Tag: Iran

Reports: Iraq & Syria may lose hosting rights.

According to the UAE Al-Ittihad newspaper, two Group A teams Iraq and Syria may well lose the chance of playing their home matches in their own country.

Ittihad quoted informed sources in the Asian Football Confederation headquarters, the AFC has asked Iraq and Syria to nominate alternative venues for their home matches in the third qualifying round of the FIFA  World Cup Qatar 2022 in a neutral country.  According to the newspaper, security issues and the coronavirus situation of the two countries are factors that influenced the denying of the hosting and requirement to nominate other countries for holding their home matches.

The final decision has to be resolved by the end of July (less than another month), as the third round qualifiers start on 2nd September. However, FIFA has stated that countries in each group cannot nominate their group rivals venues to host home matches. Al-Ittihad also stated that the president of the Syrian Football Federation has begun negotiations to select an Arab country to host on neutral ground. Reflecting on the news, Iraqi journalist Ali Nouri also protested against the decision by FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation and called on the Minister of Sports, Adnan Darjal, and the Iraqi Federation’s normalization committee to pursue the issue of hosting Iraq on its own soil. Iran, South Korea, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and the UAE are in the Group of the third round FIFA World Cup qualifiers. This report does not mention the name of Iran and the issue of its hosting.

An exciting draw for Iran.

If there was an easier draw in the final round of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, then Iran has possibly the better group of the two.

Not only the opponents are well known for Team Melli but the logistics will be that much easier with 4 neighbors per se with the only long-distance travel being Korea. The most familiar team is Iraq which Iran recently defeated in the second round to qualify for the final round.

Korea will remain the most serious of the group contenders. The star-studded team of the Koreans have qualified for the World Cup 10 times and is well-positioned to make it number 11 along with Iran.

the four Arab countries in the group stand an equal chance of qualifying. Although Syria was the best performer of the four teams in the second round, it will be difficult for the Syrians to repeat this performance in the third round, especially since they lost their head coach the Tunisian Nabil Maaloul.

Iraq will always remain a strong team despite the difficult circumstances surrounding the team. In the draw ceremonies, the Slovenian coach of Iraq national Team Katanec was absent while doing the after-draw interviews. That does not augur well for the coach who is on shaky ground. It is not clear if he will be continuing with the team.

UAE was trailing Vietnam in the group until the last day. However, a great awakening in the last match, pushed UAE to a win against Vietnam to head the group and qualify directly to round three. UAE is a well know opposition to Iran but has never defeated Team Melli. UAE also remains a favorite away venue to Iran.

Lebanon was perhaps the luckiest team of the group but by no mean the punching bag. Their performance in the group with Korea was quite admirable. Although their chance of qualifying is minimal, they do represent a challenge for the others especially the lower ranked group teams. The economic situation of Lebanon would be the biggest off-field challange to their preparations for the third round.

Azizi Khadem now says Skocic is contracted intil the end of the qualifying rounds.

According to the Mehr reporter, Shahabuddin Azizi Khadem, the president of the Football Federation, commenting on Dragan Skocic, Team Melli Head Coach’s contract ” Skocic will remain in charge for the 10 matches of the third round FIFA World Cup qualifiers. This might include Fifa day friendly matches.”

Regarding Skocic’s assistants, the president of the Football Federation emphasized: “Both Vahid Hashemian and Karim Bagheri will continue their work in the national team.”

On the other hand, Mansour Ghanbarzadeh, Secretary-General of FFIRI said that the figure of Skocic’s contract is not that significant to mention (…) Skocic’s contract figure is reasonable.” Ghanbarzadeh added that ” Skocic’s plans for the national team: Skocic will present his plans to the presidency of the federation as in the previous round.”

 

Cristiano Ronaldo ‘Level with Ali Daei as highest international goalscorer’ –

The Portuguese superstar became the all-time highest goalscorer in Euros when he scored against Hungary on Tuesday…

Cristiano Ronaldo did the star turn for Portugal in their final Euro 2020 Group F game against France, scoring two penalties in a 2-2 draw. Not only did his goals see Portugal head into the Round of 16 but also saw him achieve yet another goalscoring feat.

Ronaldo has become the joint-top scoring men’s international player of all time, with his two goals taking his tally to 109 goals in 176 matches for the national team, putting him at the top of the list of goalscorers on the international stage, level only with Iran’s Ali Daei.

The superstar is in line to create a few more records during the course of the tournament. With Portugal expected to go deep into the tournament, the 36-year-old is expected to break them.

Meanwhile, The Iranian legend Ali Daei reacted to this feat by posting a message on his personal page on social media after Cristiano Ronaldo equaled his national goals record. “Congrats @Cristiano” he said in the message. ” You have achieved what you deserved. You are a true symbol of perseverance and professionalism, and were born to show the world that you are the best.”

Previously, Ali Daei was the world’s top scorer with 109 goals in 149 national games, but now Cristiano Ronaldo has reached Ali Daei’s record with two goals against France. According to ISNA, Ali Daei deleted this post from his page a few minutes after its publication for unknown reasons.

Is Carlos Queiroz on Team Melli’s coaching radar?

The rumors of Carlos Queiroz returning back to lead Team Melli in the upcoming qualifying matches of the FIFA World Cup 2022 to replace Dragan Skucic are quite strong.

Iranian Football Federation, however, has no plans to recruit the Portuguese coach. At the same time, the issue of the contract with Dragan Skocic is still pending. The Croat coach, who achieved a 100% record with Team Melli is out of contract with the end of the second rounds of the World Cup Qualifiers.

Apart from stating the obvious on the expiry of the Skocic contract, the Football Federation has been tight-lipped about renewing or terminating the contract. No communique or statement from the Media officers has been issued leaving media and the fans to speculated through cyberspace.

Skocic had an excellent record with the Iranian national team. Not only he won all the friendly matches, but he also completed the remarkable feat of winning all the return matches of the World Cup qualifiers away from home. A feat that the supposedly more celebrated and famous coach in the form of the Belgian Wilmots miserably failed to achieve.

 

In the second round of the World Cup qualifiers, held in Bahrain, Iran under Skocic won against Hong Kong, Bahrain, Cambodia, and Iraq scoring 17 goals and conceding one to advance to the third round as the top of Group C.

 

However, the words of Shahab al-Din Azizi Khadem, the president of the Football Federation, on his return from Bahrain, made headlines. Azizi Khadem announced that Skocic’s contract with the national team has expired and the board of directors will decide whether he will stay or leave. This ambiguous statement led to speculation that he would cut ties with Skocic despite his success with the national team. Right from that time, the names of other coaches for the team were mentioned; From coaches like Andre Stramaccioni to Gabriel Calderon to Carlos Queiroz.

The name of Queiroz has been mentioned more than any other option due to his eight years stint with Team Melli and two consecutive qualifications to the World Cups in Brazil and Russia. Queiroz’s work in Iran was marred by controversy, with conflicts and verbal duels with other individuals such as club coaches, administrators, and journalists. He was never out of the headlines, even when Team Melli had no games planned. He is by far the most divisive person that has ever coached Team Melli. He has a cult following, mainly from Iranians living abroad, and many groups that despise his presence in Iran.

The opponents of the Portuguese coach cite his clashes with then-Persepolis coach Branko Ivankovic and his harsh treatment of his critics in addition to the extremely high salary that has broken FFIRI as reasons for not wanting him to be at the helm of Team Melli. Despite all the speculations about Queiroz’s return, even to the extent that some media outlets talking about a meeting between the former Real Madrid and Manchester United coach to be conducted soon,  more informed sources mention that Queiroz has no place in the programs of Azizi Khadem, the president of the federation, and his return to the national team is just a media discussion.

Queiroz, whose name has also been mentioned in the Iraqi media as a possible candidate for their National Team head coach, relishes the chance to continue working for the Iranian national team with an excellent chance for another qualification to the World Cup; Especially since Iran has already qualified to the third qualifying round, but, if the president of FFIRI makes a final decision to terminate Skocic’s contract, he will certainly be looking for other options beyond Queiroz, particularly because there is no love lost between the two.

FIFA Ranking for AFC third Round World Cup 2022 qualifiers

FIFA.com

Kuala Lumpur: 12 teams in Asia are still in contention to qualify for the World Cup Round 3 draw to take place on 1 July in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The path to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ has reached a pivotal stage in Asia. Twelve teams have qualified for the third round after a nearly two-year long journey in Round 2.

Group winners Syria (A), Australia (B), IR Iran (C), Saudi Arabia (D), Japan (F), United Arab Emirates (G) and Korea Republic (H) will be joined by the five best runners-up: China PR (A), Oman (E), Iraq (C), Vietnam (G) and Lebanon (H).

Qatar finished as winners of Group E, but as hosts have already qualified for the World Cup and will not participate in the next round of qualifying.

What’s next?

The 12 teams will be split into two groups of six in a home-and-away, round-robin format. The winners and runners-up in each group (four total) will qualify directly for the World Cup Finals, while the third-placed teams will advance to a playoff, where they will play to determine which team will advance to the intercontinental playoff.

When’s the draw?

The third round draw will be conducted on 1 July in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Games in the third round are scheduled to be played on the following match days: 2 September 2021, 7 September 2021, 7 October 2021, 12 October 2021, 11 November 2021, 16 November 2021, 27 January 2022, 1 February 2022, 24 March 2022 and 29 March 2022

How will the seedings for the draw work?

FIFA has released a special FIFA Ranking specifically for Asia today, 18 June 2021, which will be used to determine the seeding for the draw. Qatar, while ranked fifth in this ranking and winners of Group E in Round 2, will not be participating in the third round.

How will the draw work?

Teams will be divided into six pots according to the FIFA Ranking published on 18 June 2021: Pot 1: Teams ranked 1-2, Pot 2: 3-4, Pot 3: 5-6, Pot 4: 7-8, Pot 5: 9-10, Pot 6: 11-12.

The pot number corresponds to the position the team will be placed in the group. The first and second ball drawn from each pot will be placed in Groups A and B respectively.

The draw will begin with Pot 6, where the first ball drawn will be placed in position A6. The next ball drawn will be placed in position B6, until the sequence is completed all the way through to Pot 1.

POT 1 POT 2 POT 3 POT 4 POT 5 POT 6

British Ambassadors competition on Iran vs Iraq game.

While Team Melli battled and defeated Iraq national team by one goal in the second qualifying round of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and the qualifying round of the 2023 Asian Cup, a different type of battles was going on between the two British ambassadors in the two corresponding teams

Prior to the match, Stephen Hickey, the British ambassador to Iraq, sent a message of support in Arabic to the Iraqi national team and wished them success in the match against Iran.

Minutes later, the British ambassador to Iran, Rob Macaire, responded to his counterpart in Iraq with the text in Persian and English: “Do not raise your hopes too high, you just wait and see how the Iranian football champions will win this game! Flag of Iran»

Curiosity of the British ambassadors over the ascent of Iran and Iraq!

In the end, the Iranian team won the game so that in addition to breaking the 10-year spell of not winning against Iraq in official games, the British ambassador to Iran is also a virtual winner against his colleague in Baghdad.

AFC teams qualified for 3rd Round of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

With the end of the games of the second qualifying round of the FIFA  World Cup in Qatar 2022, the name of the teams advancing to the third round of this competition was determined.

Under AFC rules, the top eight teams in each group advanced to the next round with the top four, but North Korea’s withdrawal complicated the equation so that the AFC decided not to count the results of the second teams with the team placed last in the group. Qatar as host of the World Cup, which topped group E, will not be playing in the third round.

The two biggest losers of this round are Kuwait and Uzbekistan. Kuwait has already qualified for the World Cup in 1982 lost to Jordan and Australia. Uzbekistan which has been quite a contender in Asian football was grouped with Saudi Arabia. It lost on the final day and did not make the list of the best five runner-ups.

The draw for the third round will be held at AFC Headquarters in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday 24th June.

The top teams that made it to the final round of these games are as follows:

SYRIA
AUSTRALIA
IRAN
SAUDI ARABIA
OMAN
JAPAN
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
KOREA REP
LEBANON
CHINA
IRAQ
VIETNAM

What does it take to win?

The penultimate game of Group C of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will be played in less than 24 hours in Muharraq island in Bahrain between Iran and Iraq.

The objective for both teams is quite clear, Iran must win to top the group and avoid the complicated calculations for qualifying to the next round. Iraq will slip in with a draw which will assure it the top place and qualification.

The results and the stats favor Team Melli for the match on Tuesday, however, it is a cliche that fans have heard many times. Past Results means nothing at kick-off, the team that would win is the better team that has played according to its ability and gameplan.

Team Melli realistic chances.

Not only on paper but also on the last performances of Team Melli against the other group teams and friendly match versus Syria, Dragan Skocic has improved the team several folds. This team is incomparable to the one that the lackluster Belgian coach Wilomts fielded and lost to Bahrain and Iraq. The leadership and the marks of the Croat are quite vivid in a team that is basically the same players, minus a few veterans that have lost their places. The team is younger more confident and certainly capable of defeating Iraq with the same ease they have defeated Bahrain a few days ago.

In every department, Iran has the edge over Iraq, although Iraq’s coach Katanic has the upper edge on experience at the international level over Skocic.  Beiranvand was only really tested once in this series against Hong Kong which he unfortunately failed, but his experience and character should assure him a place in the starting lineup.

In defense, Moharrami has been solid, but not the same can be said about Milad Mohammadi. However, they seem to be the top best choices right now with a few other options available;e for Skocis. The Center of the defense is perhaps the most concerning. Khalizadeh and Kanani-Zadegan. The pair have played together well at club level and they formed a good understanding. They are solid defenders with the ability to support the offensive lines during dead ball situations. There is a question mark of the reliability of Kanani who lacks international experience and at times seems unsure of himself committing basic errors of judgments. Pouralganji is a better choice in many aspects, however, Skocic might opt to stick with the pair because of their good understanding.

IN Midfiled Ghoddos and Gholizadeh have been spotless and given the team the performance that forces the coach to start them in the match, Ezatollahi and Jahanbakhsh have many rough edges that might not be suitable for this critical match. ON the defensive side of the midfield, Nourallahi, and Hajsafy complete the midfield set that is well-balanced between defense and attack.

The forward line is without any argument belongs to Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi. There is little argument. against these two as starters.

Physically, Iran is stronger but what remains to be seen is if the coaching staff and counselors have instilled tactical discipline and strong mental agility in the players. The Iraqi’s are well known for play-acting and theatrics. The Iraqis will not miss any trick to distract the attention of Team Melli players even to the degree of intimidating them. There are several Iranian players who are vulnerable in this department and the Iraqis must have identified them. The solution is to ensure that these Team Melli players do not fall into the trap and continue playing their normal game which will be their tools to victory and qualifying for the next round.

Probable Line-Up

Alireza BEIRANVAND
Sadegh MOHARRAMI Hossein KANANI-ZADEGAN Shojaa KHALILZADEH Milad MOHAMMADI
Ehsan HAJSAFY Saman GHODDOS Ahmad NOUROLLAHI Ali GHOLIZADEH
Sardar AZMOUN Mehdi TAREMI

Match Preview: Iran vs. Iraq.

Muharraq: The Group C winners will be determined on Tuesday when Iran and Iraq clash at the Sheikh Ali bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Stadium, while Bahrain faces Hong Kong in their final match in the second round of the Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023.

The race for top spot promises to see a thrilling end with Iraq – on 17 points – two ahead of Iran while Bahrain will need to defeat Hong Kong by a huge margin and hope for Iran to lose to secure second place as Group C goes down to the wire.

The top spot will secure a place in the final round of the Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, while a strong finish may also see the group’s runners-up through.

IR IRAN v IRAQ

All eyes will be on Iran as Team Melli will look to make it four wins out four since Group C resumed earlier this month with Cambodia, Bahrain, and Hong Kong easily seen off.

Iraq, however, will be a tougher challenge and with victory, the only option in their bid to finish top, head coach Dragan Skocic will demand the winning consistency Iran have developed in Muharraq as they chase a third consecutive appearance in the FIFA World Cup Finals.

Iran have been clinical in front of the net, with 17 goals to their name while the defense has been resolute with only Chinese Taipei able to breach the backline in Muharraq.

Iraq, meanwhile, may only need a draw but it is highly unlikely that head coach Srecko Katanec will adopt a defensive gameplan against an Iran side who have been scoring at will.

Image

Iraq resumed their campaign with a 4-1 defeat of Cambodia but found the going tougher against Hong Kong, with an own goal by Fung Hing Wa securing the West Asians the three points.

Katanec wasn’t unduly bothered by the lack of goals against Hong Kong and will remind his charges that they defeated Iran when the two teams met in November 2019.