Tag: Omid Namazi

Hamid Estili appointment as Coach of Omid Team, will he be any good?

After the resignation of Farhad Majidi, it seems that FFIRI had no real choice but to appoint the Team manager, Hamid Estili as his replacement. The former Persepolis player also picked his former teammates Reza Shahroodi and Alireza Emamifar as his assistants.

During the short tenure of Farhad Majidi at the helm of Omid’s team, Omid Namazi and Farshad Majedi were appointed as his assistants. It is not clear if they are is still or will remain as part of the coaching staff as neither have any Persepolis affiliation that seems to be the level of requirement in Omid team coaching structure with Estili in charge.

As such, the Omid team has turned into The red of Perspolis after the departure of the Blues of Esteghlal to prove once again that Iran’s football will have an extreme affinity with the bipolar and partisan system.

At Omid team the status quo remains, meaning the same old chaos, with partisan, Favoritism, nepotism and partiality based upon being part of a favoured group, rather than job performance or competency being the essence.

Estili has more experience than Majidi but his coaching career has been full of failures and turmoil. In reality, he is not much of an improvement on Majidi.

 

Estili Coaching Career

Estili was appointed as an assistant by Ali Parvin in Persepolis in 2004. A few months after Arie Haan replaced Parvin, he sacked Estili. In August 2006, when Mustafa Denizli was signed as the head coach, Estili returned to his former post. On 13th January 2007, during the 2006–07 mid-season break, Estili was sacked again, this time by Denizli.

Denizli later stated that “It would be better for him (Estili) to take some professional trainings”

For the 3rd time, Estili returned to his beloved club as the assistant to Afshin Ghotbi, in the IPL 2007/08 season. However, with a lot of tension between the two coaches over team selection, players, and other decisions it was foreseen that one of them will have to leave Perspolis at the end of the season. Ghotbi left and Estili was touted as the new Perspolis Manager and Head Coach.
However, when Ghotbi’s returned back, Estili left Perspolis.

in summer of 2009 Steel Azin appointed out of work Estili as head coach. Despite having a star-studded team with players such as s Ali Karimi, Mahdavikia, Kaebi, Fereydoon Zandi, Shapourzadeh and Vahedi Nikbakht, Estili failed in the Hazfi Cup and was nowhere near the championship title.

He was sacked by Estil Azin on 19 April 2010

Next station was Shahin Bushehr where he was appointed on 1 June 2010. He lasted less than 10 months as he was fired on 4 April 2011 while Shahin was in 17th place out of 18, achieving 16 points in 18 matches

On 21 June 2011, Estili was back in Persepolis again as a Head coach but after a series of disappointing results and Persepolis fans disapproval of his appointment, he resigned his post on 9th Dec. 2011 after only 6 months at the helm.

From then on, Estili’s reputation as a Head Coach was tarnished.

Critics say that Estili relies more on influences, comradeship and nepotism to cover his technical weakness and poor tactics on the field. He was a divisive influence as an assistant coach bad-mouthing the head coach in the hope of taking their places.  He caused disagreement and hostility between players to serve his own interest. It was not a successful strategy as it leads to him being sacked by 3 different coaches. While as Head Coach, his poor delivery, suspect decision-making, poor technical ability, and lack of quality were exposed at the teams he managed.

Such as shame for the player who is famous for his goal against the United States in the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Farhad Majidi resigns as Omid Team coach.

Farhad Majidi, the Omid Team (Iran U-23) has resigned his post following a series of disputes with the FFIRI management that has led to moves to dismiss him from his post.

Majidi, whose appointment in place of the broadly experienced  Zlatko Kranjcar has raised more than a few eyebrows, has been promising that he will take Iran to the Olympics for the first time since 1976. However, a series of bad result, extensive media criticism, disapproval from senior coaches and former players, differences between him and the Omid Team Manager Hamid Estili and player’s discontent with his training methods, forced the rookie coach to resign before the federation shows him the door.

With no more than a few games as a caretaker coach of Esteghlal in his resume, the FFIRI in a moment of madness decided to give this mammoth task of qualifying for the Olympics Games to Majidi. While much more notable and experienced Iranian coaches turned down the job of coaching Omid Team, Farhad Majidi who was away from football after he hanged his boot, found it a golden opportunity to progress his own career in coaching without considering the complication and the difficulties of the task up ahead and without seriously addressing his own level of limited experience in coaching.

There were only two persons in the whole world that believed in Majidi’s ability to deliver, one of them is the person who approved his appointment and that would be Mehdi Taj and Farhad himself. The rest thought otherwise.

The mammoth task of qualifying to Tokyo 2020 Olympics became nearly impossible when Iran was grouped with defending Champions of the last two editions of the U-23 Asian championships, Uzbekistan and South Korea while China, a contender in their own rights, complete the group.

With Majidi gone, it is assumed that Omid Namazi will take the post on a temporary basis or continue all the way to the AFC Asian U23 Championship in Thailand in January 2020. That championship will also be the qualifier for the Tokyo Olympics Games 2020 football competition. The top three teams will qualify.

Namazi has good experience with age level teams and has been coaching United States U18 and U20 teams in addition to several other clubs in the states and Iran.

He was recently appointed to Omid Team as an assistant to Farhad Majidi in a face-saving exercise by the federation after soon realizing that their gamble with Rookie Majidi s not working.  Omid Namazi also worked as an assistant to Carlos Queiroz in Team Melli.

Heavy defeat for Omid team under Majidi.

Iran’s Omid Football Team, which is preparing to compete in the qualifying rounds of the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020, suffered a heavy defeat in the friendly match played against Uzbekistan U-23 team in Tashkent on Monday. The match ended 4 -1 for the host.

Omid team has already lost the first game 1-0 but this heavy defeat exposed a lot of tactical and technical shortfalls by the youngsters who are fightening what looks like an impossible battle to qualify for the Olympic after a 40 years absence.

Much has been said about the appointment of the rookie coach Farhad Majidi who has already maintained that he will be leading his team to Tokyo, but reality says otherwise. To mitigate the lack of experience and skills in Omid Team, FFIRI has employed Omid Namazi who has only joined the squad after the first Uzbekistan match. The expectations are all on the ex Zob Ahan coach and former assistance to Carlos Queiroz to strengthen the team tactically and introduce some game plans that actually can win matches.

Commenting on the poor result, Omid Namazi said at a post-match news conference  “It was not a good day for us, we commited lots of mistakes and gave the opponent a lot of space. Uzbekistan was a very strong opponent who played well and made the best use of the space. Of course, we had some opportunities, but we could have still come back in the second half after scoring when the score was 2-1. Unfortunately, while trying to add to our tally, our opponent succeeded in a counterattack and scored the next goal.”

Namazi said at the end: “We have to think about the weaknesses in different lines. Start organizing from the defensive line and step by step to keep the ball in place and strengthen our other lines. We must learn from our mistakes in friendly matches.”

Omid Namazi joined Iran’s U-23 coaching team.

Omid Namazi, who has served as an assistant coach to Carlos Queiroz during the Portugues tenure, has been added to the Iranian U23 squad that is currently preparing for a friendly match against Uzbekistan in Tashkent.

Namazi has flown to Tashkent today in time for the two friendly matches.

The Iranian U-23 has a tough task ahead as it is competing in the Asian championship competition at the beginning of the new year and hoping to make the top 3 in order to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics football competition.

The task has been made that much difficult by the appointment of a coach with no prior experience in top-level coaching. The Omid Team was coached by the Croat Zlatko Kranjcar before the federation ended his contract following some poor showing. Farhad Majidi, with his limited experience, has been given the herculean task of qualifying for the Olympics football competition after many notable Iranian coaches turn down the job.

Omid Namazi, whose last job in Iran was coaching Zob Ahan football club before being replaced by Alireza Mansourian, will bring badly needed experience at the bench which is in dire need of expertise and direction and tactics.

The news about Namazi’s appointment was confirmed by the Iranian football federation website.

Omid Namzi appointed as head coach of Zob Ahan.

Omid Namzi , the Iranian-American coach has been appointed as Zob Ahan football Club head coach replacing Amir Ghalenoei who crossed over to the other side of the city taking over the coaching of Sepahan.

The American born, Namazi played professionally in the American Soccer League, American Professional Soccer League, Major League Soccer, USISL and National Professional Soccer League where he was the 2001 Defender of the Year. As assistant coach of Team Melli, Namazi led the team to qualification to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

In December 2010, Namazi was named as an assistant coach to the Iran Pro League club Steel Azin F.C.. On April 28, 2011, he became assistant coach of the Iranian national team alongside Carlos Queiroz and goalkeeping coach Dan Gaspar.On June 18, 2013, Iran qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, before qualifying for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup months later.

Namazi submitted his resignation on january 2014 citing family reasons. However, that version was taken with a pinch of salt by many observers

A week before that, Antonio Simoes also parted company with Team Melli due to personal reasons. Namazi was just one name in a long list of assistant coaches or administrators who have worked for Carlos Queiroz and left. Javad Nekounam, Ali Karimi , Dan Gasper , Afshin Peyrovani , Majid Salih , Antonio Simoes are just a few. Queiroz is known to demands complete adherence to his commands and more often than not , the assistants are there to just relay instructions rather than being partners in decesion making or tactical issues. Such role does not sit down well with many aspiring assistant coaches.

Namazi has signed a three-year deal with the Persian Gulf Pro League side which was recently eliminated from the AFC Champions League by fellow Iranian team, Esteghlal Tehran in a thrilling match series.

Is it worth it?

Iranian football has never been exposed to such a humiliating treatment like the ones that it is receiving from this Mozambique born Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz.

For the last few years and due to all sort of reasons, he has been treating the football federation with contempt. Manipulating the faults and the sheer incompetency of the system managed by the likes of Ali Kaffashian , Mehdi Taj and MohammadReza Saket (the so-called Esfahani Mafia), Queiroz has opened a front against the establishment and began a proxy war , agitation technique and a campaign in misleading the stakeholders in order to get out of his commitment and contractual obligation.  Such contempt, disrespect to the people, flagrant disregard for the etiquette of the host country would have sent him on the first flight home if that happened in one of the Persians Gulf countries, however it seems that the Persians are way too accommodating for the “Khareji”.

 Omid Namazi 

Queiroz’s  list of his misdemeanors is as long as an airport runway and it is increasing by the day. His latest antics were the indiscriminate sacking of the Iranian personnel working in Team Melli. From Afshin Peyrovani, unashamed defenders of the Portuguese man who was living in denial to the mild mannered, dedicated and the professional Markar Aghajanian. Before them, Omid Namazi faced the same dilemma.

“At what price and humiliation level do you want to make to the World Cup?” These are the words of Ali Karimi who served under Queiroz for a few days as an assistant coach only to abruptly leave his post and was subsequently bombarded with hate messages and profanities from the same people who used to cheer him on the stands during his playing days, according to Karimi’s own words. But to his credit , Karimi  always maintained silence and never discussed the reason for leaving his Team Melli assistant coach job in such an abrupt manner. Karimi, rightly or wrongly feared instability in the Team Melli camp and to preserve national interest, he remained quiet.

“Now,  you can guess what happened in my case. I say no more, but I hope all those who questioned my loyalty to Team Melli realize where I stand and why I left.” Karimi clearly hinting at the treatment of Iranian assistant coaches are receiving from the Portuguese.

There is no doubt that Queiroz was lied to, promises of support never fulfilled, worked in a chaotic rather than a systematic environment, not paid his wages on time and most importantly lacked the resources to excel in his job, but he knew all of that during his first term and yet accepted an improved offer to continue working in Iran (although physically residing in Dubai and abroad most of the time) . His agreement to extend his contract beyond World Cup 2014 was done after a series of press statements bad mouthing Iran’s football and its administration!

Is it worth it? Is qualification for the FIFA World Cup 2018 worth all of the insults, abuses and cruelties that this Portuguese man is giving to the Iranians in their own country?

A proud nation with thousands of years of culture is being taken to the cleaners by one vindictive man who has an agenda and that is quite literally, anarchy. His vindictive tactics is more petulant than clever too. Using a Persepolis player in his squad to unsettle Branko Ivankovic’s team preparation is one such leverage he selected to take revenge for the Croat coach!!

 The nation that stood against virtually all the great powers and refused to bow to their pressure thus holding its head up high and being proud of it, is unable to deal with the antics of one foreign football coach. Pity those who think that Queiroz is the only man in the world that can take Iran to the World Cup 2018.

Team Melli training starts without any Iranians !

The beginning of Team Melli Training was marred by the conspicuous absence of all Iranian personnel. No Iranian coaches or administrators was sighted in the first training session of Team Melli in Azadi Training camp ahead of the series of matches in the next few days.

Team Melli will be meeting Iraq in a friendly international on Friday before flying to Doha for the Thursday match against Qatar in the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers and then flying back to Tehran to meet China in Azadi.

The absence of Afshin Peyrovani , the Team Manager, Markar Aghajanian , Javad Nekounam (assistant coaches) , Arin Ghassemi (interpreter) and Mohsen Motamedkia (Team PR specialist) raised much questions and enforced the rumors that the national contingent of Team Melli Cadre have boycotted Queiroz.!

The Portuguese coach has been resisting the inclusion of Iranians assistants in the Training cadre especially those who are hand-picked by others for the job rather himself. Two of his more famous assistants (victims) who left the job are Omid Namazi and Ali Karimi. The latter tenure with Queiroz did not last more than a few days.

Markar Aghajanian is the longest-serving cadre of Team Melli . A man who does his work very quietly and away from the spotlights. He hardly features in the media and prefers to work quietly and focus on his task. Aghajanian is the only Team Melli coach that consistently follows the Domestic Persian Gulf League while Carlos Quieroz hardly attends any league matches. Many of the new names in Team Melli squad are picked as result of Aghajanian’s recommendation and diligence.

Javad Nekounam, the ex-Captain and the record holder of Team Melli matches, who started his coaching career on the wrong note being slapped with FIFA suspension, is another surprise absentee. Queiroz’s own choice for assistant coach when the then President Ali Kaffashian insisted that the training staff must include an Iranian assistant coach, was picked without any coaching experience or formal training hence Nekounam was always exposed to failure. However, Nekounam was a strong supporter of Queiroz as a player and Captain of the team.

Afshin Peyrovani, who has no technical or coaching authority in the squad, and is only the administration manager is another strong Queiroz supporter. Peyrovani has been outspoken in the defense of Portuguese coach against wide-spread media criticism. Unlike Aghajanina, Peyrovani was always making a statement to one news agency to another in the project of defending Queiroz.  His absence is more puzzling than all the rest as he was always the Yes man and the loyal soldier to Carlos Queiroz!

The controversy and drama of  Carlos Queiroz with Team Melli continues to run unabated. Whether the absence of the Iranian contingent of Team Melli is a coincident, or an expression of protest or even a boycott , it will hardly matter to Queiroz who prefers an iron fist approach to his job and has no time for any views other than his. It is unlikely that the Iranians absent will have a negative short term effect or direct impact in the result of the coming matches.

 

 

Namazi appointed as U.S. Soccer Men’s Youth National Team Coach

thesportscampus.com | , Jan 05th

U.S. Soccer has appointed three-time World Cup veteran Brad Friedel as Head Coach of the U-19 Men’s National Team and former Iran National Team assistant coach Omid Namazi to lead the U-18 MNT program.

“We are thrilled to bring on two guys who have such tremendous experience,” said U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann. “Brad Friedel played at the highest level for almost two decades, and his knowledge will be a huge benefit to our young players. Omid Namazi has not only been a professional player at all levels in the United States, he has worked as a coach both here and overseas which adds important perspective. They have both been assistant coaches in our Youth National Teams, so this is another important step in connecting the dots between our teams.”

Friedel earned 82 caps for the United States during his 13-year international career, starting all five matches in the USA’s historic run to the quarterfinals of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. One of the top performing U.S. professionals for more than 20 years in MLS and Europe, Friedel played for the Columbus Crew in MLS and at Galatasaray, Liverpool, Blackburn, Aston Villa, Tottenham and others. He holds the Premier League record for most consecutive appearances (310). Holding a UEFA ‘A’ coaching license, Friedel has served as an assistant at various Youth National Team camps and worked with players at the Tottenham academy.

namazi_omid

“I look forward to the opportunity to help develop our young players into professionals and full internationals,” said Friedel. “The last four years I have focused my coaching at the academy and development levels, and I’m excited to work with the entire group of committed Youth National Team staff members to increase our levels of development here in the United States.”

Omid Namazi takes the helm of the U-18 MNT after having served as an assistant coach of the U-20’s for the last two years. Namazi brings an extensive coaching career that began in 1999, as well as an 18-year career as a professional player during which he played at all levels in the United States. He served as an assistant coach for Iran from 2011-2014, and helped the team qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

“I look forward to leading such a critical age group in our Youth National Teams set up,” Namazi said. “My experience with the U20’s in the last two years will certainly help me develop the type of players we need to compete at the highest levels professionally and internationally.”

Namazi’s first camp will be a domestic training camp with 36 players from Jan. 17-23 at Premier Sports Campus in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, which will serve as preparation for international games in Argentina in early March.

“Brad and Omid are very important additions as we continue working towards a more integrated National Team Program,” said U.S. Soccer Youth Technical Director and U-20 Men’s National Team head coach Tab Ramos. “They both played key roles in the recent success of the U-20 National Team and we’re looking forward to working closely with all of our National Team coaches and professional leagues to continue to develop players to be ready to compete at the highest level of the game.”

The U-19 Men’s National Team’s first-ever event will be from Jan. 27-Feb. 6 in Las Palmas on the Canary Islands, taking part in the Copa del Atlantico four-team tournament with matches against Spain, France and the Canary Islands. The U-19 MNT program has been added to men’s youth programing this year and features players born in 1998, who are coming off playing in the U-17 FIFA World Cup in Chile in October.

Friedel and Namazi are the most recent additions to the Youth National Team programs, following the hiring of John Hackworth as the new head coach of the U-17 MNT.

namazi

Nekounam turns down assistant coach role in Team Melli

Javad Nekounam , the recently retired Team Melli Captain, expressed his gratitude towards Team Melli coach , Carlos Queiroz for offering him the job of assistant coach and said “He rather continue playing football”.

Nekounam who is signing for Saipa Alborz team , has recently moved back to Iran after a unsuccessful stint with Osasuna in the second division of the Spanish La Liga.  Nekounam had much praise for his present coach Majeed Jalali and considered him one of the best in the country and Saipa as a club that many Iranian players think of quite highly.

Nekounam signing for Saipa Alborz

The appointment of Nekounam as assistant coach was announced a few months back without the player himself being properly consulted. Nekounam made no public comment on the appointment and never reported to Team Melli signalling his refusal to accept the job. This is the first time that the ex-Team Melli captain has spoken publicly about the appointment.

No assistant coach has survived working under Queiroz. Omid Namazi , then Majeed Salih and Ali Karimi have all been working with the Portuguese coach and did not last the distance. Karimi’s stint was the shortest. Nekounam must have taken a cue and despite his admiration and good working relationship with Queiroz , has turned down the job.

Is there a shift in Iranian fans’ mentality ?

An intriguing enigma has developed lately in Iran’s football that might be the beginning of a new era, at least from the fans side of the, if not with the whole of the system.

Iran has the largest football fan base in Asia, even more that China that has several folds more population. People just love football in this country and if you have ever missed it , you should look at the attendance of the local derby between Perpsolis and Esteghlal , the two highest fanbase teams in Iran and beyond. It is always one of the biggest match attendance in the world.

Persepolis and Esteghlal are the two most popular teams in Iran.

lebanon-fans-543

Like many other countries, football fans in Iran have more loyalty to their clubs than the national team. For decades these two teams had a monopoly on the number of players in Team Melli. It was unthinkable of announcing a squad without any player from the reds of Persepolis or the blues of Esteghlal.

Not anymore. The original squad for AFC Asian Cup 2015 did not have a single player from Persepolis. That was a historic first. The trend of breaking the monopoly if the 2 top teams on Team Melli started way back during Branko Ivankovic days and reached its peak a decade or so later during Carlos Queiroz. Former Team Melli managers will deny it, but it is a common knowledge that pressure was excreted upon them to include as many as Persepolis and Esteghlal players in the team to assure the federation of fans attendance and support in the 100,000 capacity Azadi Stadium.

After the elimination of Team Melli from the Asian Cup, Queiroz embarked on a vicious ward of words against Amir Ghalenoei and Hamid Derakhshan accusing them of treachery, amongst many other allegations. Team Melli head coach war of attrition with local club coaches has started sometimes ago, but his conflict with Persepolis and Esteghlal coach seemed to have hit the peak after the failing of the Asian Cup.

Queiroz in a feeble attempt to justify the team’s elimination pointed the fingers at Ghalenoei and Derakhshan as contributory factors to the team’s failure!

Essentially , Queiroz was telling them “You are getting a taste of your own medicine!”

Aside from the others reactions to Queiroz tongue–lashing, many Persepolis and Esteghlal fans took exception to it and defended their club coaches, some in fact even marched with banners and had to be restrained by security personnel at the two clubs respective training grounds.

Up to here, the plot is progressing normally as expected under such circumstances but the shock that has awaken everyone was in NAVAD TV show. The popularity of Carlos Queiroz when a poll was conducted in Navad TV reached an overwhelming 88%!

Iran Fans in Doha

Let us carefully run through some facts.

Fact 1) the absolute majority (greater than 80%) of Iranian football fans polled before the Asian Cup, believed that Team Melli will win the title or be in the final match at least. Less than 10% thought Iran will not make it past the quarter finals. So, we assume that 80% of the fans are quite disappointed by the result.

Fact 2) Team Melli has failed to progress beyond the group matches in the World Cup , ranked by FIFA as 31 out of 32 teams with some embarrassing performance figure. It has failed to win any championship or titles, even the good old WAFF championship, failed in Asian Cup , and very miserably so in the Asian Games( U 23 team).

Fact 3) Team Melli has not been displaying a pretty or entertaining football with a stern defensive style and mostly sticking to the same faces and names.

Fact 4) Carlos Queiroz has made more enemies in Iran that anyone can think of. From Omid Namazi , Rahmati , Aghili , Salih etc and all the way to Ali Karimi who abandoned ship in the last hours.

The above mentioned are facts, not speculations or rumors. So, how on earth one can explain the popularity of such a character?

Iran vs nigeria greeting the fans (35 of 36)-3

Is there a shift in mentality in Iranians fans? are they sick of the archaic Iranian establishment ? Are they tired of Iranian coaches and their antics? Are they sending some kind of a message to the hierarchies? Are they “Blue eyes worshippers” as Ghalanoei alleged ?

In Europe and certainly some of the Persian Gulf Countries, National Team Managers that have achieved much better than Queiroz have lost their jobs, yet Iran is an exception. It defies the common logic for a coach to have such popularity without being able to win anything.

Not that Carlos Queiroz is to be blamed for the whole of Iran’s football deficiencies, but in essence, he is part of the system that has disappointed and failed the fans and an important one for that matter. It is criminal to shield him from criticism while blame the failing on the rest of the establishment.

In any case despite the fact that Queiroz has not won anything for Iran, he managed to win the heart of the fans.

NOW..

Go Figure.