Month: December 2013

Ashkan Dejagah goal not enough to save Fulham

 

Team Melli Midfield Dynamo scored for his club Fulham on Wednesday night but was unable to save his club from defeat against Tottenham. The London Derby match ended 2-1 in favor of Tottenham.

Masked Man strikes to down Fulham It was a night of firsts at Craven Cottage as Ashkan Dejagah scored his first Premier League goal to put Fulham in front, only to see his celebrations cut short by debut League goals from the young Lewis Holtby and Vlad Chirches, still sporting a plastic mask from the broken nose he sustained in November.

A new look Fulham side, led by the recently appointed Meulensteen, headed into the game having made 7 changes from the side that lost to West Ham on the weekend. The changes seemed to have the desired effect as Fulham pegged back Spurs in the first 15 minutes of the game despite not having the lion’s share of possession. The first chance of the night fell to the newly restored Jermaine Defoe who forced a neat but easy save from Steklenburg after breaking through the Fulham back line. Fulham were not to be outdone however and Berbatov found himself clean through in the Spurs area only to see his usually near perfect touch desert him allowing Lloris to easily collect the ball without ever being in real danger.

Queiroz visits Corinthians Club camp in Brazil

Mehdi Mohammad Nabi and Carlos Queiroz will be representing Iran in the Friday FIFA World Cup 2014 draw. The pair have already arrived in Brazil ahead of time and visited Corinthians club camp where they were met by the famous Ex Brazilian Footballer Edu.

Edu Gaspar , Ex- Brazil National team and Arsenal , spent four years at Highbury, winning the Premier League title twice and the FA Cup three times. His final game for the Gunners came as they collected their last trophy in the 2005 FA Cup final.

In the meeting on Tuesday, both sides agreed on several undisclosed matters. Mohammad Nabi also met with Corinthians vice president and discussed means of cooperation between the Football Federation of Iran and the Brazilian side.

FIFA announces the pots for World Cup draw.

FIFA officially announced the pots for this week’s World Cup draw as well as the prize money on the line in next summer’s international football showcase. The draw itself, which will place the 32 teams into eight groups, is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 6.

Iran is joined in Pot Three by all the other 3 Asian qualified teams Japan, South Korea &  Australia,  plus United States, Mexico, Costa Rica and Honduras, who are considered as lower tier teams in the tournament.Pot One contains top seeds Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Uruguay and hosts Brazil.
Pot Two contains the five African teams and two South American teams,England are joined in Pot Four by Croatia, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Russia, who are amongst the other unseeded European teams.One of the nine European teams in Pot 4 will be pre-drawn and transferred into Pot 2.The groups for next summer’s World Cup will be made up of one team from each of the four pots.

Pot 1 (top eight seeds): Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Belgium, Colombia, Germany, Switzerland, Uruguay

Pot 2: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chile, Ecuador

Pot 3: Japan, Iran, South Korea, Australia, United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras

Pot 4: Bosnia, Croatia, England, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, France

 

Pot 1
National Team FIFA Ranking
Brazil 10
Spain 1
Germany 2
Argentina 3
Colombia 4
Uruguay 6
Switzerland 8
Belgium 11

 

Pot 1 is comprised of host nation Brazil and the seven top-ranked teams from FIFA’s October rankings. These will be the headline squads for each group, and those outside it will likely be rooting for a spot alongside Switzerland, or at least to avoid Brazil, Spain, Germany or Argentina.

 

Pot 2
National Team FIFA Ranking
Algeria 26
Cameroon 51
Ivory Coast 17
Ghana 24
Nigeria 36
Chile 15
Ecuador 23

 

At the outset, Pot 2 only has seven teams, made up of national teams from Africa and the South American squads not in Pot 1. Eventually, another European team will be drawn into this pot, but there will be a separate “Pot X” created to avoid three teams from UEFA ending up in the same group.

 

Pot 3
National Team FIFA Ranking
Australia 59
Iran 45
Japan 48
Korea Republic 54
Costa Rica 31
Honduras 41
Mexico 20
United States 14

FIFA

Pot 3 is straightforward. It’s comprised of teams that qualified from the Asian and North American regions, which includes the United States and Mexico. Teams from this pot will need luck in order to avoid a very difficult draw.

 

Pot 4
National Team FIFA Ranking
Bosnia and Herzegovina 21
Croatia 16
England 13
France 19
Greece 12
Italy 7
Netherlands 9
Portugal 5
Russia 22

FIFA

Finally, the fourth pot is all of the remaining European teams. Since there are nine sides, it creates an imbalance that will get sorted out when one is drawn into Pot 2. But again, FIFA is going to immediately draw a South American team from “Pot X” and European team together to avoid three UEFA teams ending up together, as explained during the press conference.

Iran youth prepare for the Valentine Granatkin Memorial

Iran will play in group “A” of  Valentine Granatkin Memorial football tournament

the draw XXVI Valentine Granatkin Memorial was held in the headquarters of Russian Football federation. The 16 teams were divided in to four groups:

Group “A”: Belarus, I.R. Iran, Slovakia, Finland.
Group “B”: Slovenia, Estonia, Russia, Moldova.
Group “C”: Japan, Czech Republic, Greece, Azerbaijan.
Group “D”: Ukraine, Turkey, Saint-Petersburg, Latvia.

The tournament will begin January 3, 2014 in Saint-Petersburg, Russia

The Valentin Granatkin Memorial – tournament which traditionally features invited national teams composed of under-19 players.

the first Granatkin Memorial was held in Moscow in 1981d  – the International youth football tournament initiated by the FIFA President Joao Havelange to perpetuate the memory of the FIFA First Vice-President Valentin Granatkin.

Granatkin tournament always was a place of young talents discoveries. Memorial was a place were several future world stars played such as – Andreas Moeller, Oliver Bierhoff, Kirsten Janker, Marsel Desai, Igor Kolyvanov and Alexandr Mostovoy.

 

Iran was invited and participated in 2 previous tournaments. In 2012 Iran sent the U-19 team , while this current year 2013, Iran delegated its U-17 team. In 2012 Iran was ranked fifth while a year later , the U17 dropped to seventh.

 

Jahanbakhsh the promising boy, by Dutch journalist.

Alle aandacht voor Jahanbakhsh

Translated from Dutch

December 2, 2013 06:33

Every attention to Jahanbakhsh

Personally, I was to report the match between AZ Alkamar and NEC in Nijmegen. That was a fine football afternoon . AZ really had to do some major changes because of injuries and suspensions, while NEC finally seemed to realize that , in order to climb from bottom of the table, they need to rolled up the sleeves and fight hard. NEC won , 3-2 . It was a lovely game, with thanks to the referee Pol van Boekel. Former footballer who recognizes emotions in players and a referee who is able to distinguish the real violation of Diving.

But most attention was grabbed by one Alireza Jahanbakhsh, an Iranian footballer. Still a boy actually, he has just turned 20 . He debuted three years ago at Third Division side Damash Karaj, a third division club from Iran … He soon moved to SC Damash in the top division , and from there he was selected for the Iranian youth team .

NEC scouts saw him play in Dubai and because through the village of Beuningen , in the outskirts of Nijmegen , there is some business linkages with Iran , also came to a real three-year contract. Under Alex Pastoor he did not to play a lot, but since a few weeks , that has all changed. It also witnessed a remarkable change in Alireza. He did not speak the language, but has now quickly learned English and knows the anthem of NEC !

Alireza Jahanbakhsh has in a very short time adjusted to the rules and regulations of professional football in the Netherlands in general and NEC in particular. He has already made ​​his debut for  the national team of Iran and scored his first goals for NEC . That’s clever , very clever . Go there but turned , without your family around in a short time which make the sporting expectations in a totally alien environment .

Especially the way he really gives everything on the pitch. Throws his whole heart and soul into the game and is an example for his teammates. He knows why he has made ​​the long trip to the Netherlands. He wants to succeed as a professional footballer anyway possible. NEC will benefit from him. The question is though , for how long? Top clubs will not sleep …they will be watching him.

Leo Driessen

Original article HERE

 

 

 

The most expensive World Cup ever for the fans.

Despite Team Melli success in qualifying for the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 , it is highly unlikely that many fans from Iran will be making the trip to Brazil comes next June.

Abbas Torabian , a member of the FFIRI and former head of the Futsal committee, said that this World Cup will be the most expensive tournament for fans from Iran to attend. Torabian who was a regular traveler to Brazil during his stint with Team Melli futsal team , was engaged in a study to determine the approximate cost for Iranian fans to make it to Brazil and arrange a package for the fans. He is assisted by some Iran9an expatriates in Brazil and local tour operators to facilitate and support Iranians fans who can afford the long trip.

Torabian said that ” a plane ticket will cost around US$ 2,220 at least and could vary during the World Cup. The match tickets for the 2014 World Cup are the most expensive ever in the history of the competition starting around US$300. ” Torabian also noted that ” Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro are two of the most expensive cities on record and the cost of accommodation varies with the class of hotels. Good quality hotels is quite expensive compared to the prices in Iran or Middle East in general”. To make matters worst for Iranian fans, the distances between venues for matches could mean domestic flights of 2 to 3 hours, which is an added expense. “Brazil is a big country and the venue could mean a 2 to 3 hours flight ” Torabian said “It all depends on the draw that Iran will have, but in any case , we will be playing each match in a different city and venue”

“With the help of some Iranians living in Brazil , we are trying to arrange the best possible package for our fans, specifically focusing on accommodations in Brazil” Torabian said. “Considering everything , we expect that the cost of attending the World Cup for fans from Iran to be close to US$ 12,000 each”

With such prices as quoted by Torabian , it is extremely unlikely to see a flock of Iranian fans to Brazil. IThe last World Cup Iran took part was 2006 in Germany. Despite the large and respectable numbers of Iranian supporters in the stadiums, especially in Frankfurt where Iranian fans outnumbered the Portuguese 2 to 1, almost the majority of the fans where Iranian expatriates living mainly in Europe and some from North America. The number of fans from Iran was quite small due to expenses and difficulty in obtaining visas and hard currency.  In Brazil 2014 , the numbers that would probably make it from Iran will even be substantially less than Germany 2006.

The best hope for Team Melli support comes from the Iranians living in North America and to a lessor extent expatriate Iranians in Latin America which is not a big number.

Group D Portugal v Iran - World Cup 2006

Jahanbakhsh scores a brace in NEC win.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh , the promising young Team Melli player, scored twice for his dutch club to record a rare win in the  Netherlands – Eredivisie .

Jahanbakhsh who has started the game  against AZ Alkmaar scored in 53rd  and then on the  72nd minutes  for a final result of a 3-2 win for the bottom of the table club. Jahanbakhsh received a yellow card after scoring his first goal and was substituted in the 90th minute.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh who scored his first international goal for Team Melli when he came in as a substitute against Thailand, is in a good run forcing himself as a stsrter for the Dutch club.

In another development for the Team Melli legionnaire , Ashkan Dejagah learned today afternoon that his manager has been sacked, Martin Jol , the Dutcg manager of FDulham was under intense pressure after a series of bad results which sent Fulham to the bottom of the table. Jol hardly utilized Dejagah much despite fans demand and his good displays whenever he played.