Year: 2018

A fine win for Team Melli vs. Algeria

Team Melli defeated Algeria 2-1 in an international friendly held in Graz Austria on Saturday.

Iran goals were scored by their two top marksmen , Sardar Azmoun (11′) and Mehdi Taremi (19)

After a narrow loss to Tunisia, Queiroz was hoping to get their World Cup preparation back on track. This was done in style against a tough tackling and sometimes uncalled for rough play by the North African teams managed by the legendary Rabih Madjer.

Both of the top Algerian players featured in the match , Leicster City’s Riyad Mahrez and Newcastle’s Islam Soleimani 

  • 11‘Goal! Iran 1, Algeria 0. Sardar Azmoun (Iran) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Alireza Jahanbakhsh.
  • 19‘Goal! Iran 2, Algeria 0. Mehdi Taremi (Iran) right footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner. Assisted by Ehsan Haji Safi.

 

Farouk Chafai pulls one goal back in the second half.

Strong team to face Algeria

Queiroz selected his probable starting 11 and opted for a stronger team to play against Algeria:

Alireza Beiranvand, Vouria Ghafouri, Pejman Montazeri, Mohammad Reza Khanzadeh, Saeed Aghaei, Saeed Ezzatollahi, Karim Ansarifard, Ehsan Haj Safi, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Sardar Azmoun, Mehdi Taremi

On the other side, Rabih Majar will lead Algeria on Tuesday, in his second friendly in four days. Having won their first friendly against Tanzania in 4-1 on July 5, 

The friendly match at the Graz stadium in Austria is the last match for both teams during March , in which Majer will seek to make as many changes as possible compared to the previous encounter against Tanzania. Players, like Ben Nasser, Ben Talib, Brahimi and Sulaimani, will be missing against the strongest opponent of Algeria so far. The match against the strength of the Iranian Team , a 2018 World Cup qualifier, seems to be a tough task for the Algerians despite the recent friendly loss by Iran to Tunisia.

It is feared that the many absences in Algeria will affect the performance of Majer’s team, especially under the strength of the competitor and the lack of options for the quality of the national selectors, who preferred to give greater opportunities for local players during this match. Algeria national team will play the game without a real defender and the defensive midfielder . Rabah Magar, does not want to lose this friendly in order to continue the victories and stay away from the intense criticism by the media at home, although he has not been defeated in three consecutive games.

For Carlos Queiroz , it is a win win situation for him. He will have a pretty good idea of whom he will take to the world cup but matches like that will give him even more confidence both in his style and his players reaction to game plan.

Team Melli will welcome the twins marksmen Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi. The former has not been the best of the season mainly due to injury while Taremi has been scoring goals with ease at all levels of competitions.

H2H

H / A / N Matches W D L Goals + / –
H 1 1 0 0 2 – 1 +1
A 1 0 0 1 0 – 1 -1
N 1 0 1 0 0 – 0 +0
Total 3 1 1 1 2 – 2 +0

 

Date Comp. H / A / N Final score Stadium Attendance
03.03.2002  LG CUP N 0 – 0 Mohammed V Stadium , Casablanca 1500
13.10.1991  ASI/AFR A 0 – 1 Algiers 30000
27.09.1991 ASI/AFR H 2 – 1 Azadi – Tehran 100000

Algeria Match Will Help Team Melli: Alireza Jahanbakhsh

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran national football team winger Alireza Jahanbakhsh says the upcoming friendly match against Algeria can be helpful for Team Melli in preparation for the 2018 World Cup.

Iran is scheduled to face Algeria in the warm-up match in Graz, Austria on Tuesday.

Carlos Queiroz’s team lost to Tunisia 1-0 on March 23 in Rades.

“(The) Tunisia match was a good warm-up for us and the match against Algeria is also important for Team Melli. These friendlies will improve our readiness for the match against Morocco in the World Cup opener,” Jahanbakhsh told Iran Football Federation’s website.

“Morocco is a strong team as it showed against Serbia in (a) friendly. I know some Moroccan players and it will be a difficult match for us,” the AZ Alkmaar winger added.

“We will have a difficult task in the World Cup because Spain and Portugal are among the best teams in the world. But I believe that the friendlies against Turkey and Greece will help us increase our readiness,” Jahanbakhsh stated.

Iran MP slams appearance of Shojaei & Hajsafi in Team Melli

By AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE FOOTBALL

Sunday March 25, 2018

TEHRAN, Iran, Mar 25 – A conservative lawmaker in Iran slammed the sports federation on Sunday for allowing star footballer Masoud Shojaei to return to the international squad despite appearing against an Israeli team last year.

Shojaei, the 33-year-old national team captain, and teammate Ehsan Haji Safi were criticised in Iran after they appeared for their Greek club Panionios last August in a Europa League qualifier against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Deputy Sports Minister Mohammad Reza Davarzani said at the time that the pair would be banned for life.

Iran does not recognise the Jewish state and bars its athletes from appearing against Israelis.

Confusion has reigned over the matter, however, with Haji Safi never banned from the international squad, while Shojaei has missed all the international fixtures until Friday’s match against Tunisia, which Iran lost 1-0.

“Re-inviting Masoud Shojaei to be present in the national football team — after competing against the Zionist regime — shows that the football federation has not taken serious action on this issue,” hardline lawmaker Mohammad Ali Poormokhtar said in an interview with the conservative Fars news agency.

He said the sports minister would be questioned after the current break for the Iranian new year.

A combination photo shows Iran’s Ehsan Haji Safi (L) playing during a 2014 World Cup qualifying football match and Iran’s Masoud Shojaei playing during a World Cup 2018 qualifying match © AFP / Behrouz MEHRI, Karim JAAFAR

In a press conference ahead of the Tunisia match, Shojaei said: “I am very happy to be a member of this team. Although the final list (for the World Cup squad) has not been announced yet, the fact that right now I am in this team means I am very happy and proud.”

Iran cannot admit it bans players for appearing against Israelis because there are strict international rules against political interference in sports.

The issue has come to the fore in recent weeks after wrestler Alireza Karimi Mashiani was given a six-month ban for deliberately losing a world championship match in Poland in November in order to avoid an Israeli opponent in the next round.

The head of Iran’s wrestling federation quit last month in disgust, saying young athletes were being forced to lie and the authorities were letting them pay the price for their policies.

“Forcing an athlete to accept defeat or run around all night looking for a doctor’s note is not right,” Rasoul Khadem, an Olympic gold medallist, told public radio ahead of his resignation.

Iran is due to play another friendly against Algeria in Tehran on Tuesday.

Narrow loss to Tunisia

TUNIS – A fortunate own goal handed Tunisia a 1-0 victory over Iran in their friendly clash on a waterlogged pitch in Tunis on Friday, in what was a morale boosting result for the World Cup-bound north Africans.

Wahbi Khazri proved the talisman for the home side and it was his dribbling run that led to the 71st minute winner. Khazri’s shot was parried by Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand into the path of defender Milad Mohammadi, who could only turn the ball into his own net.

Carlos Queiroz started the match with 7 regular plays missing but welcoming back the veteran Captain Masoud Shojaei who played in the first half.

Despite the water-logged pitch , Team Melli played a fluent game with many passing moves into the host box. In fact , if it was not for that perennial problem that Iran seem to always have with Arab referees, Team Melli would have been awarded a penalty in what looked a like a very obvious foul in the penalty box on Karim Ansarifard. To the horror of the Olympiakos forward, the Egyptian referee played on. Several replays by the Tunisian referee only made the case of a penalty that much stronger.

The new defensive line up at the back stood well against the quick and agile Tunisian ,however , there was very few serious attempt at Biranvand goal.

The first half ended goal less.

In the second half and with many substitution, the game lost a bit of its excitement. Team Melli was the more organized in the middle of the field , but the problem was in the forward line. Absence of Taremi and Azmoun was quite noticeable up front ad neither Ansarifard nor Ghoocannejad managed to seriously threaten the Tunisia goal. Both forwards struggled to convince as an attacking force. Kaveh Rezaei did not fare much better either.
A glorious chance for Team Melli to score was wasted by substitute Mehdi Torabi when he hit the sky with the Tunisia keeper stranded.

Tunisia, who share the same World Cup group with Belgium, England and Panama, might have had a second soon after but Khazri’s powerful close range effort was well saved.

Iran were using the match to approximate the playing style of Morocco, who share their group in Russia with Portugal and Spain.

A dipping free kick from captain Ehsan Hajsafi in the 67th minute, saved by Tunisia’s Farouk Ben Mustapha, was the closest Iran came to scoring.

Vahid Amiri , so reliable on the flanks during the World Cup qualifiers lacked his normal agility and pace. Alireza Jahanbakhsh was introduced too late to make an impact.

Overall, the loss to Tunisia , gave Queiroz some good insight inb the capabilties of the second string team.

Team Melli’s take another north African country, Algeria, in Graz, Austria on Tuesday.

Queiroz hopeful to make it to Round 16 in the World Cup 2018

Iran coach Carlos Queiroz said in an interview with Agência Efe that he believes he can take his team to the Round of 16 at the 2018 World Cup in Russia and chose the country where he was born in Portugal as a ” Group B” favorite, completed by Spain and Morocco.

In charge of the Iranian team since 2011, Queiroz has made the Team Melli one of the top teams in Asia, beating virtually all regional rivals in the World Cup preparation round.

Despite the confidence in his team, Queiroz acknowledges that Spain is not only favorite to pass the stage, but also to the title.

“Iran is a country that is not on the list of priorities for the press, but the work we have done in recent years deserves a little more attention. Overall, Asian football is not always present in the news, unless you speak Japan and Korea, which have a lot of influence in Europe in general, “he said.

In the friendly of this Fifa day, Queiroz chose to face two rivals of the region. First, playing Tunisia, who are in Group G of the World Cup. Then he takes his team to face Algeria, who competed in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, but did not qualify to Russia 2018.

“We always have a lot of difficulties during the preparation. There are some issues we are always struggling with, such as financial difficulties and relations with other countries, which are sometimes not easy for Iran. But we always try to do our best and, with colleagues, seek solutions, “explained the Portuguese head coach.

“We are going to play with Tunisia, Algeria and Turkey, which everyone knows is very strong even though they are not in the World Cup, as well as with Greece and Lithuania, we are better than we were in the last World Cup when we practically did not play with anyone,” he said.

Asked if group B is the group of death, Queiroz stressed that the two favorites are Spain and Portugal, but said nothing is decided. For him, Iran and Morocco are outsiders but will try to qualify for a place in the last 16 of the World Cup.

“It is no secret that Spain and Portugal are favorites, but I do know that Iran will be there, and it is very difficult to know who will advance, I do not want to choose, but it will be them (the Spanish team) who will decide, but I want Iran and Portugal to move on, “he said.

Starting Lineup vs.Tunisia

Carlos Queiroz announced the starting lineup of Team Melli against Tunisia. The Portuguese coach will not be using a full strength starting lineup

According to the website of the Iran football federation, the Iranian national football team will start the game vs Tunisia tonight with the following players : Alireza Beiranvand, Ramin Rezaeian, Mohammad Reza Khanazadeh, Roozbeh Cheshmi, Milad Mohammadi, Ali Karimi, Ehsan Haj Safi, Masoud Shojaei, Karim Ansari Fard, Vahid Amiri and Reza Ghoochannejad.

Clearly, this lineup is not the strongest and more like the reserve team.

Seven main players who were usually in the starting lineup of the Team Melli during the World Cup qualifiers are not in the starting line-up for Tunisia game, due to injuries (Morteza PouraliGanji, Mehdi Taremi, Sardar Azmoun), or due to technical reasons based on the program’s preparedness and Carlos Queiroz Method for these games (Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Saeed Ezzatollahi and Seyed Jalal Hosseini).

This game starts at 19:15 local time and 22:45 pm Tehran time

Head2Head

H / A / N Matches W D L Goals + / –
Home 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 +0
Away 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 +0
Neutral 1 0 1 0 2 – 2 +0
Total 1 0 1 0 2 – 2 +0

 

Date Comp. H / A / N Final score Stadium
15.08.2012 Friendly N 2 – 2 Széktói Stadion, Kecskemét

 

FIFA Ranking

IRAN 

TUNISIA
Current World Ranking 33 23
Average World Ranking 46 36
Continental Ranking 1 1

 

 

Team Melli arrives in Tunis

Iran’s Team Melli landed in Tunis today ahead of the friendly international match against the Tunisian National Football team on Friday 23rd march 2018.

This will be the second test for Team Melli after an easy 4-0 victory by the experimental line up last Saturday in Azadi. Queiroz is expected to field a much stronger team in FIFA day against Tunisia. All the legionnaires have will joined the squad in Tunis and then for the Algeria game in Austria,

Tunisia coach Nabil Maaloul has named four France-born players, including Leicester City defender Yohan Benalouane, in his 28-man squad for the World Cup warm-up matche against Iran.

Former France youth internationals Seifeddine Khaoui, Ellyes Skhiri and Mouez Hassen, who all pledged their futures to the Carthage Eagles this year, have been called up.

But Leicester’s Yohan Benalouane, who had previously rejected Tunisia, was a surprise inclusion for the fixtures against Iran and Costa Rica, BBC reported.

Centre-back Benalouane is a former France Under-21 international and despite opting to represent Tunisia – the country of his parents – in 2010, he refused to honor several calls to play for the North Africans.

Experienced defender Aymen Abdennour, 28, has been overlooked due to lack of playing time at French club Marseille, while star quintet of Youssef Msakni, Wahbi Khazri, Mohamed Amine Ben Amor, Ali Maaloul and Naïm Sliti is included.

Maaloul is hoping the newcomers will add to the depth of talent he can choose from ahead of the final warm-up fixture against Spain in the Russian city of Krasnodar on 9 June.

He will seek to use as many of the players as possible in friendly games as he looks to get his Carthage Eagles squad into shape before their opening 2018 World Cup match against England on 18 June.

Iran have also been drawn in Group B of the 2018 World Cup. Team Melli will open the campaign with a match against Morocco.

Squad for Tunisia and Algeria Match

 

Carlos Queiroz invited 28 players to the national football team in preparation for the two friendly matches against Tunisia and Algeria.

According to ISNA, Iran’s Team Melli, which defeated Sierra Leone last yesterday (Saturday) by a convincing 4-0 result, will continue the preparation for the  friendly matches against Tunisia and Algeria which should me a much more serious affair and will give the coach a pretty good idea about the north african style of football ahead on the opener Word Cup match against Morocco.

The surprise inclusion is the former capt of Team Melli , Masoud Shojaei who has been recalled to the team.

In this list, 6 players who were in the squad for the last game vs. Sierra Leone, have lost their places in the latest squad. Hamed Lak, Mohammad Ansari, Kamal Kamyiabinia, Ahmad Abdollahzadeh, Omid Noroufkan and Ali AliPour were all left put. Among these players, NoorAfkan , the young Esteghl;al player was the best performer in the last match..

The names of the players invited to the national team are as follows:

 

# Player Post Club Country
1 ABEDZADEH, Amir GK C.S. Marítimo Portugal
2 BIRANVAND, Alireza GK Persepolis Iran
3 HOSSEINI, Hossein GK Esteghlal Iran
4 MAZAHERI, Mohammad Rashid GK Zob Ahan Iran
         
5 AGHAEI, Saeed DF Sepahan Iran
6 CHESHMI, Rouzbeh DF Esteghlal Iran
7 GHAFOORI, Vourya DF Esteghlal Iran
8 HOSSEINI, Jalal DF Persepolis Iran
9 KHANZADEH, Mohammadreza DF Padidah Iran
10 MOHAMMADI, Milad DF Terek Grozny Russia
11 MONTAZERI, Pejman DF Esteghlal Iran
12 POURALIGANJI, Morteza DF Al Sadd Qatar
13 REZAEIAN, Ramin DF K.V. Oostende Belgium
         
14 AMIRI, Vahid MF Persepolis Iran
15 EBRAHIMI, Omid MF Esteghlal Iran
16 EZZATOLLAHI, Saeid MF Amkar Perm Russia
17 HAJSAFY, Ehsan MF Panionios FC Greece
18 KARIMI, Ali MF Sepahan Iran
19 SHOJAEI, Masoud MF AEK Athens Greece
20 TORABI, Mehdi MF Saipa Alborz Iran
         
21 ANSARIFARD, Karim FW Olympiacos F.C. Greece
22 AZMOUN, Sardar FW Rubin Kazan Russia
23 GHODDOS, Saman FW Östersunds FK  Sweden
24 GHOLIZADEH, Ali FW Saipa Alborz Iran
25 GHOOCHANNEJAD, Reza FW SC Heerenveen Holland
26 JAHANBAKHSH, AliReza FW AZ Alkmaar  Holland
27 REZAEI, Kaveh FW R. Charleroi Belgium
28 TAREMI, Mehdi FW Al Gharrafah Qatar

 

 

 

4-0 victory for Team Melli vs. Sierra Leone

The Iranian national team defeated Sierra Leone 4-0 win in an international friendly match held in nearly empty Azadi Stadium on Saturday.

Queiroz had a mix of players in the initial line up giving debuts to 3 players, Omid Noorafkan, Goalkeeper Hossein Hosseini and midfielder from Saipa Alborz Ali Gholizadeh. All 3 enjoyed a good game and performed well in their first international. 

This was the first preparation match for Team Melli in a series of matches which will continue into March after Nowrooz including the matches against Tunisia and Algeria in Europe.

Iran’s goals were scored by Mohammad Reza Khanzadeh (14), Ali Gholizadeh (16 and 46) and Kaveh Rezaei (35). The 100,000 capacity stadium was virtually empty as no more than 3000 fans turned up. The period of Eid Nowrooz shopping season plus the very humble opponents (Ranked 94 in FIFA Ranking list) prevented many fans from attending the match. less than a week ago, the same stadium was full to the capacity for an AFC champions League match between Esteghlal and Al Ain from UAE.

Team Melli very quickly dictated the game proceedings. It was just a matter of time before the first goal would be scored and it was on a corner that Khanzadeh , returning to the team after a 3 year break, scored from a corner on the 14th minute. The African team had very little to offer as it took 40 minutes for the Iranian keeper Hamed Lak to actually handle a ball from live play.

First half

Min 14: On a free kick, Omid Noorafkan sent a nicely weighted ball to the crowded penalty area of ​​Sierra Leone, which Mohammad Reza KhanZadeh slid into the net for the first goal

Min 16: Ali Golizadeh long-range kick from a solo move from outside the penalty box , wrong footed  Sierra Leone keeper after the ball was deflected by his own defenders. First goal for the debutant. 

Minutes 35: Ramin Rezaeian crossed from the right into Sierra Leone penalty box , where Kaveh Rezaei headed the ball into the ground and in the goal. the goalkeeper was helpless.

Second half

46 min. Omid Noorafkan on  left wing on a solo run  hit a strong shot which  Sierra Leone goalkeeper  could only parry, the return ball, was  met by Ali Gholizadeh who scored his second goal. 

71 minutes: Sierra Leone’s players created a dangerous move on a stroke on the goal, which ​​Sierra Leone’s Abu Sauna turned into a strong shot , substitute keeper  Hossein Hosseini  saved it and sent to the corner.

Team Melli starting Line up

 Hamed Lak, Ramin Rezaeian , MR Khanzadeh, Rozbeh Cheshmi, Saeed Aghaei,  Omid Ebrahimi, Ali Karimi, Ahmad Abdollahzadeh,  Omid Noorafkan, Ali Gholizadeh Moghadam and Kaveh Rezaei