Tag: Championship

Ashkan Dejagah to make his debut with Nottingham Forest 

Team Melli Captain and midfield player Ashkan Dejagah has finally signed  with the English side Nottingham Forest.

The Championship side have made six deadline day signings, with Costel Pantilimon, Jack Colback, Adlene Guedioura, , Joe Lolley and Lee Tomlin in addition to Ashkan Dejagah arriving.

Dejagah will be with Forest until the end of the season.

Dejgah remained without club after his contract expired with Wolfsburg last season. Despite interest from several top Iranian clubs, Dejagah consistently refused to play his football in the Iranian league for many reasons including the poor financial discipline of the clubs who are notoriously bad pay masters.

Dejagah’s main concern was lack of form with the World Cup 2018 only months ahead.

Ashkan Dejagah admits the chance of coming back to play in England with Nottingham Forest was one he couldn’t refuse, and he hopes to give his new supporters something to cheer about.

The 31-year-old Iranian agreed a deal on deadline day to spend the remainder of the season at the City Ground, and could be in line to make his debut at former club Fulham on Saturday.

“I am really happy to be here and back in the UK,” said the winger, who has ambitions of playing in the World Cup this summer.

“Nottingham Forest is a big, traditional club and I am happy to be here.”

Dejagah, who was at the City Ground on Tuesday evening to watch Forest lose at home to Preston, revealed the decision was easy once boss Aitor Karanka had made the approach to bring him to Nottingham.

“I played in the Premier League with Fulham and now in the Championship with Forest. I love it and I know how hard English football is but I am looking forward to playing my first game for the club.

“I am a player who likes to attack. I am aggressive on the pitch and always want to win so hopefully I can give the fans something to cheer about.”

 

Team Melli forwards score in Europe.

Two Iranian players scored for their teams in European leagues to help their clubs grab three points in their respective leagues.

In London ,  Sheffield Wednesday delivered their worst performance of the season as they crashed to a 3-1 defeat at managerless Charlton Athletic this afternoon. Iranian contribution came from the recently injury recovered Team Melli forward , Reza Ghoochannejhad.

in the 55th minute Ghoochannejhad tapped in inside the six-yard box following a lovely move involving Makienok and Fox to score Charlton’s third goal.

While in Greece Panionios ‘s Karim Ansarifard scores the winner for his team vs. Platanias to keep his club challenge for a runner-up position ans a place in the European competition. Ansarifard chipped the ball inside the net beating the opponents keeper. 

 

For both players,  Reza Ghoochannejhad and Karim Ansarifard, scoring was quite timely as the pair have suffered difficult periods of dearth of goals for club and country. The two crucial matches in Tehran and away to Guam this week will go a long way in determining the final ranking of the table in the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers Group D. Both players are included in Carlos Queiroz list.  Ghoochannejhad’s goal is especially welcome after the player has suffered a long-term injury which put him out of action for months.

 

 

FIFA World Cup 2018 Qualification

Asian Zone

Round 1

GROUP D

#   Team MP W D L F A D P Last 5 matches
1 Previous rank: 2 Oman 5 3 2 0 9 3 +6 11 WDDWW
2 Previous rank: 1 Iran 4 2 2 0 11 2 +9 8 DWWD
3 Previous rank: 4 Turkmenistan 5 2 1 2 5 6 -1 7 WWLDL
4 Previous rank: 3 Guam 5 2 1 2 3 8 -5 7 LDLWW
5   India 5 0 0 5 3 12 -9 0 LLLLL