Tag: Real Madrid

Carlos Queiroz emerges as major contender for QPR job

Carlos Queiroz has emerged as a major contender to be QPR’s next permanent manager.

It is believed that QPR made enquiries about the former Real Madrid boss, who is currently in charge of Iran’s national team, before

Chris Ramsey was placed in charge until the end of the season.

Ramsey has a genuine chance of being offered the job on a permanent basis if Rangers enjoy a strong finish to their Premier League campaign – and he has major support from within the dressing-room.

Yet owner Tony Fernandes has been considering options with Queiroz, who had two spells as Sir Alex Ferguson’s assistant at Manchester United, a serious candidate.

The 61-year-old Portuguese is considered to fit the bill as the hands-on ‘head coach’ figure Fernandes is seeking to replace Harry Redknapp.

 

He also has a good track record of developing young players, which would be a prerequisite for any new QPR boss.

Sources within the club are sceptical about Fernandes’s claim on Twitter that he had identified his ‘dream manager’ before Ramsey’s interim appointment.

But it is understood that Queiroz is being considered and that he may be keen to return to English football.

Queiroz is under contract with Iran, meaning that no speedy appointment could have been made in the wake of Redknapp’s resignation three weeks ago.

But the experienced Portuguese may be open to a summer move after the nation’s Asian Cup campaign ended in a quarter-final defeat by Iraq in Australia last month.

Derakhshan fires back at Queiroz.

Hamid Derakhshan , the head coach of Persepolis blasted Carlos Queiroz latest statements about him and Amir Ghalenoei , the Esteghlal coach.

In a short statement after the Perespolis team training in front of a large number of keen journalists awaiting his reaction to the verbal onslaught of Queiroz, Derakhsan who was clearly upset by the subject and wanted to refrain from commenting in the first place, was suddenly fired up and severally derided the Portuguese coach for what he called “Dishonorable rant”.

Persepolis coach said “this man ( Queiroz) is constantly telling us and reminding everybody that the referee was the reason behind Team Melli’s defeat. If we are to talk about refereeing mistakes, then what about that Uzbekistan game when the ball clearly passed Team Melli goal line but the referee did not see it? How come the referee was not the reason for Team Melli’s winning in that match? Your are looking for escape goats and culprits to justify the elimination Team Melli and conveniently found Amr Ghalenoei and Hamid Derkhshan as lucrative targets. These are unjustified feeble excuses you are offering.”

Derakhshan referring to the high wages of Team Melli coach said “ He is the world’s third or fourth most expensive coach. But I ask you all, what did he achieve for our football? The players that he has at his disposal are the end result of our hard work in the domestic league, the work of club coaches; it is not the product of Queiroz that he has brought from his home. What did you have up your sleeve for this nation’s football?  Have you developed this football to a world class standard, for instances? Have you introduce and played a beautiful football?”

Hamid Derakhshan then pointed to the past history of Queiroz and said “ The guy comes and publicly tarnish our image and insult us by referring to past events. I want to ask Mr. Queiroz, what about your own record and background? Mr. Queiroz your records are clear and everyone knows that the Real Madrid has kicked you out only after eight weeks in the job. A Portuguese player under you was busted on doping charges, and subsequently you were fired because of it. And there are other events. Now you are coming over here to teach us our destiny? Our football is bigger than people like you, and you do not have the rights to decide for us.”

Queiroz has singled out Derekhshan and Ghalenoei for special censure and accused them of being forces behind weakening of Team Melli spirit. The coach of Team Melli , said , both these two should have no place in Iran’s football ! Amir Ghalenoei , refrained from responding yesterday but said a special communique will be issued by him to refute Queiroz in the next few days.

 Team Melli will be arriving in Tehran on Monday.

Queiroz fuming despite Asian Cup win over Bahrain

Iran coach Carlos Queiroz let rip at Bahrain for their “dangerous” tackling after his side won a tempestuous Asian Cup clash 2-0 on Sunday.

The Portuguese accused Australian referee Ben Williams of failing to control the Group C match in Melbourne.

“I was not happy because after nine, 10, 12 fouls, stopping the game systematically. The referee must take action,” Queiroz said.

“There were some aerial duels where especially their No 12 [Faouzi Aaish] elbowed my players and, as you know, the elbow is very dangerous.”

Goals celebrations

Ehsan Hajsafi’s volley in first-half stoppage time lit the touchpaper for Iran,who are seeking to end a 39-year wait for a fourth Asian Cup title, before Masoud Shojaei added a second in the 71st minute to end Bahrain’s resistance. But Queiroz, who had two spells as Alex Ferguson’s assistant at Old Trafford, was furious at what he said was a lack of consistency from referee Williams.

“For a referee so quick to show a yellow card when one of my players didn’t hear the whistle, I was completely surprised that when he sees Bahrain’s negative game, after 10 fouls in a row, he didn’t give them a single yellow,” the former Portugal and Real Madrid coach said.

Queiroz in press conference

Asia’s top-ranked side, Iran almost opened the scoring after 20 minutes when the dangerous Ashkan Dejagah forced a smart stop from Sayed Abbas in the Bahrain goal. But Bahrain had already served notice that they were not about to simply roll over as their bulldozing Nigerian-born striker Jaycee Okwunwanne blazed wide during the frenetic early skirmishes.

Sayed Shubbar then squandered a golden opportunity by heading over as Bahrain threatened to capitalise on a sluggish start from Iran.

It was then Hajsafi who, with almost the last kick of the first half, expertly trapped a looping clearance with his left foot and instantaneously smashed it past Abbas with the outside of his right boot from just outside the box.

“It was a brilliant, fantastic goal,” Queiroz said. “A goal to grace any stadium in the world. Bahrain made it difficult for us, but we deserved to win and should have scored more goals.”

Tempers flared in the second half when Iran goalkeeper Alireza Haghighi barged into Aaish, Bahrain’s playmaker, who appeared to block off the keeper as he attempted a quick throw.

Moments later, Shojaei popped up to steer a right-footed shot just inside the post from another corner to trigger wild celebrations from a crowd of 17,000.

“You saw what happened with the goalkeeper,” Queiroz said. “He tried for a quick transition and the No 12 stopped him.

“The laws of the game are clear – an elbow is a yellow card, no doubt about that.”

Queiroz and Markar Aghajanian last minutes instructions.

Iran attempt to end years of Asian pain

AP3:08 a.m. EST January 5, 2015

SYDNEY (AP) — Iran’s squad arrived in Australia for the Asian Cup aiming to end nearly 40 years of football heartache with a long overdue continental triumph.

Team Melli must first overcome rivals from closer to home in an all-West Asian Group C, which includes Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Asia’s top-ranked team at No. 51, Iran has not progressed past the Asian Cup quarterfinals since 1996, falling well short of its most successful era when it won three successive tournaments from 1968 to 1976.

1976 Team Melli
Team Melli Asian Cup Champions 1976 L2R Standing: Rashidi, Abdollahei , Khorshidi , ZolfagharNasab,Eskandarian & Nooraei. L2R Sitting : Rowshan , Nazari , Parvin, Ghassimpouir & Ghleechkhani

The ace for Iran could be its coach, former Portugal and Real Madrid manager Carlos Queiroz, who guided the squad to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Queiroz was expected to leave his post after Iran’s group-stage exit from Brazil, but stayed on in what appears to be a vote of confidence in his methods.

Iran’s captain and talisman, Javad Nekounam of Osasuna in Spain, brings some star power to a tournament light on high-profile players and will be aiming to continue his goal-scoring form from qualifying, during which he netted four times.

Iran opens against Bahrain at Melbourne on Jan. 11.

Despite the continuing off-field distractions surrounding Qatar’s successful 2022 World Cup bid and subsequent preparations for the tournament, the Qatari squad enters the Asian Cup in strong form on the field.

Qatar was impressive at the recent Gulf Cup, where it beat Oman in the semifinals and Saudi Arabia in the final.

Algerian coach Djamel Belmadi has opted for youth above experience in attack, leaving veteran striker Sebastian Soria at home for Congolese-born Mohammed Tresor Abdullah and naturalized striker Mohammad Montari to support playmaker and former Asian Player of the Year Khalfan Ibrahim.

Qatar was ousted in the Asian Cup quarterfinals on home soil in 2011, losing to eventual champion Japan — a team it could well meet again in the same stage here.

The Qataris open in Canberra against the United Arab Emirates in a match that could be decisive for both nations’ prospects of reaching the knockout stages.

UAE breezed through qualifying, winning five games and drawing one on its way to topping its group.

Striker Ali Mabkhout notched five goals to jointly lead all scorers across the continent, as UAE found the net 18 times in qualifying, a mark only matched by group rivals Iran.

The UAE’s good form continued into the Gulf Cup, where the defending champs navigated their group undefeated, with Mabkhout scoring four times in three games. Saudi Arabia ended the UAE run in the semifinals, but the team bounced back to beat Oman in the third-place playoff.

Bahrain, the lowest-ranked team in the group at 125th, heads into the tournament in turmoil after a poor Gulf Cup campaign, which yielded no goals and the firing of coach Adnan Hamad.

New coach Marjan Eid has had little time to address Bahrain’s main weakness — its lack of potency in front of goal. Eid will lean on 28-year-old striker Ismail Abdul-Latif, who scored twice against Saudi Arabia in a friendly last week, to spearhead Bahrain’s attack.

The difference between Football laws of Spain & Iran.

While Iran’s Ali Karimi is appointed as the assistant coach of National Team without any training credentials  , in Spain the legendary Zinedine Zidane  is banned from coaching a reserve team because he does not hold the right qualification.

The former France international did not possess the necessary certificates to train the Blancos’ second-string side and, as a result, cannot return to the bench until 2015

Real Madrid reserve team boss Zinedine Zidane has been banned from the bench for three months over missing coaching qualifications.

There was a complaint made against Zidane’s position as Real Madrid Castilla head coach in August, a position he had taken during the summer after choosing to step aside as Carlo Ancelotti’s assistant with the club’s first team.

The former midfielder has a Uefa A Licence – equivalent to Level 2 qualifications in Spain – but needed Level 3 badges to hold the position to take charge of the Blancos’ second string.

Zidane’s deputy, Santiago Sanchez, has been handed the same ban as he used his qualifications to shield Zidane from being pulled up on his lack of coaching badges, which the Champions League winner now must obtain before early April to avoid further sanctions.

Obviously , Iran Football Federation does not believe in such unnecessary Spanish bureaucracy which mars the progress of football in the Iran !

Khodadad Azizi “Team Melli has not improved under Queiroz”

Mehr News Agency , interviewed Khodadad Azizi in a series of interviews with past Team Melli World Cup players. Azizi who scored that famous equalizing goal in Melbourne in 1997 to shock the Australians, a goal that was enough to take Iran to the World Cup France in 1998.

The reporter asked Azizi that “in the past, you have been a supporter of Carlos Queiroz, but why have been quoted as saying that the Football Federation should not renew Queiroz’s contract ?”  Confirming what he said about the contract , Azizi explained “ I do not need to praise Queiroz praise because his track record at Real Madrid and Manchester united speaks for itself as being  a great coach. Also at a stage where no one thought that Team Melli can win the remaining three games to qualify for the World Cup,  I was confident that this is quite likely to occur and believed in the team.”.

He continued ” I always thought that with Carlos Queiroz experience and background, he can change our football style , improve player’s productivity and performance and distance the team from depending in a lone star player. I also hoped that he will influence the team to adapt modern footballing style, playing crowds pleasing beautiful and attractive games,  the type that we see on TV from European teams, but unfortunately not only we have seen nothing of that style and no new blood injected into our football , the style remained the same without any significant changes” .

Khodadad Azizi celebrating with Iranian fans in Melbourne Cricket Ground 97
Khodadad Azizi celebrating with Iranian fans in Melbourne Cricket Ground 97

“We have to remember that it is the third year of Carlos Queiroz reign in Team Melli , however our expectation for improvement of style and performance remains wanting and at large. We have seen a coach like Guus Hiddink has so much power and influence on his teams , like the way he changed the style of South Korea. That team in much less time than what Queiroz had ,  play the kind of football today that is one step above Asian football standard , but in our football, such improvement has not happened.”

“My take on the Queiroz era is that he has not made any significant change in the shape and style of Team Melli.”