Tag: Mohammad Nouri

End of the road for Jalal Hosseini

The Persepolis central defender, a veteran of 108 games for Team Melli and 8 goals will be appearing for the last time against Syria.

Seyyed Jalal Hosseini , who has been a fixed player for his club Persepolis winning the league title last season, has not featured in Carlos Queiroz’s team this year although he was included in the squads for the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

At 35 , Jalal Hosseini is obviously not as versatile and quick as he used to be years back. He has formed a strong partnership with Pejman Montazeri in Team Melli for the last few years , but his loss of pace , his temperemnt and certain lack of self-control has reduced his chances of appearing for Team Melli and relegated in the pecking order for defenders by Queiroz.

In essence, Carlos Queiroz is a great believer in youth energy and for the six years he has been at the helm of Team Melli , the Portuguese coach has introduced many new players while he easily dispensed with the service of the most senior member of Team Melli without affecting the overall performances or result of the team. In Hosseini’s case, the performance of his club teammate Mohammad Ansari was quite assuring and hence he seems to be the perfect replacement for the aging Hosseini.

Like Mehdi Rahmati, Hadi Aghili, Andranik Teymourian, Khosrow Heydari, Mohammadreza Khalatbari, Mehrdad Pooladi , AmirHossein Sadeghi, Mojtaba Jabbari , Gholamreza Rezaei , Mohammad Nouri, and Mohammad Nosrati before him, the Persepolis defender is bidding farewell after a fine 10 years career with Team Melli which included participation in the FIFA World Cup 2014 and three AFC Asian Cups 2007, 2011 and 2015.

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Queiroz “Possible cancellation of Chile match is a big blow for Team Melli”

The Portuguese coach of Team Melli Carlos Queiroz has returned back to Iran to select and prepare the team for the two high profile friendly matches against Chile and Sweden in two weeks time.

Rumors have been rife in Tehran about the possible cancellation of the Chile match in Austria because of the customary shortage of funds to cover the cost. Queiroz was confronted by the reports on his arrival about his feelings on such possibility. “It will be a big and major blow for Team Melli if this match is canceled and regrettable if there is shortage of funds. We have all been looking forward for this unique opportunity to play two of the finest teams in the world and if the Chile match is canceled it will be a big psychological blow” Queiroz commented.

Queiroz was also asked about the status of several players and he had these to offer.

“Azmoun and Jahanbakhash are members of Team Melli and are definitely required for the two matches in Europe. This is a big opportunity for them. There is no chance that I will not select them for this trip. It is regrettable that this tour coincides with the Omid team qualifying matches , but once again , both will be required and will be with us in the trip to Europe”

“Mohammad Nouri and Mehdi Rahmati are not Team Melli players and will not be part of the squad to Europe. I have no further comments to offer on the subject. Full stop.”

“The list of Team Melli players will be announced soon and will be starting our preparation from Iran before flying to Europe”

 

 

Queiroz seeking Pooladi & Rafei release.

Mehdi Mohammad Nabi, Team Melli manager spoke of the possibility of inviting  Persepolis Captain  Mohammad Nouri to Team Melli in case of the failure in getting the release of Pooladi  and Rafei from Military Service.

During the Sunday training session of Team Melli, Mohammad Nabi said “As Carlos Queiroz has stated earlier, our opponents have prepared themselves quite well. On our side, we have tried our best to match them and  prepare the team for this competition (…) . Our start was with the match against South Korea followed by several training camps”

 “We have up to January 1st to submit the final list to the Asian Cup Organizing committee and the AFC. Because of that, Queiroz opted to leave two vacant places for the players he wants to add.” Mohammad Nabi added without mentioning the name of the players in Queiroz’s mind. When pressed for an answer and if the two places are reserved for Pooladi and Rafei, , Mohammad Nabi said “Yes. These two players are in the plans of Queiroz and he wishes to include them in his squad. But, I and Mr. Kaffashian are law abiding and need to stick to the regulations of this country. However, there are some negotiation between the Minister of Sports and the Military on the subject matter.”

“We do not have the liberty of playing an international friendly match without the approval of FIFA. The Palestine match was registered with FIFA and the unilateral cancelation of this match by Palestine FA was totally an unprofessional act. Nevertheless, any actions to be taken against the Palestinians , is the job of Ali Kaffashian” Mohammad Nabi said in reaction to the match cancelation and the demand by Queiroz for compensations from Palestine FA..

“We have played 7 friendly games in preparation for the AFC Asian Cup and still have one more to go against Iraq in Sydney.” Mohammad Nabi thus considers playing against reserves of club teams as preparation matches !

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“Carlos Queiroz assessment of the squad and the players’ forms is quite good, however more work is needed. Sometimes friendly games matches end up with results that might not be the same if it was an official match (..)”

“Our preparation program started three and a half months ago.  We had a very well laid program with the help of the Football League commission. The only setback was this Palestine match cancelation which has really hurt our plans.” The Team Manager explained.

Team Melli manager said that “The Coach has the full authority to select which players he wants. He has an assessment program where the players are technically fully analyzed and evaluated according to the requirement of the game plans. Mohammad Nouri is one of the players that might be added to the list.”

Team Melli routs Platinum Stars 6-0

Team Melli defeated Platinum Stars 6-0 in its final preparation match of its training camp in Johannesburg , South Africa.

Mohammad Nouri scored a hat trick, while Habib Gordani, Masoud Hassanzadeh, and Sajjad Shahbazadeh scored a goal each to complete the rout against the bottom of the table South African First Division team . Platinum Stars played a league match on Saturday against Free State Stars and lost 3-1. For the match against Team Melli , mostly reserve players were utilized by the struggling South african team.

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This match concludes the weak and low-key preparations by Team Melli in South Africa.  While almost all the legionnaires who are expected to form the bulk of the team line up are absent , except for Azmoun, the federation failed to arrange any quality opposition to test these players against strong teams which Iran will be facing in Australia. The 3 breadcrumb friendlies were mostly due to personal contacts of Carlos Queiroz , however none of the South African clubs were prepared to field their strongest side due to league programs commitments and the upcoming festive seasons holidays.

Team Melli is scheduled to return to Tehran on December 24th. The next friendly before the AFC Asian Cup 2015 will be against Palestine.

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Cartlos Queiroz appeals to the authorities to release his players.

Carlos Queiroz , Team Melli  coach with “humility” urged the football federation and the authorities to find a solution for the missing key players in the squad.

On arrival in Johannesburg , Queiroz gave a brief statement to the press , pleading with his superiors to actively seek the release of players such as Mehrdad Pooladi , Soroush Rafei , Hossein Mahini , Mohammad Nouri and others who are either totally banned from playing football or have restriction on their playing  rendering them not being able to be in the squad. The restrictions are normally in the form of players not being allowed to leave the country under military service regulations.

Queiroz said “ In order to achieve our objectives , I need players. I’m respectfully  appealing to  the authorities to realize the importance of the presence of some key players that we require and work to solve their problems.”.

He said officials of the Football Association and coaches of Team Melli  meantime, spent a lot of energy and worked hard. “Despite months without being pay,  we’ve worked hard to achieve the team goals. With respect to the authorities, we humbly believe that there are ways we want to help the team, it would be no cost!”

Responding to the question whether any friendly games in the South African camp has been arranged, Queiroz said “as long as we have players missing , I do not have anything to say about this topic.”

Team Melli is setting up a 10 days camp in Johannesburg in preparation for the AFC Asian Cup 2015 in Australia. No friendly matches have been confirmed yet in this camp.

Team Melli leaves to Johannesburg.

Team Melli left Tehran en route to Johannesburg via Dubai for a 10 day training camp with 21 players in the squad.

2 players were left behind. Mohammad Nouri , Persepolis Captain is banned from leaving the country because of a court order and tax issues, while Soroush Rafei has Military service pending. Queiroz has asked the FFIRI to act to release these two , but realistically it is a long shot as the cases of the two are not the type that Kaffashian can solve by picking up the phone and everything becomes settled.

Naft Tehran provided 4 player to Team Melli , a record by this club. Their players were quite enthusiastic and spoke to the press before departure. The veteran Iman Mobali who last played for Team Melli in AFC Asian Cup 2011, hoped that he can gian the trust and confidence of the coach and win a place in the squad to Australia. Vahid Amiri , believed that the camp will be very beneficial and echoed the sentiments of his teammate, Mobali. Amiri acknowledged that the majority of the squad are young and inexperienced but hoped that the objectives of the camp is realized for the coaching staff.

The 10 days Johannesburg training camp does not have any confirmed official or friendly matches. It is hoped that Queiroz , through personal contacts, can set up a match or two with some outfit to save the blushes of the federation and the training camp.