Iran was drawn in with Brazil in the 2013 Futsal Grand Prix.

The Grand Prix de Futsal is an international futsal tournament similar to the FIFA Futsal World Championship but with invited nations and held annually in Brazil since 2005.

The Brazilian Futsal Confederation (CBFS) conducted the draw for The Grand Prix de Futsal in two groups. The competition will be played between 20 and 27 October in Chico Neto Arena in Maringá (PR).

The Brazilian team in Group A, will play alongside Japan, Iran and Argentina. The hermanos opponents will debut in green and yellow, reissuing confronting the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Thailand in 2012.

The other group consists of Russia, Serbia, Paraguay and Guatemala. The members of each group face off in a single round with the top two teams in each group qualifying for the semifinals.

The City of Maringa is preparing to host the competition with Secretary of Sports and Recreation of Maringa, Iraclézia Maria Araújo does not hide his pleasure at the city host the competition. For her, the Grand Prix can leave a legacy for the youth of the city and the whole state of Paraná.

“Thanks to the sporting organization which offered the city of Maringa the opportunity to host this major event, we will be partners in this great competition. Our expectation from the Grand Prix is to encourage more athletes and youth to follow the sport” she said.

Carlos Queiroz has been in the news on daily basis recently.

You will not be far of track thinking that the Carlos Queiroz, the current Team Melli coach is a highly emotional character. Those emotions, mixed with passion for his job and low tolerance levels sometimes puts him in trouble while at times , his emotions gets the better of him to a degree he forgets the very essence of the professionalism that he keeps referring to as the basis of his job.

 

Khabar Varzeshi Intervew

In the interview with Khabar varzeshi, there was a classic example of some expressive and strong responses in which a highly emotional Queiroz threatened to resign his job because he does not like what some people accuse him of. Yet, in the same interview, Quiroz mentions that a professional coach is supposed to accept hardship and criticism!

No doubt, Queiroz, a passionate and highly dedicated person, has lots of grievances about the currents fiasco of Iranian football. Many fans & the Media personnel inside and outside of Iran , sympathize with his plight, us included. However, expecting full adherence to his plans and compliance to his demands, asking for unequivocal support from everyone while curtailing media criticism is something that is impossible to achieve in any environment, professional or otherwise.

Queiroz has worked in England, where the media reserves the sharpest criticism for coaches and the fans are one of the most demanding and least tolerant in Europe. The Iranians are not far off any other sets of fans either. Granted, that there are lots of adversity, plenty of ridicule acts, acute shortage of skilled football management and some chaotic organization in Iran. There is also poor discipline, several cultural and religious issues that could be detrimental to the natural progress of football. However, many foreign coaches have operated in this same environment and succeeded. To name a few, there is one Julio Velasco who has taken Iran to new heights in the sport of volleyball and won the nation’s first Asian championship title. Only a few weeks ago ,  Mehmed Becirovic  managed to lead Iran to win Asian basketball  Championship title with an immaculate performance. Those two sports get a fraction of the financial support spent on football and much less attention from the fans and the media. The point is, despite the hardship, this is a championship breeding nation with its own twists and turns.

[heading style=”1″]Queiroz and Taj [/heading]

We have not heard what Queiroz was insinuating about Taj and Rahimi , but we also wouldn’t know what have gone in private between all the parties. Publicly, however, the club chairmen and coaches are trying to preserve and protect their clubs interest as vehemently as Queiroz does for his own team.

Why shouldn’t the club try to keep their players as much as they can? After all, it is these clubs that pays them their wages, not Team Melli or the Football Federation. It is the clubs who have the burden of medical care if they get injured during a Team Melli game. It is the clubs who lose the most when a player is injured. So again, like everywhere else in the world, club must have a say in the grand schemes of the national team. Of course, in Europe it is hardly organized and systematic, with plans for matches, competitions and training camps , planned well ahead of time and strictly adhered to, while in Iran such planning is a wishful thinking.

In any case, a solution must be reached between the national team and the league commission. Both parties must accept that their ideas and plans might not please the other, but there must be a compromise.  Failure to do so is detrimental to Team Melli and Iran’s football. Regardless to the outcome, club coaches’ demands cannot be totally ignored because Team Melli made it to the World Cup.

The other point about Queiroz that we take issue with is his claims of personal battles. The question that needs to be asked is, why does Queiroz finds it necessary to respond to every Tom, Dick and Harry? As a professional football coach, he will do things his own way and does not need to explain every little thing for the rest of the world. The environment in Iran is not much different than the rest of the world. There will always be the media and the critics among the fans and the coaches; this comes as part and parcel of the job. Building a shield around a coach to protect him from critics and those who do not admire his job, is something that is unreasonable and unrealistic.

 

An interesting turn of events when Queiroz was coaching South Africa in 2002. Will that story repeat in Iran ?

[box title=”Queiroz quits” color=”#333333″]

 2002-03-12 12:19

Johannesburg – South African soccer coach Carlos Queiroz has resigned, the SA Football Association announced at a press conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

Queiroz was meetings with South African Football Association (Safa) officials on Tuesday to discuss his future after he threatened to quit in a meeting on Monday.

Queiroz had threatened to quit on Monday in another meeting, officials added, but the matter was being negotiated with Safa president Molefi Oliphant.

The Portuguese coach is unhappy over his new working relationship with the team’s technical director Jomo Sono, who was appointed to work with Queiroz after the disappointing performance by South Africa at the African Nations Cup finals in Mali earlier this year.

South Africa were eliminated in the quarter-finals by the host country, promoting widespread

speculation over the future of Queiroz on the eve of the World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan.

It was several weeks before Safa confirmed Queiroz would continue in his post at the World Cup, where South Africa will play in group B against Paraguay, Slovenia and Spain.

But Safa also appointed Sono, who owns a club in the South African premier league and was a former coach of the national team, to work with Queiroz.

Safa did not clarify that exact roles of the two men and officials confirmed that the two have argued in recent weeks over team selection and the appointment of coaching staff for the World Cup.

Queiroz was also upset over Sono’s failure to turn up for a scheduled meeting last week, South African newspapers reported on Tuesday.

Queiroz, who has been in charge of South Africa since September 2000, has already told reporters he would be leaving the post after his contract expires at the end of the World Cup finals in June.

Reuters

[/box]

Tehran

The Friday’s Tehran derby which ended in a goalless draw, a repeat result of the last 3 meetings between the two most popular teams in Iran, has enraged many football experts and fans. The millionaires of Tehran played a cautious match, tactically poor and devoid of any exciting football. The players performed poorly in the highly sensitive match which is regularly hyped by the media and all concerned to the regular disappointment of the fans who await an exciting or beautiful football.

There is no country in the world that can claim 100,000 attendances for a league match. Azadi and Tehran derby between Perspolis and Esteghlal is an exception. Not even the el classico or any of the famous English league derby matches can attract this type of figures.  On the evidence of TV footage and many other observers, the attendance at Azadi stadium exceeded the officially announced 100,000, all treated to a mediocre and boring football.

The post-match reaction and denunciations by many experts and ex-players was far more exciting than the match itself. Farshad PEYOUS , ex-Team Melli and Perspolis striker with an immaculate scoring record in the eighties, commenting in the match said “We never claimed that we played a modern high class football in our days, but at least we gave the fans something to cheer about . This match we saw on Friday , was even worse than “Ali Asghari” football that some used to refer to our football. “ The term “Ali Asghari” is used in Iran for tactically poor , street style with route one method of playing.

“There was no proper passing game; players simply pushed the football away as of to get rid of responsibility. In the whole game, the fans saw only 2 or 3 serious attacking scene. These players’ motive was to avoid defeat at any cost. It is a real shame that most of the two team’s players are members of our Team Melli.”

The fear and concern over Team Melli form has prompted Amir Haj Rezaei , a football analyst and one of the highly qualified trainers in Iran to express his anger and dismay at the lethargic football  experienced in Friday’s derby. ” It is a great insult for the 100,00 fans in the stadium and the million watching the match on Live TV to be exposed to this farce.”  Haj Rezaei said in a live TV show.

“Time and again these loyal fans flock to the stadiums defying hardships to be met by a group of millionaires that have little interest to entertain their loyal fans but much interest in achieving their own personal goals. To think that Team Melli consists of the players of these two teams is even more depressing and adds of our misery and outlook for the World Cup participation.”

While many Esteghlal and Perspolis players admitted that they have played a poor game each coming up with his own justification and some even blaming the media for their poor showing , the most interesting quote must go to Mohsen BENGAR, Perspolis and Ex-Team Melli defender. “ If I was a fan watching this match on TV , I would have switched the channel or turn it off.”…Indeed.

Pakistan Football association has announced a change of venue for the upcoming AFC Asian U16 qualifiers.

The qualifying group that Iran is competing in ,  with host Pakistan, Sri lanka and the UAE will be played from from 25^th to 29^th of September. The round-ribbon competition  , was originally scheduled to be played in Karachi. The city has a notorious reputation for violence and bombing. Even children and football fans are not immune against the terrorist attacks as was evident in the last month bomb attack in a football stadium. The football match  with many children and young spectator attending was targeted by the Islamist terrorists resulting in many casualties. The Shia and Hazara minorities are regularly targeted by the extremist salafi and Taliban criminals in Pakistan and Karachi in particular.

Playing under such circumstances was an extreme risk which was initially ignored or undermined by the organizers and the AFC.

The announcement today of the venue change to Lahore in the northern part of Pakistan is a major relief for the participants.

 

Related Article:

Iranian boys to compete in the city of bombing

Currently preparing his squad for the FIFA U-17 World Cup United Arab Emirates 2013, which begins on 19 October, Iran coach Ali Doustimehr is hoping he can improve on the country’s promising world-finals showing of four years ago.

The Iranians kicked off their campaign at Nigeria 2009 in fine style with a 2-0 win over Gambia, following up with a goalless draw against Colombia and a 1-0 defeat of the Netherlands to seal first place in their group.

Though Uruguay promptly halted their progress by downing them 2-1 in the Round of 16, Iran had nevertheless achieved their best ever performance in an 11-a-side world finals competition, with only the country’s futsal team having gone further on the global stage.

As he told FIFA.com in an exclusive interview, their 49-year-old coach is hoping they can go even further this time around, setting his team the target of a place in the last four.

“The boys and the coaching staff are very motivated,” he said, describing the sense of belief in the Iran camp. “I’ve got the same assistants I had in Nigeria and everyone wants to do their bit to help us reach the semi-finals. The players know that a good display at the U-17 World Cup could improve their chances of breaking into the full national side. That’s what they all dream about.”

“We will be taking the best possible team to the Emirates but it won’t be easy,” he added. “We’re the underdogs and we need to be strong mentally. Our preparations have gone well and we’ve played friendlies against Finland, Turkey, Italy, Slovenia, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.”

Reflecting on the progress Asian sides have been making in youth tournaments of late, Doustimehr cited Iraq’s run to the semi-finals of the recent FIFA U-20 World Cup Turkey 2013 as a source of inspiration:

“Asia will be represented in the UAE by the host nation, Iran, Japan, Uzbekistan and Iraq. Every team on the continent is paying a lot of attention to training and we need to keep pace. Iraq’s efforts at the U-20 World Cup showed how far Asian sides have come in these age groups.”

Learning lessons
Iran’s first opponents in Group E are Argentina, followed by Canada and Austria, a schedule that prompted the seasoned coach to comment: “The teams are all there on merit and there won’t be any pushovers.”

Doustimehr has no shortage of experience at youth level, having taken charge of the U-17 national side in Nigeria four years ago and the Iran team at the FIFA U-20 World Cup Argentina 2001.

Assessing the importance of competing at the highest level, he said: “The World Cup is like no other competition. It gives you the chance to make history and change your destiny.

“You’re always learning in football,” he continued. “We missed out on the chance to reach the last eight in 2009, though we’ve learned the lessons of that setback. The experience you pick up in a World Cup is worth that of many other competitions combined.”

That experience will be needed when Doustimehr and his charges set about bettering Iran’s landmark run in 2009, as he acknowledged: “Like I said before, we are determined to make it to the last four. I’m going to draw on everything I learned in 2001 and 2009 to take the team forward.”

Tehran.

Ali Kaffashian, the president of FFIRI announced that a deal has been agreed with a local firm to sponsor Team Melli for the upcoming World Cup. The procrastination of this federation on properly negotiating marketing deals has resulted in acute financial difficulties for the team the result of which is the complete stoppage of activities. While the rest of the world teams are engaged in friendly matches or training camps, there is no participation of Team Melli in any meaningful activities or training exercises in form of camps or matches.

Kaffashian said that “After a long negotiation  (…) we have finalized a deal to sponsor Team Melli for the World Cup. The sponsor is a local company and the name will be announced next week. “. Such delay in identifying the sponsor probably means that the deal is not finalized perhaps awaiting approvals and the passing of the Bureaucratic Process on both sides.

The timing of the deal is crucial after the mass critical reaction of all concerned in the aftermath of cancellation of Team Melli training camp in Portugal.

In the meantime, the under-secretary of the Ministry of sport, Salehi Amiri met with Ali Kaffashian and Carlos Queiroz in the Ministry’s offices. The minister of Youth & Sports is yet to be appointed after the parliament rejected President Rouhani’s candidate. In the meeting, the under-secretary conveyed a message for the Iran’s President advocating full government support for the National team.

After the meeting on Thursday, Queroz informed the media that they had a fruitful meeting “Kaffashian was quite transparent and informed the ministry of all the problems that the team is facing. I am hoping that we can continue our program. I am referring to the under-secretary’s word as I left the ministry quite hopeful”

 There was no word of full support, financial commitment assistance or anything tangible in the negotiation from either side after the meeting. Promises to assist & support, are customary occurrences when it comes to Team Melli, as previously experienced by the ex-President AhmadiNejad and several of his minister on many occasions. However, in reality, not much has materialized. It is remained to be seen if these talks turn into proper support morally and financially for Team Melli.

Tehran

In a controversial interview with Khabar varzeshi, Team Melli’c coach Carlos Queiroz has threatened to resign if the pandemonium in Iranian football continues and if he is unfairly blamed for disrupting league football in the country.

Carlos Queiroz sounded quite emotional and disturbed in the interviews conducted in one of the busy restaurants of Tehran. Due to the chaos engulfing Iranian football, Queiroz is having serious thought about his future in Iran. TeamMelli.com and due to the importance of the issues underlined by Queiroz is preparing a two parts articles covering the interview and the analysis of his statements.

The Portuguese coach, who was at the helm of his country’s national team in the last World Cup in South Africa, began the interview with ‘Khabar Varzeshi’ reporter by saying “As the most popular sport publication in Iran, you have a mission to tell the truth with facts. This could be my last chance to send my message to the football fans and the people of Iran. This is why I am here with you.”

“By all means , there are many people around who genuinely try to help Team Melli, but there are also those who have been creating difficulties and hurdles for us.”

Kaffashian has to decide right today whether he wants me to continue or not.

 

“Today would have been our 2^nd day of the Team Melli training camp in Portugal. Instead, and while the rest f the World Football Teams are hot in preparation for matches, I am sitting with you in a restaurant to air my grievances. This is truly shameful. After 30 months in this country, I am confident enough to talk about many things that I am certain of regarding football. “

“Unfortunately for Team Melli , but luckily for Kaffashian and Taj  nowadays the focus of attention is towards the Tehran Derby rather than the plight of Team Melli. FIFA has the authority to cancel all league matches when it comes to the National teams commitments. This Friday, there will be approximately 70 international friendlies right across the globe, we are not part of this scheme because we are busy with Esteghlal and Perspolis.   Which 4 teams have qualified for the World Cup?  us , Japan, Australia and South Korea. What are those team doing, and what are doing? Look at the fixture of those teams on FIFA site, they are playing the likes of Brazil and France, we are lucky because we are playing Thailand and Kuwait ! They are thinking about the World Cup, while our priority is the Tehran derby on Friday!”

“I have no worries about those who are after my job.  I will do my own work the way I want to do it. Any of the current league coaches can take my place right now. I have no issue if Ghalenoei or Daei or anyone else for that matter takes my place. But while I am at the helm , I will do it my way. My concern and interest is towards Team Melli, I want to talk about Team Melli to you , I want to be transparent , I want to tell it all.”

“Today people like Fathollazadeh , Taj and Rahimi are all accusing me of being the bad man of Iran’s football. They keep saying that it is Queiroz who wants to suspend the league and does not want the Hazfi cup to be played. The way they say it as if every problem in Iran is the fault of Carlos Queiroz!”

Asked by the reporter “Under all these negative circumstances, what is your reaction and plan of action?”

“Let me say things that I perhaps never said before. I don’t like to work under these stressful conditions. I have written to Kaffashian about arranging a meeting where the topic will be nullifying my contract. I am not the type of person to accept these negative conditions and be portrayed as the evil while I have nothing but respect, admiration and love for this country especially the fans who will forever remain in my heart for their fantastic support.”

Taj is selected a league program that will lead to the demise of the players and the league.

Q” Cancelling your contract, Are you serious?”

“I definitely am serious; there is no joke in that. I will accept all hardship including lack of financial support, no training camps, or not being paid, amongst other difficulties. I am a professional coach who can withstand these negative issues. I also have a professional contract. There is no clause in that contract that mentions I have to engage in personal contests with Sepahan or Esteghlal bosses or the league club coaches, who have accused me of being the reason for Iran’s football problems. I  will never accept such accusation from them.  If I have to face individuals and start fighting with them , then add that into the contract and compensate me for it.”

“I am the coach of Team Melli and I work to prepare my team accordingly. I don’t want to be involved in the league coaches battles nor be involved in their differences. I also do not want to be accused by Taj that I am standing against the league clubs and robbing them of their players.”

Q. ” But if you submit your resignation , aren’t you falling for the very people who want you to out?”

Queiroz ” I am just telling you what I feel and quite frankly as I said before, I cannot stand working under this condition. I have served with Portugal , Sporting , Real Madrid and Manchester United in a professional environment. I simply cannot accept working in this environment where most of my resources are spent firefighting with people who insist that the earth is flat and all the rest of the planets revolves around the earth.  I quite like discussing issues with the club coaches on various technical issues, but not with Club chairmen.  Instead of these chairmen attending to their business like building stadiums, training grounds, buying proper kits for the team , paying the players on times, they engage in technical issues that they have no clue about.  These are the same people that when Team Melli faces difficulties, they laugh and invite their fans to mock us  rather than support their beloved national team during difficult times.”

These days, not much good news comes out of Iran’s football. Right after the surprising qualification of Team Melli to FIFA 2104 World Cup, series of bad news ensued as if the win in Ulsan was a jinx for Iran’s football. .

The latest bad news relates to the fortune and fate of Iranian legionnaires players in Europe.

To start with, the number of Iranian players in European leagues can be counted by the fingers of a person’s hand. Dejagah, Ghoochannejad , Shojaei, Nazari, Shapourzadeh, Jahanbakhsh and Davari are about the only recognized  Iranian players in Europe, The last two have not represented Team Melli at international level yet.

Dejagah, Ghoochannejad , and Shojaei are the most recognized & prominent of the group each playing in a different league. Dejagah , who started his professional career at Hertha Berlin in 2004 , and later transferred to vfl Wolfsburg, had quite a successful time and  was one of the influential players of  the Bundesliga team. He was even selected to represent Germany at youth level. In 2012 he was bought by the English premiere league Fulham.  While not always a starting player, Dejagah took some time before he established himself at the London club but an bad ankle injury on 1 April against QPR spelled the end of the season for the Midfield player. Dejagah also missed the last 3 crucial matches for Team Melli in the World Cup qualifiers as well.

This season, after recuperating and fully recovering from his injury, Dejagah made one appearance only in the League Cup, while not even listed on the bench for the 3 matches that Fulham have played in the English Premiere League (EPL).  Fulham is lingering at the bottom of the league table.

Reza Ghoochanejad, the hero of Team Melli in the World Cup qualifiers and the darling of the fans, has not featured at all for Standard Liège under Israeli coach G. Luzon. The Liège based club is currently leading the Belgian league with maximum points after 6 games. In some games, Ghoocahnejad was not even made the bench list.

Next door to Ghoochanejad, is where the young Alireza  Jahanbakhsh , plays his football in the Eredivisie club NEC . Jahanbakhsh who represented Team Melli at different youth levels and excelled in the recent Asian competitions, joined the Dutch club NEC at the start of the season. However, out of the 5 matches so far, Jahanbaksh played a cameo role turning up as late substitute on 3 occasions. His total playing time not exceeding 20 minutes in those 3 matches.

NEC is lying right at the bottom of the Eredivisie

The most senior player of the list is Masoud Shojae Soleimani. A player with so much promise only a few years ago. The wizard whose skills was compared favorably to Ali Karimi. The midfielder joined the la Liga club Osasuna to partner his Team Melli mate, Javad Nekounam. While Nekounam established himself as a prominent fixed player for the Pamplona club, Shojaei was always the fringe player.   To add to his frustration of not managing a regular starting role, Shojaei suffered a very bad injury which resulted in him missing a whole season after going through multiple operations. At the end of last season, Osasuna released Shojae as the club did not wish to renew his contract. Masoud, has been looking for a club since then and with 3 weeks into the La Liga season , he has yet to sign for any club, although he has been training and practicing with a third division outfit in Spain.

As it happens, Osasuna are also right at the bottom of the La Liga after 3 defeats out of 3.

Amir Shapourzadeh who featurd briefly for Team Melli is playing in a regional league in Germany.  Omid Nazari plays for Ängelholms FF in Superettan as a center midfielder. The Swedish league is well into its schedule with round 22 played last weekend. Nazari played in 19 matches, scoring 1 goal. Daniel Davari plays in the Bundesliga club Eintracht Braunschweig. The club won promotion last season but are lying right at the bottom of the league with 5 losses out of 5 games of this season.

With such records, the outlook of the Iranian players is far from rosy in European league. The Bundesliga, which once had a handful of Iranian players, has no Iranian players, bar Davari who is German born.  This is possibly indicative of the sub-standard products that are coming out of Iran.

There are other factors as well such as the lack of ambition of Iranian players due to unfavorable financial incentives. Players in Iran are paid handsomely well beyond their true worth, according to many experts. With such handsome wages, there is very little incentive to play in the challenging and very demanding European leagues which has strict discipline codes and requires delivery and good performance.

Whether the absence of Iranian players in European leagues has negative effects on Team Melli in the World Cup is debatable.  However, there is no doubt that European league professional experience is an added bonus for any national team which has aspirations to excel.  Even the Latin American players, who are looking to improve their standard and financial status, look at Europe as a natural progression step in their careers.

There are certain characteristics and qualities that the local Iranian league cannot provide for the players. Professional mentality is just one of many that is severely lacking in Iran. Teamwork, individual and Team discipline, modern passing game, strong competitions, psychological preparation and many others features which can help develop Iranian players, does not feature strongly in Iranian leagues.

With all that in mind, Carlos Queiroz can be excused for turning towards Europe to find Iranian players.