Tag: Nelo Vingada

The Saga of National Teams Iranian coaches

One of the main trepidations of the Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI) after the appointment of Marc Wimots as Team Melli head coach was the promotion and development of Iranian assistant(s) to work alongside the Belgian for the benefit of Team Melli in future. FFIRI faced much criticism for the lack of such program although an Iranian, Markar Aghajanian was alongside Queiroz throughout his tenure.

There has been a remarkable absence of talented, skilled and experienced Iranian coaches capable of leading Team Melli in the last decade or so. The last of them was Ali Daei, who was unceremoniously sacked after defeat at the hand of rivals Saudi Arabia back in 2009.

 One of the criticism pointed at Carlos Queiroz was the lack of Iranian assistants in the coaching cadre who could have been nourished and developed to become Iranian football assets in the near future.

While some young coaches like Alireza Mansourian, Ali Karimi and Javad Nekounam were added to the technical staff of Team Melli at different periods to advance their knowledge alongside Queiroz, the situation did not yield the required result and did not last long. Queiroz was accused of deliberately getting rid of these novice assistant coaches (except for Markar Aghajanian)

However, the facts are quite different from what it seems. The truth behind these assistant coaches stints at Team Melli was never properly told because Carlos Queiroz, for reasons which remained close to his heart, hardly openly spoke about the circumstances behind their recruitment and departures. Obviously, Queiroz did not want to create anarchy amongst the stakeholders and the fans while Team Melli was in need of stability and calm in its mission to qualify for the World Cup and win the AFC Asian Cup.

If we scrutinize the selection of the former players who have suddenly turned up as assistant coaches at Team Melli, we will see the shortfall of the system and how haphazardly this program is conducted, if there was any program beyond wishful thinking that is.

It was clear that Mansourian, Karimi and Nekounam were not the right choices and not exactly prepared as their appointments were mostly spontaneous rather than based on solid ground and technicality.

For sure, all the three at some stage of their careers were brilliant players and national heroes. They have served team Melli well and were all household names in Iran. All of them were popular too.

On closer scrutiny, each one of the three names came with a Caveat and a major flaw.

Mansourian was the only one that had real coaching experience. However, the less we speak about his achievement or lack of it, the better. Needless to say that he was the coach of Omid Team which was en eliminated from the Olympic qualifiers, despite winning the match away in Iraq, for fielding one ineligible player.  His coaching of Esteghlal was short and not successful.

Both Karimi and Nekounam popped up without any serious and meaningful experience in coaching at club level or age-group level, let alone having experience at the international arena. Both were Team Melli Captains and likewise have other remarkable commonalities. Despite the years of being players in European teams, they were poorly disciplined and bordering arrogance while accompanying Queiroz.  Lack of maturity was evident in both and their misdemeanour was obviously a serious threat to the squad stability and discipline. Karimi simply refused to attend to his Team Melli duties and unilaterally decided that he is not going to work for Queiroz. Nekounam departure from Team Melli is less clear and under a cloud of suspicion.

That raises many questions about the suitability of the people running the federation and making such decision as the appointment of candidates for Team Melli technical staff.

In general, such poor selection of personnel is consistent with the poor level of administration and management of Iranian football, a subject which has been spoken about for ages.

Queiroz was wrongly and unfairly accused by some media personnel that he preferred to work with an Iranian assistant coach who would not form a threat to his job at Team Melli.

The absurdity of this accusation is perhaps indicative of the small minds that feed the masses in Iran’s football as none of the former players was anywhere near Queiroz’s experience and achievement in the world of football to pose a threat.  The basic truth is that the appointed Iranian assistants were not good enough in most of the departments and two of them had issues with behaviour and maturity.

Markar Aghjanian was an exception. Not only the man was mature, experienced, visionary and skilled in dealing with players and administrators, but he was also the real forte behind Queiroz’s selection of local players for Team Melli.  It was no secret that Carlos Queiroz did not think highly of the domestic league. He did not attend many matches if any, instead he assigned Aghajanian and others to do the talent hinting and scouting. In fairness, they have done a great job too.

Then Queiroz leaves and a new era starts with Marc Wilmots. FFIRI admirably tries to rectify and avoid previous mistakes. Wilmots is now in charge of all national teams levels and is assigned the task of developing a set of trainers and coaches at different teams and particularly Team Melli.

Vahid Hashemian, is appointed as Assistant Coach to Marc Wilmots. Hashemian, is a former Team Melli player who has played in Germany’s Bundesliga for many years. After hanging his boots, he successfully completed coaching courses to obtain his license in Germany.  That is one major accomplishment ahead of Mansourian, Karimi and Nekounam who turned up empty-handed at Team Melli. Hashemian, though, was a marriage of convenience.

In essence, the selection of Hashemian is not really an improvement and proved that very little has changed in FFIRI in the domain of Management and governance. Hashemian is a case of a man in the right place at the right time. Like his previous teammates except for the coaching license, Hashemian had very little or significant experience in the world of coaching. Yet he is appointed as the head coach of Team Melli that is attempting a long and winding road of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup for the third time running.

We said it was convenient because Hashemian speaks German, a language that Wilmots is fluent in. So, it is convenient for the Belgian coach to use Hashemian as an interpreter while calling him assistant coach. A win-win situation for everyone. The bitter part of this saga is that a proven talent like Markar Aghajanian the brain behind surveillance of talents and scouting for Team Melli, is nowhere to be seen. So cruel that Aghajanian does not speak German!

We must also not forget the appointment of the rookie coach Farhad Majidi as the head coach of Omid Team tasked with taking Iran to the Olympics for the first time in 40 years. A task that the superiorly experienced coaches in their own right such as Hassan Habibi, Ghasempour, Egon Coordes, Monajati, Mayeli Kohan, Renê Simões, Vinko Begović, Nenad Nikolić, Peyrovani, Mansourian, Nelo Vingada, Khakpour and Zlatko Kranjčar have not succeeded in.

To sum it up, the Iran football federation has failed to get this Iranian coaching development up and running. It is the cumulative result of many factors including but not limited to poor foundations, poor selection process (more likely non-existence of it) and Nepotism

If the FFIRI has a real program for the development of local coaches at Team Melli level, then they have not published it and it remains a secret for fear of scrutiny and criticism by stakeholders. FFIRI is not exactly a transparent organization to start with and it is always shrouded by secrecy.

If such selection is assigned to the Technical Committee of the football federation and national teams coaching candidacy and selection is managed and implemented by them, it confirms that this committee is dysfunctional, hopeless and serious waste of resources.

Vingada in Team Melli training.

Nelo Vingada, a familiar face in Iran’s football and a close associate of Carlos Queiroz has been observed in the pitch in Team Melli training in Al Neheyan stadium this morning.

There did not seem to be any interaction between him and the players while the media was allowed to observe the training.

It is believed that the Portuguese coach is accompanying the team as a consultant.

Team Melli will be playing its second match in the 17th AFC Asian Cup 2019 versus Vietnam on Saturday at 15:00 local time.

Iran is leading group D with 3 points on goal difference from Iraq.

Torrid decline of U23 team no thanks to incompetent FFIRI selections.

FFIRI has an incredible knack for rewarding failures. It is something that Mehdi Taj and his predecessor Ali Kaffashian has exceled in and the Iranian football community are getting used to.  Both of these men, who have been leading the Iranian federation since 2008 , have a serious lack of picking winners while selecting staff to work for them be it on the playing fields as coaches or in the corridors of power as administrators. In Iran’s football federation, administrators and coaches do not last long, because they fail to succeed due to the pathetic selection process.

Amir Hossein Peyrovani is a classic example of FFIRI appalling policy of Mehdi Taj and his failure to pick and appoint the right person for the job. After taking Team Melli U20 to the FIFA U20 championship, the mediocre coach, who struggled to find a coaching job even at lower divisions clubs in Iran, failed miserably in dealing with the world’s top age group teams.

Iran’s U20 team was in fact one of the most promising and talented age group team of the last couple of decades. There was abundance of talents, however, tactical naivety, lack of pedigree in coaching and failure to read the game have all combined to knock Iran out of championship in the group stages. Iran U20 ended up as the bottom team of the group. The irony of this championship is that Iran U20 was scored first in all the matches and was 2 goals up against Zambia before losing 2-4.

Not convinced with the fact that FIFA U20 performance and result was a failure, Peyrovani was once again coaching but now at a higher level. Acute lack of appraisal and performance analysis system in the Iranian federation, living in denials and the relegating FFIRI’s technical committee (no thanks to Carlos Queiroz), has allowed Mehdi Taj to act and repeat the same error. In his questionable wisdom the head of the FFIRI chose Peyrovani to take the helm of the U23 team to the AFC qualifiers. Apart from a few sporadic mumbles, this appointment was surprisingly accepted by all stakeholders and the media. No one dared or bothered to question this appointment for such an important age group team, the de facto backbone of Team Melli!

Not surprising at all, that Peyrovani failed again at a much lower level of competition. Not in the FIFA U20 final but at a group qualifiers against the likes of Sri Lanka, Kyrgyzstan and Oman. Sri Lanka withdrew and so the group consisted of 3 teams only.  Iran’s first match against the host ended in a very difficult narrow 2-1 win but the Omani’s managed to easily defeat Iran 2-0 to shatter the dream of yet another significantly talented Iranian team. A team victimized by the acute deficiency and incompetence of Iranian football management.

It is still an enigma why Iran cannot produce quality football administrators, managers and coaches as good as they produce players. Apart from one Iranian in Kambiz Atabay back in the mid 70’s  , who headed the Asian Football Confederation , Iran has not managed to produce a competent administrator worthy of consideration for top administration jobs in AFC or FIFA. Tiny countries such as Bahrain, Sri Lanka , and Singapore had more officials in the AFC than mighty Iran.

Worst still , is the record of Iranian coaches in Asia. Even the best of Iran’s national coaches have failed to pass the group stages of AFC Champions league or at best the quarter finals of Asian Cup , in the post revolutions era.

The legendary Heshmat Mohajerani is the last of the Iranian great coaches. It seems that the wait is much longer for a quality coach to appear in Iran.

The other sad news is the remarkable decline of Iran U23 teams. From winners of the Asian Games coached by Branko Ivankovic , to struggling to make the finals stages.

Iran U23 Team coaches

 

 Winners and losers

Omid Team Manager apologizes for the loss.

Habib Kashani offered his apologies for the loss that Team Melli suffered against Saudi Arabia in Azadi stadium in the penultimate match of the AFC U23 Championship qualifiers. The 2-1 loss against Saudi Arabia resulted in the qualification of the opponents to the finals of the competition while Iran also qualified as one of the 5 best groups runners up.

Kashani , however , wasted little time in providing the usual bundle of excuses and justification for the loss. He said the team had only 3 months to prepare while Vingada’s team had 8 months yet lost to Vietnam and drew with Kyrgyzstan in the Asian Games in Incheon 2014.

“Half of the players were only recently added to the team and as such we needed more time to prepare. The defeat against Saudi Arabia was an unfortunate event which the coaching staff should offer a justification for.”

Iran U23 vs Saudi U23 Ali Karimi

Kashani added that in order to prepare for the final tournament in Qatar , the U23 team needs the cooperation of the league commission and their consent to the Omid Team training schedules and programs. “ As it is now, we only have the FIFA day where we can gather the players and practice. That is not adequate. In Doha , there will be no Nepal of Afghanistan , but facing strong teams like Korea , Qatar , Japan and  Emirates.” Added the Ex-Persepolis CEO.

Kashani also pointed to the other problems that many players will face in Omid team and in particular the Military service, which is a fundamental and chronic obstacles in front of the young Iranian players.

The Manager of Omid Team admitted that the FFIRI has provided everything possible for the team and for that he is quite grateful. He also acknowledged the Military Service commission’s support in allowing some players to compete in the qualifiers. “I appreciate all the people who helped Omid Team case in order to compete in the best possible way.” However, Kashani went to by saying “ I apologize for the loss against Saudi Arabia , all I can say at this moment is that I shoulder all the blame for that loss (…) . I have nothing else to offer except to say I am sorry!”

There was no mention of technical flaws or coaching deficiencies nor player’s performance issues in Kashani’s statement.

 

Kranjcar appointed as the head coach of Omid Team.

FFIRI has approved the appointment of the Croat Zlatko Kranjčar as the head coach of Omid Team (U23/Olympics) with immediate effect.

Mehr News Agency reported  at the meeting of the board of the FFIRI , the President Ali Kaffashian cleared the way for the coach Zlatko Kranjčar’s work to start immediately.

Fereydoun Esfahanian acting as a spokesman for the federation, confirmed the news to the media.

The selection of  Zlatko Kranjčar was expected as the terms were agreed with Kashani , who is the Manager of the Omid Team and the formality of board and President approval was obtained today.

As reported earlier , it seems that Carlos Queiroz has washed his hands completely from the Omid Team after his compatriot and close friend Vingada was fired from his job following the dreadful performance and result in the Asian Games. Although the federation officials have denied any rift between the two coaches, it should be taken with a pinch of salt. The fact is that when Kranjčar was the coach of Sepahan , he was very critical of Queiroz ways and his total focus on Team Melli plans without considering the interest of the clubs during the World Cup preparation program. Some accusations have been exchanged between the two , at least in the media. With the way that Queiroz have been operating , it is doubtful that he will forget such criticism so soon. He is not known to be kind to people who do not agree with him and does hold it against them. It will be interesting to see if the two can forget the past and work together.

Kranjčar has not publicly commented on the subject.

Kranjčar main goal is to qualify Iran’s U23 to the Rio Olympic Games 2016.

Beitashour,Haghighi R.,Hoisseini,Davari,Nekounam-Sadeghi AH,Mahini,Ghoochannejad, Dejagah, Jahanbakhsh,Shojaei

Queiroz on AFC Asian Cup 2015 “ I promise you nothing”

Tehran

Carlos Queiroz, the highly paid coach of Team Melli responded to reporter’s question whether he is in a position to promises to take Iran to the semi-final of the AFC Asian Cup by saying “I promise you nothing expect that we will do our best and work hard at it.”

According to ISNA , Queiroz was speaking to reports during a break in the first Team Melli practise session in preparation for the next week friendly game against South Korea in Azadi , which remains the only international commitment since the end of the World Cup until next year when Asian Cup starts on Mid-January 2015.

 To complicate the issue further, Carlos Queiroz said “I am glad that the expectations of the fans has risen since the World Cup which makes our task in the AFC Asian Cup 2015 even much tougher than the World Cup!”

“No one expected much from us in the world cup (…), but after the fine performance in Brazil the expectations have risen. We must not forget that we are in a very difficult and tough group in Asian Cup” The Portuguese coach said.

These were not much of confidence boosting statements uttered by Queiroz . A highly paid professional whose pay cheque is probably higher that several Cabinet ministers, doctors and university lecturers combined in Iran, is not even committing to deliver the simplest of achievement which is at least qualification to the next round of the group, let alone winning the title that Iran has never won since 1976. Despite admitting and understanding that the expectations of the fans are high, Queiroz is non-committal to success while no official objectives have been announced bt-y FFIRI hierarchy!

The fans are perhaps glad to know that Queiroz did actually promise that “The team will do its best “ a promise which the Portuguese coach  probably thinks will relieve him from any target excite the passionate and demanding Iran’s. But then again, “promise to do my best” is a term commonly spoken at social level and by school kids reprimanded by their parents for poor class results. It is not a statement delivery by a professional who should have a objectives, strategy and plan , application and delivery of targets. Promise to do our best, comes up as rudimentary and even insulting to say the least.

Queiroz also bemoaned the fact that he had the absolute minimum of preparation games against international opposition, something that is pretty much a rule rather than exceptions now.  As such, this might rebound back to FFIRI in case of failure of the team in AFC Asian Cup and something that Queiroz will hold against Kaffashian when questioned about his failure.

On Nelo Vingada’s dismissal, Queiroz refused to comment on the case of his friend, colleague and long-time associate expect to say that “they (FFIRI) have only consulted me about the Olympic Team when they wanted to crucify Vingada”

Team Melli U23 list announced for Qatar Tournament

FFIRI’s announced the list of 23 players selected for the International friendship tournament in Doha, Qatar.

Nearly half of the team members who played for the U23 team in the Asian Games have been dropped for this tournament including famous players such as Kaveh Rezaei , Mehdi Sharifi, Mohsen Mosallman, Morteza Pouraliganji , Shahriyar Shirvand , Yaghoub Karimi and  MohamadReza Khanzadeh. The performance of these players were quite appalling particularly in the humiliating defeat against Vietnam resulting in Iran not even qualifying from a 3 team group in Asian Games. MohamadReza Khanzadeh added insult to injury by being red carded after he pushed a Vietnamese player to the ground and escaped heavy sanction by AFC due to this disgraceful act.

Many new faces have been selected  for the squad from diverse places.  A young promising player like Darvishi who was born in Minab on the Persian Gulf shores made the list as well as unknown or unheard of names such as MohammadHossein PourAghaMalaki. As usual in the last few years , neither Persepolis nor Esteghlal provided any players for the Omid team (U23). The team will assemble in Tehran Azadi complex where they will be undergoing light training without the head coach Vingada. The Portuguese coach of the Olympic Team is out of the country and unable to return fearing being arrested for tax evasion. This is yet another anomaly of Iranian football.

It is not clear who will take charge of the training, although Mohammad Khakpour and Mehdi Tartar have been named as assistant coaches to Nelo Vingada. Habib Kashani , the ex-CEO of Persepolis club is currently the Team Manager.

 

List of Iran U-23 Squad

November 2014

Seq Player Name Club Birth date Post
1 Ali Karimi Sepahan 11-Feb-94 FW
2 Amir Abedzadeh Rah Ahan 26-Apr-93 GK
3 Aram Abbasi Saba Qom 13-Jul-94 MF
4 Arash Rezavand Naft Tehran 05-Oct-93 MF
5 Arsalan Mottahari Naft Tehran 10-Mar-93 MF
6 Ehsan Pahlavan Gostarish Foolad 25-Jun-93 MF
7 Farshid Esmaeili Fajr Sepasi 23-Feb-94 MF
8 Hojat Sedghi Mes Kerman 07-Feb-93 GK
9 Mehdi Mehdipour Rah Ahan 21-Mar-89 MF
10 Mehdi Torabi Saipa Alborz 10-Sep-94 FW
11 Milad Mohammadi Kashmarzi Nirooi Zamini 29-Sep-93 DF
12 MohamadReza Akhbari Saipa Alborz 15-Feb-93  
13 Mohammad Daneshgar Fajr Sepasi 20-Jan-94 MF
14 Mohammad Hossein Mordmand Sepahan 22-Jun-93 DF
15 Mohammad Sattari Rah Ahan 30-Oct-93  
16 MohammadAmin Darvishi Gostarish Foolad 20-May-93 DF
17 MohammadHossein Kanan Zadegan Persepolis 23-Mar-94 DF
18 MohammadHossein PourAghaMalaki      
19 Morteza AghaKhan Mahallati Peykan 05-Apr-93 DF
20 Roozbeh Chashmi Saba Qom 24-Jul-93 MF
21 Shahin Saghebi Tractorsazi Tabriz 45-Aug-93 FW
22 Vahid Haidariya Peykan 02-Jan-93 DF
23 Yusuf Vakya Foolad Khuzestan 30-Sep-91 DF

Queiroz refuses to comment on Vingada.

Queiroz categorically refused to comment on the future of his compatriot Nelo Vingada with the Olympic team. Team Melli coach  was talking to reporters after the conclusion of the technical committee meeting of the FFIRI discussing the colossal Asian Games failures in which the team failed to progress beyond the group stage and was placed last in a 3 team group that included Thailand and Kyrgyzstan. It was one of the worst failures in history of Iran’s participation in the Asian Games football competition.

“A professional coach should never comment on another coach and as I am a professional I will refrain from commenting on Vingada and the Olympic Team” Queiroz stated “I was kindly asked by the Technical Committee to attend this meeting to give some technical viewpoints and my outlook for the Olympic Teams. I have an expertise in this area so I provided the committee some advice and my version of the plan.”

Nelo Vingada, the coach of the U23 (Olympic) team  has refused to attend this meeting as required by the technical committee citing his absence on leave. Vingada has said that he will only turn up for work just before the training camp in Qatar. Iran Olympic team is supposed to participate in a 4 side tournament in Qatar  in January 2015 which will include its Qatari counterpart, Al Ahli club and Qatar youth team beside Iran’s U23 selection.

Interestingly enough, Carlos Queiroz did actually comment on Vingada during the Asian Games and praised his compatriot and colleague saying Vingada knows what he is doing!

https://www.teammelli.com/2014/09/16/queiroz-vingada-knows-what-he-is-doing/

On the other hand , according to ISNA news Agency , the FFIRI technical committee were about to declare the termination of Vingada’s contract with FFIRI following the failure of Incheon , but the strong backing of Queiroz resulted in a U-turn by the committee. Morteza Mohassis , Human Afazeli , Fereydoon Moeini and Mohamad Ehsani were indecisive and easily influenced by Queiroz strong backing for his compatriot. The committee members retreated from their earlier position of ending Vingada’s contract. The final verdict on the future of Vingada will be left to the meeting next Wednesday.

Habib Kashani , who was the President of Perespolis not so long ago and was unceremoniously sacked from his position , is now in charge of Iran’s U-23 team as Team Manager.

Deputy Minister “It is better not to participate in the Olympic Qualifiers with this team”

Deputy Minister for Youth and Sport said that the sports federations whose results were well below expectation are themselves accountable for their performances in the Asian Games. Nasrollah Sajjadi, speaking on a TV show on Friday , earmarked the FFIRI for special mention criticizing the poor performance of the football team. “If this is all what the footballers can offer, then I see no point of this team competing in the preliminaries of the Rio Olympic Games. “

“Other countries reap the awards of their hard work. The football federation is solely responsible for this team and it is obvious that this team was not prepared well.  Being third in a 3 team group is not exactly a matter of bad luck either.”

Iran’s u-23 team was eliminated from the group stages of the Asian Games for the first time in decades after losing to Vietnam 4-1 and drawing with Kyrgyzstan. None of these two teams in Iran’s group made it beyond the next round, which magnifies the ghastly performance by the U-23 team coached by Nelo Vingada.

The expected shock : Iran U23 elimnated from the Asian Games.

In what is probably the worst day for Iran’s football in decades, the elimination of the football team from the Asian Games men’s football competition was confirmed after Vietnam defeated Kyrgyzstan 1-0 this morning. With this result, Vietnam (6 points) and Kyrgyzstan (1 point) have qualified for the next round while Iran is out on goal difference.

The last time Iran was eliminated from the group stages was in the Asian Games Hiroshima, Japan in 1994 when Iran marginally failed to qualify after winning 1 match drawing 2 and losing 1.

The Asian Games regulations requires the teams or the individual to leave the Games accommodation within 24 hours, but an angry reaction from under pressure Kaffashian and the Iranian IOC , resulted in orders for the football team to leave the Olympic Village immediately and catch the first plane home.

The inquest in this shameful exit will no doubt be carried out, but we seriously doubt that anyone or any group will take the blame or accept accountability. The coach Nelo Vingada accepted the blame for the defeat but already declared that he will not resign!

Kaffashian has stated that other teams are getting stronger, which pretty much means that Iran can be defeated by any Asian team so there is no need to get excited about defeats, if one accepts Kaffashians mentality!

In the midst of all this, the real effect is on the fans of team Melli who passionately follow and support their teams but in return, they all getting abysmal results followed by a thorough packages of justifications from the “Merchants  of Speech and Preaching ”.

 

Iran Football performances in the Asian Gems Men Football competition.

1951 New Delhi, India                – Silver Medal

1954 Manila , Philippines            – DNP

1958 Tokyo, Japan                    – Eliminated from group stage (Worst ever results)

1966 Bangkok, Thailand               – Eliminated from group stage 

1970 Bangkok, Thailand               – Eliminated from group stage

1974 Tehran, Iran                    – Gold Medal

1978 Bangkok, Thailand               – DNP

1982 New Delhi, India                – Quarter Finals ( lost to Kuwait 0-1)

1986 Seoul, South Korea              – Quarter Finals ( lost to S. Korea on penalties)

1990 Beijing, China                  – Gold Medal

1994 Hiroshima, Japan                – Eliminated from group stage   (5 points in 5 team group)

1998 Bangkok, Thailand               – Gold Medal

2002 Busan, South Korea              – Gold Medal

2006 Doha, Qatar                     – Bronze Medal

2010 Guangzhou, China                – Fourth place

2014 Incheon, South Korea            -Eliminated from group stage