Tag: Brazil

Resounding victory for Iran Futsal

Iran national futsal scored  a resounding victory (7-2) against Guatemala team in their first game of the Grand Prix de Futsal 2014 Tournament , which started in Brazil from 12 to 16 November.

Futsal Team Melli began the match in a whirlwind style with Hossein Tayyebi .

The Iranian Legionnaire who plays for the Russian club MFK Norilsk Nickel , scored three quick goals in the first few minutes of the match leaving the Guatemalans players shell-shocked. Iran emphatically took advantage of the  turnovers and some defensive mistakes Guatemala players committed, and comfortably went ahead.

Iran vs. Guatemala Grand Prix 2014

With these goals, the Iranian team dominated the match and at the end of the first 20 minutes, Javid and Shajari scored a goal each to extend Iran`s lead to 5 goals.

In the second half, Iran changed strategy and opted for counterattacks and through Tavakoli and Hasanzadeh m scored two more goals , the sixth and seventh goal.

After the opening match of the Grand Prix, the coach of Iran, Jesus Candelas, commented on the performance of his team. “The game started well for my players who were quite eager to score and pick up pace and we did well in our start. We are here to improve our performance and, therefore, to win these matches is quite important,” he said.

About Costa Rica, next opponents of the Iranian, Jesus is cautious. “The next game we have to get better. I know their style quite well , but regardless , we are going for another win against Costa Rica” said the coach.

With this victory, the Iran will be prepared to face Costa Rica in the second round of this tournament on Friday.

 

Group A
-> Brazil
-> Colombia
-> Vietnam

Group B
-> Costa Rica
-> Guatemala
-> Iran

Fixture

 

Grand Prix 201412/11/2014 – 16.00 Local Time
São Bernardo do Campo (Brazil)

Iran Guatemala
7 – 2  (5 – 0)
Match details:

Hall: Ginasio Adib Moises Dib
Goals:
Iran: Hossein Tayyebi (3) – Mahdi Javid , Mohammad Shajari , Farhad Tavakoli, Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh, 
Guatemala:  Alejandro Enriquez , Marvin Sandoval 
Starting Line up:
AliReza Samimi
Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh
Abolghasem Orouji
Farhad Tavakoli
Hossein Tayyebi 

12/11/2014
(1) 16.00 Iran – Guatemala 7-2 (5-0)
(2) 19.15 Brazil – Vietnam 8-1 (4-0)

13/11/2014
(3) 16.15 Costa Rica – Guatemala
(4) 21.00 Brazil – Colombia

14/11/2014
(5) 16.00 Colombia – Vietnam
(6) 19.45 Iran – Costa Rica

Grand Prix 2014 – Group A Standing
1. Brazil ———————-1-1-0-0–8–1-3
2. Colombia ——————–0-0-0-0–0–0-0
3. Vietnam ———————1-0-0-1–1–8-0

Grand Prix 2014 – Group B Standing
1. Iran ————————1-1-0-0–7–2-3
2. Costa Rica ——————0-0-0-0–0–0-0
3. Guatemala ——————-1-0-0-1–2–7-0

Iran Futsal team arrives in Brazil for Grand Prix 2014

Iran Futsal team arrived on Saturday 8th November to compete in the International Futsal Grand Prix to be held in Brazil from Nov. 11 to 16.

The tournament will gather five other teams, including hosts and defending champions Brazil, Colombia, Vietnam, Guatemala and Costa Rica, who are divided into two groups.

Group A consists of Brazil, Colombia and Vietnam.

Group B is Iran , Guatemala and Costa Rica.

The tournament will kick off on Nov. 12, with Vietnam facing Brazil. In their last match in HCM City last November, Vietnam won, 3-2.

The six teams will compete for the championship of the ninth edition, with the top two in each group advancing to the semi-finals.

The Brazilian Futsal Confederation has organized the FIFA-recognized Grand Prix, one of the world’s major tournaments for the sport, every year since 2005. Brazil won seven of the eight editions held so far, losing only once to Spain in 2010.

The Futsal Team is actively training under the supervision of Team Melli Futsal head coach Jesus Candelas. The Spaniard warned against taking the two Latin American teams lightly and dismissed any notion of the group being an easy passage. “Guatemala and Costa Rica are coming with full strength team and trying to prove a point. Both teams have strong line ups and it is not going to be a smooth sailing for us”

Team Melli arrived in Brazil on Saturday without several names including the recently injured Vahid Shafei

The names of the players sent to Brazil as follows:

Alireza Samimi, Sepehr Mohammadi, Alireza Vafaei, Hossein Tayebi, Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh, Farhad Tavakoli, Hamid Ahmadi, Ahmad Esmaeilpour, Mehdi Javid, Abolghasim Arooji, Behrouz Jafari, Mohammad Shajarian, Mohammad Reza Sang-Safidi  and Meysam  Khayyam.

Iran’s first match will be on Wednesday 12th Nov. against Guatemala while on on Friday 14th they will play Costa Rica.

Iran lose to Portugal in the 3rd place playoff.

Portugal scored another victory over Iran in the Samsung Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup 2014. The match between the two losing semi-finalists ended 3-0 for the Portuguese. 

The 3-0 win for Portugal over Iran had the same result, though different score, different day, and different style than they had earlier in the week but the win was still just as gratifying, if not more. The game was cerebral for the first two periods, neither offense scored and the defenses, even after Portugal began scoring, were magnificent. Portugal did not score until the last period but did so three times to pull away late against championship caliber Iran. The win gives Portugal 3rd place and Iran took 4th place out the 8 best teams across the continents. 

 

Portugal defeated Iran earlier in the tournament and while that could have been expected, it was also a bit of an upset as Iran is the defending Samsung Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup champion, so the outcome could have realistically gone either way, but neither side seemed disappointed to be playing in the 3rd place match after semi-final losses. The two squads fought hard in the opening frame and going into the middle of the period, neither side had scored. The second period started with some great opportunities for Portugal but the chances went unanswered and the goalless thriller continued into the middle of the frame. The momentum slowly began to shift as the Princes of Persia were asking all the questions but Portugal still had their world class keeper, Petrony, at their disposal, and the score remained tied at 0. The excitement increased as the saves piled up and the score was 0-0 going into the final break.

 

The pressure mounted for the two squads and that was evident in the 3rd period because both sides did not want to make the tiny mistake that gave their opponent the lead. The hope of an onslaught of goals was initiated by Jordan of the Selection of the Quinas when he blasted a mid-range shot past P. Hossieni to put the score at 1-0. Portugal found their confidence and added another goal, from Be Martins, that gave them a seemingly safe 2-0 lead. Be Martins got his second goal and was ecstatic to give his side an even bigger lead, at 3-0, and the Portuguese held onto that energy for the rest of the match, as they had earned third place in this gem of a tournament, when all was said and done. The final score was 3-0. 

 

Goals: 0-1: Jordan, min. 9 (3); 0-2: Be Martins, min. 6 (3); 0-3: Be Martines, min. 2 (3)

Brazil took home crown after besting Russia in o.t.

“Kaffashian “AFC Asian Cup 2015 is NOT a priority!”

Kaffashian announced that the priority for Queiroz is the FIFA World Cup 2018 not AFC Asian Cup 2015.

The President of FFIRI was talking to Mehrnews on the occasion of the imminent renewal of Carlos Queiroz contract to lead Team Melli for another 4 years.

Ali Kaffashian qualified his statement by saying “we do consider the Asian Cup as an important event but if we did not do well there , it is not the end of the world although it makes our job a bit more difficult for the World Cup in 4 years’ time !”

“We have instructed Querioz to use young players for the AFC Asian Cup so that we can reap the benefit in 4 years’ time in the next world Cup.”

However Kaffashian admitted that if a good result was mot obtained in Asian Cup, the pressure will mount on the Portuguese coach who is set to renew his contract as the highest ever paid foreign coach in the history of Iran. His asking price of US$2.5 million deterred the South African federation who were the favorite to sign him.

IMG_3191

Questioned by Mehrnews about the critical views of Team Melli’s performance and results in Brazil , Kaffashian claimed that the majority of the fans were satisfied by the result.  He then mentioned Brazil loss to Germany by 7-1  to justify an apparent good performance by Team Melli!. We couldn’t relate the two matches together in any way of justifications.

Kaffashian confirmed that the post of Team Melli Manager will now be abolished, at least when Queiroz is around. The role of administration, organization and management of the squad will be all carried out by Queiroz himself.  The Team Melli Manager’s Post has always been present through the history. Indeed, many international football teams have such a post. Queiroz has not agreed to Kaffashian’s choices for this post, which rumored to have included Mehdi Mahdavikia, and instead ruled that he does not need a Manager and will take up such role in addition to being the head coach. Team Manager is a full-time job , including travelling to countries in away matches to arrange accommodations, training facilities arrangements,  supervising and managing logistics , negotiations and meeting with counterpart oppositions and AFC /FIFA representatives for pre-match coordination meetings.

Iran vs nigeria greeting the fans (35 of 36)-3

The reporter asked Kaffashian about the enormousness of Queiroz contract, however the President of FFIRI denied that figure while refusing to mention the actual agreed terms. Kaffashian admitted that Queiroz salary has nearly doubled in the last term but that was really down to the currency exchange rates. “ His last contract figure was initially US$ 1.5 million and the new one is a little bit over that , but not by much.” Kaffashian claimed.

Be it a little over US$1.5 Million as Kaffashian claims or the US$2.5 million the South Africans claimed Queiroz was demanding, it is a huge amount for a federation that always complains about acute shortage of funds. But the real concern is for the fans, as those millions of hard currency dollars , will not guarantee Iran any success in the upcoming AFC Asian Cup in Australia. With Kaffashian already announcing that AFC Cup 2015 is NOT a priority, and Queiroz proverbial moans that he has no quality players that have played in the European Champions League at his disposal, it seems that the stage is set for the fans to add another 4 years to the 39 years they had to wait for a championship trophy by Team Melli. Kaffashian lack of ambition and in the absence of any true pressure on the coach to deliver will be another heart-break for Team Melli fans. They have to be content with nostalgia of Ali Parvin’s pictures lifting the Asian Cup in Azadi in 1976 to satisfy their pride and ego.

Brazil vs. Team Melli match in prospect.

World Sports Group WSG , the Singapore based company is negotiating with both sides to arrange a friendly match between Brazil and Iran in the coming months.

Meanwhile , Ali Kaffashian has also indicated that he is pursuing the same objective and it is hopeful that an agreement will be reached for a match within a couple of months from now.

Iran and Brazil played in Abu Dhabi on October 2010 in Abu Dhabi. The Brazilians won 3-0.

The match , if it materializes , will be a good practice for the upcoming 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Australia. Up to the now, it is not known who the coach will be as Carlos Queiroz contract with FFIRI has already expired with no sign of an accord on the extension.

 

[divider]

BRAZIL VS. IRAN

3   –   0

(1   –   0)

Date: 07.10.2010

Time:  21:00

Venue: Zayed Sport City – Abu Dhabi


Dani Alves (14)
Alexnder Pato (68)
NILMAR (92)

BRAZIL:

Victor Leandro Bagy (Grêmio)
Dani Alves (Barcelona)
Andre dos Santos (Fenerbahçe)
David Luiz (Benfica)
Carlos Eduardo Marques (Rubin Kazan) ( [60′ Giuliano (Internacional) ]
Lucas Leiva Pezzini (Liverpoll) [81′ Wesley (Werder Bremen)]
Philippe Coutinho Correia (Internazionale) [46′ Elias (Corinthians)]
Ramires (Chelsea ) [66′ Sandro (Tottenham Hotspur)]
Thiago Silva (AC Milan) [ 78′ Réver (Wolfsburg)]
Robinho (Manchester City) [66′ NILMAR Honorato da Silva(Villarreal)],
Alexnder Pato (AC Milan)

Coach: Luiz Antonio Venker de Meneze

 
IRAN:
Mehdi RAHMATI;
Jalal HOSSEINI,
Mohammad NOURI,
Andranik TEYMOURIAN,
Pejman NOURI [86′ Milad MEYDAVOUDI]
Khosrow HEYDARI,
Javad NEKOUNAM,
Masoud SHOJAEI [73′ Karim BAGHER]
Ehsan ,HAJSAFY
Milad ZENIDPOUR [59’Iman MOBALI],
Mohammad GHOLAMI [54′ Karim ANSARIFARD ]

Coach: Afshin Ghotbi

 

The World Cup is here and Team Melli is set to go

After all the clamors, the excitement, the thrills and the expectation where the world media was virtually littered with stories about the World Cup. The day of the reckoning is here and now.

Stories from the downright silly and ridiculous like the one about the turtle that predicts the World Cup winner ( it can’t get more sillier than that , can it ?) to the more serious side of the World Cup where a plethora of football experts have made life easy for you by predicting the winning teams, before a ball has even been kicked! Mixed with real life stories of calamities, unfinished work on Stadia , violence, robberies, industrial disputes and incredible traffic jams in major cities of the host nation.

This should have been a red card.

In the opener the 20th FIFA World Cup 2014, Brazil defeated Croatia 3-1 after the East Europeans stunned the host with a goal. In fact it was a friendly own goal by the recent European Cup winner defender of Real Madrid,  Marcelo. However , young  Neymar stole the show as Brazil came from behind to score two goals, one a of which was a controversial penalty. The Croats are still devastated and feel grieved because Neymar should have been sent off for elbowing Modric in the first half.

A controversial start, no doubt we have not seen the end of those.

Own goal by Marcello

Team Melli will be there amongst the elite. We will be hearing and seeing Hajsafy mingle with Di Maria,  about Dejagah tackling Messi , while Hosseini will be stopping Aguero from scoring and Ghoochannehad passing Zabaleta on his way. Names that increases the adrenaline on hearing them , oppositions at the highest level of football,  a far cry from hearing the names of Guinea or Thailand or  Belarus or Angola that Team Melli has been sparring with in their way to the Word Cup. This is the real thing, people.  The match in 4 days against Nigeria will be the decider, according to Queiroz. No time for losers.

Ashkan Dejagah

From the pulse of the Team Melli fans, we see that the majority will not be satisfied with anything less than qualification to the next round. While that is genuinely a legitimate wish and within the full right of the aspiring fans, it is perhaps a bit of unrealistic expectation considering the less-than-optimum preparations and acute lack of high level friendly games by Team Melli.    

All this is water under the bridge now. The reality is that Team Melli will be facing Nigeria and it is well within the capability of the boys to beat them. Then they have to face one of the title contenders in Argentina. A totally different proposition, a quality at the highest level and in Messi , they have the greatest football player on earth. HosseinKazerani , the solid defender of Pas and a member of Team Melli 1978 World Cup team, speaking recently on a TV show about memories of 1978 World Cup,  countered  the fear of some his teammate playing against the might of Holland with  household name players, Kazerani said in a simple term “Their players have one head two legs and two hands, same as we do, what are you frighten of ?”. Simplistic logic it might be, but no denying that it is very much a true statement. It is about who dares win and who is hungrier for glory. About the stronger mentality and better motivation.

Let us hope Team Melli plays with the passion and pride that they are famous for. Let us hope that the skills of the players yields the optimum result and finally , let us hope that Team Melli impresses the fans across the globe with a display of valor , sportsmanship and skills worthy of the name of Iran.

Grand victory by Iran’s volleyball should inspire Team Melli in World Cup.

FIVB World League 2014

Brazil 0-3 Iran

 

Iran Volleyball team defeated Brazil 3-0 in Sao  Paulo ,Brazil to record the greatest ever team sport victory by any Iranian team in any sport. They don’t come bigger than Brazil in Volleyball. The host of the FIFA World Cup  2014 has an immaculate record in Volleyball , winners of 9 World League titles, 2 times winners  of Olympic Games gold medals, 3 times World Champions , 2 times World Cup winners and 4 times World Grand Prix champions. Like their compatriots the football players, they are a championship pedigree team and have produced quality players that have managed to play and excel in the best leagues of the World.

Such a historic win comes at a perfect time and place for Iran’s football Team Melli with the world cup 2014 only days away. A historic victory like this one by Iran’s volleyball team in the most important and highest profile World Volleyball competition will surely provided a huge boost for the footballers and make them believe that even the best teams in the world can be beaten.

There will be intriguing similarities in this volleyball match to the one that Team Melli will face against Argentina on 21st June 2014. It is similar encounter to the David and Goliath match with the Iranian volleyball players who faced Brazil and against all the odds, beat them comprehensively.

The willpower, the pride, the team spirit , the motivation , the skills , the harmony , the grace that these players have displayed shall be an inspiration and a boost for our football players.

21st of June is also a blessed date for Iran. In this date in year 1998 , Iran has recorded its only victory in the FIFA World cup against USA.

Let us hope that the victory by the Volleyball players inspires the football players to excel against their mighty opponents.

 

Farhad Ghaemi celebrate victory against Brazil

 

Seyed Mohammad Mousavi celebrates a poit scored

Team Melli begins training in Brazil

Team Melli squad hit the gym as it started the last phase of to its tough training regime in Sao Paulo Brazil.

After completion of several formalities in the morning, in which the team was also given a briefing by FIFA representatives and local organizing committee covering the events and rules applicable to the tournament, the squad left to the Corinthians training complex under strict security from the Brazilian authorities. Fears of disruptions and protest by many Brazilian citizens who object to the huge amount of funds spend to host the World Cup has increased the alertness of the police with security forces leaving nothing to chance. Team Melli was escorted by the police from the hotel to the training ground and back.

 

The squad hit the gym early on for physical training before moving to the football pitch.

During the training Queiroz received many requests for interviews and statements , which he eventually provided to the local newspapers and TV stations.

 

Team Melli will be meeting Trinidad & Tobago on the 8th June behind closed-door , for the final preparation match before the match against Nigeria. Argentine beat Trinidad & Tobago 3-0 last night with goals from R. Palacio 45’+1 (assist by Á. di María) , J. Mascherano 51′ (assist by Messi) and Maxi Rodríguez 64′ (assist by R. Palacio)

 

Davari & Dejagah at the Gym

 

Dejagah , Teymourian and Ale Nemeh doing push ups

Team Melli departs to Brazil.

Team Melli has departed Tehran at the early hours of the morning destination Brazil. After a short reception in the CIP lounge of Imam Khomeni Airport, where the Minister of Youth & Sport was present and wished the players and the squad the best of luck, the squad left to Brazil.

Reporters were initially not allowed into the CIP lounge despite invitations to attend a brief news conference before the squad departure. With the arrival of the Minster of Sports Goudarzi , who was informed about the reporters being denied access, and on his instructions, the security authorities of the airport allowed the media enter the lounge.

The manager of Team Melli, Mehdi Mohammad Nabi , did not fly with the squad. This is the second time that the person who should be leading and supervising the squad, ensuring the comfort and  proper facilitation of all the requirements , has not accompanied the team! Mohammad Nabi has cited personal issues as the reason for not accompanying the team.

Last night, the football federation arranged a small farewell party for the squad in Azadi Sport Complex arena. The farewell party was attended by many dignitaries including the Minster of sport who urged the team to be strong and fight to soldiers to defend the honor of the country.

 Kaffashian who was also present at the airport to bid the team farewell , will be joining the squad in Brazil on Sunday as the head the delegation .

Also missing from the flight to Brazil was Markar Aghajanian who has flown ahead to analyze the Nigeria game against USA.

Before playing the first match against Nigeria in Group F at Arena da Baixada  on the 16th June, Team Melli will have a final preparation game against Trinidad and Tobago behind closed doors in Brazil camp.

abdolvahed mirzazadeh-23-50.jpg

The Islamic History of Salvador, the City where Bosnia and Iran will Meet up in the World Cup

mourariaMouraria Neighborhood: name taken from Romans distracted as Muslims

One of the most charming and bohemian neighborhoods of Salvador, Brazil’s third largest city and capital of the state of Bahia, is called Mouraria (the Moorish quarter), a small area full of old houses where there is an army headquarter, some university buildings and many bars. The name inherited from traditional Lisbon neighborhood brings actually a mistake. As explains local historian Cid Teixeira actually the little neighborhood of Salvador, that is just a few meters from the Arena Fonte Nova,  was initially occupied by Romans, who at that time were seen as Muslims.
But they, the Muslims, were here,  brought from Africa as slaves, and in the first half of the nineteenth century almost turned the city , that had been the Brazil’s capital, an independent Islamic republic.

In 1835, Salvador had just over 65,000 inhabitants and 40% of them were slaves (slavery was completely abolished in Brazil in 1888). Adding the mulattoes and free blacks, Afrodescendants reached 78% of the residents. And among the blacks who had achieved freedom through manumission letter provided by their masters, were the “malês”, as they were called Africans who could read and write and who dominated the Arab.

The renowned historian João José Reis, author of “Slave Rebellion in Brazil: The Muslim Uprising of 1835 in Bahia (Taylor & Francis, 1995), explains in his book that most of the slaves sent to city of Salvador in previous years came from the ports of Luanda, Benguela and Cabinda, which currently comprise the territory of Angola. But at the time of the rebellion, 30% of the slaves who lived in Salvador came from the Gulf of Guinea, through the ports of Porto Novo, Lagos and Badagri, the last two of the current Nigeria, (which is coincidentally in the same group of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iran).

forte são marcelo

Forte de São Marcelo, where Malês leaders were detained

Arriving at Bahia, these new slaves were called different names, depending on the language thy spoke. The largest of these groups was formed by Nagôs, that although they were supporters of Orisha worship professed the Muslim faith.

Besides the struggle against slavery, common to all blacks and some whites, nagôs maintained resistance to the imposition of the Catholic faith and to the extent that they could buy their freedom began to meet and discuss strategies for liberation. The nagôs planned a revolt that would explode on January 25, 1835. Under the leadership of Muslims Manuel Calafate, Aprígio, Pai Inácio, bought weapons and wrote their plans in Arabic to avoid detection. But they were betrayed by a black woman who reported their plans to the authorities.

Even with bared plans, the Malês went on the attack against the dominant forces in January, 6. A group of between 600 and 1,500 men (the amount varies in historical documents) faced police and National Guard, who were much more numerous. No one knows exactly what the movement’s leaders had in mind, if only iberation of all black people or the proclamation of independence in relation to Brazil, but some historians see evidence that under the Malês, Bahia could have become an Islamic republic.

Dozens of Malês were killed in combat, four leaders were executed and others were detained at Fort Sea (Forte de São Marcelo, one of the attractions of Salvador). And the Revolt of Malian went down in history as the greatest rebellion led by Muslims in the Americas.