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Sardar puts the icing on the cake for Zenit St. Petersburg with a hat trick.

Teammeli center forward, continued his brilliant run in the Russian League by scoring a hat-trick in the game against staunch rivals Locomotiv to award his team the Russian league title for the third season running.

On the match played on Sunday evening, Zenit St, Petersburg needed a win to secure the title. Dzyuba scored in the 19th minute in the first half then Azmoun opened his account with a brilliant powerful header from Driussi cross in the 39th minute, Right on the stroke of halftime, Zenit was awarded a penalty in which Azmoun scored his second and the third for his team.

In the second half, with barely a minute passed Azmoun completed his hat-trick when he slotted the ball from Malcolm cross.

Zenit went on to win 6-1 with Azmoun being subbed out on the 70th minute.

Sardar is leading the scoring chart with 19 goals followed by his teammate Dzyuba with 16.

Iran's Million EURO players

A total of 19 Iranian players have been valued at or above 1 million Euro.  Sardar Azmoun, the Zenit forward is at the top of the list at € 23 mn followed by Mehdi Taremi of Porto FC with € 13 mn. Both these players have been making the headlines recently. Taremi has made plenty of waves after that spectacular scissors kick goal against Chelsea in addition to his earlier goal in the previous round against Juventus in the UEFA Champions League. Taremi did his reputation a world of good by such performance and consequently his market value which is expected to increase significantly in the coming months. Azmoun, on the other hand, has been slotting them in with Zenit. He is top of the Russian Premier League goal scorers chart with 15 goals. Despite the quoted figures by TransferMarket, a specialist website that monitors players' values and transfers, it is highly unlikely that Zenit or Porto will part with their respective Iranian players at those prices. Azmoun will not be released for less than 50 million euros, while Taremi is approaching the €30 million mark. However, the rest of the legionnaires have not fared anywhere near the exceptional Azmoun and Taremi. Alireza Jahanbakhsh has seen his value spiral dive after two disappointing seasons in the Premier League with Brighton. The highest valued domestic league player is Mehdi Ghaedi who is valued at  €1,6 million and sits at number 11 on the list. Two players who are not in this current list but making significant progress should appear in the chart soon (their value top the €1 million). These two are club mates Shahab Zahedi and Allahyar Sayyadmanesh of the Ukrainian club Vorya.  

LIST OF TOP VALUED IRANIAN PLAYERS

 
# Player Age Market value million in US$
1 Sardar Azmoun 26  €       23.00  $         27,558,600.00
2 Mehdi Taremi 28  €       13.00  $         15,576,600.00
3 Alireza Jahanbakhsh 27  €         5.00  $           5,991,000.00
4 Ali Gholizadeh 25  €         4.00  $           4,792,800.00
5 Kaveh Rezaei 29  €         3.20  $           3,834,240.00
6 Saman Ghoddos 27  €         3.00  $           3,594,600.00
7 Milad Mohammadi 27  €         2.80  $           3,354,960.00
8 Mehrdad Mohammadi 27  €         2.50  $           2,995,500.00
9 Alireza Beiranvand 28  €         2.00  $           2,396,400.00
10 Karim Ansarifard 31  €         1.80  $           2,156,760.00
11 Mehdi Ghayedi 22  €         1.60  $           1,917,120.00
12 Sadegh Moharrami 25  €         1.50  $           1,797,300.00
13 Ahmad Nourollahi 28  €         1.40  $           1,677,480.00
14 Amir Abedzadeh 27  €         1.30  $           1,557,660.00
15 Majid Hosseini 24  €         1.20  $           1,437,840.00
16 Ehsan Hajsafi 31  €         1.10  $           1,318,020.00
17 Mehdi Torabi 26  €         1.10  $           1,318,020.00
18 Morteza Pouraliganji 28  €         1.00  $           1,198,200.00
19 Amir Arsalan Motahari 28  €         1.00  $           1,198,200.00

CAS acknowledges FFIRI petition.

The Iranian Football Federation FFIRI has issued a statement published on its website regarding the progress of its complaints against AFC in the Court of Arbitration for Sport CAS. The text of the statement is hereunder:

1- The judges of CAS acknowledge the receipt of an Official letter from FFIRI on Tuesday 13th April 2021, in form of a petition against AFC and request for reversal of its decision to award the hosting of World Cup Qualifier matches to a competitor (Bahrain). The issue has been assigned to a panel of experts.

2- About the letter received from the plaintiff (FFIRI) the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has accepted the complaint and its contents and consequently allowed the Asian Football Confederation 10 days to respond to the complaint.

3- CAS, recognizing the importance and the urgency of the matter has assigned 3-judge panel to pursue the complaint and review the situations and conditions for a final ruling.

The FFIRI has reached the Court of Arbitration for Sport CAS to file a case against the Asian football ruling body in protest to the award hosting rights for the centralized preliminary rounds of World Cup qualifiers to Bahrain. AFC has claimed that the selection was done fairly based on several factors that the AFC has refused to disclose to the media!

AFC has refused to answer queries by World Media and has not been transparent on this selection mechanism.

Iran has already lost away games to Iraq and Bahrain, so centralizing in Bahrain gives the Bahrainis an unfair advantage while FIFA and AFC spread the sermon of “Fair Play” worldwide. At this stage of World Cup 2022 qualifying, only group winners are guaranteed to go through to the final group qualifying, with the other five slots going to the best-placed group runners-up.

The Iranians claim that they should be hosting the group and that the AFC made the decision to go to Bahrain under pressure from AFC president, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, who is from Bahrain. AFC claims that the decision to go to Bahrain was made on the hosting criteria the AFC has had for competitions during the pandemic. At the top of that list is whether the traveling players and staff will be safe.  Facts say otherwise, See the table below

Insiders claim that Dato’ Windsor John, Secretary-General was the force behind this controversial award to satisfy his boss, Shaikh Salman. The Bahraini AFC President has cleverly stayed away from the issue, but ultimately, he is accountable and culpable.

This is the first time in the history of the World Cup since 1930, that a team plays both it is away and home matches at the opponent's country.

COVID19 Worldwide statistics.

If the AFC decision claims that Bahrain is safer (...) in terms of COVOD19, then this table refutes that claim. Bahrain is a small island with the sixth highest population density in the world (2159 per sq/km compared to 59 per sq/km for Iran). It has a ratio of 90,877 COVID19 cases per 1 million population. Iran on the other hand has less than half of that figure, nearly a third with 25,271. There are other statistical and legal arguments that do not put Bahrain ahead of Iran in terms of health hazards and safety in the pandemic.

# Country, Total Cases Total Deaths Total Recovered Tot Cases per 1M pop Deaths/ 1M pop Total Tests Tests/ 1M pop Population
1 USA 32,096,070 577,399 24,640,110 96,523 1,736 422,359,302 1,270,172 332,521,463
2 India 14,065,622 173,087 12,423,992 10,115 124 260,618,866 187,414 1,390,605,073
3 Brazil 13,601,566 358,718 12,074,798 63,636 1,678 28,600,000 133,807 213,741,192
4 France 5,149,834 99,777 315,152 78,760 1,526 70,521,002 1,078,522 65,386,679
5 Russia 4,666,209 104,000 4,291,223 31,964 712 124,400,000 852,151 145,983,521
6 UK 4,378,305 127,161 4,000,777 64,231 1,865 138,606,631 2,033,395 68,165,116
7 Turkey 4,025,557 34,734 3,480,146 47,333 408 42,509,905 499,835 85,047,882
15 Iran 2,143,794 65,359 1,739,002 25,271 770 13,964,570 164,615 84,831,939
78 Bahrain 158,789 566 147,162 90,877 324 3,815,826 2,183,841 1,747,300

Taremi scores sensational bicycle kick against Chelsea

Sérgio Conceição’s side had lost 2-0 to Chelsea last week at Seville’s Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium. Taremi played in the last 30 minutes but in that half an hour he created magic that will be talked about for a long time.  His bicycle kick just inside the box went to the roof of the goal leaving Chlsea's keeper Mendy motionless. Taremi became the first Iranian player to score a goal in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals. With such a goal, it is quite likely that he will be nominated for Puskas Trophy for the year's best goal. That would be a dream achievement for the Iraninan football. Unfortunately, Taremi can easily be his worst enemy due to weak self-control and poor mental toughness. Taremi missed the the first leg against Chelsea because he was sent off in the previous round against Juventus for what looked like one of the most stupid send offs in the history of the Championship league. The term childish and stupid was repeated by all pundits commenting on this act that seriously lacked professionalism. He was suspended for the next crucial match against Chlesa. Porto, without Taremi, lost 2-0 in the home leg. In the return leg and after that wonder goal, Taremi was back to his worst behaviour and could not keep his mouth shut, getting a late yellow card for dissent after he protested a referee call.  

Iran files CAS complaint against AFC for awarding Bahrain World Cup qualifiers

The Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI) has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the Asian Football Confederation's (AFC) decision to choose Bahrain as its centralized host for the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

The AFC said last month the remaining matches in the second round qualifying group, which features the hosts as well as Iran, Iraq, Cambodia, and Hong Kong, would be played in Bahrain in late May and early June. Iran had been scheduled to play three of their last four group fixtures at home, including their return match against Bahrain, and protested to the AFC at being "deprived" of their right to host matches. "After the announcement by the AFC Secretary-General that the decision was irreversible, the Iran Football Federation appealed against the decision ... before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)," read a statement posted on the federation's website. "The Football Federation of Iran has requested the Court of Arbitration for a speedy review of the case." The AFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Iran has long had a fractious political relationship with Bahrain, tensions which were exacerbated when the island kingdom signed a peace treaty with Israel last year. The Bahrain Football Association was fined 20,000 Swiss francs ($21,530.84) by FIFA for various offenses including the booing of the Iranian anthem during a World Cup qualifier between the nations in Riffa in 2019, which the hosts won 1-0. Iran striker Mehdi Taremi last month raised questions about the extreme heat in Bahrain in May and June and alleged that the AFC, which is led by Bahraini royal Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, was routinely biased against his country. Iraq leads Group C with Bahrain in second, while Iran, who have qualified for the last two World Cups, is third, five points behind the leaders with a game in hand. Only the group winners of each of the eight groups in the second round of Asian qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar are guaranteed to advance to the next phase of the competition. The matches are due to be played from May 31 until June 15 after the COVID-19 pandemic saw all of Asia's World Cup qualifiers postponed during 2020.

In mid-March, the AFC awarded Bahrain hosting rights for Group C in Asian qualifying after deciding to keep the upcoming fixtures in one place due to the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.

World Cup hosts Qatar, as well as China, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and South Korea, were all respectively awarded hosting duties for their respective groups.

Later that month, the AFC sent a letter to the FFIRI in which it insisted that Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, the AFC President, had not intervened in selecting his home country for the qualifiers.

"While we appreciate the interest by the FFIRI to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers, we would like to inform that the decision was made by the AFC general secretariat after due consideration and deliberation, factoring various areas, including but not limited to the standard of the proposed stadiums, risk assessment on logistical, commercial and financial arrangements for the participating member associations as well as the national COVID-19 pandemic status," read the letter.

"The AFC President does not intervene in the decisions made by the AFC general secretariat."

The FFIRI has since announced it would be appealing the hosting rights being given to Bahrain.

"The AFC has chosen Bahrain as the centralized venue and has said the venue cannot be changed at all," read a statement from FFIRI, as reported by the Tehran Times.

"We've asked CAS to take the issue into consideration as soon as possible."

Bahrain is set to host the remainder of the Asian Group C qualifying matches ©Getty Images
Bahrain is set to host the remainder of the Asian Group C qualifying matches ©Getty Images

It is reported that the Bahrain Football Association submitted its interest to host the group on February 16 and offered to pay Iran's expenses for the competition the following day.

The Tehran Times reported that Kuwait was awarded hosting over group rivals Jordan in respect to fair play, giving Kuwait their anticipated home tie.

Iran was not given this same treatment in relation to Bahrain, with its football authorities expressing concerns over a two-week period in late March and refusing to travel to Bahrain's capital Manama for a proposed meeting on April 3.

FFIRI had to file an appeal to CAS by March 31, which it reportedly did minutes ahead of the legal deadline and this was acknowledged last Monday (April 5). An online meeting involving AFC President Sheikh Salman and AFC general secretary Dato' Windsor John took place on Tuesday (April 6), but the Iran appeal was not discussed. Iran had been scheduled to host three of the four remaining matches before COVID-19 caused issues with qualifying. These were set to take place in Tehran against rivals Iraq, Bahrain, and Hong Kong, while their only away game against Cambodia was set to be held in Pnom Penh.

Sardar Azmoun scores a brace for Zenit

Sardar Azmoun scored a brace in the match between FK Sochi and Zenit St. Petersburg in the Russian Premier League match on Sunday 11th April.

The home team opened the scoring through Nikita Burmistrov in the 58th minute, but the visitors equalized with a powerful header by Team Melli forward, Sardar Azmoun from a cross by Jarosław Rakicki.

Azmoun then scored the winner and his team's second goal with another well-placed header out of reach of the stretching keeper.
This was Azmoun's 15th goal of the season in the Russian League. He heads the top scorers' list ahead of his striking partner and Teammate Dzuba, who has two goals less to his credit.
Zenit leads the table by 7 points margin in the 25th week of the season and looks a firm favorite to retain the title this season and lift the championship trophy before the end of the season.
After the match in an interview with the official Broadcaster of the Russian league, Azmoun was asked what he thought of him leading the top scorers' table with 15 goals, to which the Iranian striker said that he is much more important for him to win the title with his teammates rather than achieving individual honors.
Sardar is expected to lead Team Melli on the 3rd of June against Hong Kong , in the return legs of FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar qualifiers

IRAN 3 - 0 SYRIA

Team Melli defeated Syria 3-0 in an international friendly held in Azadi Stadium on Tuesday. Iran scored through Hossein Kanan-Zadegan, Sardar Azmouin, and Karim Ansarifard. The first half ended 2-0

Team Melli scored early in the first minute from a corner played by Ali Gholiszadeh. Central defender Hossein Kanano-Zadegan hit a ferocious header into the top of the Syrian net to open the scoring for Iran. Soon Iran took control of the play and could have easily doubled the scoreline. However, a lazy play by Azmoun who only had the diving Syrian keeper in front wasted a golden chance. After that miss by Azmoun, Syria slowly but surely took control of the game. Their midfield was more energetic than Iran and seem to have pace in the front line. The Iranian defense was solid however and only a brilliant save by Alireza Beiranvand, prevented Syria from scoring.

Although Beiravand's one-hand save was brilliant and an eye-candy, his assist for the second goal was an absolute gem. After catching the ball on the edge of his box and with a Syrian player budging him, Beiravand noticed Taremi free in the Syrian half. His world-class hand throws reached Porto's defender who took the ball nicely towards the Syrian goalkeeper. Ibrahim Alma saved with his extended legs only for the ball to rebound for the onrushing Azmoun who made no mistake with and slotted the ball into the net.

The second half saw a more balanced game between the two teams. Despite gallant efforts by the Syrians, they did not manage to seriously threaten Beiranvand until late in the game when their best attacker Mahmood Al Mawas hit a thunderous shot against the bar the resulting in the ball ricochet into play and cleared by the defenders.

On the hours and as usual, both teams saw many substitutions. The Team Melli midfield was strengthened by the introduction of Omid Ebrahimi. in the 81st minute, Karim Ansarifard scored a brilliant third goal as he got the ball and in one swift Shimmy send two of his markers the wrong way opening the goal for him. His powerful shot was beyond Syrian keeper Ibrahim Alma as he was beaten comprehensively by Karim's cracker. 3-0 for Iran.

Team Melli introduced two new debutants in this match. Jafar Salmani was the right-back, while Abofazl Jalali was substituted in the left-back position. Both played quite well as it was a successful introduction and should create very tough competition for the senior players.

The only concern in Iran's lineup must be the midfield. Until the mid-second half, the Iranian midfield players (Hajsafy, Nourallahi , Amiri, and Gholizadej did not create enough chances for the two potent and dangerous forwards of Team Melli. One goal came from a corner and one from an assist by goalkeeper Beiranvand. That is not good enough for a team looking to qualify in a tough World Cup qualifiers group.

Third test for Dragan Skocic

Team Melli and will face Syria in an international friendly today (Tuesday) at 17:30 in Azadi Stadium as part of the preparation for the upcoming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers. In recent years, Iran and Syria have faced each other in various competitions. The matches between the two teams in the World Cup qualifier in Russia in both round-trip matches ended in a draw, but with the change of Iran's training cadre and the arrival of Wilmots, Team Melli inflicted a heavy 5-0 defeat to the Syrians in a friendly match. Since then, the coaches of both teams have changed and now Syria is in a much better position than Iran in the World Cup qualifiers.

Iranian national team Dragan Skocic will have his third coaching experience with Team Melli against Syria. He has already managed to achieve a perfect record with two victories in two matches defeating Uzbekistan and Bosnia. The Croatian coach's whole effort is to prepare a team of the best Iranian players to claim a place in the World Cup qualifiers next round and defeat both Iraq and Bahrain in order to clinch one of the places. With the exception of a few players who were unable to accompany the national team due to injuries or travel restrictions during the spread of the Coronavirus, Skocic has invited most of the top players inside and outside Iran, although as always there have been criticisms in some posts.

However, the return of Taremi, Azmoun, Beiranvand, etc. to the national team in this camp compared to the earlier one is good news for the fans of Team Melli who always want to see a full-strength team in action. As in previous camps, the Croatian coach has invited several young and lesser-known players, and it remains to be seen what the consequences of their presence in the national team will be.

Given Bahrain hosting the third qualifying group for the World Cup in Asia, Skocic and his team are working very hard to advance to the next stage and must use the same friendly games to increase the quality and preparation of the national team.

Syrian national team The Syrian national team recently played a friendly match against Bahrain, and lost 3-1, with some Syrian media and fans criticizing their coach. However, Nabil Maaloul, who has a track record of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup with the Tunisian national team, has achieved brilliant results in the first group of the World Cup together with Syria and is in first place above China.

Syria has almost reached the third round of the World Cup and is now preparing for the toughest stage of the tournament to complete the unfinished work of the previous round. They lost four years ago in their last World Cup qualifier against Uruguay and failed to qualify for the World Cup. Omar Al-Suma (due to injury) and Omar Al-Kharbin (lifelong suspension from the national team) are not present in this match as two prominent strikers, but other main Syrian players have come to Tehran. This meeting is very important for Syria in terms of results and readiness.

Two additional players added to Team Melli squad

After the departure of the 3 Esteghlal players, Skocic added enforcement to the team. Sajjad Shahbazzadeh, the league's top scorer of Sepahan has been added to the roster. In addition, Hamed Lak, Persepolis goalkeeper who had an excellent AFC Asian Champions league was also added and would be joining the squad on Thursday. On the other hand, Syria's best player and central forward Omar Al Soma has been withdrawn from the Syrian training camp after an injury during training. He will not be traveling to Tehran for the match instead he will be heading to his club in Saudi Arabia for treatment.

3 Team Melli players leave camp after positive corona test results!

Team Melli's first training session was held today in preparation for the friendly match against Syria.

The team is camping at at the National Football Center and the session started from 11:30 am today (Wednesday). After the start of training, Dragan Skocic briefed the players for a few minutes, then followed by various exercises.. Team Melli is missing a few regulars this time mostly due to travel restriction due to covid19. Amir Abedzadeh was not invited to the camp due to quarantine laws on Madeira Island in Portugal , Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Saman Ghoddos due to flight restrictions from England, Morteza PouraliGanji and Sadegh Moharrami are both on the injury list while and Kaveh Rezaei has tested positive for coronavirus. Meanwhile, Mehdi Ghaedi, Aref Gholami and Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri, all three players from Esteghlal, left the camp due to  positive corona test. This training session lasted for 70 minutes with a focus on light physical work. The second training session will be conducted tomorrow (Thursday).