Tag: Amir Hossein Peyrovani

Amir Hossein Peyrovani added to Omid coaching team.

Amir Hossein Peyrovani has been appointed as Omid team coach under Hamid Estili.

The 50 years old former Bargh Shiraz player who comes from a well-known footballing family has previously coached Iran’s U 20 for two years and Omid Team from 2017 to 2018 with limited success. He faced a lot of criticism while at the helm of Omid team with some describing him as being out of depth.

He was operating as Assistant Coach to Mustafa Denizli in Tractorsazi Tabriz before his appointment to Omid Team.

Omid team is competing in the AFC Asian U23 Championship in Thailand in January 2020. The 3 top teams of that tournament will also qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games football competition.  Iran is in the most difficult group of the championship and experts do not consider their chances of qualification from the group as high.

Torrid decline of U23 team no thanks to incompetent FFIRI selections.

FFIRI has an incredible knack for rewarding failures. It is something that Mehdi Taj and his predecessor Ali Kaffashian has exceled in and the Iranian football community are getting used to.  Both of these men, who have been leading the Iranian federation since 2008 , have a serious lack of picking winners while selecting staff to work for them be it on the playing fields as coaches or in the corridors of power as administrators. In Iran’s football federation, administrators and coaches do not last long, because they fail to succeed due to the pathetic selection process.

Amir Hossein Peyrovani is a classic example of FFIRI appalling policy of Mehdi Taj and his failure to pick and appoint the right person for the job. After taking Team Melli U20 to the FIFA U20 championship, the mediocre coach, who struggled to find a coaching job even at lower divisions clubs in Iran, failed miserably in dealing with the world’s top age group teams.

Iran’s U20 team was in fact one of the most promising and talented age group team of the last couple of decades. There was abundance of talents, however, tactical naivety, lack of pedigree in coaching and failure to read the game have all combined to knock Iran out of championship in the group stages. Iran U20 ended up as the bottom team of the group. The irony of this championship is that Iran U20 was scored first in all the matches and was 2 goals up against Zambia before losing 2-4.

Not convinced with the fact that FIFA U20 performance and result was a failure, Peyrovani was once again coaching but now at a higher level. Acute lack of appraisal and performance analysis system in the Iranian federation, living in denials and the relegating FFIRI’s technical committee (no thanks to Carlos Queiroz), has allowed Mehdi Taj to act and repeat the same error. In his questionable wisdom the head of the FFIRI chose Peyrovani to take the helm of the U23 team to the AFC qualifiers. Apart from a few sporadic mumbles, this appointment was surprisingly accepted by all stakeholders and the media. No one dared or bothered to question this appointment for such an important age group team, the de facto backbone of Team Melli!

Not surprising at all, that Peyrovani failed again at a much lower level of competition. Not in the FIFA U20 final but at a group qualifiers against the likes of Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan and Oman. Sri Lanka withdrew and so the group consisted of 3 teams only.  Iran’s first match against the host ended in a very difficult narrow 2-1 win but the Omani’s managed to easily defeat Iran 2-0 to shatter the dream of yet another significantly talented Iranian team. A team victimized by the acute deficiency and incompetence of Iranian football management.

It is still an enigma why Iran cannot produce quality football administrators, managers and coaches as good as they produce players. Apart from one Iranian in Kambiz Atabay back in the mid 70’s  , who headed the Asian Football Confederation , Iran has not managed to produce a competent administrator worthy of consideration for top administration jobs in AFC or FIFA. Tiny countries such as Bahrain, Sri Lanka , and Singapore had more officials in the AFC than mighty Iran.

Worst still , is the record of Iranian coaches in Asia. Even the best of Iran’s national coaches have failed to pass the group stages of AFC Champions league or at best the quarter finals of Asian Cup , in the post revolutions era.

The legendary Heshmat Mohajerani is the last of the Iranian great coaches. It seems that the wait is much longer for a quality coach to appear in Iran.

The other sad news is the remarkable decline of Iran U23 teams. From winners of the Asian Games coached by Branko Ivankovic , to struggling to make the finals stages.

Iran U23 Team coaches

 

 Winners and losers

Another IRIFF blunder on the way!

The Iranian football federation once again is planning to appoint low or no experience coaches for Youth Teams.

After elimination from the group stages of the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2017 in Korea Rep. and failure of coach Peyrovani to get the best out of one of the most promising youth teams in decades , FFIRI is looking to renew the team and select another coach.

The list of the candidates is headed by no other than the failed coach Amir Hossein Peyrovani, Ex-Team Melli Captain Javad Nekounam , Omid Ravankhah and Hossein Cahmanian.

For FFIRI, teams at youth level do not warrant employing high caliber experience coaches. It has been a stepping stone for wannabe coaches a policy which has resulted in Iranian teams failures at most youth levels.

 

Team Melli U20 final preparation for FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic 2017

FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic 2017 is

With the FIFA U-20 World Cup just one week  away, the local organizers and the Team Melli U20 team are in the final stretch of their preparations to deliver an impressive performance .

Under the slogan “Trigger the Fever,” the U-20 World Cup will be played from May 20 to June 11 in six cities — Cheonan, Daejeon, Incheon, Jeonju, Suwon and Seogwipo, Jeju Island. South Korea is the third country, along with Mexico and Japan, to have hosted all major FIFA men’s tournaments, with the 2001 Confederations Cup, the 2002 World Cup and the 2007 U-17 World Cup.

Amir Hossein Peyrovani’s boys have been drawn in Group C along with powerhouse Portugal, Zambia and Costa Rica. The squad will be leaving Tehran on Sunday for the long trip to Korea Republic. Peyrovani , in a press conference said that he has lots of hope in achieving a respectable rank and denied that he has promised anything let alone the title.

Peyrovani regretted the omission of Reza Karamolachab due to form but was quite glad that Esteghlal coach Alireza Mansourian has allowed his young Star Omid Noor Afkan to join Team Melli U20 squad for the world Cup.  The team also baost the presence of Reza Shekari the 18 years Zob Ahan star who has just been transfered to Rubin Kazan in the Russian League.

The pairings were drawn by some famous personalities including two amazing FIFA Legends, Diego Maradona, who won the 1979 FIFA U-20 World Cup, and Pablo Aimar, who won the 1997 edition. Also acting as draw assistants were the Mayor of Suwon City and owner of Suwon City FC, Tae Young Yeom; Vice-chairman of FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic 2017 Local Organizing Committee, a living legend of Korean Football who was a former Korean national football team player and a head coach, Bumkun Cha. T

The FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic 2017 will bring some promising matches. Hosts Korea Republic will take on Guinea in the opening match on 20 May, with Group A also including England and Argentina in what turned out to be a mouth-watering group.

The groups
Group A: Korea Republic, Guinea, Argentina, England
Group B: Venezuela, Germany, Vanuatu, Mexico
Group C: Zambia, Portugal, Iran, Costa Rica
Group D: South Africa, Japan, Italy, Uruguay
Group E: France, Honduras, Vietnam, New Zealand
Group F: Ecuador, USA, Saudi Arabia, Senegal

The 2017 FIFA U20 World Cup will be played in six venues across Korea Republic from 20 May to 11 June 2017.

 

Team Melli  U20  Squad

 

Players

1- Nima MIRZAZAD  Goalkeeper 
2- Ali SHAHSAVARI Defender
3- Mehran DERAKHSHAN Defender
4- Aref GHOLAMI  Defender
5- Nima TAHERI Defender
6- Mohammad SOLTANIMEHR Midfielder
7- Nima MOKHTARI Midfielder
8- Ali SHOJAEI Defender
9- Mohammad Mehdi MEHDIKHANI 
10- Reza SHEKARI Forward
11- Reza JAFARI Forward
12- Shahab ADELI Goalkeeper
13- Abolfazl RAZZAGHPOUR Defender
14- Siena KHADEMPOUR Defender
15- Amir ROUSTAEI Forward
16- Omid NORAFKAN Midfielder
17- Hossein SAKI Midfielder
18- Mohammad AGHAJANPOUR Forward
19- Mehdi GHAYEDI Midfielder
20- Aref AGHASI Midfielder
21- Mahdi MOHAMMADIAN Goalkeeper
 
 Coach:
Amir Hossein Peyrovani (IRN)
49 years old
 

Another talented Iranian youth team in risk of neglect.

A comedy of errors marred the match between Iran and Saudi Arabia in the semi-finals of the AFC U-19 Championship Bahrain 2016 which produced an incredible 11 goal thriller.

Defensive mistakes one after another, plain amateurish blunders, alarming lack of focus and some horrible goalkeeping ensured that the few fans in the stadium in Bahrain enjoy an unforgettable goals fiesta the likes of it Asia has never experienced as such level. As an Iranian fan, though, it was far from a pretty scene and downright humiliating.

Amir Hossein Peyrovani
Amir Hossein Peyrovani

In retrospect, the result of this match and the performance of Iran U-19 team in this competition as a whole was a classic reflection of how poor this talented group of individuals has been coached. Lack of tactical prowess, disastrous defensive errors, and poor discipline on and off the field was evident in this team and there was no escaping the fault of the coach Amir Hossein Peyrovani.  

Traditionally, we have been accustomed to experiencing the Iranian football federation having a small list of coaches who are rotated around the Team Melli age group teams. None of the coaches in the list have achieved anything of significance in their careers, yet and for one reason or another, they are appointed as coaches for the young representative team and are expected to qualify for World Cups or challenge for trophies at Asian level at minimum of budgets and at the least cost.

Omid Nnoorafkan
Omid Noorafkan

Amir Hossein Peyrovani , is one of these names. He turned up as an assistant coach for U-23 team in 2009 but lasted less than a year. Between jobs at Team Melli levels, he was appointed as an assistant coach of 2nd division Gohar Drood (2011), then coach of Parse Tehran (2011-2012). He was jobless for 3 years after that before he was finally handed the U19 team head coaching job!

Peyrovani’s CV is devoid of any achievements at club level or at any level for that matter. He is an aspiring young coach but nowhere near the class required to lead a national team in important competitions. Yet by hook or crook, he is the head coach. How is competency, capability and suitability is measured in FFIRI, is anyone’s guess, but the end result is quite clear and evident.

There is one risk is such appointments of poor vision. Promising footballing talents could go to waste.  

Make no mistake, this Team Melli U-19 that has just been beaten by 6 goals, has what it takes to be much better than this. They are definitely a group of talented individuals who lacked proper guidance, lacked the appreciation of Teamwork, were so badly organized in defense, lacked competent leadership and were indiscipline, hence suffered one embarrassing defeat.

Nima Mokhtari
Nima Mokhtari

This team has many promising players, but in the football field, they were 10 individual players rather than a cohesive team. Except for the goalkeeper, who was admittedly quite an embarrassment against the Saudi’s, the rest of the team have talent each to a different degree. At this age in football, talent alone is simply not good enough to produce a professional player for the future. For that, young players require professional management, guidance and above all, knowledgeable and skilled coaches. Iran has witnessed many of these young players pop up from every corner of the country throughout the years, yet only a handful make it big.

This current federation like many before it, have little regard to team building and long term strategy. The people at the helm always think of quick success and now to maintain their grip. Very few seem to care how a team ends up in 6 or 7 years from now.

This short term thinking is why Iran never appointed proper professional coaching at age group levels. Starting at club level, young players are kind of neglected and assigned the weakest of coaches and sometimes even rejects , who work for free to build up a CV. There is hardly a long term strategic planning for talented players. While FFIRI is struggling to provide a decent Training ground for Team Melli in the midst of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup, it is perhaps too much to ask for when it comes to the welfare of young teams.

Iran U17 defeated by the Italians

Team Melli U17 lost the friendly match against the Italian counterpart 4-1 in the match played today at Dastgerdi Stadium in Tehran.  The match  was part of the cooperation protocol signed by the two federations in which several exchanges have been arranged.  

The Italian team coached by Bruno Tedino went ahead on 25′ of the first half thanks to a penalty kick by  Llamas Acuna, and eight minutes later  Cutrone scored to make it  2-0 for the guests. In the second half  (two 45-minute halves were played) Giraudo scored the third goal on 30′; on 38′ Reza Shekari scored Iran’s only goal from a header but on 48′ Cutrone, who scored two goals, set the final result at 4-1.

Iran U17 team is coached by Hamid Alidousti.

In the post match interview , the Italian coach stated that “match against the Iranian team was a good test in light of the Elite Phase of the European Championships that will see Italy play from March 21st to the 26th, against the home team, Germany, Slovakia and Ukraine.”

Amir Hossein Peyrovani who is the head coach of the youth teams, said that it was an honor and a great experience playing against such a powerful team “When you playing against footballers from AC Milan , Juventus , Inter Milan , you know that you are facing the best. It as a great experience for us. Unfortunately we have been quite behind in our preparations and did not have adequate time to prepare !”

Peyrovani added that although the defeat was heavy , he did not think that the differences of the standards between the two teams was 3 goals. 

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Italy U17 Squad

Goalkeepers : Cucchietti (Turin), Donnarumma (Milan);
Defenders : Giraudo (Turin), Llamas Acuna (Milan), Malberti (Milan), Mattioli (Inter), Nicoletti (Crotone), Scalera (Bari), Vogliacco (Juventus);
Midfielders : Onion (Parma), Degl’Innocenti (Fiorentina), Gasperoni (Cesena), Locatelli (Milan), Melegoni (Atalanta);
Forwards : Lo Faso (Palermo), Mazzocchi (Atalanta), Scamacca (Rome).

Italy U17 national team