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Omid Team list for Oman match is announced.

Zlatko Kranjcar has announced the list of 22 players who will join the U23 team for the friendly match against Oman on 20th November.  The match will be held in the Omani Capital Muscat and is a part of the preparation for the upcoming challenge at continental level and the qualifying for the Olympics.

 

the squad

 

Abol Fazl Jalali (Saipa)

Abolfazl Razzaghpour, (Peykan)

Ali Taheran (Tractoration Tabriz)

Allahyar Sayadmanesh (Esteghlal Tehran)

Amir Roustaei, (Peykan)

Aref Aghasi (Foolad Khouzestan)

Hamid Reza Taherkhani (Persepolis)

Hossein Saki (Sanat Naft Abadan)

Mehdi Ghaedi (Esteghlal Tehran)

Meiraj Ismaili (Zob Ahan)

Mohammad Aghajanpour (Padideh Mashhad)

Mohammad Khodabandehlo  (Peykan)

Mohammad Mehdi Mehdikhani (Padideh Mashhad)

Mohammad Reza Azadi (Tractoration Tabriz)

Nader Mohammadi (Peykan)

Omid Darreh (Saipa)

Omid Noorafkan  (Chareloi )

Reza Jebeireh  (Sanat Naft Abadan)

Reza Karimi (Esteghlal Tehran)

Reza Shakari (Rubin Kazan)

Shahab Adeli (Sepahan),

Sina Zamehran (Padideh Mashhad)

Major crises averted in Iran’s football.

Finally, the potential major crises and suspension of Iranian FFIRI was defused, after a government spoke person confirmed that the Football federation is a special case under the international governing Body and is except from parliament or government orders.

Therefore, Mehdi Taj will remain as the President of Iran’s football federation and can only be replaced by the processes governing elections after the end of term. The retirement laws will not apply to Mehdi Taj who has repeatedly declared that he will follow government or parliament laws, but in private, he has informed both AFC and FIFA of the prevailing situation and the impact of the ruling on him prompting AFC to issue a hands-off warning to Iranian authorities.

However, the rest of the personnel of FFIRI who are on government pension scheme but also members of FFIRI various committees are not as lucky as Mehdi Taj. Mohammad Reza Saket, Secretary General of the Football Federation, Abdol-Kazem Taleghani, Haidar Baharvand, Mahmoud Islamiyan, Fereydoun Esfahanian and Ali Kaffashian  must resign because of their retirement. These people are supposed to announce their resignation at the Football Federation Assembly in order to identify their successors.
The 58 years old Mehdi Taj has replaced Ali Kaffashian on 7th May 2016. The latter is serving as his deputy in a role reversal!
KArim Ansarifard

Narrow win for Team Melli against Trinidad & Tobago.

Team Melli defeated Trinidad & Tobago 1 – 0 in the match which was played in Azadi Stadium. Karim Ansarifard scored Iran’s goal five minutes into the second half.

T&T were a good  opponent for Team Melli despite their ultra physical game that threatened to spoil this friendly match which started on a good note. In particular, the midfielder Kaleem Hyland seemed to be in a mission to destroy the match and the opponents with his rough tackles, which earned him  a yellow card as early as the 18th minute, his acting, grass-rolling and constant argument with the weak referee. A sad excuse for a Captain, luckily not many T&T players followed the footstep and behaviour of their leader! It seems that playing in Saudi Arabia has had its effect on the attitude and mental status of T&T No. 8 Hyland .

Team  Melli started with a team which was mostly second string with a debut for Ahmad Noorullahei, the Persepolis midfield player. The central defense, was probably the most vulnerable and least experienced with Cheshmi and Kanan-Zadegan, however, there was plenty of experience at the half backs in Hajsafy and Ghafoori

Up front, Ansarifard and Kaveh  Rezaei, manged one solid shot each to test the T&T keeper.Philip, both were saved. On the half hour, T&T conceded a soft penalty, which Ansarifard was assigned to take. His feeble shot was easily saved by  Philip extended legs, the rebound dropped kindly in front of Ansarifard’s . All he had to do was calmly slot it anywhere between the posts,  instead he Nottingham Forest forward, ballooned it over the bar.

Despite Iran’s control of the game, there was no goals and few dangerous chances to take the lead.

It was in the 50th minute however, the Karim Ansarifard redeemed himself, and in style too. Received a diagonal pass from Vouriya Ghafoori, Ansarifard easily dribbled past his marker and left him for dead, before he aimed at the right hand side of Philip from 25 meters. The ball went through Hyland legs before beating the keeper.

  Iran continued strongly after that and mass substitution by both side, that ensued which usually spoils a match, was surprisingly not the case here. After the changes, the match turned in to real competition. Both teams tried hard but in reality, it was unforeseeable to see T&T score. Hossein Hososein in goal, had not had even one shot to save but picked a few loose balls to his liking.

Although Team Melli had a satisfactory match and winning one too, there are still quite a bit of work to be done on players coordination, still the biggest problem. Particular area of weakness is the final ball around the box of the opponents. Team Melli seem to freeze or run out of idea when they get there. Queiroz , will be definitely busy thinking of solution for that.

Venezuela match to be played in Doha

According to IRIFF’s official website, the Iranian national team will fly to Doha, Qatar right after the match against Trinidad and Tobago, in preparation for another international friendly on the 20th November 2018 day at Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium against Venezuela.

This match was supposed to be played in Tehran, but the Venezuelan federation had a change of mind and refused to travel to Tehran.  Negotiations between the two resulted in a midway solution as the match venue was changed to Doha.

Venezuela is ranked twenty-ninth and in FIFA Ranking one above Iran. The match will be held Tuesday, November 29, 18 (local time) in Doha.

AFC warns Iran on government interference!

Kuala Lumpur: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is closely monitoring the current issues faced by the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI) with regard to the announcement of a Law by the Republic Parliament designating the FFIRI as a Non Government public body and prohibiting the engagement of retired personnel.

The FFIRI stresses that it is a non governmental Organisation and the AFC state that all Member Associations must fulfil their duties without any third-party interference either from the Government or the Parliament.

The AFC is closely working with the FFIRI, whose current board was elected for four years in May 2016, to prevent any outside interference.

The AFC has a zero tolerance policy towards any third-party interference in their Member Associations and hopes that, with less than two months to the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019, the FFIRI can maintain its independence and avoid any sanctions.

Trinidad and Tobago trains under unusually cold weather for the Caribbean players

Trinidad and Tobago’s National Football Team underwent its first training session in wet and chilly conditions on Monday morning in Tehran as head coach Dennis Lawrence conducted a one-hour session at the Iran Football Federation headquarters training pitch. Lawrence and members of the squad arrived in Tehran on Sunday night following the 14-hour journey to Dubai from Fort Lauderdale before the one hour, 45 minute flight to Tehran.

It rained for much of the day and temperatures reached 15 degrees during the midday session and dropped to a further 11 degrees by 6pm.  The Iran national team, coached by Carlos Quieroz also trained at the facility prior to T&T’s session ahead of Thursday’s international friendly at the Azadi Stadium,

On Saturday it was a historic moment for the female football fans of Iran as hundreds of them, separated from male supporters, watched home team Persepolis going down to Japan’s Kashima Antlers after putting up a tough fight in the Asian Champions League. Women were allowed 300 seats at the 90-000-seater venue and it is left to be seen how many will show up at Thursday’s friendly.Some 100 women attended last month’s friendly against Bolivia at the national stadium here. Women have been barred from attending matches since the 1979 Islamic revolution, with authorities saying they must be protected from the masculine atmosphere. But  female fans were permitted to cheer on their team  versus Bolivia with horns and national flags from a separate stand inside the stadium.

Queiroz named a 24-man squad on the weekend to prepare for the two upcoming friendlies with T&T and Venezuela. The squad includes star forward Karim Ansarifard, who played at the 2018 World Cup.

The striker, who scored the equaliser for his country in their 1-1 draw with Portugal at the World Cup, recently joined Nottingham Forest from Olympiacos. Club Brugge forward Kaveh Razaei, experienced 34-year-old captain Masoud Shojaei and Kazan-based striker Sardar Azmoun who has 23 goals from 37 matches have all been included in the home team’s roster.

T&T will be captained by Khaleem Hyland, Charleston Battery’s US-based midfielder Ataulla Guerra and German-based winger Joevin Jones and Kazakhstan-based defender Sheldon Bateau are in the T&T line-up along with Saudi Arabia-based duo Daneil Cyrus and Lester Peltier who is back in the team after a three-year absence.

Hyland said it was clear that  game against Iran would be one of T&T’s biggest assignment in some time.

“We know the quality that Iran has. They have a huge coach and they are just coming off a strong showing at the World Cup” Hyland told TTFA Media at the Parsian International hotel in Tehran on Monday.

“We played against them before the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and I think this is a huge game for us to see what level we are at and where have to go. I expect a tough game and the conditions changes just the same as Saudi Arabia. One minute it can be very humid and then very cold. We are over here to get a job done and we’ll try to stay focused and go out and do what we are here for and try to get a positive result on Thursday,” Hyland added.

With T&T preparing for the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup and CONCACAF Nations League, the former Belgium-based midfielder  stated, “These are important games and you can only get better playing teams like these because they play in World Cup every four years and I think it’s a great opportunity to finally get ready for the Gold Cup and Nations League next year by playing teams of this high quality.

“We knew when Dennis took over the team it was a very difficult period. He was trying to patch up things and it was not the easiest of positions for any coach to come in under. Right now we are at a great level since then. We had to take it step by step since to fix things and so far we are getting there. Everyone has taken Dennis on board and he he is trying to implement what he wants us to do and how he wants us to carry about ourselves. I think he is a role model for a lot of the guys. He scored to take us to the 2006 World Cup and he has a lot of experience coaching under huge coaches. I think he can only help us and hopefully we can put every puzzle together and get ready for the upcoming tournaments,” Hyland added.

Trinidad & Tobago roster

Team Melli will be facing T&T on Thursday in Azadi Stadium as part of its long preparation for the upcoming AFC Asian Cup 2019 in the Emirates.

The Trinidad side roster has been announced and it includes National Under 20 Men’s Team forward Isaiah Lee who was in Bradenton, Florida with the T&T Under 20 team. Lee is T&T’s top scorer with three goals at the CONCACAF U-20 Championship.  Earning a recall is Saudi Arabia-based player Lester Peltier and Cordell Cato, while Levi Garcia, Shahdon Winchester and Neveal Hackshaw are all missing due to injury.

Also among the new call ups is 25-year-old Danish-born goalkeeper Nicklas Frenderup who plays for Norwegian First Division club Sandes ULF.

 

Trinidad & Tobago Squad

 

NAME
PLAYERS CLUB #
1 SHELDON  BATEAU F.C. KAIRAT, KAZAKHSTAN 4
2 CORDELL  CATO CHARLOTTE INDEPENDENCE, USA 7
3 DANEIL  CYRUS AL-OROBAH F.C., SAUDI ARABIA 5
4 AUBREY  DAVID VAASAN PALLOSEURA F.C., FINLAND 2
5 NICKLAS  FRENDERUP SANDNES ULF, NORWAY 21
6 ADRIAN  FONCETTE POLICE F.C., T&T 22
7 CURTIS  GONZALES DEFENCE FORCE F.C., T&T 15
8 ATAULLA  GUERRA CHARLESTON BATTERY, U.S.A. 10
9 TRISTON  HODGE W CONNECTION F.C., T&T 18
10 AKEEM  HUMPHREY CLUB SANDO F.C., T&T 12
11 KHALEEM  HYLAND AL FAISALY F.C., SAUDI ARABIA 8
12 ALVIN  JONES W CONNECTION F.C., T&T 16
13 JOEVIN  JONES DARMSTADT 98,  GERMANY 3
14 KESTON  JULIEN AS TRENCIN FUTBAL CLUB, SLOVAKIA 6
15 ISAIAH  LEE MONROE COMMUNITY COLLEGE, USA 17
16 NATHAN  LEWIS INDY  ELEVEN F.C., USA 9
17 DUANE  MUCKETTE CENTRAL F.C., T&T 13
18 LESTON  PAUL CENTRAL F.C., T&T 23
19 LESTER  PELTIER CLUB AL MUJAZZAL, SAUDI ARABIA 11
20 MARVIN  PHILLIP CENTRAL F.C., T&T 1
21 JOMAL  WILLIAMS W CONNECTION F.C., T&T 20

24 players called to Team Melli camp.

24 players have been summoned for Team Melli training camp by head coach Carlos Queiroz.

After the Venezuelan team reversal and refusal to travel to Tehran, Team Melli has one opportunity now in FIFA day and that match will be against Trinidad.

Notable long-term absentees are Saeed Ezatolahie who might only recover in December , Morteza Pouraliganji and Pejman Montazeri. Alireza Jahanbakhsh also has a slight knock but might make it to the match in Azadi.

 

THE SQUAD

# Player Post Club Country

GOALKEEPERS
1 ABEDZADEH, Amir GK C.S. Marítimo
2 BIRANVAND, Alireza GK Persepolis
3 HOSSEINI, Hossein GK Esteghlal

DEFENDERS
4 CHESHMI, Rouzbeh DF Esteghlal
5 GHAFOORI, Vourya DF Esteghlal
6 HOSSEINI, Majeed DF Trabzonspor
7 KANANI-ZADEGAN, Hossein DF Machine Sazi
8 KHANZADEH, Mohammadreza DF Al Ahli
9 MOHAMMADI, Milad DF Akhmat Grozny
10 MOHARRAMI, Sadegh DF Dinamo Zagreb
11 REZAEIAN, Ramin DF Al Shahaniya

MIDFIELD
11 AMIRI, Vahid MF Trabzonspor
12 DEJAGAH, Ashkan MF Tractorsazi
13 EBRAHIMI, Omid MF Al Ahli
14 GHODDOS, Saman MF Aimes
15 HAJSAFY, Ehsan MF Tractorsazi
16 NOORALLAHIE, Ahmad MF Persepolis
17 SHOJAEI, Masoud MF Tractorsazi
18 TORABI, Mehdi MF Saipa Alborz

FORWARDS
19 ANSARIFARD, Karim FW Nottingham Forest
20 AZMOUN, Sardar FW Rubin Kazan
21 GHOLIZADEH, Ali FW Charleroi 
22 JAHANBAKHSH, AliReza FW Brighton & Hove Albion
23 REZAEI, Kaveh FW FC Brugge
24 TAREMI, Mehdi FW Al Gharrafah

Queiroz did not attend AFC League Champions final.

When Giovanni Infantino , FIFA President and AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim make an effort to attend the AFC Champions League 2018 final , it is the minimum expectation for the National Team coach cadre and the head coach to be there among the elite.

Not Carlos Queiroz .

Queiroz was the big time absentee in yesterday’s home match between Persepolis and Kashima Antlers in a jammed packed Azadi Stadium. The match ended goal-less and the Japanese club lifted the trophy for the first time after a 2-0 aggregate score.

National team coaches all around the world always make it their duty to attend league matches of their domestic league and if they have players outside their country, they also attend. Gareth Southgate is seen regularly and religiously attending the Premier League as head coach of England team. Queiroz on the other hand, rarely attends Persian league football matches and even the top club game in Asian football does not seem to attract his interest.

However, Queiroz is frequently turns up in Europe to watch the same players that her already know about and are fixed in his starting line up!

Iran lifts Intercontinental Beach Soccer 2018 Trophy

Iran Beach Soccer Team, made history by lifting the Huawei Intercontinental Beach Soccer 2018 Trophy in Dubai after beating Russia 4-2 in the final on Saturday.

The atmosphere  of the packed stands in the Kite Beach in Jumeirah was electrifying as both the Iranian and Russian fans made themselves heard even before the start of the match. for both sets of fans livened up the proceedings at the 3,500-seater, state of the art stadium with drum beats and horns.

Iran were 3-0 ahead in the first period as the Russians were stunned by the wave after wave of Iranian offensive moves. By the third period, Russia managed to pull 1 goal back to make it 3-1 but Iran scored again to make it 4-1

Russia, quite fatigued from yesterdays marathon and difficult win in the semi-final but s yet still determined to make a game of it against Iran, pulled one more goal back in the 3rd period to make it 4-2. After the Russian goal, they attacked in force but they were open for Iranian counter attack of which many chances were missed to increase Iran’s tally of goals.

At the end of the action-packed 36 minutes , it did not matter as the two goal victory margin was maintained by Iran until the end to win their second Intercontinental Beach Soccer  Trophy after 2013. Ahmadzadeh lifted the cup as the players and Iranian fans rejoiced.

For the Asian champions and winners of the 2013 competition, it was the second win against Russia and the only unbeaten team in the tournament.