Month: May 2012

10 players to join Team Melli camp later than scheduled.

IFF have announced that 10 players from Sepaham , Esteghlal and Perspolis are selected for the Camp to be held in Turkey.

According to IFF Public Relations Manager ,  Khosrow Walizadeh, these 10 players will joining the camp a few days later than the rest and right after the completion of the knock out rounds of the AFC Champions League.

“We hope that these players fly to Turkey to join the camp as soon as they conclude their matches in the AFC Champions League.” Walizadeh said.

The players are:

Sepahan Esfahan.

Jalal Hosseini

Hashim Beighzadeh

 

Esteghlal Tehran

Mehdi Rahmati

Andranik Teymourian

Mojtaba Jabbari

Khosrow Heydary

Fereydoon Zandi

 

Perspolis

Ali Karimi

Mehrdad Pooladi

Gholamreza Rezaei

 

Carlos Queiroz concerns resurface again.

Tehran – ISNA:

The Portuguese coach of Team Melli , once again expressed his concern and deep regrets about the preparation of Team Melli after the three Iranian clubs participating in the AFC Asian Champions League withheld their players from Team Melli Training camp.

Queiroz sarcastically took a swipe at the federation and the clubs for their continual declaration that the priority is always with the national Teams including Team Melli. With all the 3 Iranian teams Sepahan , Esteghlal and Perspolis qualifying for the knock out round  of the AFC Champions League, those teams need to play their matches on 22nd of May right in the middle of the Training camp that  Queiroz has set up for the upcoming match against Uzbekistan. The Team Melli camp is scheduled to start on Monday 21st May.

A total of 11 players will be missing from the camp and that , according to Queiroz , will definitely upset his preparation plans and unbalance the training camp. When asked about the camp and the preparation by reporters, Queiroz said “Why are you asking this question?  Isn’t it obvious that you cannot work with 50% of you colleagues not attending to the job?”

“From now on, don’t claim that the priority is with Team Melli, because it isn’t the case” Queiroz said in bitterness.

Queiroz claimed that he has prepared for this camp since 8 months back in coordination with the IFF and being fully aware of the AFC schedules. The question that begs itself which Queiroz never answered is why would he choose this date fully knowing, according to his own admission, that there is one round of AFC Champions league scheduled to be played on the 22nd of May?

 

 

 

A friendly against North Korea is arranged.

Gholamreza Rezaei of Team Melli Against Lee of South Korea Tehran – 17th May 2012

The IFF and the Korea DPR football federation has provisionally agreed on a friendly match between the two teams to be held in Azadi Stadium on the 9th of October 2012.

According to Iranian News Agency IRNA reports , Mohammad Mehdi Nabi , IFF secretary has announced that he received a confirmation letter from his North Korean counterpart on the match date and venue. The match will be a very useful preparation for the upcoming World Cup qualifier against Iran’s main rival in the group , the powerful South Koreans.

The North Koreans , who were one of the Asian Representatives in World Cup 2010 in South Africa , failed to make the next round 4 of FIFA World Cup qualification rounds, however , they remain one of the stronger Asian teams. Despite having a poor record against Team Melli , the match will be a strong test for the Persians

Team Melli is scheduled to meet South Korea on 16th October in Azadi Stadium.

Foolad Sepahan Esfahan wins its 3rd consecutive league title.

Esfahan – Foolad Shar Stadium

Friday 11th May 2012

 

Foolad Sepahan Esfahan , under the coaching of the Croat Zlatko “Cico” Kranjčar , won its 3rd consecutive league title after being held at a capacity FooladShahr stadium by the relegated Mes Sarcheshme. The goalless draw meant that Sepahan has reached 67 points and that was all it needed to clinch the title ahead ob both Tractorsazi Tabriz and Esteghlal Tehran who both won their final games but could not reach Sepahan’s tally.

Final week Results

Iran – Persian Gulf Cup

FT Damash Gilan 2 – 1 Shahrdari Tabriz
FT Mes Kerman 2 – 0 Zob Ahan
FT Rah Ahan 4 – 1 Shahin Bushehr
FT Saipa 2 – 2 Sanat Naft
FT Foolad 1 – 2 Persepolis
FT Esteghlal 3 – 0 Naft Tehran
FT Fajr Sepasi 0 – 0 Saba Qom
FT Sepahan 0 – 0 Mes Sarcheshme
FT Tractor Sazi 2 – 0 Malavan

 

 

League table

 

# Team MP W D L F A D P Last 5 matches
1
Sepahan
34 19 10 5 54 27 +27 67 D D W W D
2
Tractor Sazi
34 19 9 6 57 32 +25 66 W D W W W
3
Esteghlal
34 19 9 6 58 34 +24 66 W W D D W
4
Saba Qom
34 12 14 8 40 38 +2 50 D D D D L
5
Naft Tehran
34 13 10 11 36 38 -2 49 L W L D D
6
Zob Ahan
34 9 18 7 29 33 -4 45 L D D D D
7
Damash Gilan
34 11 11 12 34 38 -4 44 W L D D W
8
Saipa
34 10 13 11 50 39 +11 43 D D D W L
9
Mes Kerman
34 11 10 13 35 39 -4 43 W D W D W
10
Sanat Naft
34 11 10 13 49 57 -8 43 D L W L D
11
Rah Ahan
34 9 15 10 43 42 +1 42 W W D L W
12
Persepolis
34 10 12 12 50 54 -4 42 W L L L D
13
Fajr Sepasi
34 10 11 13 31 38 -7 41 D D D L W
14
Foolad
34 10 10 14 35 37 -2 40 L L D L L
15
Malavan
34 9 12 13 32 33 -1 39 L W D D L
16
Shahrdari Tabriz
34 6 16 12 34 44 -10 34 L D D W D
17
Shahin Bushehr
34 6 15 13 30 43 -13 33 L D L D L
18
Mes Sarcheshme
34 5 9 20 23 54 -31 24 D D L W L

Iran retain WAFF Futsal title

Source: The-AFC.com Print E-mail
Thursday, 03 May 2012
Orumieh: Iran successfully defended the 3rd WAFF (West Asian Football Federation) Men Futsal Championship title after finishing top of the table in the 5-team competition.

Five West Asian countries including hosts Iran participated in the tournament played in league format. Considered a warm-up tournament for the upcoming AFC Futsal Championship starting later this month, Iran were all conquering as they bagged maximum 12 points from four matches.

In the tournament totally dominated by the hosts, Iran scored mammoth 40 goals and conceded just six to reign supreme in the region.

 

The tournament also served as an alarming bell for another AFC Futsal Championship participating Kuwait as they had a dismal campaign with their only win coming against pointless Palestine. Kuwait finished just above Palestine at the fourth place in the five-team competition. Jordan managed second spot – five points behind Iran while Iraq finished third.

 

The 10-time Asian champions Iran will meet Australia, Qatar and Korea Republic in strong Group C in AFC Futsal Championship starting on May 25 in Dubai. Kuwait are in Group D alongside with three-time finalists Uzbekistan, Indonesia and China.

Shamsaee set to shine in Asia again

 

Source: The-AFC.com Print E-mail
Vahid Shamsaei Iran FutsalKuala Lumpur: Iranian futsal maestro Vahid Shamsaee, who missed the 2010 AFC Futsal Championship in Uzbekistan, is all set to make a return at the continental futsal scene again in Dubai this month.The 37-year-old veteran was famously left out of the squad in Tashkent event which Iran ultimately won in his absence prompting the speculations over his future in continental as well as world futsal.

Speaking to the-afc.com after Iran lifted the trophy for the record 10 times, the two-time Asian futsal player of the year had said: “I have the hunger. I want another trophy, another MVP and another top goal-scorer title.”

Shamsaee’s dream could be fulfilled as he is expected to feature in the AFC Futsal Championship starting in Dubai on May 25. Though Iran’s hegemony will face stern tests from Japan, Uzbekistan and other emerging nations in the ranks of Thailand, Australia, Qatar but they are firm favorites to lift the trophy they conceded only once to Japan in 2006.

Shamsaee has another chance to shine in the continent as his club side Sanaye Giti Pasand is playing in the AFC Futsal Club Championship exactly one month after the Dubai event.

Shamsaee joined Giti Pasand last year after a three-year spell in Foolad Mahan.

Shamsaee has won almost all the individual titles a futsal player can get. He holds the record of seven time topsocrers’ honours in AFC Futsal Championship. He was also adjudged the MVP of the three AFC Futsal Championships in 2005, 2007 and 2008.

He also bagged the individual award of MVP and highest goal scorer in Foolad Mahan’s win in inaugural AFC Club Futsal Championship in 2010.

Iran is in Group B alongside Australia, Korea Republic and Qatar and they will begin their campaign on May 25 against Korea Republic. Shamsaee’s Giti Pasand will face Qatar’s Al Rayyan, hosts Yarmouk FC and Vietnam’s Thai Son Nam in Group A of the Asian Club Futsal Championship in Kuwait in July.

Kafashian and the rift with Queiroz!

The President of the Iran’s Football Federation appreciated the action of the disciplinary Committee for restoring the two points that was deducted from Perspolis.

During the election of Lorestan football Board , Ali Kafashian spoke to the  reporters about the rumors of a rift between himself and the Portuguese head coach of Team Melli. He said that Carlos Queiroz is a professional coach under contract with IFF . Queiroz intends to fulfill his obligation and continue working with the team all the way to the World Cup in Brazil.  Queiroz is determined to pursue the work that has started”

About the supposed rift between the two , Kafashian said  “arranging friendly games for the national team involves long negotiations , difficult logistical problems and is time-consuming activity. In some cases a situation arises in which weak teams request to play matches against us while on our side we look for more demanding oppositions. In all cases we address these requests and finalize the details after the approval of Team Melli’s technical panel as they hold the final say. Half of the preparations and organization of friendly matches is within our own control and hence we do always look to engage strong teams , unfortunately the other 50%  do not normally agree for such games to be held.”

It seems that the rift that has been talked about revolves around the subject of arranging friendly games in which there has been wide criticism due to the poor quality of the oppositions that has been chosen during Quierez tenure as head coach of Team Melli.

The President of the Football Federation in response to a question about how 2 points was deducted from Perspolis team due to disciplinary violation, and on what basis it was restored back , said: “Due to the situation that this club was going through , it was recommended to the Disciplinary Committee to revise the decision by appeal. This committee is an independent Committee and after long discussion, they finally agreed by 3 votes to 2 to reverse the 2 points deduction from Perspolis .”

Kafashian expressed his gratitude to the Appeal Committee for this voting and said that: “I appreciate this Appeal Committee decision , but they also reminded me that I should not recommended any  practice to them because that might lead to negative actions !”

 

 

Uzbeks publish confidential list of Iran’s players.

Queiroz on bench

The Iranians officials are extremely upset with the Uzbek Football federation  after they published the name of 33 Iranian players which the IFF has sent to Tashkent for Visa formalities. Omid Namazi , an assistant coach to Calrlos Queiroz has called that moved by the Uzbeks as “Unprofessional”.

The confidential list was purely for requesting visa and it was not meant to be published , Namazi was quoted. With one more round of the league still to play , it is obvious that the coaching staff has finalized the list . Such a move  could upset a few players who had the potential to be included  , according to Namazi.

Interestingly enough , the list includes the name of Ashkan Dejageh who is injured and very unlikely to accompany the squad to Tashkent in June.

 

Name

  1. AFSHIN , Arash
  2. AGHILI, Hadi
  3. ANSARIFARD, Karim
  4. DEJAGAH, Ashkan
  5. FROUZAN, Mohsen
  6. GHOLAMI, Mohammad
  7. GORDAN, Shehab
  8. HADDADIFAR, Ghassim
  9. HAGHIGHI, AliReza
  10. HAGHIGHI, Reza
  11. HAJSAFY, Ehsan
  12. HASSANZADEH , Ahmad
  13. HEYDARI, Khosrow
  14. HOSSEINI, Jalal
  15. JABBARI, Mojtaba
  16. KARIMI, Ali
  17. KHALATBARY, MohamadReza
  18. KHALILZADEH, Shojaa
  19. MAHINI, Hossein
  20. MEYDAVOUDI, Milad
  21. MONTAZERI. Pjman
  22. MOSALMAN, Mohsen
  23. NAJAFABADI, Mohammad Ghazi
  24. NEKOUNAM, Javad
  25. NOURI, Mohammad
  26. NOURI, Pejman
  27. NOUROZI, Reza
  28. POOLADI, Mehrdad
  29. RAHMATI, Mehdi
  30. REZAEI, Gholamreza
  31. TEYMOURIAN , Andranik
  32. ZANDI, Fereydoon
  33. ZARE , Maziyar

 

 

Ashkan Dejagah doubtful for Uzbekistan clash

 

Monday, 07 May 2012 17
dejagah_300x200Tehran: Iran forward Ashkan Dejagah is likely to miss Iran’s World Cup 2014 qualifier match against Uzbekistan on June 3, The Tehran Times reported.

Dejagah, who plays his club football for Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, suffered a hamstring injury while playing against Werder Bremen on Saturday prompting speculations of whether the striker would be fit enough to feature in Carlos Queiroz’s squad for the trip to Tashkent.

“Dejagah may return sooner than the Wolfsburg’s doctors have diagnosed. It is not impossible; it depends on his body’s ability to recover. But he will likely miss the match against Uzbekistan,” said Parhan Khanlari, the Iran national football team’s doctor.

Dejagah, who also played international football for Germany in age-group competitions, made his debut against Qatar earlier this year and scored a brace.

After travelling to Uzbekistan on June 3, Iran will take on Qatar on 12 June at home where Dejagah is expected to be fit.