Month: June 2013

A new theme

We would like to thank you for the great support and encouargment to this site.

Due to the increasing interest in the site and Team Melli,  the national football team of Iran we have taken upon us to improve the looks and feel of the site in addition to the quality contents that we are proud of. We have begun upgrading the site as of today. There will be a lot of work in progress as you will appreciate, nevertheless we do hope that you will have an uninterrupted acces 24/7 as most of the changes will be done without the site going down.

If you have any comments , proposals or complaints please contact us. All the emails will be read.

Enjoy, TeamMelli.com

The Adminstration TEam.

Theo Buecker admits to Lebanon weakness before storming out of the press confrence

Theo-Beucker - Lebanon football team coach.
Theo-Beucker – Lebanon football team coach.

Tehran- TMDC report:

In the post-match press conference of the Iran – Lebanon match, Theo Buecker, the German coach of Lebanon admitted that his team did all it can but was not good enough against Iran. “With all those missing players, and practically a brand new team, not much was expected from this match against a powerful opposition” The German coach declared.

When asked by an Iranian reporter why did his team resort to un-sportsmanship behavior  during the match like time wasting , the temperamental German coach said that this was an insult to the team and he stormed out of the press conference in protest.

Theo Buecker was evidently upset about calling someone else calling his team tactics , as dirty , while the coach himself , admitted that some players have sold a series of matches includiong two Qatar games in these FIFA World Cup qualifiers and a match against Bangladesh!

Storming out of press conferences has become quite trendy in Iran. Carlos Queiroz has done it a couple of times and hence the word has obviously reached the German coach as well. Despite some imprudent and meaningless questions that the Iranian media asks the coaches during such conferences, the act of leaving a press conference which is a mandatory requirement by FIFA needs to be addressed and preventive measures taken to ensure the proper conduct an behavior of all sides, else they are becoming a farce. Offenders ( the coaches in this case) should be Fined or suspended as appropriate.

Interestingly enough , in the mixed zone of Azadi after the match today , a reporter who obviously was devoid of any meaningful dialogue or questions , asked Javad Nekounam , Team Melli’s Captain and the scorer of two goals , about his views on the upcoming Iranian Presidential election!!! Nekounam calmly responded to him “I am a professional footballer who just played an important match , what has the election to do with what we are doing?”

Emphatic win for Team Melli on road to Brazil.

Nekounam shows his joy after scoring
Nekounam shows his joy after scoring

Team Melli Captain Javad Nekounam scored a brace as Iran defeated Lebanon 4-0 in the FIFA 2014 World Cup qualifications round in packed Azadi stadium. Mohammed Reza Khalatbary opened the scoring in the 38th minute and on the stroke of half time, Nekounam scored with a header to make it 2-0.

Right at the beginning of the second half Reza Ghoochannejad scored the third , while Nekounam sealed the win with a thunderous shot to make it 4-0 in the 85th minute..

Iran started the match quite strongly and manage to dominate the game from the onset. The result was an onslaught of attacking moves , which due to haste ,  inaccurate delivery , and poor finishing , it failed to produce  any goals. Lebanon who had nothing to lose had a clear strategy in this game. With 9 regular players missing from the line up due to different reasons, the players embarked on a damage limitation exercise.   Lebanon tactic was to “Park the bus”, frustrate the opposition, play act and hope for a break. The Lebanese managed to frustrate the Iranians all right but it was only a matter of time before their defense would break down.

Lebanon’s  practice of time wasting ,  which is quite common with the Arab teams across the region, not only frustrated the Iranian players but it also infuriated the 70,000 fans in Azadi , who jeered and shouted against Lebanon players. The Lebanese started play acting and faking injury as early as the  15th  minutes  in the hope of breaking up the constant pressure created by Team Melli. Chance after chance went begging and wasted mostly ending up around Reza Ghoocannejad.

Despite the players targeting Ghoochannejad on the crosses and final passes, there was lack of quality in the deliveries were not accurate enough for the Standard Liege player to create scoring opportunities.

Khalatbary scoring celebration
Khalatbary scoring celebration

Lebanon’s keeper Abbas Hassan , was showing his class when he saved three consecutive balls late in the first half , with his fine timing and reflexes. However , he was left wanting against Khalatbary , who zig zagged his way between two central defenders and delivered a nice ball far from the reach of Abbas Hassan to Open Team Melli’s account on minute 38.

Just before half time, a sweet and delicate chip from Heydari on the right side, and a towering jump from Nekounam ended up in the Iranian Captain scoring the second just before the final whistle.

Iran was up 2-0 at the half time and in a commanding position

The second half started like a whirling with Team Melli going on an all out attack. This resulted in a quick goal by Reza Ghoochannejad , who cleverly got clear from his mark in the box with a shimmy before blasting the ball right in the ceiling against the advancing Abbas Hassan, There was no chance for Lebanon hero to save such a goal.

The final goal was another beauty from Javad Nekounam. The Team Melli Captain increased his tally of international goals to 36 in 134 international matches, with a powerful shot right outside the box to scored his second and team’s fourth in the 85th minute.

With this win, Iran is now ranked second in the group and only need one point is required from the final group match against Korea Rep. in Ulsan next Tuesday to qualify directly to the FIFA World Cup finals.

#Player Name

ARAB, Mostafa


13-Aug-41
31 years
Oghab
Defender
20

ASHTIANI, Ebrahim


04-Jan-42
30 Years
Perspolis
Defender
5

BEHZADI, Homayoun


20.Jun.42
30 Years
Perspolis
Foreward
4

GHURAB, Javad


30.Jul.50
22 Years
Taj
Defender
6

HALVAEI, Majeed


007-Feb-48
24 Years
Pas
Defender
1

HAGHVERDIAN, Karo


11-Jan-46
26 Years
Esteghlal
Midfield
14

HEJAZI, Nasser


14-Dec-49
23 Years
Esteghlal
Goalkeeper
19

IRANPAK, Safar


03.Dec.47
25 Years
Perspolis
Foreward
7

JABBARI, Ali


20-Jun-47
25 Years
Taj
Midfield
10

KALANI, Hossein


23-Jun-40
32 Years
Perspolis
Foreward
2

KARGARJAM, Akbar


6.Dec.1944
28 Years
Taj
Defender
9

KASHANI, Jaffar


04.Mar.45
27 Years
Perspolis
Defender
18

MAVADAT, Bahram


30.Jan.50
22 Years
Perspolis
Goalkeeper
8

MAZLOOMI, Gholamhossein


13-Jan-50
22 Years
Taj
Foreward
23

MONAJATI, Mehdi


29-Jun-47
25 Years
Pas
Midfield
17

GHLEECHKHANI, Parviz


04.Nov.46
26 years
Pas
Midfield
21

SHARAFI, Asghar


22-Dec-42
30 years
Pas
Foreward
13
22
15

The afc.com report

Tehran: Iran put on a dominant display as Carlos Queiroz’s side recorded a 4-0 win over Lebanon at the Azadi Stadium on Tuesday that keeps their bid to qualify for the FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil next year on track.

Three goals in seven minutes either side of the half-time break effectively sealed the three points for the Iranians as they seek to qualify for a fourth FIFA World Cup having previously appeared in Argentina in 1978, in France in 1998 and in Germany in 2006.

Victory moves Iran to within a point of Group A leaders Korea Republic and into second place, two points ahead of Uzbekistan with just one round of matches to play. The Iranians travel to Ulsan to face the Koreans next Tuesday.

With the Lebanese already eliminated, the onus was on Iran to take advantage of a weak opponent and, although the hosts were in control from the first whistle, it took the Iranians until the 39th minute to take the lead.

Reza Ghoochannejhad and Mohamad Reza Khalatbari were guilty of missing several chances before Khalatbari finally opened the scoring six minutes ahead of the halftime break when he slipped the ball beyond Abbas Hassan.

Captain Javad Nekounam doubled his side’s advantage as the half moved into Stoppage time when the former Osasuna midfielder headed into the top corner following Khosro Heydari’s cross.

The second half was not even a minute old when the Iranians made it 3-0 via Ghoochannejhad, who smashed the ball into the roof of the net after turning past Hassan Daher and Iran had numerous opportunities to add to their goal difference throughout what remained of the game.

Despite their dominance, however, Iran had to wait until four minutes from time when Nekounam claimed his second and his team’s fourth with a fabulous finish with the inside of his right foot from outside the area that gave Hassan no chance.

But the size of the win means a draw could be enough for the Iranians when they take on the Koreans next week to advance to their fourth FIFA World Cup finals.

News before kick vs. Lebanon

Korea Rep. defeated  Uzbakistan 1-0 scored by any own goal by the Uzbek defender  Ahmadov, This result augurs well for Team Melli provided they beat Lebanon in an hour from now.

With two hours left to kick off, an estimated 20,000 fans are in Azadi stadium. Although this is disappointing , Iranian fans have a habit of turning up in the last minute. Queiroz and his players have demanded a 100,000 fans support in Azadi to support the team.

On the eve of the match, Andranik Teymourian received a bad news from his club. Al Kharatiyat , the QSL of Qatar has replaced Ando with a Nigerian-Bahrain player Jessi John. Teymourian hence is not part of that Qatari team and he will be available for transfer back to Iran.

A great goalkeeper in the making.

Abbas Hassan – Lebanon Goalkeepr

In his day, this goalkeeper is simply unbeatable. Last week , in Beirut when Lebanon hosted Korea Republic, Abbas Hassan, single handedly stopped the mighty Koreans with at least 10 saves, including several split of a second reflexes. No matter how they tried and how much pressure they exerted on the Lebanese defense , there was simply a great barrier wall called Abbas Hassan who defied the Korean Professionals.

No matter how hard The seasoned and the professional players of the Korea National Football team tried, they just could not put the ball past one Abbas Hassan, the Lebanese goalkeeper who plays for the Swedish side IF Elfsborg .  Eventually , deep into added time and on the 97th minute of the match , the Koreans scored from a free kick given away right outside the box. The irony of that goal was that the ball took a deflection thus wrong footing the hero Abbas.

Abbas Hassan is relatively a new face in Lebanese football. The 28 years old has played all his football in his adopted country Sweden. He started his career in his current club IF Elfsborg  in 2005 before joining Danish side Aalborg BK (loan) and then in 2010 he joined the Swedish Superettan club IFK Norrköping on a short term contract to replace the injured goalkeeper David Nilsson.

He finally singed for IFK Norrköping and played for them from 2011–2012 before returning to his original club IF Elfsborg  .

Abbas Hassan only made his debut in January 2012 against Iraq. His climb to instant fame, though was against none other than Team Melli when the heroics and the reflexes of this keeper prevented the Iranians from scoring and helping his team to register a historic win in the FIFA 2014 World Cup qualifiers. It was Iran’s only defeat to Lebanon.

Abbas was also in the receiving end of the Iranian wrath when he was beaten 5 times and collected the ball from the back of his nets during Iran’s 5-0 victory in Azadi.

What will be a great challenge for Team Melli players, is none other than Abbas Hassan. As proven by both the Korean and the Iranian players, penetrating through the Lebanese defense lines, is not a daunting task, but facing the goalie Abbas Hassan is entirely a different battle. Whether Abbas will be at his best in Azadi is a challenge worthy of watching. The Lebanon goalkeeper could make the difference.

Dehnavi , suspened until further notice.

Abolghasim Dehnavi
Abolghasim Dehnavi

Team Melli midfielder, Abolghasim Dehnavi has been suspended from all football activities, including participation in Team Melli training and matches, until further notice. The move was announced today by IRIFF disciplinary committee after receiving a written complaint from Perspolis club against the player.

In its letter to the federation, Pesrpolis claims that Dehnavi, who was Tractorsazi player last season and became a free agent at the end of the season, has signed an “Internal agreement” with Perspolis, however after this binding contract, Dehnavi negotiated with Sepahan Esfahan and singed yet another contract with the Esfahani club to be a player with them next season!

Esmaeil Hassanzadeh, a spokesman for the IRIFF disciplinary committee announced that the grievance and the evidence provided to the committee by Perspolis club is authentic and admissible, however , a full verdict cannot be reached without listening to the other party (the player). Based on the documents provided, the IFF announces the full suspension of Dehnavi from all football related activities until the hearing date which is set on 22nd June 2013.

Perspolis is claiming damages as a result of Dehnavi’s act.

It has become a common practice for players to sign for several clubs in what is known to be an “Internal agreement”. The full extent and authenticity of such contract is still a grey area. While some sources refer to these as verbal semiofficial agreement similar to an MOU (memorandum of understanding) other sources call it an official and binding contract. These problems occur on monotonous and regular basis, but neither the federation nor the courts in Iran are willing to clear the situation as what is referred to “Internal agreement” is still in the grey area of the law.

Khalatbary’s transfer to UAE, raises a few eybrows!

Mohammad Reza Khalatbary moves to Ajman Club in UAE

According to Sporte360 website, Mohammed Reza Khalatbary, the much travelled Iranian player, has signed with Ajman Club of the UAE.

The website reporting from Dubai, said that “Ajman have completed the signing of former Al Wasl forward Mohammad Reza Khalatbary while coach Abdulwahab Abdulkadir and striker Boris Kabi have both signed contract extensions.

Khalatbary – who spent six months on loan at the Zabeel Stadium under Diego Maradona – has joined the Orange Brigade on a one-year deal from Sepahan.”

There was strong rumors that the Iranian sport authorities have vetoed all transfers of Iranian players to the UAE after this country, notorious for its political intimidation and taking every opportunity to enroll political issues into football affairs, has called their league “Arab  Gulf” in defiance to Iran and international conventions. This unconfirmed move by the Iranians apparently stopped several Iranian players’ transfers. Players such as Javad Nekounam , Pejman Montazeri and Arash Borhani amongst others, were in active negotiation with different UAE Pro League clubs.

FIFA rules clearly stipulate that political interferences and influences are not permitted in football and have strongly applied such rules globally.

The problem is that FIFA statutes and those of Third World and totalitarian countries, where government and sporting officials are often one and the same, can be in direct conflict. Article 13.1 (g) of FIFA’s official rule book states that national federations are obliged “to manage their affairs independently and ensure that their own affairs are not influenced by any third parties.”

In all of the Middle East countries and without any exception, the football associations are all extensions of the government authorities and strictly follow the government party line without prejudice.

UAE foreign policy has a marked anti-Iranian flavor to it, partially due to the UAE claims to the three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf. Such policies and the UAE government rhetoric have influence several un-sportsmanship and illicit acts by the UAE football federation such as canceling a friendly match against Iran (read official announcement below), cancellation of a match between Iraq and Iran in Dubai and banning of Iranian players transfer to UAE league. To circumnavigate a possible reaction by FIFA the UAE government quietly told the clubs that it will not issue visas and resident permits for Iranian players, which effectively meant the clubs were unable to recruit Iranians.

 The announcement of Khalatbary’s transfer to Ajman is hence quite a surprise taking into the consideration the prevailing circumstances and the volatile

Yousef Al Serkal, Chairman of the Interim Committee of the UAE Football Association has announced the cancellation of a friendly match of the UAE’s first national football team against Iran, which was scheduled for next Tuesday, April 17, at the Fujairah Club Stadium in preparation for future ties.

The cancellation of the game has appeared on the website of the UAE Football Association, in solidarity with the official position of the state on denouncing the visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the UAE Island of Abu Musa, which has been occupied by Iran since 1971. – Emirates News Agency, WAM

Lebanon Team arrives in Tehran minus 7 absent players!

Lebanon national football team arrived in Tehran on Saturday missing 7 players due to either suspensions or injury. Lebanon who is already eliminated from the FIFA World Cup competition is playing its final match against Team Melli in Azadi on Tuesday. The Lebanese team and football is in turmoil due to the bribery scandals that hit the national team players and some clubs taking part in official competition. Several players and officials have been handed severe suspension , including life for accepting bribes and selling matches, including the two FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Qatar.

Despite such circumastances, the new look Lebanses team gallantly fought against the mighty Koreans in Beirut last Tuesady. Lebanon was one goal ahead until deep in the stoppage time awarded by the AUstralian referee. Korea eventually scored in th 97th minute from a free kick which took a deflection and wrong footed the star of the match , Lebanon’s goalkeeper Abbas Hassan.

Attempts by the Lebanese football federation to register the 20 years old upcoming star Soony Saad, an American Lebanese who is currently playing for the MLS team Sporting Kansas City has failed and hence he will be illegible to play against Iran. The promising youngster already made his debut for Lebanon against Oman, in a friendly game on May 29, 2013. Saad scored in his debut.

The absent players for Lebanon are: Abbas Atwi, Mohammed Yusif, Mohammed Haydar, Waleed Ismael, Bilal Najarin, Ali Hammam,and Amer Khan. The German coach of Lebanon had to call some new players in replacement and announced an 18 players squad to Tehran as follows:

[button-orange text=”Goalkeepers” ]

Abbas HASSAN [IF Elfsborg (SWE)] , Lary MEHANNA [AlAnsar] , Mehdi KHALIL [AlSafaa]

[button-orange text=”Defenders” ]

Mootaz JOUNAIDI [AlAnsar], Nour MANSOUR [AlSafaa] ,  Mohammad ZAIN TAHHAN [AlSafaa], Hussein AWADA [AlAhd], Mohammed HAMOOD [AlAnsar], Hassan DHAHER [Shabab AlSahel]

[button-orange text=”Midfield” ]

Abbas Ahmad ATWI [AlAhd], Nader MATAR [ACD Canillas (ESP)], Mohamad ATWI [AlAnsar], Mouhamad CHAMASS [AlNajma],  Hamza SALAMAH [AlSafaa]

[button-orange text=”Forwards” ]

Hassan MAATOUK [AlShabab (UAE)] , Hassan CHAITO [AlAhd], Fayez CHAMSINE [AlIjtimaei], Mahmoud KOJOK [AlAnsar],

Nekounam is approaching a milestone in Team Melli.

Javad Nekounam
Javad Nekounam

Javad Neklounam , Iran’s Captain of Team Melli and the Esteghlal player is approaching a milstone in his career in the next match against Lebanon. It will be Nekounam’s 38th time as Team Melli Captain thus equalling Ahmad Reza Abedzadeh who has a record of 38 captaincy matches.

Nekounam who has a remarkable success against Lebanon , has also scored 4 goals in his 6 matches played against the team from Levant.

The record holder of Team Melli is the legendary Ali Daei with 80 matches under his belt. Like many of Ali Daei’s records breaking career , this one is extremely difficult to be broken by Nekounam at this stage.