Category: World Cup 2014

AFC qualifiers for FIFA World Cup 2026

The seeding for FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers in Asia have been determined.

After winning the title of CAFA Nations Cup 2023, Team Melli would be busy preparing for the AFC Asian Cup and the next round of World Cup qualifiers. Iran will not be involved in Round 1 of the qualifiers but will start its games in Round 2.

The qualifiers starting in 2023 will be a marathon of matches in a similar pattern to the previous edition of the World Cup in Qatar.

The FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers will start in the Asian continent on Thursday, October 12. In the first round, 22 AFC teams from the lowest FIFA ranking will take part, with 11 of them will advance to the group round.

The second round of the qualifiers will see Iran’s presence. Team Melli is currently ranked second in Asia after Japan. The AFC second round of 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification, which also serves as the second round of 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification, is expected to be played from 16 November 2023 to 11 June 2024

A total of thirty-six teams will be drawn into nine groups of four to play home-and-away round-robin matches. They include the twenty-five teams (teams ranked 1–25 in the AFC entrant list) which received byes to this round and the eleven winners from the first round.

Eighteen group winners and runners-up advance to the third round and qualify for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. The third and fourth-place teams will advance to the third round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualification.

SEEDING

The 11 teams that advanced from Round 1, along with the top 25 teams in Asia, form a total of 36 teams that must be placed in 9 four-team groups. The classification of this round of competitions is as follows:

Seed 1: Japan – Iran – Australia – South Korea – Saudi Arabia – Qatar – Emirates – Iraq – Oman

Seed 2: Uzbekistan – China – Jordan – Bahrain – Syria – Vietnam – Palestine – Kyrgyzstan – India

Seed 3: Lebanon – Tajikistan – Thailand – North Korea – Philippines – Malaysia – Turkmenistan – Kuwait – Hong Kong

The top two teams from each group will advance to the third round of the World Cup qualifiers in the Asian continent and the third and fourth teams of the group are also eliminated.

Schedule

The schedule is expected to be as follows, according to the FIFA International Match Calendar.

MatchdayDate(s)
Matchday 116 November 2023
Matchday 221 November 2023
Matchday 321 March 2024
Matchday 426 March 2024
Matchday 56 June 2024
Matchday 611 June 2024

Feng Xiaoting confident ahead of China’s World Cup qualifier vs. Iran

espnfc.com

BY MICHAEL CHURCH

China captain Feng Xiaoting is confident he and his teammates can put their World Cup qualifying campaign on track when they take on Iran in Shenyang as they aim to bounce back from Thursday’s defeat against South Korea.

China almost rescued a point from their meeting with the Red Devils, fighting back from three goals down to lose 3-2, but the performance has given Feng and his colleagues confidence ahead of their next qualifier for Russia 2018.

“We lost the game but we haven’t lost our faith,” said the Guangzhou Evergrande central defender. “On the contrary, we gained experience and the ability to play in a difficult situation.

“I’m very proud of my teammates. Next Tuesday we will win the game against Iran in Shenyang.”

A win will be vital for the Chinese after their opening loss and Gao Hongbo’s team take on an Iran side that picked up a 2-0 victory over Qatar in Tehran in their first qualifying match, with Reza Ghoochannejhad and Alireza Jahanbaksh both scoring in added time to give Carlos Queiroz’s side a winning start to their campaign.

However, veteran midfielder Zheng Zhi, who scored an own goal on Thursday to give the Koreans the lead, echoed Feng’s thoughts on the feeling within the China squad after the defeat.

“It’s a pity for us that we lost 3-2,” said the former Asian Player of the Year. “It should have been a draw. We didn’t give up when we went three goals behind because we prepared well in advance and this is how football should be. Good preparation gives you confidence.

“The qualifying campaign is long. There are 10 rounds so it is like a league season and we have to prepare different strategies for different opponents.

“But from this game, what we have gained is confidence and faith, and also experience. It is a good start of our long journey.”

Mehrdad Pooladi is declared a free agent.

Team Melli left back and ex-Persepolis player, Mehrdad Pooladi has been declared as a free agent.

Pooladi was involved in a long dispute after the conclusion of the FIFA World Cup 2014 with Persepolis. While the players has repeatedly said that he is a “Free Agent” as his contract with the club has expired by the end of last season, Persepolis insisted that Pooladi is contract bound and must report back to duty and training else they will take disciplinary measures against him. In the meantime, Pooladi was seeking a new club.

Although there has been some interest from Europe, Mehrdad Pooladi , who was the best performing Iranian player in the World Cup , failed to conclude any deal in Europe. The next destination was closer to home. Al Shahaniya club of the Qatar Star League promptly showed interest and began verbal negotiation on the knowledge that Pooladi is available. The two sides were close to agreeing terms except that Al Shahaniya demanded a release in form of ITC from Persepolis as a condition for recruiting the Iranian defender.

Persepolis refused to release the player or cooperate with the Qatari club. With time running out to the closing of the transfer windows, Al Shahniya withdrew their offer to Pooladi due to lack of progress and documentations issues and instead the newly promoted team to the QSL , signed Pooladi’s compatriot and Team Melli teammate , Masoud Shojaei. 

Pooladi took his case to the Board of Arbitration of the FFIRI. Today the board issued a statement declaring him as Free Agent. The Board also declared that Pooladi’s financial settlement with Persepolis club is still unresolved and not settled. According to the contract, Pooladi is still to receive a substantial payment from the club outstanding from last season.

On a side note, The newly appointed Persepolis coach , Hamid Derakhshan was asked yesterday by a reporter about  the whereabouts of Mehrdad Pooladi and the reason for his absence from the team’s training session. Instead of speaking facts and truth, Derakhshan attributed Pooladi’s absence to the problems he has with the Military Service Release Form (…) ! 

Mansourian “League’s goal scarcity is archetypal of the World Cup teams.”

Three weeks of the Persian football League 2014/15 has produced one of the lowest ever goals tallies, a fact that has alarmed many experts while raising some heated debates amongst the concerned. 4 teams have yet to score a single goal in 3 matches, while four of them have scored less than 1 goal per game. Thanks goodness, Sepahan is an exception , with a perfect start leading the table with 9 points and 7 goals scored.

 Many of the experts opined that this is a classical reflection of Team Melli’s performance in the World Cup , where sheer defense was the name of the game , leaving very little for imagination , attractive football , offensive plans and individual show of skills to be displayed .

 

Alireza Mansourian , a coach of Iran’s U23 until recently and currently the head coach of Naft Tehran , was one of the coaches who blamed the World Cup. “ In the World Cup , we witnessed South American teams challenging the Europeans and taking the game to the last minutes. The most successful coaches where the ones that closed their defenses well and then targeted quick counters where they hoped to snatch a goal. It seems that our coaches in Iran have quickly picked up this strategy. Their defensive game plans have something to do with Job Security as well as none wants to be beaten and get the sack!” Mansourian , however , was diplomatic in his approach , refraining from commenting on Team Melli’s defensive strategy while many others openly pointed the finger at Team Melli

 

There was one defender of Team Melli game plan amongst the crowds and that is Morteza Mohasses. The Coaching instructor and lecturer, who is also a leading member of the Federation’s Technical and football development committee, rebutted the claims that the Team Melli is setting the example and laughed off the suggestion that dearth of goals in the league is because of the defensive plans as played in Brazil.

“The fact is , our national coaches are just not good enough. They have failed to implement offensive plans preferring instead to build up their defenses. Even in the midfield, they prefer holding or defensive midfielders rather than the offensive type. With such mentality, year after year, the end result would be lack of goal scoring and shortfalls in producing quality strikers. It has nothing to do with Team Melli that played a wise defensive game plan in its first two games!”

Mohasses’ logic , however , is found wanting. As a lead instructor in FFIRI, he bears much responsibility in producing what he refers to as “not good enough coaches”. In fact he is largely condemning himself as it appears that his year of guidance, tactical planning , lecturing , and teaching these Iranian coaches, has failing to yield the optimal results. His defense of Team Melli’s game plan seems to be blatantly off side too. What the clubs are copying from the national team, in itself is not a bad practice as many countries are on such approach. However, If the National Team game plan is fine and admirable, why does it become ugly if the clubs are following the same game plan?

 

There has been various articles in the newspapers and news agencies criticizing the standards of football displayed by the league teams this season. Of course m, there are some genuine concerns, but this is only the start of the season where most teams are not at their optimum because of changes in personnel or other factors. Like everything else in Iran , there has to be some political agenda behind these veiled attacks.

 

Talks of the Parliamentary investigation committee finding a wide range of corruption in football, has not raised much eyebrows amongst the elite in the Iranian football. Corruptions of all types , is one of the worst kept secrets in Iran, but naming Kaffashian as a possible culprit , has raised the level of interest in the press zone. The final report will be submitted to the Head of the parliament for his

Team Melli fans’ aspirations, are they being misled?

Team Melli fans: Aspirations , misleading or loss of focus

The responses to the polls conducted by Team Melli.com before the FIFA World Cup 2014, and then during and after the World Premiere football show , was really intended to gauges the response and the heartbeat of the fans across the World. In a sense, we wanted to know was what were/are the expectations of the fans and whether the results of the World Cup met their expectations.

The results of the polls caused some intriguing discussions and some amount of confusions and soul-searching.

on June 17, 2014 , we asked the fans “ What is the level of your expectation of Team Melli in the World Cup? What would you consider as a satisfying outcome?”

51% answered Qualify for the next round while 19% only said “play beautiful football:

Jus to to make sure that we understand the fans right , we asked “ How many points Iran will get in the World Cup 2014?” the overwhelming majority 71%, said 3 points or more. While only 13% said 1 point only.Mehrdad Pouladi heads the ball during a group F World Cup soccer match between Bosnia and Iran at the Arena Fonte Nova in Salvador

Team Melli neither qualified for the Next round nor did it play a beautiful or impressive football. Almost all of the few legionnaires we had in Europe were relegated with their clubs and ended up migrating to the warmer shores of the Persian Gulf leagues. This is a sharp contrast to every other World Cup Iran took part in which many of the players found interested European suitors and ended up playing in reputable European leagues.

This time , it was clear that Team Melli had one of the worst World Cups on and off the field. It certainly fell short of the expectations of the fans and the aspiration of qualifying for the next round. However, the whole picture suddenly got blurred in our next poll when we asked:

“How would you rate Queiroz work in the 3 ½ years with Iran including the 2014 FIFA World Cup?”

51% said Good, while another 34% rated his work as “Excellent, The best choice and the best result” ! That would be a total of 84% of the voters who have expressed their satisfaction with the performance of a coach who, as the major influence in the team performance and result, attained the poor result in a team which was really pretty mediocre to say the least! If we leave emotions aside, Iran actually played some ugly footballing ranking the bottom of the 32 teams in passing and major stats.

There are many scenarios that can be assumed from such polls, depending on what angle it is looked at. One of such is that the fans have accepted the low level for Iranian football and have little ambition that this team can win the long-lost glories of the Team Melli of the seventies when it ruled Asia for decades. Therefore the slightest of a positive, such as a good defense or not allowing to be heavily defeated , is considered a great achievement !

The other scenario is the loss of confidence by the fans in Iranian football of anything domestic be it the players, Managers, Coaches and administration in general. In a scene like this, a foreign coach appears, and despite his inferior delivery, he is considered as a Messiah amongst a bunch of incompetent operators.

One more scenario can be that the fans really do not follow Iranian domestic football close enough , and who can blame them for that , hence their perspectives, information and aspirations become cloudy. The Persian Gulf League that has started this season already, was hardly exciting for anyone bar the diehards. It is safe to say that club football in Iran is going downhill and that is clearly reflected in Team Melli despite attempts to inject dual-nationality European based players.

It is really regrettable that nobody is really interested in Iranian football after the World Cup. In teammelli.com we have experienced this first had. After the plethora of the inquiries, request for information and various media activities , the disappointing performance left the rest of the world focusing on other teams and ignoring Iran and Asia altogether.

In reality, who is really interested in watching a team whose entire mission in life is to park the bus in front of the goal, and everything else such as passing , penetrating the defenses, shooting and scoring are secondary and less important elements of the game.

However, we believe that there is much more potential in Iran’s football that what is being presented to us right now.

Iran is a championship breeding nation. Iranian teams and individual athletes have proven to the world that they can compete at the highest level of any competition in many sports. However, if the fans are misled into thinking or heaven forbids, tricked to be satisfied with the current results and performances of their football teams, like we witnessed in the World Cup, then what is there to force those people at the helm to change for the better? What is the catalyst for change? The football federation and the system supporting it , think they are doing a great job and slowly but surely , convincing the fans as well , and that is precisely where the tragedy could occur!

messi vs Iran

A typical example, is the recent statement that “the AFC Asian Cup 2015 is not a priority, The World Cup 2018 is” that was quoted by Kaffashian and Queiroz. While we believe that such a statement and mentality is an insult to the aspiration of the Iranian football fans, other fans and even media reporters, might actually be tricked into believing this rhetoric. This is a notorious tactic used to buy time which has been deployed by many administrations and coaches to cover their shortfalls and lack of success. In short promising that the next championship , which is normally on a four years cycle, will be better , puts the pressure of the coaches and the administrations to deliver good results!

Any match that Team Melli is involved in , the team and the squad is representing the good name of Iran and its people. Every match is important. Every championship is important, especially and particularly the Asian Cup, where at least there is a good chance of winning the trophy. Trying to dilute this historic competition where Iran is a pioneer and three times champions , is nothing short of escapism, diversion and insult to the fans.

Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi resigns after exit

Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi has stepped down from his position after the Super Eagles’ exit from the World Cup in Brazil.

France scored twice in the last 11 minutes in Brasilia on Monday to reach the quarter-finals at their expense. The 52-year-old was appointed Nigeria boss in 2011 and helped them become African champions two years later.

Nigeria captain Joseph Yobo also retired from international football following their exit. Fenerbahce’s Yobo, 33, scored a late own goal after Paul Pogba’s header had broken Nigerian resistance.

Keshi offered his resignation after last year’s Africa Cup Of Nations triumph, citing a lack of support and respect, although he was persuaded to stay by Nigeria’s sport minister.

A group stage win against Bosnia-Hercegovina helped Nigeria reach the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time since 1998, despite the players being involved in a row over bonuses.

He becomes the sixth manager to leave his job during the World Cup, following the departures of Honduras’s Luis Suarez, Iran’s Carlos Queiroz, Japan’s Alberto Zaccheroni, Italy’s Cesare Prandelli and Ivory Coast’s Sabri Lamouchi. Keshi, who captained Nigeria at the 1994 World Cup finals, was previously in charge of Mali and Togo.

Iran and Nigerian played a goalless draw in Curtiba. It was Iran’s only point in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

In contrast to the highly successful campaign by Nigeria under Keshi  in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, many people in Iran demand that Queiroz stays as head coach  , which achieved poor results and well below public expectations!.

Mohajerani “Queiroz is currently the best option”

The legendary Heshamat Mohajerani , the first coach to lead Iran to the World Cup back in 1978 , believes that Carlos Queiroz contract should be extended with some conditions attached .

“Although the result in the FIFA World Cup 2014 was not very successful, the AFC Asian Cup is only months away and we require a big name coach to lead Team Melli in the competition”  Mohajerani said

In an interview with ISNA , Mohajerani added “ The defense of the Team in Brazil was not bad but it had a serious problem up front , therefor we cannot categorize the team’s participation and result as successful.  Although, if we push it and consider the overall situation, you may call that participation as satisfactory.”

“When a team focuses on defense, it dilutes the function of the forwards making their job secondary to the defense.  We have played a good defensive game and managed to certain extent to prevent the opposition from scoring. However, we also had a very difficult job scoring ourselves. I strongly believed that we could have arranged a better team balance. In any case, I think what we did to Argentine was a great achievement, despite the heartbreaking result. Saying that, I believe that in the other two matches, Nigeria and Bosnia, we could have done much better.”

Lack of a creative Midfield player.

“One of the obvious shortfalls of Team Melli was the lack of a creative midfield player. The work of the midfield players in the World Cup was not satisfactory because we really did not have a creative midfield player. Unfortunately, many of the experts and coaches in Iran have different opinions before and after the World Cup. When Khalatbary was omitted from the list, most people said that we have to respect the Coach wishes. That is fine, we will respect the coach, but the reality is something different.” Mohajerani commented.

 “Because Team Melli was built of a defensive strategy, a creative player like Khalatbary had no place in the team. Khaltbary’s has many attributes including his ability to run with the ball with pace, we simply had no one like him in the team when it was needed. The official figures published by FIFA showed that we had the worst passing data. Our players passing were poor. They simply wasted many passes.  Overall , we cannot say that the team was 100% bad nor can we praise them as a successful team.

 

Velasco left a permanent legacy in Iran.

 Asked by the reporter if he thinks that Queiroz should continue with Iran , Mohajerani said “Querioz has not managed to change our football to the better, but he managed to change Team Melli mentality. I expected that if Queiroz had problems with the Clubs coaches, and these are the people who really matter , he should have spent more time and effort to meet, discuss and communicate with them. In reality the opposite has happened.  He had continual verbal war with the club coaches each accusing the other.  When the great Velasco left Iran’s Volleyball team, our national team continued playing at the highest level because Velasco left a legacy within volleyball not just on the national team. I wish it was the same  for football.”

 

 Queiroz is currently the best option.

 While analyzing all the circumstance as and the situation, the decision makers must respect the public opinion in their verdicts and should pursue extending the contract with Queiroz. The Football federation is to be blamed for failure to seriously act in the negotiation with the coach. Their attitude seems to be happy-go-lucky . At least they could have forcefully searched for an Iranian coach to replace him if there was no or little intention by FFIRI to continue with Queiroz. They also failed to have an Iranian assistance working with Queiroz (1)

“They (FFIRI) say that Queiroz demands is beyond acceptable. In that case they should have done their homework not to fall in such a situation. In any case , I believe there is little time to waste and Queiroz to me is the best option at the moment, but the federation must learn from their shortfall and mistakes.”

 

 

(1)    FFIRI has actually nominate an Iranian coach Majid Saleh to work alongside with Queiroz who would not entertain any such appointment. When he was forced to accept Salih , Queiroz made life so difficult for Salih even sending him to the stands , instead of sitting ion the bench, which resulted in the Esteghlal coach resigning his post. Mohajerani is perhaps not aware of this point.

Note: The two other creative midfield footballers left in Iran are Ali Karimi and Mojtaba Jabbari.  Karimi was not selected while Jabbari opted not to go to the World Cup.

AFC President positive on Asia’s potential

Published: 27 June 2014

The 2014 FIFA World Cup can so far be succinctly summarized as one of the most intriguing World Cup in recent memory. With several big teams exiting early and some surprise packages showing their mettle unperturbed by reputations, the World Cup has been a joy to watch.

Unfortunately for the Asian confederation, the journey has come to an abrupt end. With teams closer to the locality of the competition – this time around teams from the American continents – traditionally performing well during the World Cup as evidenced in the current tournament, the players of Japan, Iran, Korea Republic and Australia had their work cut out in each of their respective groups.

Although each team gave it a go, with Australia and Iran in particular close to causing an upset against giants of world football Netherlands and Argentina, in the end the Asian teams found it hard to break down resolute opposition defences in most of their matches; and in games where they were able to do so, their own line of resistance failed.

Qualification to the next stage of the tournament may have been out of reach for the Asian teams, but AFC President, Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, believes that the tournament was not a lost cause for Asian football.

“This World Cup serves as a lesson to all Asian nations. The Asian teams are rather young on average so they can only get better, but what is of particular importance now is that we stay united. We have shown time and again that we can compete with the best of the global game, and with total commitment from everyone we will definitely improve ourselves and catch up on the rest of the world,” he said.

“Asia must acknowledge its shortcomings, but at the same time we must believe in our own ability. The AFC is determined to unlock the full potential of Asian football, and that can only be achieved through hard work, dedication and unwavering support in the AFC’s efforts to have equal and sustainable football development across the continent,” he added.

Shaikh Salman further stated, “We must bring our game to the next level and there is no time to wait. Football will not slow down and nor will the rest of the world. Our brand new initiatives are planned with progress in mind, as we look to enhance the overall quality of our football, from infrastructure, commercial, competition to administration, and hopefully its effects are evident by the next World Cup”.

The 2014 World Cup might be an unpleasant experience for Asia, but all teams would do well to brush themselves off quickly as the AFC Asian Cup 2015, which will be held in Australia in January, is just around the corner.

Team Melli lands in Tehran.

Team Melli squad landed at Imam Khomeini Airport in the early hours of the morning.

The squad was met at the CIP lounge by the Minister of Sport and dignitaries plus a large number of players family members. Three players were missing from Squad as Beitashour proceeded directly to USA, while Dejagah and Davari headed home tp England and Germany respectively.

Carlos Queiroz was also travelling with the squad to Tehran, paid tribute to the work of his team and players and believed that he left a lasting impression on the football. In a short speech , he expressed his gratitude for the Minister of Sport and other official who came to the airport to greet the sqaud. It is unclear whether his contract has expired or still has a few days to run. When confronted by the reporters if he has said his goodbye to Iran, Queiroz evaded the question and answered something unrelated.

Susic and Queiroz leave posts

fifa.com

Susic and Queiroz leave posts
© Getty Images

Bosnia and Herzegovina are set to begin a new era under a new coach after their FIFA World Cup™ campaign ended on Wednesday, while Iran will also begin their search for Carlos Queiroz’s replacement after not renewing his contract.

Coach of the Balkan team, Safet Susic, has announced he will step down now that the group stage has concluded. Bosnia and Herzegovina, without a chance of progressing before Wednesday’s game against Iran, won 3-1 at Salvador’s Arena Fonte Nova.

“This was my last game at the World Cup,” Susic said to Brazilian newspaper Lancenet. “Unfortunately there will not be another one. Sometimes it is a nice feeling to be free of obligations. I can decide my own fate and this is my answer.”

Susic, who played for Yugoslavia in the 1982 and 1990 World Cups, came under fire for his defensive-minded tactics in losses to Argentina and Nigeria in Group F.

Sometimes it is a nice feeling to be free of obligations. I can decide my own fate and this is my answer.

Safet Susic, outgoing Bosnia and Herzegovina coach

“The win against Iran is scant consolation,” the 59-year-old said. “But I congratulate my players for a display of commitment and passion against a team needing a win to keep alive their hopes of progressing.

Manchester City’s Edin Dzeko scored the Bosnians’ first goal against Iran, and said: “We could have done a better job in the World Cup.”

Despite being Bosnia and Herzegovina’s first appearance at a World Cup finals, much was expected of Susic’s side. The team scored 30 goals and conceded just six to finish top ahead of Greece in their qualifying campaign.

“I feel sorry for those we have disappointed,” Susic said. “We should have done better by the quality of our players but now is the time for this team to look forward to [UEFA] Euro 2016 qualifiers. We lacked experience and cool heads at crucial moments in the opening two games but I cannot complain about effort. That’s just football.”

It will not be much consolation but Susic and his team won the admiration of outgoing Iran coach Queiroz: “Congratulations to Bosnia,” he said. “With all due respect to Nigeria and Argentina, the best team in the group (Bosnia) didn’t qualify. They have great players and they played at another level to us. My players went to their physical and mental limits against Bosnia, but it wasn’t possible to get the result.”

Iran had held Nigeria to a goalless draw in their opening before falling 1-0 to Argentina. They still had a chance to progress to the Round of 16 heading into Wednesday’s match but they came up well short in their final game.

Queiroz, meanwhile, will seek a fresh challenge after coaching Iran for three years. “I’ve shown my commitment to this project, but I haven’t received any new contract offer,” the former Manchester United assistant coach said. “It’s been an honour for me to work for Iran, I’ve fallen in love with the country.

“But you can’t have a marriage when only one side wants to commit. I waited for them to make an offer, but I haven’t received anything, so I’ve come here to say ‘thank you’ to those who gave me the opportunity to do this job. I will always have Iranian football, my players and the fans in my heart.”