Category: News

Afghan players leaving the pitch

Worst Possible Start for CAFA Nations Cup 2023

The inaugural CAF Nation Cup got to the worst possible start in the first match of the 7 teams tournament between host Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan on Saturday when an official from the Afghan team forced his players to leave the pitch in protest at the goal Kyrgyzstan scored in the dying seconds of the match at minute 97.

After the goal, which seemed to be legitimate, the unruly official, possibly one of the coaches, entered the pitch and signaled that the ball was handled by Kyrgyzstan’s forward before scoring. Afghanistan players were ushered out by that official despite the fact that there were no strong protests from the Afghani players themselves, who played a respectable game until that time.

The host team found it difficult to penetrate the Afghan defenses who were quite solid at the back. They withstood the home team’s attacks until the 97th minute when a momentary lapse of concentration allowed the Kyrgyzstan forward to grab a loose ball in front of the Afghan center-back and beat the keeper. However, that zealot of an official had other ideas and was intent to spoil it for everyone. He accused the referee by signaling that he received money, shoved a few people around here including his own players, and then sarcastically clapped for the Kyrgyzstan players.

Leaving the pitch is an archaic act that you never see in football nowadays, but Afghanistan seems to be way out of touch with modern football realities. The referee and Kyrgyzstan team waited for the required legal time for the Afghan team to return for the restart. The match was called off after the failure of Afghanistan to honor their commitment.


In normal circumstances as per FIFA’s Laws of the Game, if a team leaves the pitch not completing a match in protest in an official soccer game, the opposing team is awarded a 3-0 victory 

In addition to that, some tournament rules void all other match results and expel the team from the tournament. Afghanistan is facing possible expulsion from CAFA Nations Cup 2023

In this scenario, Team Melli will not be facing Afghanistan on the 13th of June as scheduled and will instead play the host on the 16th.

Match line up

Kyrgyzstan

#1 Erzhan Tokotaev; #10 Mirlan Murzaev , #3 Tamirlan Kozubaev , #4 Khristiian Brauzman, #8 Farkhat Musabekov, #11 Bekzkhan Sagynbaev, #12 Odilzhon A., #18 Kairat Zhyrgalbek Uulu, #23 Erbol Atabaev, #24 Eldar Moldozhunusov, #25 Atai Dzhumashev

SUBS
7 Rustamov
5 Akmatov
9 Batyrkanov
Duishobekov

AFGHANISTAN

#1 Faisal Ahmad Hamid, #4 Mahboob Hanifi, #3 Amanullah Dardari, #3 Hussain Alizadeh, #5 Farzad Ataei, #10 Mohammad Noman, #12 Moshtaq Baset, #15 Yar Mohammad Zakarkhil, #16 Taufee Skandari, #7 Yama Sherzad, #18 Amiruddin Sharifi

SUBS
20 Fareed
11 Hussain

Ghalenoei announces final list to CAFA Nations Cup 2023

Amir Ghalenoei finalized the list of 24 players selected for the squad taking part in the inaugural CAFA Nations Cup in Kyrgyzstan.

It seems that Ghalenoei is going into the tournament with a full-strength team, despite some speculation that the new head coach might give the main player some rest after the end of the season. However, since the Asian Cup will be six months away and Ghalenoei really needs to look at the key players, he opted to select the full squad and familiarize himself with the players and vice versa. It sounds like a good and wise move by Ghalenoei.

There are some notable absentees in this team like Ali Ghlozadeh, Saman Ghoddos, Milad Mohammadi,  Ahmad Noorolahi, and Shojaá Khalilzadeh.  The last two are on the injured list and could not play in the tournament.

The team also includes 3 new names in Goalkeeper, Hossein Pourhamidi, Saeed Mehri, and Alireza Alizadeh. The list also sees the return of Shehab Zahedi and Mehdi Ghaedi.

Iran squad to cafa nations cup 2023

Hossein Pourhamidi
Alireza Beiranvand
Payam Niazmand
Hossein Pouhamidi
Ehsan Hajsafi
Morteza Pouraliganji
Majid Hosseini
Hossein Kanaanizadegan
Sadegh Moharrami
Ramin Rezaeian
Saeed Ezzatollahi
Rozbeh Cheshmi
Mohammad Karimi
Saeed Mehri
Omid Nourafkan
Mohammad Karimi
Mehdi Torabi
Amir Hossein HOSSEINZADEH,
Mehdi Ghaedi
Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh
Alireza Jahanbakhsh
Vahid Amiri
Mohammad Mohebbi
Reza Asadi
Alireza Alizadeh
Shahab Zahedi
Sardar Azmoun
Mehdi Tarimi

Ghalenoei continues the preparation of Team Melli. Antonio Manicone introduced.

Team Melli head coach is actively working with the incomplete squad ahead of the upcoming CAFA Nations Cup 2023 in the Kyrgyz Republic. Meanwhile, today, the Italian coach Antonio Manicone was introduced to the players as a new member of the national team’s coaching staff.

Referring to Manicone ‘s records, Amir Ghalenoei wished him and other members of the national team success in the upcoming mission. The Italian officially commenced his duty in Iran’s national team today. The 56-year-old coach has experience working in different teams in his career. Anthony Manicone; was born on October 27, 1966. He started his professional career with Internazionale and played for other Italian teams like Udinese, Genoa, and Perugia. He also made one appearance for the Italian national team in 1993.

The newest addition to the Team Melli coaching staff, served for seven years on the technical staff of the Swiss national team, being on the Iranian national team is his second national coaching experience.

Italian coach Antonio Manicone is to be appointed as an assistant coach with Ghalenoei.

Petkovic’s former assistant on the Lazio, Switzerland and Bordeaux bench is expected to assist Amir Ghalenoei in Team Melli

Together with Petkovic

(Keystone)

June 3, 2023

According to reports in the Iranian media, Antonio Manicone is about to join the coaching staff of Team Melli, as an assistant to Amir Ghalenoei. The FFIRI has already confirmed its intention in fact confirmed its intention to hire a foreign assistant without naming anyone specific.

The 56-year-old Italian was assistant to Vladimir Petkovic on the benches of Lazio, the Swiss national team, and Bordeaux. As a player, he wore the shirts of Inter, Palermo, Genoa, and Perugia.

Currently, there are three Iranian assistant coaches helping Amir Ghalenoei, Andranik Teymourian, Hamid Mottahari, and Rahman Rezaei while Miguel Teixeira is the only non-Iranian assistant on the bench.

Ghalenoei announces the initial squad for CAFA Championship 2023

In preparation for the inaugural Central Asian Football Association championship in Kyrgyzstan, Amir Ghalenoei, the head coach of Team Melli, has selected an initial list of 24 players who will form the initial squad with the group scheduled to start a mini camp on Sunday.

The players invited to the camp are :

Payam Niazmand (Sepahan), Mohammad Reza Akhbari (Tractor), Hossein Pourhamidi (Aluminum)

Ehsan Haj Safi (A.K. Athens, Greece), Mohammad Naderi (Altaispor, Turkey), Ehsan Hosseini (Arak Aluminum), Mohammad Daneshgar (Sepahan), Hossein Kananizadegan (Al Ahli Qatar), Arif Agassi (Foolad Khuzestan), Amir Mehdi Janmelki (Nasiji Mazandarane), Mehdi Tikdari (Gol Gohar Sirjan), Ramin Rezaian (Sepahan) Gholamreza Thabit Imani (Peykan), Alireza Alizadeh (Gol Gohar Sirjan), Omid Nourafken (Sepahan),

Mohammad Karimi (Sepahan), Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh (Charloei, Belgium), Mehran Ahmadi (Malavan), Mohammad Javad Mohammadi (Hawadar), Shahab Zahedi (Puscas), Mehdi Memizadeh (Sanat Naft Abadan), Mohammad Ghanbari (Tractor), Mohammad Reza Azadi (Arak Aluminum) and Reza Asadi (Tractor)

These players are to introduce themselves to the national team’s coaching staff on Sunday, June 4th. Also, the selected players from Esteghlal and Persepolis along with Mehdi Taremi, Saeed Ezzatollahi, Sadegh Moharrami, Sardar Azmoun, and Majid Hosseini will be added to the national team after the end of the mini camp due to the late ending of the season for those players.

A specific training program will be considered for the aforementioned players during the rest period at the end of the season. Allahyar Sayadmanesh is absent from this camp due to a marriage ceremony outside Iran and with the permission of the head coach and will be added to the camp in the next stage based on the opinion of the head coach of the national team. Shoja Khalilzadeh and Ahmad Nourollahi are both suffering injuries and will be dealt with by the medical staff of the national team with a decision to be made about them before the trip to Kyrgyzstan.

Team Melli’s CAFA Nations Cup 2023 matches

13 June 2023
20:00
Iran  v  Afghanistan
    Dolen Omurzakov StadiumBishkek
 

16 June 2023
20:00
Kyrgyzstan  v  Iran
    Dolen Omurzakov StadiumBishkek
 

Mehdi Taremi claims top scorer title while Porto loses the league title to Benfica.

Team Melli and FC Porto forward, Mehdi Taremi claimed his first top-scorer title in one of the top Europe leagues to become the third Iranian after Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Sardar Azmoun winning such accolades in the Eredivisie and Russuan premiere leagues respectively. Taremi ended the season 2022/23 with 22 goals, 3 more than second-place Goncalco Ramos of Benfica.

Meanwhile, FC Porto have failed in their defense of the Primeira Liga title after Benfica’s home win versus Santa Clara secured the championship, this Saturday, despite the Dragons’ 3-0 triumph at home to Vitória.

Sérgio Conceição’s men were in need of a huge favor from bottom-of-the-table Santa Clara in order to leapfrog Benfica at the top of the table, as Vitória came to town.

Porto held up their end of the bargain with a 3-0 victory, complete with goals from Mehdi Taremi, Otávio, and Evanilson, but an equally-proficient night in front of goal for the Eagles meant the Blue & Whites were kept at bay, trailing top-spot by two points on the final day of the season.

Conceição pulled up no surprises with his XI at the Estádio do Dragão, filled to the brim with hopefuls roaring their team on to a potential back-to-back conquest of the Primeira Liga title. Things began to look very favorable for the Northern giants after their regional heavyweights Vitória found themselves reduced to ten men just two minutes in, following Tomás Händel’s red card for a poor challenge on Matheus Uribe.

Just five minutes later, an incredible run on the counter from Pepê enabled the Brazilian to set Taremi up for the opener, with the Iranian requiring little more than a side-foot toward the goal to break the deadlock.

Unfortunately for the Dragons, the Eagles had also taken the lead via Gonçalo Ramos before doubling their advantage through Rafa Silva, just as Otávio’s strike across goal landed a second blow to Vitória in the 32nd minute.

In the 39th minute, Evanilson made it 3-0 with a classy finish on the half-volley, adding comfort to the scoreline before the half-time interval.

For the second half, the protagonists were the same but the intensity wasn’t quite at the levels demonstrated in the first period, with Vitória holding back Porto’s waning forcefulness and appetite.

The Primeira Liga’s top scorer Taremi neared a brace in the 67th minute with a chipped attempt on Bruno Varela, stopped by the ex-Benfica man before Ibrahima Bamba’s risqué clearance off the line, using his shoulder.

Porto left it a 3-0 – a score matched by Benfica at the Estádio da Luz – as the Dragons bowed out to a second-placed finish behind their bitter rivals, lifting the title for the first time in four years.

 

MEHDI TAREMI SCORING RECORD IN PORTUGAL

 

Season Team Comp Minutes played Appearances Lineups Substitute in Substitute out Substitutes on bench Goal Yellow card Yellow 2nd/RC Red card
2022/2023 Porto PRL 2636 33 31 2 22 2 22 7 0 0
2021/2022 Porto PRL 2434 32 27 5 13 5 20 4 1 0
2020/2021 Porto PRL 2226 34 26 8 20 8 16 1 0 1
2019/2020 Rio Ave PRL 2352 30 26 4 11 4 18 2 0 1

Draw for AFC U23 Championship held.

Kuala Lumpur: The draw for the AFC U23 Asian Cup™ Qatar 2024 Qualifiers was finalized at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Thursday.
The hopefuls were divided into 11 groups – 10 groups of four teams each, with the last group containing three. Qatar, meanwhile, will play in the Qualifiers for exposure with their matches classified as friendlies.
To be played from September 4 to 12 this year, Group A of the Qualifiers will have hosts Jordan, Syria, Oman, and Brunei Darussalam vying for the sole automatic ticket to the Finals.
Group B will see 2020 champions Korea Republic (H), Myanmar, Kyrgyz Republic, and Qatar contesting with Vietnam (H), Singapore, Yemen, and Guam in the Group C cast.
Japan, the 2016 champions, are the top seeds in Group D with Bahrain (H), Palestine, and Pakistan as their challengers while 2018 champions Uzbekistan (H), Iran, Hong Kong, China and Afghanistan were drawn in Group E.
Group F will see 2013 winners Iraq, Kuwait (H), Timor-Leste and Macau doing battle with United Arab Emirates, India, Maldives, and hosts China PR the Group G teams.

#AFCU23 | Moments

Hosts Thailand lead Group H with Malaysia, Bangladesh, and the Philippines also aiming for a place in the Finals while Group I will see Australia, Tajikistan (H), Laos, and DPR Korea locking horns.
Defending champions Saudi Arabia (H), Cambodia, Lebanon, and Mongolia were drawn in Group J while the three-team Group K will be a tussle between Turkmenistan, Indonesia (H), and Chinese Taipei.
The AFC U23 Asian Cup™ Qatar 2024 Finals are scheduled for April 15 to May 3, 2024.

Hezbavi joins Al Sadd

Doha: Al-Sadd Club of Qatar officially announced the signature of a 5-year contract with the young 20-year-old Iranian defender Amin Hizbavi. It is known as the best team in Qatar and is the only Qatari team that has won the AFC Champions League in Asia.

Al-Sadd announced this news by publishing a clip of Hezbawi in the dressing room of this team while wearing Al-Sadd’s jersey with number 55. Hezbavi was Foolad Khuzestan’s player and played under  Javad Nekonam’s head coach stint

This defender was also the captain of Iran’s youth team (U20) in the AFC Asian Youth Championship, where he scored a goal. Hezbavi is considered the tenth Iranian player in the history of Al-Sadd Club, and this club has had a good relationship with Iranian football.

Amir Ghalenoei, Afshin Peyrovani, Hamid Derakhshan, Ebrahim Ghasempour, Ali Daei, Hossein Faraki, Karim Bagheri, Hossein Kaebi and Morteza Pouraliganji were the players who also played in Al Sadd. The last Iranian player of Al-Sadd was Pouraliganji, who played alongside Xavi Hernandez.
Al Sadd had earlier agreed terms with Paulo Ottavio, a Brazilian left-back who played in Wolfsburg. It is also said that this club has reached a final agreement with the Colombian midfielder “Mateos Uribe” who is in Porto and is a teammate of Mehdi Taremi, and this player will go to Al-Sadd after leaving Porto.

Medi Taremi registers another milestone.

Porto FC and Team Melli forward scored four goals, a (poker), in the match held late Saturday evening against middle-of-the-table team Famalicao in Liga Portugal.

This is the first time an Iranian player has achieved such a milestone in a single match in any European League. Three of the goals came from the spot kick. The match ended 2-4 for Porto who has now reduced the deficit with the league leaders Benfica to one point only. Benfica, the favorites to win the title this season has a game in hand.

Taremi was substituted a minute before the regulation time to receive a standing ovation from the visiting Porto fans as they sang his name.

Taremi has enjoyed unprecedented success with Porto in his third season with the club which he joined in season 2020/21. He has also increased his goal tally to 21 goals to leapfrog Benfica’s striker Goncalo Ramos who is on 18 goals, Taremi first played for Rio Ave which he joined in 2019 for one season. He scored 18 goals and provided 2 assists for the small club a fact that caught the interest of the 3 top clubs in Portugal. He was on the brink of agreeing terms with Benfica before Porto stepped in with a lucrative offer.

In his first season with Porto, Mehdi Taremi scored 16 goals, next season he was on 20 goals. So far this current season he has already surpassed those records with 21 goals and one match left.

AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 review

The draw for the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men’s football championship of Asia organized by AFC was held hours ago in Doha, Qatar.

The Main football championship in Asia is delayed by over a year due to a combination of AFC short-sightedness and the unreliability of the Chinese authorities. China was supposed to hold its second AFC Asian Cup tournament after the successful one in 2004 but a series of events and circumstances surrounding COVID lockdown in China has meant that the most prestigious tournament of the continent was not going to be held in China. Qatar, as reliable as ever, and beaming from the fresh success of golding the biggest tournament in the World, FIFA World Cup 2022 came to the rescue.

Parviz Ghaleechkhani lifts the Asian Cup for the third time in Tehran 1976.

 

The draw ceremony was held with the coaches of all teams present. Amir Ghalenoei is experiencing his second presence in the AFC Asian Cup since his lone appearance in Malaysia back in 2007. Ghalenoei hops for a much more successful tournament this time to compensate for the bitter failure in Malaysia. Iran has failed to lift the trophy since it won it three times in a row in 1968, 1972, and 1976., Also present was the ever-familiar face of Carlos Queiroz who failed to lift the trophy with Iran in two attempts in 2015 Australia and 2019 UAE. This time the Portuguese coach will try with Qatar who are now the defending champions.

However, Ghalenoei’s mission is far from easy as his biggest challenge remains in dealing with an aging team left by Queiroz. Iran was the oldest team in the last World Cup.

In Group C, Iran is joined by familiar opponents in UAE, Hong Kong, and Palestine. This is on paper at least. one of the easiest groups of the Asian Cup for Iran in recent tournaments. None of the three teams have managed to defeat Iran in an official competition, although the UAE managed a win in Abudhabi in a friendly 26 years ago in September 1997.

TEAM MP W D L GF GA GD
UAE 18 14 3 1 26 4 +22
HONG KONG 6 6 0 0 14 1 13
PALESTINE 6 3 3 0 16 4 +12
  30 23 6 1 56 9 +47

Barring a disaster, there is little doubt that Team Melli will make it through to the knockout stages that Iran has always managed to qualify to expect in Japan back in 1992. The problem starts at later stages with stronger opposition. Iran will remain one of the top contenders for the title with Japan remaining the favorite, followed by Australia and South Korea.

Ali Parvin lifted Asian Cup in 1976 with Hassan Rowshan

Despite the games not starting until December, Ghalenoei might consider that as not adequate time to create a strong team that can challenge East Asians. Such is football nowadays, that preparation times for national teams are quite limited specifically for those national teams that have players playing abroad in Europe. There is no excuse for Team Melli as there are teams in worse conditions than them so that needs to be addressed and not to be used as an excuse. A major big challenge with Ghalenoei, however,  is the administration.

The FFIRI is not exactly a beacon of outstanding management nor is it even a proper organization ruled by processes and planning. It is run by a group of ill-qualified personnel placed there based on their allegiance rather than competency. and if Ghalenoei needs to get things done, there will have to be a lot of personal effort and sacrifices as this football federation is unreliable and incompetent as ever. Last time over, Ghalenoi was more frustrated with the organization than anything else which lead to his early resignation from his post after the quarter-final elimination in Kuala Lumpur in 2007. Perhaps, this time over, his diplomacy, experience, patience, and older wiser age will make him much more capable to handle the difficulties and hardships. Perhaps this coach after so many failed attempts by his predecessors,  can fulfill a mission that has eluded this soccer-mad nation for 47 years.