Year: 2015

Omid starts the first WAFF U23 in a winning way.

Iran U23 football team (Omid Team) defeated its Bahraini counterpart 2-0 in the match played in Doha on Thursday in the 1st WAFF U23 Championship. Iran goals were scored in the first half by Rozbeh Cheshmi 31` and Hossein Fazeli 42`

The first goal scored by Omid team Captain Rozbeh Cheshmi with an elegant header wile Hossein Fazeli made it 2-0 before the end of the first half after he was set by a weighted header from Arsalan Motahari. Fazeli beat two defenders and then slotted easily past the advancing Bahrain keeper.

The game was a lethergic affair in what is still quite hot and sticky weather in the Persian Gulf. Omid team was the better side but never truly managed impose its full authority to turn that superiority into a handful of goals they deserved. Many goals were missed because of some real poor finishing particularly in the second half.

Bahrain players, true to their reputation, kept falling on the grass on slightest of physical contacts.

The 1st WAFF U23 Championship is taking place in Qatar from September 30th and until October 14th, 2015 at the Lekhwiya Stadium in Doha with the participation of 10 WAFF member associations including Qatar the hosting nation, alongside Jordan, Palestine and Yemen who were drawn in group A. Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain in group B. As well as UAE, Oman, and Syria in Group C.

Iran will meet Saudi Arabia next on the 4th of October in a revenge match. The Saudis have already beaten Omid team in Azadi during the AFC U23 qualifiers.

Iran U23 to play Bahrain in WAFF U23 Championship


Iran will play Bahrain on Thursday in its opening match in the U23 West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Championship.

Iran has been scheduled to face Saudi Arabia in Group B on Sunday.

“I think the tournament is a strong one, we have a strong group. Teams like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have the ability to be in the final. We are looking to perform well and look at the performance of our young players,” Iran coach Mohamed Khakpour said.

“The reason we are here is because we are trying to make a model of the U23 Asian Cup,” he added.

WAFF is being held in Doha, Qatar from September 30 to October 14.

The competition will be used as a warm up for the 2016 AFC U23 Championship which is also held in Qatar. This competition is used as qualification for the Olympics football tournament of which these sides participating in the WAFF championship qualify for the Rio Olympic Games 2016 football competition.

 

Date & Time Stadium Teams Result Report
1/10/2015 – 16:30 Lekhwiya SC Iran – Bahrain – : –
4/10/2015 – 16:30 Lekhwiya SC Iran – Saudi Arabia – : –
7/10/2015 – 16:30 Lekhwiya SC Saudi Arabia – Bahrain – : –

Iran football in shock after demise of Hadi Nourozi.

The Captain of Persepolis and former Team Melli player, Hadi Nourozi has passed away in a Tehran Hospital as a result of a massive heart attack.

The 30 years old player , has not been suffering from any known ailment before his sudden death. He was taken to a hospital in the early hours in this morning where he was pronounced dead by the medical staff. The nature of his demise has raised a few alarms as the authorities are preparing for a thorough autopsy to find the reasons.

Hadi Nourozi , who is from the town of Babol , came to fame while playing for Damash before his transfer to Persepolis in 2008. The centre forward has also played for a short span with Naft Tehran on loan from his club before returning as a Captain.

Nourozi played for Team Melli from 2009 to 2011 winning 9 caps in the process.

Persepolis announced that his funeral processing will be carried out from Azadi Stadium on Friday. He will be buried in his hometown of Babol.

TeamMelli.com wishes to express its sincere concordance to the family of Nourozi, the Iranian football community and Persepolis team and its supporters,

God bless his soul.

Team Melli camps in Dubai.

Team Melli landed in Dubai this evening to set up an eight days training camp.

Iran will be meeting its stiffest test in the FIFA World Cup 2018 Qualifiers  when they meet Oman in Muscat on 8th of October. Team Melli will train in Dubai in the Iranian Clubs premises until their departure date on Tuesday 6th October.

After the match with Oman, Team Melli will also play a friendly against Japan in Azadi.

Iran is leading the table of Group D with 7 points ahead of Oman on goal difference.

 

Rank Team MP W D L F A D P
1 Iran 3 2 1 0 10 1 +9 7
2 Oman 3 2 1 0 5 2 +3 7
3 Guam 4 2 1 1 3 7 -4 7
4 Turkmenistan 3 0 1 2 2 5 -3 1
5 India 3 0 0 3 2 7 -5 0

 

 

Iran women crowned as AFC Futsal champions.

 Iran were crowned inaugural champions of the AFC Women’s Futsal Championship when they beat Japan 1-0 in a thrilling final on Saturday.

Both teams were quick out of the blocks at the Nilai Indoor Stadium and the first chance of note came in the fourth minute as Iran’s Fereshteh Karimi sprinted down the right and tested Japan goalkeeper Ayaka Yamamoto with a fierce drive.

Barely a minute later, Karimi had another up close and personal encounter with the Japan custodian but yet again her effort was stopped by the impressive Yamamoto’s legs.

However, the breakthrough was to come for Iran on eight minutes as an unmarked Karimi finally made her mark following confusion in the Japan area.

 

The pulsating encounter continued when Mutsumi Sakata fired a rocket of a shot that Farzaneh Tavasoli in the Iran goal did well to palm away.

On 18 minutes Fatemeh Etetadi fouled Sakata whose clever free-kick found skipper Shiori Nakajima but the Japan captain’s shot failed to find a way past Tavasoli in what was to prove the final opportunity of the first half.

Japan regained the initiative six minutes into the second period when Saori Kato connected with a corner only to see her effort saved by Tavasoli.

Kato then had a shot blocked by Etedadi’s body, before, in a breathless finale, Tavasoli reacted superbly to deny Nakajima and ensure her side of the title.

[quote class=”If we did not want him, we would not have signed with him after the World Cup”] AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa has congratulated Iran after they claimed the AFC Women’s Futsal Championship title on Saturday.[/quote]

His full message is reproduced below.

“I would like to congratulate Iran for being crowned the first ever AFC Women’s Futsal Champions! As the first winners of the trophy, their name will be written in AFC competition history.

The AFC Women’s Futsal Championship 2015 Malaysia was the first pan-Asian women’s futsal championship and the launch of the new tournament places the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) at the forefront of global women’s futsal development. No other confederation currently has an equivalent competition. The tournament garnered wide interest on the AFC social media channels, with record numbers of hits on the AFC YouTube channel.

I am proud to say that the AFC is playing a leading role in taking women’s futsal forward. Futsal is growing steadily in Asia and as an indoor sport it is particularly suitable to Asia’s demanding climates and urban areas with scarce outdoor space.

The popularity of futsal and beach soccer is growing in Asia, with new players signing up across the continent, from the West, Central, East, North and the South. This positive development is good news also for football as both futsal and beach soccer can develop skilful future footballers for Asia.

Futsal as a high-tempo game, like beach soccer, challenges players to make quick, tactical and often imaginative decisions and this has persuaded many Member Associations to recognise the unique role futsal and beach soccer have in player development.

As the governing body of Asian football, the AFC aims to provide the right platform for the development of futsal and beach soccer for its Member Associations. Both games can help develop Asian football at the grassroots and youth level. They can also bring glory for Asia, as our teams get better and begin to challenge the world’s best for the top global prizes.

Once again, congratulations to Iran for their deserved win!”

Team Melli squad ready for Oman and Japan.

Team Melli squad has been announced for the two matches against Oman in the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers and Japan friendly match in Azadi.

Carlos Queiroz maintained his confidence in the previous squad players in an addition to a recall for the previously injured Alireza Jahanbakhsh. 2 players who have been making the news , were also picked up by Queiroz. The controversial goalkeepers of Persepolis , Sousha Makani and Naft Tehran Alireza Biranvand have been making the headlines for all the wrong reasons, mostly due to their flagrant ill discipline with their respective clubs, but in the case of Makani , it is also his weak performance in the goal on the top of his transgressions. The bad thing for the fans is that Queiroz does not read Farsi language newspapers . The squad also sees the return of Masoud Shojaei , ignored in the last selection, but once again included to claim his eternal place in Team Melli!

The young-looking squad will be in action after their strong showing in the last two qualifiers in September where Iran emerged as victors against Guam at home (6-0) and away to India (3-0). The big goal margin no doubt will help the team standing in the table. The match against Oman will shape the group final standing and will go a long way in determining who will qualify for the next rounds. Both Iran and Oman are the favorites to qualify from this group.

Making the squad for the first time is Maysam Majidi (28 years) Esteghlal Tehran right back and Rasheed Mazaheri (26 years) Zob Ahan goalkeeper.

The major absentee is Reza Ghoochannejad still on the injured list.

THE SQUAD

1 ALISHAH, Omid
2 AMIRI, Vahid
3 AZMOUN, Sardar
4 BIRANVAND, Alireza
5 DEJAGAH, Ashkan
6 EBRAHIMI, Omid
7 EZZATOLLAHI, Saeid
8 GHAFOORI, Vourya
9 HAGHIGHI, Alireza
10 HAJSAFY, Ehsan
11 HEYDARI, Khosrow
12 HOSSEINI, Jalal
13 JAHANBAKHSH, AliReza
14 KANANI, Mohammad Hossein
15 MAJIDI , Maysam
16 MAKANI, Sousha
17 MAZAHERI, Rasheed
18 MONTAZERI, Pejman
19 POURALIGANJI, Morteza
20 POURGAZ, Ezatollah
21 REZAEIAN, Ramin
22 SHOJAEI, Masoud
23 TAREMI, Mehdi
24 TEYMOURIAN, Andranik
25 TORABI, Mehdi

 

New head coach for Futsal team

The football federation has announced the appointment of Mohammad Nazim-Al Sharia’a as the head coach of Futsal Team Melli replacing the Spanish Jesus Candelas.

Despite his typical Arabic sounding name, Nazim-Al Sharia’a is very much an Iranian who assisted the former Team Melli Futsal coach.

After the Spanish refused to work with the federation due to late payment of wages and other problems, the federation created a real mess out of it. Knee jerk appointments, very much a trade mark of this federation , resulted in the announcement of Vahid Shamsaei as head coach of Team Melli but no one seemed to have informed him! Following much drama and turn of events , Shamsaei eventually turned down the job as FFIRI did not entertain Shamsaei’s  many demands.

A head hunting exercise began to recruit a quality foreign coach , but with the reputation of FFIRI already in the mud as bad employer and late payers, there were no foreign takers and hence the federation had to appoint someone within.2

Nazim-Al Sharia’a has worked closely with all the Team Melli futsal players and hence he has the upper hand in the job. Beside that , there isn’t much achievement by this coach to report.

Olympics football : AFC U23 CHAMPIONSHIP QATAR 2016 DRAW

Doha: Defending Asian Football Confederation Under-22 champions Iraq found themselves alongside regional challengers Yemen, London Olympics bronze medalists Korea Republic and a highly rated Uzbekistan side in a tough looking Group C when the draw for the 16-team AFC U23 Championship was made at a grand ceremony in Doha.

AFC U23 Championship Qatar 2016

Group A: Qatar, Syria, IR Iran, China PR

Group B: Saudi Arabia, Japan, DPR Korea, Thailand

Group C: Iraq, Korea Republic, Uzbekistan, Yemen

Group D: Jordan, Australia, UAE, Vietnam

Hosts Qatar, who have called up a raft of players who won the AFC Asian U-19 Championship in Myanmar last year and elevated Spaniard Felix Sanchez to the role of U23 coach, are in Group A where they are joined by East Asian powerhouse China, Iran and Syria.

Nine-time Olympic qualifiers and fourth-place finishers at the London Games Japan are pooled along with Saudi Arabia, DPR Korea and Thailand in Group B, while 1988 quarter-finalists Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Vietnam make up Group D.

AFC Acting General Secretary Windsor John conducted the draw, assisted by former Qatar internationals Khaled Salman and Badr Bilal, and attended by a host of dignitaries from the Asian football family.

 

The U23 Championship, to be played from January 12 to 30, has added relevance as it will double as qualification for the Rio Olympics, to be held later next year. The tournament will be played at the Al Sadd, Al Arabi, Qatar Sports Club and Lekhwiya Stadiums, all of which are situated in and around Qatar’s capital city of Doha.

Prior to the draw, AFC Vice President Saoud A. Aziz M A Al Mohannadi and Dato’ Windsor jointly unveiled the new trophy of the tournament while the AFC U23 Championship’s new logo was also revealed.

The logo’s fantastic design represents the AFC’s five regions, with a star in the middle symbolising the promising talent that will be on display at the tournament.

A short video depicting the host nation’s history and diversity was also shown at the event.

Team Melli Thrash India 3-0 to Top Group D

Team Melli dispensed of India with ease winning 3-0 away in Bengaluru with goals from Sardar Azmoun , Andranik Teymourian and Mehdi Taremi. The first half of the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifying rounds ended 1-0 for Iran.

Iran heads Group D of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers table with 7 points ahead of Oman and Guam both on 7 points. The two teams played a goalless draw earlier on the day.

The match was expected to be a hard nut to crack for the Indian team since Iran are ranked 115 places above them in the latest FIFA World Rankings.

Queiroz once again stuck to the young guns who responded magnificently with both Azmoun and Taremi scoring again after the two players braces against Guam.

Iran, went into the match brimming with confidence after they dismantled Guam with a comprehensive 6-0 win, over 2000 Team Melli fans were in Bangalore to cheer for Iran.  India , on the other hand were short of confidence and points in the table after two consecutive defeats and zero points.

Team Melli attacked from the beginning of the match while India was content to defend and close the area.

While Indian defenders did well in the first half of the match, a bit of complacency in the initial phase of the second half saw them conceding two goals in the first five minutes. This made the task of the Indian team that much difficult.

India started off well in the game. One would believe that the hosts did not give up but they went down fighting against the Asian powerhouse. 

In the first half of the match, Indian players looked composed and oragnised, but they were beaten by pace and class of the Iranian footballers. 

India skipper Sunil Chhetri, Robin Singh and Jeje Lalpekhlua shared a good spell of passing in the first quarter of the match but they could not create any chances whatsoever. Instead the Iranian were on the attack every other moment and posed a threat for India goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.

The first goal came in the 27th minute when Iran got a free-kick from a dangerous position. Sardar Azmoun found the back of the net. After this goal, Robin Singh and Sunil Chhetri did create a number of chances but all of them went begging. At half time, the score was 1-0.

Right after the start of the second half, Iranian skipper Andranik Teymourian made it 2-0. Three minutes later Mehdi Taremi made it 3-0 and it looked all over for India.

There was no coming back from there. But the Indian players tried hard to keep the Iranian defence on the edge till the end of the game. Sandesh Jhinghan was impressive as well but if you can’t convert the chances into goals then there is no point. India came really close to scoring when Chhetri’s shot went inches over the Iranian bar in the 60th minute and later Jeje failed to convert a flick from Chhetri.  

Many chances were wasted by Iran especially the two in the dying minutes of the match both wasted by Dejagah.

Iran next opponent will be Oman and that would be the sternest test for Team Melli in the group.