Year: 2022

28/06/2022

Hull City sign Allahyar Sayyadmanesh on permanent deal decision

Allahyar has impressed since coming into the Hull City side (Image: James Heaton/News Images)

Allahyar Sayyadmanesh arriveed back at Hull City to join in with the first of pre-season training that started on June 20th, after Acun Ilicali confirmed the Iranian striker would be moving on a permanent deal from Turkish giants Fenerbahce.

Sayyadmanesh has become a popular figure both in the Tigers dressing room and on the MKM Stadium terraces after pinning down a regular place in Shota Arveladze’s squad following his January loan move from the Super Lig. City have already agreed a fee with Fenerbahce which is believed to be in the region of £2m, while personal terms with the 20-year-old were thrashed out some time ago.

“Allahyar is like a piece of my jewelry”, Ilicali told Hull Live. “He’s our jewelry. He’s very talented and is progressing. I’ve said before that I think he can be the new Mohammed Salah. I’m not saying he is that now but he can be in the future, he has a big passion (for Hull City) and potential.

“When you look at the field of play, you see a guy who is moving quicker than everybody else. It’s like on the Playstation, there’s a player who is moving faster and you put him in the best positions – for me, Allahyar is that player. He has to improve of course, but when I look at our fans, they are cheering him and giving motivation to him. He is so happy and he’s now in paradise.”

17/06/2022

The Football mafia is at it again!

Team Melli lost to Algeria 2-1 in a friendly match in Doha, and that triggered the Iranian football mafia into action. It was like the ideal result for them to call for the head of the current head coach and calls for the former one to return at the helm of Team Melli.

Commenting on such scenario, Bijan ZolfagharNasab the former player and coach of the Iranian national football team who is currently an Advisor to the Minister of Youth and Sports, in reference to Dragan Skocic status, said: “He is the best option now and the atmosphere should not be made more polluted than what is now.”

Team Melli training camp was attended by the Iranian Minister of youth Sports Hamid Sajjadi who held private meetings with senior players such as Omid Ebrahimi, Ehsan HajSafi, Mehdi Taremi, Sardar Azmoun, Alireza Biranvand, and Alireza Jahanbakhsh the night before the match. A meeting in which the players complained about the process of preparing the team for a respectable representation of the country in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

After the 2-1 loss, a result that would not be so critical to any national team in a friendly match, rumors were circulating about the possibility of a change in the coaching staff and the departure of Dragan Skocic less than five months before the start of the first game against England, with the typical name of Carlos Queiroz mentioned in addition to Javad Nekounam as possible replacements.

These rumors intended with malice were accompanied by an official reaction from the Ministry of Sports and Youth regarding interference in technical issues and the selection of the head coach of the Iranian national football team. Mohsen Motamedkia, head of public relations at the Ministry of Sports, said: “The absolute position of the Ministry of Sports and Youth has been to support the decisions made by the Football Federation (FFIRI) from the very beginning, and this position still stands.”

“The Ministry of Sports and Youth has no input in technical matters and only acts as a supporter and a patron behind all sports federations, including the football federation.”

Referring to some rumors, citing yesterday’s meeting of six national team players with Hamid Sajjadi, he noted:” The Minister knows and is aware of sports etiquette well and is fully acquainted with the position of the technical staff, and this meeting was requested by the supervisor and The technical staff of the national team was held and they listened to the concerns of these players for nearly two hours on behalf of the other players and in the presence of the team leader and member of the board of directors of the federation. “

In an interview with Mehr, Bijan ZolfagharNasab commented on criticism of Dragan Skocic: “I think we have witnessed one of the sloppiest games of the Iranian national team in the last decade. We ran after the ball without a purpose and had no strategy to win.” The Adviser to the Minister of Sports then commented on whether it is necessary to change the coaching staff of Team Melli before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar: “I do not consider it appropriate to change the current situation. I think we have little chance until the World Cup games. Any change can be to our detriment. Dragan Skocic has done very well and should not be judged by a technical error in a friendly preparation match. “

Zulfiqar Nasab clarified the rumors of the return of Carlos Queiroz: “Mr. Queiroz worked hard for national football, but if he was going to do something worthwhile, he would have done it in the eight years. he was at the helm. I do not know what changes are going to happen to Team Melli with his presence, which is not possible now. Taking command of the national team at this stage does not cure any pain. We came to a conclusion with him anyway,”

About Skocic, ZolfagharNasab “He kept his faith in these same players. Skocic is the best option at the moment”

As for lack of forward planning and poor management in the Football Federation particularly in arranging friendly international matches for Team Melli: “Unfortunately, there is no sign of planning. The national team needs preparation for games with teams like England and Wales that have a high physical form. “The former coach of the Iranian national team noted: “We have a very difficult job with the current conditions to qualify out of the group. We can not stand to be counted against the best in the world by relying on the individual ability of the players. This team’s success is a long and complicated process. It needs a chain from the management of the federation all the way to the team players.

13/06/2022

Team Melli defeated in its only preparation game.

Algeria’s National football team defeated Iran 2-1 in a friendly match held at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar Sunday night.

Riad Benayad opened the scoring for Algeria two minutes before the halftime.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh equalized the match in the 64th minute but Algerian winger Mohamed El Amine Amoura scored the winner in the 82nd minute. Both the Algerian goals were gifts from Iranian defenders.

The match started more than 20 minutes late due to the late arrival of the Algerian bus to the Qatar FC stadium. There was also a minute of silence before the match for the tragic accidents in Iran and the death of the Algerian National team player, Billel Benhammouda who was killed in a car accident after returning home from a match in which he scored a goal.

The first half saw action from both teams but a horrible back pass lead to the first goal for Algeria just before the half times.

In the second half, Jahabakh found the back of the net and the Iran equalizer from an assist by Omid Nourafkan.

Another wayward defending due to the pressure that Algerians were exerting on the Iranian ball carrier resulted in the Algerian winner.

Despite the defeat, Team Melli plays some neat football, but the players are obviously in need of much more than this match in order to perform well to their true ability at the world cup. Algeria was virtually playing with the U23 team while Team Melli was at full strength minus the two central defenders, Khalilzadeh and Kananizadegan.

12/06/2022

Rendulic joins Team Melli coaching staff.

TEHRAN – Croatian coach Krunoslav Rendulic has been added to the Team Melli coaching staff.

The 49-year-old coach, who has most recently worked as head coach of Croatian club Gorica, has joined Iran’s training camp in Doha, Qatar.

He has previously worked as assistant coach of his countryman Luka Bonacic in Iran’s Foolad in 2014.

Iran prepares for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, where the Persians are drawn with England, the U.S., and Wales in Group B. Team Melli is meeting Algeria in Doha in its only friendly match during the international break which lasted t weeks.

12/06/2022

Team Melli will be meeting the former African Champions Algeria Sunday evening in its only preparatory international friendly, in Doha Qatar.

Although Team Melli and all other national team age groups for this matter have historically been one of the weakest teams in terms of preparation and readiness, in FIFA World Cup and other tournaments such as AFC Asian Cup, this time, it must be the worst in its history and puts Iran football reputation to shame.

After what looked like a cesarean operation, the Algeria match was finally confirmed, following a series of cancellations against Canada, Uruguay, New Zealand, South Africa, and Oman.

The match against Algeria this evening is quite a good test despite the African team missing their star player and Manchester City winger Riyadh Mehrez. The coach Djamel Belmadhi, a familiar character against Iranian teams, is under great scrutiny for failing to lead his team to qualify for the World Cup 2022.

Djamel Belmadi is determined to revive the mighty Algerian team and has announced before that he will not leave his post with the national team and instead will remain in charge of their qualifying campaign for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which will be held in Ivory Coast.

Belmadi had come under mounting criticism following a disastrous defense of their 2019 AFCON title.

At the 2021 edition of the tournament in Cameroon earlier this year, Algeria finished bottom of Group E having taken just one point from three matches.

‘The Desert Warriors’ also failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar after they lost to Cameroon on away goals in their play-off tie.

Belmadhi urged players who wanted to join the team to come up with a fighting spirit as former Algerians did years ago.

Djamel Belmadi showed himself determined to end this second Greens training camp in Doha in the best possible way, “we were keen to play a third match during this international window.

The game against Iran is a good opportunity to gauge our team. he said at the microphone of the FAF. Coach Belmadi revealed the direct line that the Algerian team will follow for the friendly against Iran, “we will approach this match in the most rigorous way. We will not ignore the culture of winning, if only for a friendly match. he adds.

Aware of the work that awaits his men for his second term at the head of the Algerian selection, the 2019 African champion kept the pressure on his players away, “it is a team in reconstruction. We are going to face a selection that has its automatisms in place, while we are working to find them. It’s a great test for the Algerian team. he explains.

As far as Skocic is concerned, this match remains the only confirmed opportunity for him to watch his player play against a strong opponent. Of course, it is far from adequate preparation and this could be an excuse too for failing in the finals. Skocic remains culpable for this failure to prepare the team for the greatest tournament in the world.

It is hardly unlikely that Skocic will touch the lineup as he will use this match to check on his main players. The many new faces will only play second string while Algeria is re-building.

10/06/2022

Iran cancel Bafana Bafana friendly plan – SAFA’s Motlanthe

South Africa Football Association Chief Executive Officer Tebogo Motlanthe has confirmed Iran have canceled plans to play Bafana Bafana in a friendly match in the FIFA international break of June.

The Cosafa nation had proposed to engage them on their way back home after their Afcon qualifier against the Atlas Lions

Safa had proposed to face the Middle East nation – in Doha, Qatar – after their 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Morocco on Thursday in Rabat.

“We had done all the paperwork with Iran where we were even asked to send the players’ passports. But later they came back to say they were unable to play us,” Motlanthe said, as per Sowetan Live.

“They said that through agents. And of course, because of their late cancellation we, unfortunately, do not have any friendly for this window period.”

The cancellation of the friendly means the 1996 Afcon champions will only play one game in June.

They were initially scheduled to face Morocco and Zimbabwe in this month’s Afcon qualifiers, but the latter were barred by CAF from participation since they are under FIFA suspension. The other member of Group K are Liberia, who South Africa will face in September.

Motlanthe, who is in Morocco with the national team, added the federation will wait for head coach Hugo Broos to give his plan for the next international break.

“But the coach has promised to submit his September program, which will include friendlies,” he concluded.

The cancelation of the South Africa match once again puts into question FFIRI plans, scheduling, and support for Team Melli. This is now the fourth Friendly international match that Team Melli has been deprived of due to one reason or another/. The unique difference with the South Africa game is that Iran has unilaterally canceled the match, while in Canada’s case it was the opponents that canceled.

Iran is scdule to play against Algeria on 12th June in Doha, the only friendly arranged in haste in this unusually long FIFA day.

09/06/2022

Omid Team knocked out at the first stage of AFC U23 Cup

Iran’s U23 team (Omid) was knocked out of the AFC U23 Asian Cup after the draw a 1-1 against host Uzbekistan in Qarashi yesterday. Winless Iran ranked third after two draws and a defeat. The host Uzbekistan and first-time participants Turkmenistan qualified for the next round.

Mahdavikia, was facing the impossible task facing the Uzbek team, miracles however are a rare commodity in football. Uzbekistan scored first from yet another Amataurish defending by Iran, while late in the second half, the Omid team found an equalizer but too late to save the day.

Mehdi Mahdavikia was left to reflect on their early exit in the campaign, admitting that the 2-1 defeat against debutants Turkmenistan hurt their chances.

“We are out of the tournament because we lost against Turkmenistan. That’s a fact,” said Mehdi. “But today was a good game. If we had taken our chances, we could have won the match but now we look back and see how we can improve.

“There are two problems that we need to overcome. First, we need to score and our players need to improve their fitness. Many of them do not play in the professional league so this is one problem we must solve before the next competition.”

The fact remains that Omid Team was ill-prepared for a tournament like that. The culprit is quite obvious to every fan by now and hope of any progress is simply futile in short term. FFIRI personnel, are too busy and too involved in their political in-fighting and lobbying to give the national teams any serious consideration. With the FFIRI without a head, as was ousted the acting Head and the rest were simply not good enough to shoulder this important responsibility. Team Melli is another victim of this politics.

However, there were surprise noises talking about sacking Mahdavikia because of the Omid Team Failure. Although there is no doubt that Mahdavikia shoulders major responsibility for the defeat and no justification such as preparing the team for the Olympics has any value, the former Hamburg player is about the best bet for the job. There is no other domestic coach who can stand up to be counted. Most repetitive names, like Hamid Estili, Peyrovani, Khakpour, etc came and gone without achieving anything for Omid Team. They all failed and some miserably so.

The difference with Mahdavikia is that he took the proper process in his coaching career. He is certified, coaching youth-level teams in Hamburg, played most of his career in Germany and has learned a lot from an anation that has the greatest football system in the world.

Of course, any coach needs the tools and the support to succeed, Mahdavikia had very little of both. Young Iranian domestic league players are victims of a poor standard league, lack of development programs, priorities to win at all costs, short-term success demanded by clubs, sub0standard coaching, and lack of professional guidance. It is surprising how some Omid Team players through this edition of the AFC U23 Asian Cup lacked simple and basic skills.

While Iran’s chances of making the Paris Olympic Games is a long shot, given some proper support, Mahdavikia will at least stand a good chance to develop a few good players to feed Team Melli in the future.

Group A

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	UZBEKISTAN	3	2	1	0	8	1	7	7
2	TURKMENISTAN	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
3	IRAN	3	0	2	1	3	4	-1	2
4	QATAR	3	0	2	1	3	9	-6	2

09/06/2022

“Training preparations not ideal” says Jahanbakhsh

Alireza Jahanbakhsh, currently in training camp with the rest of his Team Melli teammates in Doha, Qatar, “was critical of the chaotic preparations for the Training camp and the uncertainties which have upset the players and staff of the team. “After some confusion about the camp, the location of the camp, and the friendly games, the decision to hold the camp in Doha was quite good,” Jahanbakhsh said

“Of course, due to the weather conditions and humid climate, practice and training are held in the evenings when the temperature is much lower and the weather is bearable.”

Team Melli Captain added:” The physical conditions of the players are not bad. After canceling a few friendly matches, at least the game with Algeria is on. We are training well to face this good team and hope we can make a match out of it. I, the other players, and the coaching staff wanted to play more preparation games, but unfortunately, that did not happen.”

He stressed that “these are the difficult conditions in preparing the national team. The groundwork, programming, and arrangement of Training Camps must be ideal and should leave no one in doubt about what is happening, where, and when. Instead, we were living in suspense as the plans for the camp kept changing every day from one place to another and one match to another. Such uncertainty does not help the players or the coaching staff.”

“We should not let the events of this training camp happen ever again, We should plan from now on so that we can go through a good preparation for the World Cup. Wales became another team that has made the tough group even tougher now. I do not see the situation as positive.”

Jahanbakhsh was upset with the situation in the national team and also said: “Let’s go to the World Cup without preparation and preparation games! Honestly, we do not see any positive conditions, but we must also look at the positive part of the story. The players are determined to make fans happy with good games.”

In what sounded like a tongue-in-cheek remark, the Feyenoord winger said “Fans and people of the country, should pray for us to have proper training schedule and camps ahead so that we play well against the tough opponents and make them happy and proud in the World Cup.”

07/06/2022

AFC U23 Cup: Uzbekistan v. Iran review

Qarshi: Uzbekistan head coach Timur Kapadze wants to close out their AFC U23 Asian Cup™ Group A campaign with a perfect record when they face Iran on Tuesday.

The hosts opened their campaign with a 1-0 win over Turkmenistan, followed by a 6-0 masterclass against Qatar to see them through to the knockout stage with pole position secured.

Kapadze, however, expects a tough challenge from their Central Asian rivals, who are led by former Iran international Mehdi Mahdavikia.

“In general, there are no weak teams in this tournament, 16 of the strongest teams from Asia are in Uzbekistan,” said Kapadze. “In particular, Iran are a strong team and have their own style of play. They have several good players in every position.

“I know Mehdi Mahadavikia as a football player. He played in several famous teams. Today he has good results in coaching. He is one of the specialists who has formed his team well and has his own philosophy.”

#AFCU23 - Group A | Qatar 0 - 6 Uzbekistan

Kapadze hinted at the possibility of resting some players but is confident the replacements will deliver.

“We will first have to see the players’ condition, we may have some injuries, or take yellow cards into account. The rest of our players are good and can play in the starting-11, so we will see.

“We don’t only play well as a team but we also have a lot of individual players with good technical skills. I would not pay special attention to any player. Because, as I said, we have good players in every position.”

Having played before in front of big crowds in Tashkent, Uzbekistan have travelled down south to the city of Qarshi for the All-Central Asian derby at the Markaziy Stadium and Kapadze said his players are determined to deliver another winning performance for the fans.

“This competition is held on the fields of our country, that’s why this tournament is very important for us,” said Kapadze. “We want to win the title in front of our fans.”

#AFCU23 - Group A | Turkmenistan 2 - 1 Islamic Republic of Iran

Iran head coach Mahdavikia, meanwhile, faces a must-win match if his side are to stand a chance of finishing runners-up, depending on the Turkmenistan-Qatar result.

“We made mistakes in the first and second games and made it hard for ourselves after the defeat against Turkmenistan. However, we’re looking forward to facing Uzbekistan,” said Mahdavikia.

“We started well against Turkmenistan but during the second half, we lost control and that allowed them to score the second goal. Getting the three points is very important tomorrow. We must win.”

Despite the control and better ball possesion in both the matches, Iran’s U23 started the tournament with a big handicap. The preparation has been dismal, the support from Iran’s Olympic Committee has been nothing but hot air, while the only bright part of the team, Mahdavikia was just about to leave in frustration. All these were signs of a team that is crumbling and trying to enter the competition for the sake of turning up. The two matches also showed how immature the Iranian players are at such an age level. IT is embarrassing and once again indicative of such a poor grassroots development in Iran.

The chances of Iran’s Omid team beating one of the contenders and host of the tournament is remote, but with the possibility that the Uzbek will line up a second-string team after assuring qualification, Mahdavikia must take that chance if his players do not fail him.

Uzbekistan v IR Iran
Venue: Markaziy Stadium (Qarshi)
Kick-off: 22:00 (UTC+5)

06/06/2022

Canadian Soccer circus. After Iran the Panama match is also canceled.

Canada Soccer’s interim general secretary Earl Cochrane looked down upon a sparsely populated ballroom in the foundations of Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium and tried to sum up the past two weeks for the national association.

“What I think it says to the international community,” he observed, “is that we have an unbelievable ability to punch above our weight in everything that we do.”

John Herdman’s side, who bridged a 36-year gap to qualify for the Qatar World Cup and light a wildfire of interest in the team, had taken a protest against their own governing body to its most drastic point. Having initially refused to train on both Friday and Saturday, on Sunday they refused to play the match itself. Canada Soccer had managed to lose not one but two friendlies in less than a week and a whole lot more besides. Millions of dollars in ticket revenue, oceans of goodwill, and positivity that Alphonso Davies and co had brought to the sport here. All of it.

Considering Canada is a co-host for the next FIFA World Cup, it speaks volumes of a disjointed, politically polluted, and unpredictable football federation in a country where Soccer is not even the first or most popular sport !

Take that.