse reasons for him to remain popular in Iran and not all sides agree on the real reasons, while some even question that he is actually a popular coach.

Cynics point to the low level of Iranian fans aspirations and ceiling of expectations as one reason for the level of approval of Queiroz. A country that has won no Asian Cup at all since 1976 habitually becomes conditioned to failures and disappointments, some critics claim. “The Iranian football fans have grown accustomed to hearing bad news and Team Melli under achieving. They get used to it while they look for fulfillment elsewhere like in a player or a coach that they can brag about.” Said a former player and a current coach who wished to remain anonymous. “When expected to but fail to win titles and fall short, the fans develop immunity against failure and get used to it. It is not a big shock anymore after a few disappointments”

This brings us to the case of Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger, where the Portuguese coach of Chelsea said that “he (Wenger) is used to failure.” Implying that a defeat is a normal event for Arsenal!

Another theory in the case of Queiroz popularity is the fact that Iranian fans are growing tired and despondent of their own coaches and their antics. The likes of Mayeli-Kohan, Daei , Ghalenoei and others have not reflected a good image of Iranian coaches as professionals and as genuine characters. For ever complaining, blaming earth and sky for their failures and lacking grace in defeat, Iranian coaches have also been blamed for major failures at club and Team Melli levels. As such, suddenly a foreigner becomes popular because he is confronting the domestic coaches. That is regrettably a sad reflection on the local coaches’ stature in Iran.

Being a famous  high profile coach, who once coached the likes of Critiano Ronaldo, helps his popularity too.

 What can the Iranian coaches learn from Queiroz ? Not his tactics for sure nor his defensive mentality, however Carlos Querioz has a lot to offer for some of the local coaches. Tactical discipline on the field and character discipline off it, is one such virtue. Playing to your team’s strength, the will power to win difficult matches, not falling for player’s power and invincibility of some star players. There are several good qualities that Queiroz has which could be beneficial for the Iranian coaches.

While admittedly not a 5 star coach with exemplary behavior on and off the field, after all the Portuguese has an almost tyrannical attitude with zero tolerance for criticism, his good qualities has helped his popularity. If ever the egos of the local coaches allowed, they can improve themselves too

Ben Williams removed from refereeing a match in Iran.

Benjamin Williams, the controversial Australian referee has been stopped by AFC from removed as the referee of an official scheduled match in Iran.

Williams was supposed to be the referee of Foolad Khuzestan vs.  Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia in the upcoming AFC Champions League match, but after the events of the Iran vs. Iraq match in Asian Cup 2015, the AFC has decided against sending the Australian to Iran.

Williams dismissed Iran’s left back Mehrdad Pooladi after two bookings for two innocuous offenses, both of which were controversial to say the least. The second booking was a flagrant carriage of injustice as seen by many independent observers. That dismissal meant Team Melli playing with 10 men for one entire half.

The AFC like FIFA, never admits to refereeing mistaken nor does it condemn them publicly. However, they do covertly suspend or discipline referees in rare cases where refereeing decision raises much controversy or strong protests. Ben Williams is a prime candidate for dismissal from the tournament after refereeing 3 matches in which he was error prone and whistle happy. Being an Australian has definitely saved his skin in this tournament, despite the fact that many of his compatriot media personalities have spoken against his decisions. Williams was not allocated any matches after the quarter finals and that controversial Iran vs. Iraq match.

Iran’s Alireza Faghani will referee the final match while Bahrain’s Nawaf Shukrallah will referee the playoff match. The two along with Rashvan Irmatov of Uzbekistan are considered to be Asia’s top 3 referees.

Alireza Faghani 3 IRN

Alireza Faghani selected for the AFC Asian Cup final.

The Iranian Alireza Faghani (photo) has been selected to officiate the 2015 Asian Cup Final between Korea Republic and Australia in Sydney, Australia.

The 36-year-old referee will be assisted by his compatriots Reza Sokhandan and Mohammadreza  Abolfazli in the match which will be played at the Stadium Australia. Fahad Al Mirdasi from Saudi Arabia will be the fourth official. After having been a reserve referee at 2011 Asian Cup and also at 2014 FIFA WC, Faghani has already officiated three group stage matches and a quarterfinal in this edition. Thus, this will be his fifth  apperance.

Nawaf Shukralla from Bahrain has been appointed to oversee the Third Place match, between Iraq and UA Emirates, to be played on 30 January in Newcastle at Newcastle Stadium. He will be assisted by his compatriots Yeaser Tulefat and Ebrahim Saleh, with Australian Benjamin Williams as fourth official.

Faghani has been consistently the best referee in Iran since the retirement of Moradi.

 

The future of Queiroz with Team Melli is dependent on haggling skills!

After the arrival of Team Melli from Australia, Ali Kaffashian who was in the airport to greet the team and warmly embraced Queiroz, did not waste much time to open the re-negotiations.

Kaffashian has previously announced that the renewal of Queiroz contract beyond the AFC Asian Cup was conditional on the results achieved at the competition. No further details were provided nor were an achievement target announced.

The word amongst some senior players of Team Melli and insiders indicate that Ali Kaffashian , forever satisfied with Carlos Queiroz, is ready to offer the Portuguese and extension of contract , but with a different remuneration package.

The President of the football federation, Ali Kaffashian will use his hardcore skill in bargaining and haggling, to lower Queiroz salary alleged to be the 4th highest in the world by a National Team Manager.  What is certain is that Queiroz will be experience a repeat of the long and winding negotiations of last summer when the two sides eventually agreed on the terms of a new contract, ostensibly conditional on the progress of Team Melli in Australia.

Carlos Queiroz will have a valuable bargaining chip up his sleeve this time with the approval of many fans and experts after the Asian Cup. Whether the team coming away from Australia empty handed is good enough for the football federation is another story. There was no target for Queiroz to achieve at the Asian Cup, at least not publicly. However, reading between the lines of what Kaffashian has stated, he was not required to win the title. That said, the fact that this team did not lose any match, would be a strong point for Queiroz case.  Now the Portuguese needs to practice his own bargaining skills against the masters.

News leaks: AFC awarded UAE the hosting of Asian Cup 2019.

In Sydney , sources have leaked news that the AFC has already decided on the next hosting of the AFC Asian Cup 2019. Two countries have been shortlisted for the hosting, Iran and UAE. Both sides have claimed the support of the majority of the voting associations, but AFC has not indicated anything so far to put some light on the selected host nation. However, the news leak indicates that UAE has a lead on Iran and will be announced as the host in unspecified date.

Most of the work by the inspection teams and their reports are already completed.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said a date had not been set for a decision on whether Iran or United Arab Emirates would host the 24-team showpiece event.

“Probably in 2015, by next year we will decide,” the Bahraini royal told reporters in the last AFC gathering in Manila on late November.

Asked if the decision would be made at the AFC’s Congress in January prior to the 16-team Asian Cup, he added: “No. Some time in the middle of the year.”

The UAE are favorites to add yet another sporting event to their resume as hosts, but the Iranian bid claimed to receive support from FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who visited Tehran last year.

Shaikh Salman said he had no preference.

“No we will leave that to the people taking that responsibility. They have to analyze them and bring it to the ex-co so we can decide.”

Hosting the event involves high cost and limits the number of AFC members who can realistically stage it. Australia were the only bidders for the 2015 event and 11 ‘interested’ bids for 2019 quickly became two.

Meanwhile , Australia defeated UAE 2-0 in the second semifinals of the AFC Asian Cup 2015 in Newcastle to set a date with their nemesis South Korea on Saturday for the penultimate match of the competition.

South Korea and Australia have already met in the group stages , with the Koreans narrowly beating the host 1 – 0.

Derakhshan fires back at Queiroz.

Hamid Derakhshan , the head coach of Persepolis blasted Carlos Queiroz latest statements about him and Amir Ghalenoei , the Esteghlal coach.

In a short statement after the Perespolis team training in front of a large number of keen journalists awaiting his reaction to the verbal onslaught of Queiroz, Derakhsan who was clearly upset by the subject and wanted to refrain from commenting in the first place, was suddenly fired up and severally derided the Portuguese coach for what he called “Dishonorable rant”.

Persepolis coach said “this man ( Queiroz) is constantly telling us and reminding everybody that the referee was the reason behind Team Melli’s defeat. If we are to talk about refereeing mistakes, then what about that Uzbekistan game when the ball clearly passed Team Melli goal line but the referee did not see it? How come the referee was not the reason for Team Melli’s winning in that match? Your are looking for escape goats and culprits to justify the elimination Team Melli and conveniently found Amr Ghalenoei and Hamid Derkhshan as lucrative targets. These are unjustified feeble excuses you are offering.”

Derakhshan referring to the high wages of Team Melli coach said “ He is the world’s third or fourth most expensive coach. But I ask you all, what did he achieve for our football? The players that he has at his disposal are the end result of our hard work in the domestic league, the work of club coaches; it is not the product of Queiroz that he has brought from his home. What did you have up your sleeve for this nation’s football?  Have you developed this football to a world class standard, for instances? Have you introduce and played a beautiful football?”

Hamid Derakhshan then pointed to the past history of Queiroz and said “ The guy comes and publicly tarnish our image and insult us by referring to past events. I want to ask Mr. Queiroz, what about your own record and background? Mr. Queiroz your records are clear and everyone knows that the Real Madrid has kicked you out only after eight weeks in the job. A Portuguese player under you was busted on doping charges, and subsequently you were fired because of it. And there are other events. Now you are coming over here to teach us our destiny? Our football is bigger than people like you, and you do not have the rights to decide for us.”

Queiroz has singled out Derekhshan and Ghalenoei for special censure and accused them of being forces behind weakening of Team Melli spirit. The coach of Team Melli , said , both these two should have no place in Iran’s football ! Amir Ghalenoei , refrained from responding yesterday but said a special communique will be issued by him to refute Queiroz in the next few days.

 Team Melli will be arriving in Tehran on Monday.

Why Iran’s bid to oust Iraq from Asian Cup failed?

From the evidence and documents that the Iranians provided to the AFC and prior to that to FIFA , much of it was seen by journalists , It seems that there is a genuine doping case with verified positive test results . Al’a AbdulZahra the 27-year-old Iraqi player was tested positive for banned stimulant methylhexaneamine, not only by the Iranian Doping commission, but also verified by a WADA-approved laboratory in Cologne, Germany.

By the time that the Cologne report was back, Al’a AbdulZahra abruptly left Tabriz under mysterious circumstances. His two years contract was cancelled by Tractorsazi. As such , the Iranian authorities and FFIRI , no longer had any jurisdiction on the Iraqi player who popped up in Baghdad ,  playing for the Police Club (Al Shorta).

According to the Iranian officials, the report and doping lab results on AbdulZahra was submitted to FIFA on September 2014 as mandated by the Games ruling body, and they left it at that.

FIFA did promised to  act,  but did not respond, verify or query the Iranian documents any further, according to the Iranian side, until the FFIRI once again contacted FIFA and demanded a response on January 21st , 2015. The trail ends there as no one has seen any official response from FIFA.

There is very little doubt, if any, that AbdulZahra should be suspended according to the rules. However, suspension must be announced after investigations and a verdict from the ruling body , in this case FIFA. Those in corridors of power in FIFA failed to act and for that reason only, the case of Iran against Abdul Zahra was doomed to fail.  The Iraq FA and the coach would not voluntarily suspend a valuable player unless there is a document and a ruling by FIFA or AFC. As long as there is nothing official, there is no case to answer.

AFC on the other hand, cannot overturn the result simply because there is no ruling. However , given all the documents and the doping results verified by approved WADA lab in Germany and still insisting that  Abdul Zahra is clear to play the next match, leaves major questions unanswered about the legitimacy of this issue. We suspect that those in power in AFC know a few things about the law and would not act arbitrarily. AFC has not issued any communique regarding the subject (up to the time of writing this report) and no explanation was provided on reasons for rejection of Iran’s case. There has to be genuine reasons for it , that the  Iranians officials have probably been informed about by AFC but it is not publicized yet.

In any case, these was serious doubt that Iraq would be thrown out from the moment that this issues was raised. We find that if there is a case, it is between FFIRI and FIFA , not with AFC or the AFC Asian Cup organizers.

AFC rejects Iran doping claims.

Sydney (AFP) – Iran‘s protest that Iraq fielded an ineligible player in their stormy Asian Cup quarter-final was shot down following lengthy deliberation by tournament organisers on Sunday.

Iran lodged a formal complaint, claiming that midfielder Alaa Abdulzehra failed a drugs test while playing for an Iranian club last year, but it was rejected by the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) disciplinary committee.

“It’s rejected, they said this player can carry on and play,” Iranian delegation head Houshang Moghaddas told AFP. “Iraq tomorrow can play … tomorrow morning we fly (home),” he added.

An AFC statement released later said that the protest was “unfounded”, without giving further details.

The decision follows several hours of closed-door talks in Sydney with Iraqi and Iranian delegates both giving evidence to the AFC’s disciplinary committee.

It means 2007 champions Iraq, who won Friday’s combustible match on penalties, are free to contest their semi-final against South Korea on Monday.

Iraqi coach Radhi Shenaishil insisted the 11th-hour protest had not distracted his team as they made final preparations for the last-four clash in Sydney.

“The objection has been officially closed and the subject is closed from our side,” he told reporters at Stadium Australia. “We have nothing to add. The (protest) from the Iran team is something they created and hasn’t affected us at all for tomorrow’s match.”

The AFC’s decision also avoids the messy scenario of throwing out Iraq and reinstating Iran, which would probably also have meant rescheduling the semi-final.

Iran’s protest centred on their claim that Adulzehra, now playing for Iraq’s Al Shorta, failed a drugs test while at Iranian club side Tractor Sazi last year.

According to documents seen by AFP, the 27-year-old tested positive for banned stimulant methylhexaneamine, in results that were verified by a WADA-approved laboratory in Cologne.

In an email exchange dated last September, world football body FIFA promised to take action but there is no record of a suspension for Abdulzehra.

Iranian officials raised the matter again with FIFA on January 21, the day after Iraq qualified for a quarter-final with their fierce rivals by finishing second in Group D.

Moghaddas said he was bitterly disappointed by the result of the Iran’s appeal, which confirms the departure of the three-time champions.

“The AFC are supporting players who are doping, who are using drugs and playing,” he said. “I don’t accept this kind of decision. I refuse.”

A spokesman for the Iraqi team was dismissive of the Iranian appeal, which prompted them to change their flights to await the verdict.

“Let them stay here as much as they want,” the Iraqi official told AFP.

Iraq won Friday’s spicy encounter against their neighbours and bitter rivals 7-6 on penalties after Iran were reduced to 10 men and extra time finished with the scores at 3-3.

Recriminations started immediately after the match when Iran coach Carlos Queiroz complained bitterly about the referee’s decision to send off one of his players for simulation.

Mark Bosnich blasted referee Ben Williams

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Former Australia goalkeeper Mark Bosnich blasted referee Ben Williams for wrongly booking Mehrdad Pooladi during Iran and Iraq match in the AFC Asian Cup quarter-final. 
 
Pooladi was shown the red card by Australian referee after being booked twice. 
 
Television replays showed that Pooladi should not have been awarded his second yellow card. 
 
The match went to penalties after the two Middle Eastern rivals finished all square at 3-3 at the end of extra-time. Team Iran lost to Iraqi football team 7-6 on the penalty shootout. 
 
In an Australian TV analysis, Bosnich heavily criticized the performance of Williams during Iran’s exit of the Asian Cup.
 
“He gives a booking for nothing. The boy goes down but to send him off like this is absolutely ridiculous”, Bosnich said.
 
Socceroos legend John Aloisi also expressed his dissatisfaction as well. 
 
“Top referees would go to the players and warn him that if anything happens again, you will get sent off. It’s a massive robbery in the quarter-final and he killed the game”.
 
“Always praise Williams and he will not be against you. Queiroz criticized him after the Bahrain match in the group stage and he has hold a grudge against Iran and especially against Queiroz,” Aloisi added. 

Queiroz slams Iranian coaches.

After exiting the Asian cup in a penalty shootout, Carlos Queiroz talked to the press and expressed his disappointment and regrets about many issues surrounding Iranian football but reserved his most venomous attacks on two of the Iran’s top club coaches, according to Mehrnews.

Amir Ghalenoei , head coach of Esteghlal and Hamid Derakhshan , head coach of Persepolis , the two clubs combined that have the lion share of Iranian fans, where singled out by Querioz as saboteurs !

The tongue lashing started with Ghalenoei whom Querioz accused of back stabbing. “He promised me that he will release Esteghlal players and fully cooperate with Team Melli program, but when the time arrived for the release, he refused and started giving excuses.” Queiroz said about Esteghlal and former Team Melli coach Amir Ghalenoei.

“Look how he treated Nekounam and Teymourian , both of whom are pillars of Team Melli. Ghalebnoei , in essence , was leading a campaign to destroy the morale of Team Melli players.” Queiroz added.

Amir Ghalenoei

The Portuguese coach, earmarked Hamid Derekhshan for  special ridicule and Sarcasm ” What does a coach of 17 years old team , who has faked the birthdays of some of his player and was busted for it, know about football and Team Melli? All he achieved was shame and dishonor for Iran as a country and for the football federation that received a 4 years ban from youth competition because of Derakhshan cheating.”

Queiroz also recapped some of Derekhshan’s history “As a player, he does not have a clean sheet either. He has a record of misdemeanor and dishonorable acts, including his mutiny on Team Melli with some 13 other players who revolted against the late Team Melli coach Parviz Dehdari. What virtue does he holds to start criticizing us? ”

Amir Ghalenoei has been one of chief antagonists of Queiroz and repeatedly criticized him for long stoppage of the league program. Derkhshan, although publicly saying that the long break because of Team Melli is in the benefit of his struggling Persepolis, he has been known to criticize Queiroz on players’ selection and other tactical issues.

Somewhow, we think that this is not the end of the story. Niether of the coaches will take these lightly, especially Ghalenoei who has already filed a slander case against Nekounam in court. The hearing was adjourned until after the Asian Cup.