Tag: Ali KArimi

Iran vs. Bosnia: Historic lookback

The “A” national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina will play a friendly match with Iran national team in Sarajevo on 12th November.

B&H and Iran have met 6 times so far. Five matches were friendly, while the only competitive match was played at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Iran is more successful in head-to-head matches, as it recorded 4 victories, while one match ended in a draw. The BH team achieved its only victory against Iran at the World Cup in Brazil.

These national teams met for the first time on 22nd July 2001 in Bihać, when they played a tie 2:2. Goals for Bosnia and Herzegovina were scored by Sead Seferović in the 7th, and Miroslav Dujmović in the 10th, while Sirous Dinmohammadi in the 16th and Iraj Fatemi in the 90th minute scored for Iran.

In the next 4 matches, Iran won. First at the Azadi Sports Stadium in Tehran on 10.08.2001 with the result 4:0 (Hasheminasab 5th and 90th, Karimi 65th, Daei 87th minute), then on 02.02.2005 at the same venue with 2:1 (Daei 38th, Borhani 74th – Elvir Bolić 18th minute).

The Azadi Sport Stadium hosted the fourth meeting between B&H and Iran on 31.05.2006. Iran won 5:2. The national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina had a 2:0 advantage in that match with goals scored by Zvjezdan Misimović in the 4th and Sergej Barbarez in the 17th minute, but the Iranians reversed the result through Mehrzad Madanchi (26th), Rahman Rezaei (45th), Vahid Hashemian 46th), Reza Enayatia (89th) and Rasoul Khatibi (90th minute).

The fifth match was played at the Asim Ferhatović-Hase Stadium in Sarajevo on 12.08.2009. And then Bosnia and Herzegovina took the lead with 2:0 with scored goals by Edin Džeko in the 52nd and 65th minute, but in the end, they were defeated with 2:3. Goals for Iran were scored by Masoud Shojaei in the 79th, Arash Borhani in the 86th, and  Andrenik ‘Ando’ Teymouriian in the 90th minute.

The last match of these teams was played on 25.06.2014 at the Fonte Nova Arena in El Salvador (Brazil) in the 3rd round of Group F of the World Cup. Bosnia and Herzegovina won 3:1, and the goals were scored by Edin Džeko in the 23rd, Miralem Pjanić in the 59th, and Avdija Vršajević in the 83rd minute. The only goal for Iran was scored by Reza Ghoochannejad in the 82nd minute.

The match will be played behind closed doors without the spectators at the Asim Ferhatović-Hase Stadium in Sarajevo on 12.11.2020.

 

Iran vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina Matches records

 

 

Venue Matches W D L Goals Goal Diff.
H 4 3 0 1 12 – 6 +6
A 2 1 1 0 5 – 4 +1
N 1 0 0 1 1 – 3 -2
Total 7 4 1 2 18 – 13 +5

 

Date Comp. H / A / N Final score Stadium Attendance
25.06.2014 FIFA World Cup / Group F N 1 – 3 Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador 48,011
12.08.2009 Friendly A 3 – 2 Asim Ferhatovic Hase Stadium – Sarajevo 20,000
31.05.2006 Friendly H 5 – 2 Azadi Stadium, Tehran 40,000
02.02.2005 Friendly H 2 – 1 Azadi Stadium, Tehran 10,000
10.08.2001 Others / LG CUP H 4 – 0 Azadi Stadium, Tehran 75,000
22.07.2001 Friendly A 2 – 2 Stadion NK Jedinstvo podno Boriæa , Bihac 5,000
12.09.1993 Friendly H 1 – 3 Azadi Stadium, Tehran

Team Melli records vs. Bahrain

Bahrain is one of the few Asian and Arab opponents that have given Team Melli a run for their money throughout the years. Although Iran has double the wins vs their tiny Persian Gulf nations in their 17 matches, Bahrain has always been a stubborn opponent for the big teams of Asia.

Here is the dashboard of the games played between the two teams.

 

 

 

 

all matches

Date Competition H / A / N Result Venue Attendance
11-Jan-15 Asian Cup H 2 – 0 Melbourne Rectangular Stadium 17,712
12-Dec-12 WAFF N 0 – 0 Kazma SC Stadium, Kuwait City 1,200
11-Nov-11 World Cup Qualifier A 1 – 1 National Stadium, Riffa 18,000
11-Oct-11 World Cup Qualifier H 6 – 0 Azadi Stadium, Tehran 83,000
24-Sep-10 WAFF / Group A N 3 – 0 King Abdullah Stadium – Amman 12,000
31-Aug-09 Friendly A 2 – 4 National Stadium, Riffa 1,500
21-Mar-08 Friendly A 0 – 1 National Stadium, Riffa 3,000
08-Jun-05 World Cup Qualifier H 1 – 0 Azadi Stadium, Tehran 90,000
09-Feb-05 World Cup Qualifier A 0 – 0 Manama 30,000
06-Aug-04 Asian Cup / 3rd Place N 4 – 2 Workers Stadium, Beijing 10,000
19-Oct-01 World Cup Qualifier A 1 – 3 National Stadium, Riffa 8,000
14-Sep-01 World Cup Qualifier H 0 – 0 Azadi Stadium, Tehran 50,000
07-Apr-00 Asian Cup Qualifier H 3 – 0 Azadi Stadium, Tehran 40,000
04-Apr-00 Asian Cup Qualifier N 0 – 1 Al Hamdaniya Stadium, Aleppo 30,000
03-Oct-94 Asian Games N 0 – 0 Hiroshima Stadium, Hiroshima 5,000
20-Aug-75 Olympics Games Qualifiers H 3 – 0 Amjadieh Stadium, Tehran 25,000
07-Sep-74 Asian Games H 6 – 0 Ekbatan Stadium, Tehran 10,000

 

Top Scorers 

 

 

Hamid Estili appointment as Coach of Omid Team, will he be any good?

After the resignation of Farhad Majidi, it seems that FFIRI had no real choice but to appoint the Team manager, Hamid Estili as his replacement. The former Persepolis player also picked his former teammates Reza Shahroodi and Alireza Emamifar as his assistants.

During the short tenure of Farhad Majidi at the helm of Omid’s team, Omid Namazi and Farshad Majedi were appointed as his assistants. It is not clear if they are is still or will remain as part of the coaching staff as neither have any Persepolis affiliation that seems to be the level of requirement in Omid team coaching structure with Estili in charge.

As such, the Omid team has turned into The red of Perspolis after the departure of the Blues of Esteghlal to prove once again that Iran’s football will have an extreme affinity with the bipolar and partisan system.

At Omid team the status quo remains, meaning the same old chaos, with partisan, Favoritism, nepotism and partiality based upon being part of a favoured group, rather than job performance or competency being the essence.

Estili has more experience than Majidi but his coaching career has been full of failures and turmoil. In reality, he is not much of an improvement on Majidi.

 

Estili Coaching Career

Estili was appointed as an assistant by Ali Parvin in Persepolis in 2004. A few months after Arie Haan replaced Parvin, he sacked Estili. In August 2006, when Mustafa Denizli was signed as the head coach, Estili returned to his former post. On 13th January 2007, during the 2006–07 mid-season break, Estili was sacked again, this time by Denizli.

Denizli later stated that “It would be better for him (Estili) to take some professional trainings”

For the 3rd time, Estili returned to his beloved club as the assistant to Afshin Ghotbi, in the IPL 2007/08 season. However, with a lot of tension between the two coaches over team selection, players, and other decisions it was foreseen that one of them will have to leave Perspolis at the end of the season. Ghotbi left and Estili was touted as the new Perspolis Manager and Head Coach.
However, when Ghotbi’s returned back, Estili left Perspolis.

in summer of 2009 Steel Azin appointed out of work Estili as head coach. Despite having a star-studded team with players such as s Ali Karimi, Mahdavikia, Kaebi, Fereydoon Zandi, Shapourzadeh and Vahedi Nikbakht, Estili failed in the Hazfi Cup and was nowhere near the championship title.

He was sacked by Estil Azin on 19 April 2010

Next station was Shahin Bushehr where he was appointed on 1 June 2010. He lasted less than 10 months as he was fired on 4 April 2011 while Shahin was in 17th place out of 18, achieving 16 points in 18 matches

On 21 June 2011, Estili was back in Persepolis again as a Head coach but after a series of disappointing results and Persepolis fans disapproval of his appointment, he resigned his post on 9th Dec. 2011 after only 6 months at the helm.

From then on, Estili’s reputation as a Head Coach was tarnished.

Critics say that Estili relies more on influences, comradeship and nepotism to cover his technical weakness and poor tactics on the field. He was a divisive influence as an assistant coach bad-mouthing the head coach in the hope of taking their places.  He caused disagreement and hostility between players to serve his own interest. It was not a successful strategy as it leads to him being sacked by 3 different coaches. While as Head Coach, his poor delivery, suspect decision-making, poor technical ability, and lack of quality were exposed at the teams he managed.

Such as shame for the player who is famous for his goal against the United States in the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

The Saga of National Teams Iranian coaches

One of the main trepidations of the Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI) after the appointment of Marc Wimots as Team Melli head coach was the promotion and development of Iranian assistant(s) to work alongside the Belgian for the benefit of Team Melli in future. FFIRI faced much criticism for the lack of such program although an Iranian, Markar Aghajanian was alongside Queiroz throughout his tenure.

There has been a remarkable absence of talented, skilled and experienced Iranian coaches capable of leading Team Melli in the last decade or so. The last of them was Ali Daei, who was unceremoniously sacked after defeat at the hand of rivals Saudi Arabia back in 2009.

 One of the criticism pointed at Carlos Queiroz was the lack of Iranian assistants in the coaching cadre who could have been nourished and developed to become Iranian football assets in the near future.

While some young coaches like Alireza Mansourian, Ali Karimi and Javad Nekounam were added to the technical staff of Team Melli at different periods to advance their knowledge alongside Queiroz, the situation did not yield the required result and did not last long. Queiroz was accused of deliberately getting rid of these novice assistant coaches (except for Markar Aghajanian)

However, the facts are quite different from what it seems. The truth behind these assistant coaches stints at Team Melli was never properly told because Carlos Queiroz, for reasons which remained close to his heart, hardly openly spoke about the circumstances behind their recruitment and departures. Obviously, Queiroz did not want to create anarchy amongst the stakeholders and the fans while Team Melli was in need of stability and calm in its mission to qualify for the World Cup and win the AFC Asian Cup.

If we scrutinize the selection of the former players who have suddenly turned up as assistant coaches at Team Melli, we will see the shortfall of the system and how haphazardly this program is conducted, if there was any program beyond wishful thinking that is.

It was clear that Mansourian, Karimi and Nekounam were not the right choices and not exactly prepared as their appointments were mostly spontaneous rather than based on solid ground and technicality.

For sure, all the three at some stage of their careers were brilliant players and national heroes. They have served team Melli well and were all household names in Iran. All of them were popular too.

On closer scrutiny, each one of the three names came with a Caveat and a major flaw.

Mansourian was the only one that had real coaching experience. However, the less we speak about his achievement or lack of it, the better. Needless to say that he was the coach of Omid Team which was en eliminated from the Olympic qualifiers, despite winning the match away in Iraq, for fielding one ineligible player.  His coaching of Esteghlal was short and not successful.

Both Karimi and Nekounam popped up without any serious and meaningful experience in coaching at club level or age-group level, let alone having experience at the international arena. Both were Team Melli Captains and likewise have other remarkable commonalities. Despite the years of being players in European teams, they were poorly disciplined and bordering arrogance while accompanying Queiroz.  Lack of maturity was evident in both and their misdemeanour was obviously a serious threat to the squad stability and discipline. Karimi simply refused to attend to his Team Melli duties and unilaterally decided that he is not going to work for Queiroz. Nekounam departure from Team Melli is less clear and under a cloud of suspicion.

That raises many questions about the suitability of the people running the federation and making such decision as the appointment of candidates for Team Melli technical staff.

In general, such poor selection of personnel is consistent with the poor level of administration and management of Iranian football, a subject which has been spoken about for ages.

Queiroz was wrongly and unfairly accused by some media personnel that he preferred to work with an Iranian assistant coach who would not form a threat to his job at Team Melli.

The absurdity of this accusation is perhaps indicative of the small minds that feed the masses in Iran’s football as none of the former players was anywhere near Queiroz’s experience and achievement in the world of football to pose a threat.  The basic truth is that the appointed Iranian assistants were not good enough in most of the departments and two of them had issues with behaviour and maturity.

Markar Aghjanian was an exception. Not only the man was mature, experienced, visionary and skilled in dealing with players and administrators, but he was also the real forte behind Queiroz’s selection of local players for Team Melli.  It was no secret that Carlos Queiroz did not think highly of the domestic league. He did not attend many matches if any, instead he assigned Aghajanian and others to do the talent hinting and scouting. In fairness, they have done a great job too.

Then Queiroz leaves and a new era starts with Marc Wilmots. FFIRI admirably tries to rectify and avoid previous mistakes. Wilmots is now in charge of all national teams levels and is assigned the task of developing a set of trainers and coaches at different teams and particularly Team Melli.

Vahid Hashemian, is appointed as Assistant Coach to Marc Wilmots. Hashemian, is a former Team Melli player who has played in Germany’s Bundesliga for many years. After hanging his boots, he successfully completed coaching courses to obtain his license in Germany.  That is one major accomplishment ahead of Mansourian, Karimi and Nekounam who turned up empty-handed at Team Melli. Hashemian, though, was a marriage of convenience.

In essence, the selection of Hashemian is not really an improvement and proved that very little has changed in FFIRI in the domain of Management and governance. Hashemian is a case of a man in the right place at the right time. Like his previous teammates except for the coaching license, Hashemian had very little or significant experience in the world of coaching. Yet he is appointed as the head coach of Team Melli that is attempting a long and winding road of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup for the third time running.

We said it was convenient because Hashemian speaks German, a language that Wilmots is fluent in. So, it is convenient for the Belgian coach to use Hashemian as an interpreter while calling him assistant coach. A win-win situation for everyone. The bitter part of this saga is that a proven talent like Markar Aghajanian the brain behind surveillance of talents and scouting for Team Melli, is nowhere to be seen. So cruel that Aghajanian does not speak German!

We must also not forget the appointment of the rookie coach Farhad Majidi as the head coach of Omid Team tasked with taking Iran to the Olympics for the first time in 40 years. A task that the superiorly experienced coaches in their own right such as Hassan Habibi, Ghasempour, Egon Coordes, Monajati, Mayeli Kohan, Renê Simões, Vinko Begović, Nenad Nikolić, Peyrovani, Mansourian, Nelo Vingada, Khakpour and Zlatko Kranjčar have not succeeded in.

To sum it up, the Iran football federation has failed to get this Iranian coaching development up and running. It is the cumulative result of many factors including but not limited to poor foundations, poor selection process (more likely non-existence of it) and Nepotism

If the FFIRI has a real program for the development of local coaches at Team Melli level, then they have not published it and it remains a secret for fear of scrutiny and criticism by stakeholders. FFIRI is not exactly a transparent organization to start with and it is always shrouded by secrecy.

If such selection is assigned to the Technical Committee of the football federation and national teams coaching candidacy and selection is managed and implemented by them, it confirms that this committee is dysfunctional, hopeless and serious waste of resources.

Omid Namzi appointed as head coach of Zob Ahan.

Omid Namzi , the Iranian-American coach has been appointed as Zob Ahan football Club head coach replacing Amir Ghalenoei who crossed over to the other side of the city taking over the coaching of Sepahan.

The American born, Namazi played professionally in the American Soccer League, American Professional Soccer League, Major League Soccer, USISL and National Professional Soccer League where he was the 2001 Defender of the Year. As assistant coach of Team Melli, Namazi led the team to qualification to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

In December 2010, Namazi was named as an assistant coach to the Iran Pro League club Steel Azin F.C.. On April 28, 2011, he became assistant coach of the Iranian national team alongside Carlos Queiroz and goalkeeping coach Dan Gaspar.On June 18, 2013, Iran qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, before qualifying for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup months later.

Namazi submitted his resignation on january 2014 citing family reasons. However, that version was taken with a pinch of salt by many observers

A week before that, Antonio Simoes also parted company with Team Melli due to personal reasons. Namazi was just one name in a long list of assistant coaches or administrators who have worked for Carlos Queiroz and left. Javad Nekounam, Ali Karimi , Dan Gasper , Afshin Peyrovani , Majid Salih , Antonio Simoes are just a few. Queiroz is known to demands complete adherence to his commands and more often than not , the assistants are there to just relay instructions rather than being partners in decesion making or tactical issues. Such role does not sit down well with many aspiring assistant coaches.

Namazi has signed a three-year deal with the Persian Gulf Pro League side which was recently eliminated from the AFC Champions League by fellow Iranian team, Esteghlal Tehran in a thrilling match series.

The Lethal Weapon : JAHANBAKHSH

This has been a landmark week for Asian and Middle Eastern football in Europe. While the whole world focused on the US pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, in Holland, another Iranian “lethal weapon” was making headlines.

On Sunday, Alireza Jahanbakhsh – the Iranian winger of AZ Alkmaar – scored a hat-trick in his team’s 6-0 victory over FC Zwolle on the final matchday of the Dutch Eredivise season.

Aside the fact that it was Jahanbakhsh’s second hat-trick in his past three matches, these three goals left him as the top goal-scorer in Holland.

The 24-year-old has scored 21 goals, made 12 assists, completed 78 key passes and 111 successful dribbles in 2017/2018 – in what has arguably been the best ever season for an Iranian footballer in Europe. Jahanbakhsh becomes the first Asian player to become top scorer in a major European league.

No other famous Iranian footballer – including Ali Daei, Mehdi Mahadivikia or Ali Karimi – had such a statistical feat in one European season, hinting that the young Jirandeh-born striker might be on his way to becoming one of the greatest Iranian footballers of all time.

Carlos Queiroz and his Iranian national team will now get a top forward in top form for the World Cup, and Jahanbakhsh has been linked with few notable clubs in Europe – with Italian side Napoli reported to be the favourite to add the young starlet to their squad.

Jahanbakhsh is part of a wider range of talented Iranian prospects that have made their mark in European teams in the past season.

Karim Ansarifard of Olympiakos in Greece notched up 17 goals this season; Heerenveen’s Reza Ghoochannejhad scored 10 for the Dutch club; Kaveh Rezaei contributed 16 goals for Charleroi in Belgium; and Saman Ghoddos – who was a key figure in Ostersunds’ Europa League run – finished with nine goals and five assists for the Swedish side.

With the return of Masoud Shojaei to the Iran squad, even if not in an active role on the pitch, and Sardar Azmoun – who will play at his club town of Kazan against Spain – the Iranians have a few fantastic reasons to be optimistic for the forthcoming summer in Russia.

Ali Karimi out of Team Melli squad for the World Cup

Ali Karimi , Team Melli player is the first casualty of Team Melli for the FIFA World Cup 2018 Russia

The Sepahan Esfahan midfield player suffered a back injury during training and was declared as unable to continue training for some time and is definite to miss the squad to Russia.

Karimi was in the first group of 35 players announced by Queiroz and had a fairly good chance to make the final 23 players list but he has fallen a victim of the injury a day before the team meets Uzbekistan for a friendly match in Azadi Stadium in preparation for the World Cup.

The influence of sport in Rouhani’s re-election.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was re-elected as the country’s leader with 57 percent of the vote on 20th May 2017. The reformer has been able to rely on the support of several well-known sportsmen. In Iran, politics and sports are never far from each other.

With 23.5 million votes, Hassan Rouhani was re-elected to the presidency of Iran on May 20, 2017. While 42 percent of registered voters chose this reformer, the proportion of top-level sportsmen voted for him May have been higher still. With such a young population, the polls were filled with the age group that idolize sportmen and hence their vote were certainly influenced by what their idols backed. 

Prior to the poll, Hassan Rouhani had the favors of several retired or active footballers, such as Ali Karimi, Ali Daei, Karim Bagheri, three local legends who played in the German Bundesliga.

The other disciplines cherished in Iran have not been left behind, according to the official website of Rouhani campaign and some sports media. The names of 2012 Olympic champions Behdad Salimi (weightlifting) and Omid Norouzi (Greco-Roman wrestling) featured alongside those of volleyball players and chess players.

Conservative Ebrahim Raisi less sustained

The conservative Ebrahim Raisi, Rouhani’s main rival, apparently could not count on the same support from the country’s sports elites, even though the head of the Iranian Olympic Committee (Kioumars Hashemi) seemed to be on his side, that of course counted for very little.

Sports and religion do not always do well … Besides, since his first victory in 2013, Hassan Rouhani has tried to dissociate power and sport, at least in appearance. In November 2013, after a wave of success, he declared: “If we look at the excellent successes in sports, we do not do much for it. We have only helped to shadow the policy on sports. “

Politics and sports are “intertwined” in Iran

Houchang Chehabi , a professor of international relations and history at Boston University, believes that wishes are more than a reality. Sports and politics ” are undoubtedly interwoven, says the researcher. In the Islamic Republic, all cultural aspects are politicized, including sport. The best example is the career of Faezeh Rafsanjani, the daughter of the late president of Iran [from 1989 to 1997, Editor’s note] Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani . It has revived the sport of women. “

If politicians are involved in sport, sportsmen and sportsmen also engage in the political life of their country. ”Their involvement goes back to the pre-revolutionary period ,” explains Houchang Chehabi. Even before 1979 revolution, the Olympic champion Gholamreza Takhti,  the cult figure and the hero of the underprivileged was known for his supporter of Mohammad Mossadegh [ Prime Minister of the country in the years 1950 , Editor’s note] against the Shah “, recalls the scholar. Another Olympic wrestling champion, Emamali Habibi was placed in Parliament. Since the mid-1990s, athletes have been giving their opinions. The Tehran City Council is full of former sportsmen. “

The place of women in sport, a recurring debate

When debate arises in sport today, it often concerns the place of women on the grounds or in the stands. Females are rarely admitted in mixed enclosures since the Revolution. In February, however, spectators were allowed to attend a beach volleyball tournament as a result of pressure from outside.

Diplomatic considerations also regularly invade land, rings and tatamis. In 1998, as a sign of peace, Iranian footballers had posed with their American opponents just before a World Cup match. Conversely, threats of boycotting confrontations with athletes from Israel or Saudi Arabia sometimes interfere with the image of Iranian sport.

Iranian athletes and teams are the only sportsmen in the world who are officially barred by the country policies and religious pressure to meet Israeli counterparts. Many Iranian have been barred, suspended or thrown out of tournaments for refusing to compete against what the Iranian government label as the Zionist state or the occupier of the holy land, however, such disciplinary and punitive measures have not stopped the Iranians as it continues unabated until today!

At the beginning of the revolution, sportsmen and teams were unashamedly influenced by the regime and the revolutionary fervor spreading through the country. In the eighties Every Iranian team had to display some kind of religious or political banner in support of their leader Khomeini, to the disgust of the rest of the world. However, with the emergence of the Rafsanjani and his political wisdom and pragmatism, these exhibitions of unwelcomed religious and political propaganda all but disappeared.

Note: Part of this report is reproduced from rfi.fr

Is it worth it?

Iranian football has never been exposed to such a humiliating treatment like the ones that it is receiving from this Mozambique born Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz.

For the last few years and due to all sort of reasons, he has been treating the football federation with contempt. Manipulating the faults and the sheer incompetency of the system managed by the likes of Ali Kaffashian , Mehdi Taj and MohammadReza Saket (the so-called Esfahani Mafia), Queiroz has opened a front against the establishment and began a proxy war , agitation technique and a campaign in misleading the stakeholders in order to get out of his commitment and contractual obligation.  Such contempt, disrespect to the people, flagrant disregard for the etiquette of the host country would have sent him on the first flight home if that happened in one of the Persians Gulf countries, however it seems that the Persians are way too accommodating for the “Khareji”.

 Omid Namazi 

Queiroz’s  list of his misdemeanors is as long as an airport runway and it is increasing by the day. His latest antics were the indiscriminate sacking of the Iranian personnel working in Team Melli. From Afshin Peyrovani, unashamed defenders of the Portuguese man who was living in denial to the mild mannered, dedicated and the professional Markar Aghajanian. Before them, Omid Namazi faced the same dilemma.

“At what price and humiliation level do you want to make to the World Cup?” These are the words of Ali Karimi who served under Queiroz for a few days as an assistant coach only to abruptly leave his post and was subsequently bombarded with hate messages and profanities from the same people who used to cheer him on the stands during his playing days, according to Karimi’s own words. But to his credit , Karimi  always maintained silence and never discussed the reason for leaving his Team Melli assistant coach job in such an abrupt manner. Karimi, rightly or wrongly feared instability in the Team Melli camp and to preserve national interest, he remained quiet.

“Now,  you can guess what happened in my case. I say no more, but I hope all those who questioned my loyalty to Team Melli realize where I stand and why I left.” Karimi clearly hinting at the treatment of Iranian assistant coaches are receiving from the Portuguese.

There is no doubt that Queiroz was lied to, promises of support never fulfilled, worked in a chaotic rather than a systematic environment, not paid his wages on time and most importantly lacked the resources to excel in his job, but he knew all of that during his first term and yet accepted an improved offer to continue working in Iran (although physically residing in Dubai and abroad most of the time) . His agreement to extend his contract beyond World Cup 2014 was done after a series of press statements bad mouthing Iran’s football and its administration!

Is it worth it? Is qualification for the FIFA World Cup 2018 worth all of the insults, abuses and cruelties that this Portuguese man is giving to the Iranians in their own country?

A proud nation with thousands of years of culture is being taken to the cleaners by one vindictive man who has an agenda and that is quite literally, anarchy. His vindictive tactics is more petulant than clever too. Using a Persepolis player in his squad to unsettle Branko Ivankovic’s team preparation is one such leverage he selected to take revenge for the Croat coach!!

 The nation that stood against virtually all the great powers and refused to bow to their pressure thus holding its head up high and being proud of it, is unable to deal with the antics of one foreign football coach. Pity those who think that Queiroz is the only man in the world that can take Iran to the World Cup 2018.

Team Melli training starts without any Iranians !

The beginning of Team Melli Training was marred by the conspicuous absence of all Iranian personnel. No Iranian coaches or administrators was sighted in the first training session of Team Melli in Azadi Training camp ahead of the series of matches in the next few days.

Team Melli will be meeting Iraq in a friendly international on Friday before flying to Doha for the Thursday match against Qatar in the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers and then flying back to Tehran to meet China in Azadi.

The absence of Afshin Peyrovani , the Team Manager, Markar Aghajanian , Javad Nekounam (assistant coaches) , Arin Ghassemi (interpreter) and Mohsen Motamedkia (Team PR specialist) raised much questions and enforced the rumors that the national contingent of Team Melli Cadre have boycotted Queiroz.!

The Portuguese coach has been resisting the inclusion of Iranians assistants in the Training cadre especially those who are hand-picked by others for the job rather himself. Two of his more famous assistants (victims) who left the job are Omid Namazi and Ali Karimi. The latter tenure with Queiroz did not last more than a few days.

Markar Aghajanian is the longest-serving cadre of Team Melli . A man who does his work very quietly and away from the spotlights. He hardly features in the media and prefers to work quietly and focus on his task. Aghajanian is the only Team Melli coach that consistently follows the Domestic Persian Gulf League while Carlos Quieroz hardly attends any league matches. Many of the new names in Team Melli squad are picked as result of Aghajanian’s recommendation and diligence.

Javad Nekounam, the ex-Captain and the record holder of Team Melli matches, who started his coaching career on the wrong note being slapped with FIFA suspension, is another surprise absentee. Queiroz’s own choice for assistant coach when the then President Ali Kaffashian insisted that the training staff must include an Iranian assistant coach, was picked without any coaching experience or formal training hence Nekounam was always exposed to failure. However, Nekounam was a strong supporter of Queiroz as a player and Captain of the team.

Afshin Peyrovani, who has no technical or coaching authority in the squad, and is only the administration manager is another strong Queiroz supporter. Peyrovani has been outspoken in the defense of Portuguese coach against wide-spread media criticism. Unlike Aghajanina, Peyrovani was always making a statement to one news agency to another in the project of defending Queiroz.  His absence is more puzzling than all the rest as he was always the Yes man and the loyal soldier to Carlos Queiroz!

The controversy and drama of  Carlos Queiroz with Team Melli continues to run unabated. Whether the absence of the Iranian contingent of Team Melli is a coincident, or an expression of protest or even a boycott , it will hardly matter to Queiroz who prefers an iron fist approach to his job and has no time for any views other than his. It is unlikely that the Iranians absent will have a negative short term effect or direct impact in the result of the coming matches.