Month: September 2014

Vingda “I accept all the blame , I apologize but will not resign”

Nelo Vingada , the Portuguese head coach of Iran’s Olympic (U-23) team, accepted all the blame for his team’s disastrous performances and said “It is no one’s fault but mine. I accept all the blame , I apologize . I know that this is the worst result of Iran in the history of the Asian Games , but I will not resign!”

Vingada was talking to the Iranian news agency reporter ISNA  in Incheon after what seems to be a certain exit by Iran’s Football team from the Asian Games. Iran has one point from a draw against Kyrgyzstan and a humiliating 4-1 defeat by Vietnam. Iran’s only hope is for Vietnam to beat  Kyrgyzstan by a 4 goal margin.

When asked by the reporter about the shortfalls of the team, the head coach provided no better answer other than to say that “These things happen in football. This football is the only sport that such unexpected results can occur!”

Vingada , who according to his compatriot Carlos Queiroz statement after the heavy loss against Vietnam, “knows his  job very well” , mentioned nothing about his team’s diabolical defending , lack of teamwork and team spirit , poor finishing by star players , selfish player’s attitude who were playing for themselves rather than the team and loads of other factors that were so vividly lacking in this team.

“I have picked this squad myself. I was under the impression that we will be working with the U-21 team “ Vingada said. Since 1996 only 23 years old players with three over-23 players were allowed per squad in the Olympic Games and subsequently followed in the Asian Games as of after 1998 games . It is not clear how Vingada got this idea of the U21 team or whether it was intentional.

“I know that a lot of people are very upset by the team results , it was so clear from the reaction that we heard. I am quite shocked myself by these bad results. At least I can tell you that there are some good players in the squad who have a good future and people should be proud of them (…)!”

Asked to comment about the ugly scene at the end of the Vietnam match involving defender Khanzadeh after he was awarded the 2nd yellow card and a dismissal, Vingada’s response was   “I was so shocked by his attitude and had a long talk with him. He regretted his action. It is easy to talk about it outside the game, but when you are losing by such a margin and you hear the opposition ( a Vietnamese player) swear at you , one would lose his temper and do such things.”

This is the icing on the cake for this supposedly experienced coach. Instead of condemning that shameful act by Khanzadeh , he is justifying it. There is no remorse detected in his statement either!

Another humiliation: Iran U23 on the brink of elimination from Asian Games

Iran U23 team once again disillusioned the fans and failed to win against modest Kyrgyzstan. The match in Group H of the Asian Games Incheon 2014 ended 1-1. Iran has 1 point from two games, Vietnam leading the group with 3 points after defeating Iran 4-1.

In today’s match , which Iran needed to win handsomely to increase its chances of qualifying , the team played like a group of misfits which was assembled in haste. The team was not able to mount any real threat against inferior opposition on paper and ranking let alone pedigree and history.

The match started quite well for Iran U23 . The first 10 minutes was completely dominated by Iran Olympic Team. The ball hardly crossed the half line into Iran side, however, Mosalman lovely strike from just inside the box was the only real threat of this period. That shot was parried by the Kyrgyz keeper. The remaining period was full of Iranian huff and puff but there was hardly any serious threat on Kyrgyzstan keeper. Most of the offensive moves by Iran was at best , quite toothless. With the match progressing , it did not take long for the coaches of Kyrgyzstan to realize how to defend well and mount counter attacks.

The first half ended 0-0.

In the second half, much of the first half scenario was repeating itself with the exception that Kyrgyzstan was getting bolder in attack and starting to threaten Iran’s goal . They could have stunned everyone when the Kyrgyz forward was one on one but failed to finish. 

Iranian offensive moves were mainly some shy attempts by Kaveh Rezaei whose shots were more like practice for the Kyrgyzstan keeper. The other poster boy, Mehdi Sharifi was incognito.!

With the match approaching the last 10 minutes and Iran desperate for a goal,  a corner was given which Mohsen Mosalman masterfully took and delivered on the top of Pouraliganji’s head. The tall midfielder headed to the far corner of the net and scored triggering an ecstatic Iranian celebration and deep sigh of relief on the bench. Pouraliganji’s goal came in the 77th minute.

Two minutes from the end , Kyrgyzstan struck and struck well. A long cross from a foul from the left found a Kyrgyzstan player with ample time to control the ball and head towards the goal. Despite the presence of 3 markers, the ball passed the goal line to register the equalizer for Kyrgyzstan. It was a deserving goal for this modest team, but well-organized and hardworking.

Iran’s football is on the brink of a real humiliation. The Continents most celebrated country in Asian Games football is virtually out of the tournament, unless you believe in miracle s and Saints rising to help this toothless team with clueless coaching staff.

Never in the history of Asian Games football, Iran faced such a degradation, but under the administration of Ali Kaffashian , such fiascoes and bitter defeats should not be too shocking.  It is certainly not too shocking for Kaffashian as he thought of Vietnam as a strong team and was perhaps was at loss at what all this fuss is about, we only lost 4-1 to Vietnam!

And now…….let the excuses begin….

4 up for Team Melli in FIFA Ranking

Team Melli climbed 4 place up  in the September 2014 FIFA ranking to 44th place .

Iran is one place below Montenegro and 1 above Albania which has just shocked Portugal at home in the opening European Championship qualifiers.  The 4 places climb is an improvement on last month 1 place drop.

Iran also regained the top rank in Asia followed by Japan which as dropped 4 places in world ranking.

 

FIFA RANKING 

Asian Zone

 

September 2014

Rnk Zon. Rnk Team Pts +/- Pos
44 1 Iran 572 4 Up
48 2 Japan 557 -4 Down
58 3 Uzbekistan 530 -7 Down
63 4 Korea Republic 501 -6 Down
69 5 Jordan 450 -13 Down
73 6 United Arab Emirates 430 -8 Down
76 7 Oman 421 -9 Down
82 8 Saudi Arabia 402 1 Up
84 9 Australia 390 -5 Down
90 10 Iraq 357 1 Up
96 11 Qatar 342 -4 Down
97 12 China PR 341 0 Equal
102 13 Palestine 311 -14 Down
104 14 Bahrain 305 3 Up
121 15 Lebanon 264 -6 Down
124 16 Kuwait 250 -13 Down
134 17 Philippines 218 -6 Down
135 18 Afghanistan 214 -6 Down
136 19 Tajikistan 213 -16 Down
141 20 Turkmenistan 197 -4 Down

Ghanbarpour bemoans lack of support as reason for the U16 defeat.

The same old excuses revisted

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The coach of Iran’s U16 team, who failed to make it to the last four of the competition hence losing the chance to qualify for the FIFA U16 World Championship, provided the reason for his team failure after his return from Bangkok.

As a customary justification that is becoming a ritual in Iran’s football specifically after failures, Ghanbarpour complained about the lack of support and attention for his team.  He said that all the teams that have reached this stage were fully prepared “We faced two of the strongest teams in the competition in Qatar and Saudi Arabia and beat them. We could have easily beaten Syria by 4 or 5 goals.”

“Against North Korea, I have analyzed the team but due to the weather and humidity , we could not perform to our best and were beaten in the penalty kicks. As you know, when it comes to the penalties it is really a matter of luck.”

The coach then complained about the status of the himself and other coaches at these ages level. Ghanbarpour complained about the low pay he is receiving and said that a coach loses focus and is stressed by such low pay rendering him inefficient while training young players!

“Japan , which is a class above the rest ibn Asian football was eliminated from the group stages in this competition. I don’t think they will go and sack him but he will start building the team from tomorrow for the next edition.” Ghanbarpour explained.

The beleaguered coach then directed his wrath at the clubs. “They pay a youth coach 5 million toman. That is not enough to run a car in town. These clubs want results and have no tolerance for rebuilding, they just want instant success. They spend billions of tomans on the senior teams, and with all due respect, you hardly see any good football from them in the league games. When it comes to lower age group teams, the management always claim that they are short of resources.”

While some of Ghanbarpour complaints are justified and to some extent acceptable, there is no denying that his team lacked tactics, teamwork and many ingredients of modern football. The only attribute they possessed to their advantage was physical strength and on occasions , individual tactics.

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Whether it is the fault Ghanbarpour himself or other club youth coaches, is another subject for debate, what matters is that the end product of the Iran U-16 teams  that took part in the 2014 edition of the competition , was unattractive , outdated , tactically poor and individualist. It was not a great surprise to see the team fail against North Korea, a country which is still years behind Iran in football infra-structure. At least the Koreans played as a team

Ghanbarpour reminds us of the Iranian coaches’ mentalities, which has hardly changed. They seem to master producing excuses that have become so monotonous that the fans are beginning to tire from. Instead of admitting the team’s shortfall, which is so clear for anyone who knows about football,  they always direct the blame elsewhere.  Such attitude does not ender them with the fans. It is not surprising that a coach such as Carlos Queiroz , who practically has achieved nothing for Iran , is such popular character compared to the uninspiring Iranian coaches.

The football culture in Iran dictates the type of play. Most of these kids grow up playing their football in confined spaces in the alleys, side roads or if they are lucky, in a small area of a local park. Such restricted spaces prevents them adapting to teamwork, passing game and looking for the spaces. Iranian coaches, have not yet mastered the transition of this culture to the modern world football environment when these players play in regular fields.

Because of the way they have played football from the onset, Iranian players’ individualism will always be around and it sticks like a sore thumb in every league match. This age level (16 years) is probably the best opportunity for making the transition between street football and proper football. However, there is a learning curve that requires qualified, competent and capable coaches who can guide these talents in the transition and lead them to the top.

The reality is that, this age group will mostly get the left overs of coaches or those who do not make it at the senior level. This is the Achilles heel of Iran’s football at youth. It is regrettable because that country has enough talents, but talents without guidance means wastage. [/column]

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Mahini on the brink of suspension from football !

Hossein Mahini , Team Melli and  Persepolis defender is on the brink of suspension from football after he failed to produces genuine and authentic medical report justifying his exclusion from the mandatory Military Service.

Mahini , who was born in Bushehr, but played most of his senior football in Khuzestan , was named as one of over 100 footballers holding fake Exemption from Military Service certificates. Many footballers were subsequently acquitted while the name of about 10 was publicized as player who are confirmed to have cheated. None of the 10 players were Team Melli members of any age level.

Mahini’s exemption was based on a medical certificate, which apparently was not very convincing to the investigating committee.   These investigations were initiated by the authorities, ironically after Persepolis and Ali Daei blew the whistle on Foolad Khuzestan players hoping that the FFIRI will deprive Foolad from their championship title last season and declare Persepolis, who were ranked second behind  Foolad, as champions!

The federation refused to act on Persepolis demands due to legality and absence of such ruling in the Federations byelaws, however FFIRI initiated an investigations into these allegations and passed the findings to the relevant authorities. As Karma would have it , an important Persepolis player in Hossein Mahini was on the list to the dismay of the reds.

If Mahini fails to produce authentic documents, he will face at least a two year suspension from playing for Persepolis putting more pressure on the beleaguered club especially in the defense where the team is already suffering after the loss of two international players Jalal Hosseini and Mehrdad Pooladi.

Mehrdad Pooladi is declared a free agent.

Team Melli left back and ex-Persepolis player, Mehrdad Pooladi has been declared as a free agent.

Pooladi was involved in a long dispute after the conclusion of the FIFA World Cup 2014 with Persepolis. While the players has repeatedly said that he is a “Free Agent” as his contract with the club has expired by the end of last season, Persepolis insisted that Pooladi is contract bound and must report back to duty and training else they will take disciplinary measures against him. In the meantime, Pooladi was seeking a new club.

Although there has been some interest from Europe, Mehrdad Pooladi , who was the best performing Iranian player in the World Cup , failed to conclude any deal in Europe. The next destination was closer to home. Al Shahaniya club of the Qatar Star League promptly showed interest and began verbal negotiation on the knowledge that Pooladi is available. The two sides were close to agreeing terms except that Al Shahaniya demanded a release in form of ITC from Persepolis as a condition for recruiting the Iranian defender.

Persepolis refused to release the player or cooperate with the Qatari club. With time running out to the closing of the transfer windows, Al Shahniya withdrew their offer to Pooladi due to lack of progress and documentations issues and instead the newly promoted team to the QSL , signed Pooladi’s compatriot and Team Melli teammate , Masoud Shojaei. 

Pooladi took his case to the Board of Arbitration of the FFIRI. Today the board issued a statement declaring him as Free Agent. The Board also declared that Pooladi’s financial settlement with Persepolis club is still unresolved and not settled. According to the contract, Pooladi is still to receive a substantial payment from the club outstanding from last season.

On a side note, The newly appointed Persepolis coach , Hamid Derakhshan was asked yesterday by a reporter about  the whereabouts of Mehrdad Pooladi and the reason for his absence from the team’s training session. Instead of speaking facts and truth, Derakhshan attributed Pooladi’s absence to the problems he has with the Military Service Release Form (…) ! 

Kaveh Rezaei begs forgiveness from the fans.

 Kaveh Rezaei , the central forward of Iran’s U23 team , in an interview with Mehrnews , apologized for the Iranian fans for the humiliating result against Vietnam. Rezaei attributed the loss on bad luck , while on the other hand, he expressed his bitterness against all the criticism directed towards the team and considered it destructive !

Kaveh Rezaei is partnering Mehdi Sharifi , two of the top young guns of Iranian football , in the Olympic team (Iran U23). The pair of them have wasted at least 4 definite scoring opportunities against Vietnam especially since Yaghoub Karimi was substituted in and impressively fed the pair with quality balls and crosses.

Rezaei attributed his misses and the team loss to bad luck, while he claimed that Vietnam was very lucky as they scored from every attack!

Rezaei said “Believe me when I tell you that all of us could not sleep after the defeat. We were at fault for this defeat, but this sort of things happens regularly in football.  We were bad and the Vietnamese were lucky.”

“We ran for 90 minutes and fought for every ball, but we were not successful. Brazil also heavily lost to Germany and so did Spain, but they were not crucified as were are being treated back home”

 “Many people consider this team as the hope of Iran’s football future. This team has lost and it needs support and encouragement from the public, not condemnation!”

“It is not proper to receive so much criticism. Everyone is talking against us and that is destructive. The people who are supposed to be our mentors and seniors are speaking against us, instead of guiding and encouraging us”

Rezaei concluded “It is just not fair to be on the receiving end of so much denunciation and verbal attack. Despite all that, we will do our best to beat Kyrgyzstan tomorrow and qualify to get a medal.”

Kaveh Rezaei , probably expected a pat on the back and “Hard Luck” commendation from everyone for a job well done against Vietnam! His reaction underlies how some footballer’s mentality has swayed off course.

Asian Games: Iran Football Official Suspected of Sexual Harassment

Seoul: South Korean police said on Tuesday that they are investigating an official from Iran’s Asian Games delegation over suspicions that he sexually harassed a female volunteer at a football stadium near the host city of Incheon.

The man, who has been banned from leaving the country, admitted touching the woman while taking a photo with her on Monday at Ansan Wa Stadium, one of the Asian Games soccer venues, but said he did not think his actions were illegal, police inspector Park Min-joo said.

The man has not been taken into custody, but is being investigated and will be further questioned before police decide whether to send the case to prosecutors for possible indictment, Park said.

Bruce Lee from the Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee said the suspect is a 38-year-old equipment manager for Iran’s national soccer team. The woman, a college student, reported the incident to police on Monday.

As result of this incident , The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) banned football equipment manager Ahmad  Amereh from Games sites and asked the Iranian team to send him home for verbally harassing the volunteer on Monday.

Will Iran U23 be eliminated before the Asian Games start?

After the humiliating opening group game defeat against Vietnam, a 4-1 result that sent shock waves to many critics, experts and fans in Iran, the Olympic team is under the threat of elimination from the Asian Games , before even the game officially starts. This would be a milestone in Iran’s football, a one which is truly mortifying for a nation that claims to be at the top level of Asian football.

Iran has to beat Kyrgyzstan on Thursday and by a comprehensive margin to assure qualification in what was seen as an easy group.  The Asian Games Men’s football competition draw could not have been any kinder to Iran , as not only it has put it in 3 team group instead of 4 , it also  placed it with FIFA ranking 139 (Vietnam) and 144 (Kyrgyzstan) or no 21 and 22 in Asia. This time there are no Arab teams, who have really learned how to play against the Iranians, to disturb the U23 team progress. Apparently that huge advantage meant nothing as the little Vietnamese showed the mighty Iranians a few tricks of their own, specifically scoring.

Beating Kyrgyzstan at this level is not an easy task as Iran discovered in the last Olympic Qualifiers in 2011. Human Afazeli was the coach when Iran U23 struggled to beat Kyrgyzstan by the tightest of margins 1-0 in Tehran while they were lucky to get a goal-less draw in Bishkek and qualified by a single goal margin. Afazeli is currently working alongside Nelo Vingada as the U23 Team Manager in Incheon.

Vietnam player celebrates scoring against Iran

Defeats in football is part and parcel of the game, but the manner of defeat can make a world of difference and in many cases, it highlights the underlying problems of that football. Ali Kaffashian has been running the federation with his usual grin for 7 years and getting away with one poorly and disjointed organization. According to the respected Amir Haj Rezaei ” the system and the administration of football in Iran is the biggest culprit behind these humiliation of our football.  Time and again, the only victims are the coaches who lose their jobs while those who are really accountable or at least share  a large portion of the blame ,  maintain their power , repeatedly display their incompetence and inability to manage football , and continue repeating the same mistakes. Our football is at the mercy of politicians’ whims and being exploited by them. These are people who have seen a great opportunity in football to exploit it and benefit from its popularity. Without improvements at the top, chances of success are slim at field level.”

For Kaffashian , it is business as usual. Asked about this humiliating defeat in the press conference after signing the contract with Queiroz, the incumbent President of FFIRI claimed that there are no easy teams in the World Anymore! Down deep inside, he was probably wondering what all this fuss is about!

That response by Kaffashian , just about sums up this man’s standard and aspiration towards Iran’s football.  Driven by other behind the scenes, not much can be expected from this FFIRI administration.

Players and coaches, have to take all the burden of competitions in order to succeed.

Iran U23 meets Kyrgyzstan u23 at 12:30 Tehran time on Thursday 18th September.

 

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Faraki  “ Team Melli U23 was shameful & catastrophic.”

Hossein Faraki, who has replaced the Croat Zlatko Kranjcar as head coach of Sepahan Esfahan , was officially introduced to the media by the club.

Faraki expressed his utmost satisfaction and gratification for being appointed as a head coach of Sepahan.” I must admit to you that the approach by Mr. Khalilain ( CEO of Sepahan) was unexpected. It did not take long for me to accept the offer to coach such a great club and organization. I am following on the footsteps of an honorable and a great coach in Zlatko Kranjcar. It is a hard act to follow however my aim is to reach his class technically and ethically. We met briefly and talked about various things.”

Faraki answered many questions about football and the league competition. The most interesting question was his comments on the embarrassing defeat against Vietnam in the Asian Games. Faraki said “That was a shameful & catastrophic result. Such shocking performance was the result of several factors and combination, The responsibilities are shared between the coaches and managers of the team and the players themselves. They all failed , and failed miserably to an extent that the reputation of our football has been tarnished.”

The contrast between the reaction of Faraki and Lai Kaffashian is quite interesting, T he former calls it a catastrophic , the latter attributes it to the strength of the Vietnamese opposition!

Faraki , normally a cool character , reserved his sharpest criticism for Mohammad Reza Khanzadeh.” This players dismissal was a shocking, dishonorable and appalling. Such act by a player is vile especially since he is representing this nation with such high Islamic values”

Faraki also criticized the U23 players’ looks and hair designs and wished if the rest of the World Did not see these players in action!