Tag: Johannesburg

UHLSport “Queiroz has a personal vendetta against us”

The Regional Manager of the German sports goods manufacturer UHLSport GmbH, the provider of the official kit for Team Melli reacted strongly to the comments made by Carlos Queiroz against it.

Earlier in Navad program aired on Monday, the show anchor Adel Ferdowsipour established contact with Queiroz who was in Johannesburg, to discuss the progress of Team Melli preparation. Part of the grievances that Querioz had , and he had a whole lot of it , was the status of the kits provided by UHLSport for the camp particularly that there was only one track suite per player for the whole duration of the camp which is scheduled to last for 3 weeks.

After the conclusion of the interview with Queiroz , Ferdowsipour contacted Vahid Jaffary , the Regional Manager of UHLSport GmbH in Iran to seek his opinion on Queiroz allegations.

Jaffary responded by saying that he is surprised by Queiroz allegation , yet he should not be if we look back at the events of the past.

“We are legally bound by contracts, specifying the amount , the volume and number of kits to be provided also the quality. If there are any shortages , problems or discrepancies , then the supplier (UHLSport) should be contacted directly to resolve the problem if problems exists in the first place. This the civilized and professional way of dealing with such matters.”

“However, Carlos Queiroz comes on TV and accuses my company in public which is in real term a slander. Queiroz motives are personal. I don’t want to discuss the details of it , suffice to say that during negotiations for this contract with the football federation , Queiroz demanded a few things that were not acceptable to us and we turn them down. Since then , and after we won the contract and signed with the FFIRI, the coach of Team Melli took a stand against us by bad mouthing , complaining and trying to find any excuse to  ridicule our company.”

“Queiroz public display of opposition and personal vendetta started from the date we set up a ceremony to introduce the New World Cup kit. He did not attend the ceremony” Jaffary said.

 “I want one of the accountable mangers of the federation who countersigned the contract and come forward , even on TV , to say whether we have carried out our part of the deal or not. Let me tell you that we already have shipped 700 kgs worth of kit to Austria for the next camp. We have also said that we are ready to provide extra kits beyond the contract up to the World Cup.”

“The interesting part of this allegation is that Querioz’s request for kits , far exceeded the number of players in the squad”

On the other hand , ALi Kaffashian was taken by surprise by the Queiroz’s allegations against UHLSport. The head of the football federation said “I don’t know what Queiroz is complaining against , we have invested 3 billion tomans for the two camps in South Africa and Austria. We have to talk to him and find out what he meant by his statements.”

“This Camp is a complete failure” Queiroz

Carlos Queiroz said the South Africa Training Camp was a total failure because of lack of players.

The statement comes only a day after Ali Kaffashian announced to the press that the Training camp is going well and achieving its objective !

The head coach of Team Melli , in a TV interview , continued his line of denunciation against those who have not supported Team Melli directly accusing Sepahan Esfahan and Esteghlal clubs of  ignoring the Minster of Youth & Sport wishes, destructing Team Melli program and creating complications for the squad.

Queiroz added “with such arrangement and program failures, don’t expect much from Team Melli in Brazil. We will not make it to the next round because of the failure of the South Africa Camp!”

Queiroz went on about how he arranged the preparation program for Team Melli  including this camp from 12 months ago, “ it was not only me who planned it , but I had a inputs from others in the program.”

Asked if the decision to set up the camp was his decision or other personnel influenced it, Queiroz said “it was a decision made by the Minster of Youth & Sport and the head of the football federation to go ahead with the camp. I am only a coach here (..), so all those who disregarded the instructions and refused to release the players ( meaning the two clubs Sepahan and Esteghlal) have actually disrespected the minister ! Even up to our departure time, we did not know if those players will be joining us or not.”

For the record, both Sepahan and Esteghlal have confirmed several times publicly and to the federation in writing, that they will not be releasing their players to Team Melli as long as they are involved in official competitions.

“This training camp was vital for the team’s prospect. We came here to prepare the players to play against African Teams. I did not come here for leisure I have never promised anything, the only promise I give is that I will work hard.”

Despite having 23 players at his disposal in Johannesburg, Queiroz said “We are missing key players and that affects our preparation.” The only non-European player missing is Javad Nekounam while Queiroz elected to ignore Sepahan players except for the goalkeeper Rahman Ahmadi .

Queiroz then went on complaining about UHLSport the official kits provider for providing only one set of track suites for players for three weeks. “We paid US$ 30,000 for our excess baggage, we could have bought more kits for our player’s training instead.”

Asked if there will be additional domestic players added to Team Melli current list, Queiroz firmly rejected that, hence closing the door in the face of Rahmati and Aghili the two outcasts, for good. However, he indicated that some new faces from Europe might be added!

Queiroz concluded that he is a “Positive person”

“I am sorry if I sound negative and despondent, but if I do not say these things, then we will not get any support for Team Melli.”

Team Melli draws the second practise match.

Team Melli played its second practice match in Johannesburg against Orlando Pirates of the South African Professional league on Wednesday. The match ended 3-3.

Unlike the first practice match , this one was played in a proper football pitch of Orlando pirates club. Team Melli scored through Khalatbary (9), Beigzadeh (52) and Nourozi (78)

The match was played in two 40 minutes period and was a part of the ongoing preparation for  the FIFA World Cup 2014.

Team Melli starting line up was : Ahmadi ; Montazeri , Hosseini , Sadeghi , Beigzadeh , Heidary , Teymourian , Haddadifar, Rahmani , Khalatbary , Ansarifard.

In the second half , the young goalkeeper Biranvand was given his chance as he replaced Rahman Ahmadi in goal. ALl the players, except for Ando , Rahmani and Montazeri were rotated during the game.

Team Melli could not repeat the convincing victory of Tuesday , however , Queiroz has emphasized that results do not matter at this stage and in these practice matches. A good test for Team Melli will be on the 2nd of May when the full team will be playing an international friendly against Mozambique.

Team Melli training camp in South Africa has been cut short by 5 days.

 

 

 

Team Melli camp Johannesburg: update News.

Carlos Queiroz has deployed some interesting tactics for the first friendly match of Team Melli in South Africa.

In the match that was played in the base camp of team Melli in Johannesburg, and in a pitch which did not resemble a football pitch, Queiroz decided that the opponents coach would referee the match while his assistance including Majid Saleh will be assistant referees!

Furthermore , Queiroz decided to play with 10 men only from minute 80 of the match, presumably  to test how his players will perform under pressure of one players short.  The South African team failed to score against Team Melli in the last 10 minutes , however it is not clear if the Africans have fielded a full strength team for this practice match.

In a post match statement , Queiroz said that his objective from this training camp practice matches is to improve the physical conditioning of the players “The result of the matches do not bother me one bit. I am more concerned on the physical side of my players and how to improve it in this short time that is available to me. We need to be tough both physically and mentally, improve our running and endurance.”  said the Portuguese coach.

“I am determined to take the team to Brazil and perform to our best ability provided we have unequivocal and full support form everyone (…)”

Meanwhile , Esteghlal player who joined the camp late , have been given a stern physical training to bring them back in shape. Some of the players were running with performance measuring devices for recording their vital sign.

Team Melli real test of this camp will be on the 2nd of May when they face the full national team of Mozambique.

KArim Ansarifard

Ansarifard & Lak join Team Melli squad in South Africa

Karim Ansarifard and Hamed Lak , the two Tractorsazi players have flown directly to Johannesburg to join their teammates at the South Africa training camp.

Their departure was initiated right after Tractorsazi were eliminated from the AFC Champions league after the defeat against Al Ittihad. This is good news for Team Melli especially since the squad departed with only 11 outfield players without a goal keeper. It is expected that Esteghlal players , who were also eliminated from the same competition , will also join the squad in South Africa. Karim Ansarifard has recently won the top goal scorer award in the league.

The fate of the remaining two teams players , Foolad Khuzestan & Sepahan , is still unclear in regard to joining the camp. Foolad has already qualified for the Knock Out stages of the AFC Champions League , while Sepahan  are still alive and stand a good chance of qualifying with one last match remaining.  Foolad Khuzestan has 3 players in the squad while Sepahan has 6.

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