Iran defeated Uzbekistan 1 – 0 in the friendly international match held in Tashkent. The only goal of the match was scored by substitute Mehdi Torabi on the 67th minute of the match.

This was Iran’s first match after the world cup. Queiroz opted to stick with the same players who served him well in Russia with the addition of two new faces, one of them Sadegh Moharrami , made his debut as a substitute.

Team Melli was more adventurous in this friendly game and ventured forward quite a bit without compromising the defense. The young Uzbek team under new coach Hector Cuper, was not able to get any change from the Iranian defense and what reach the keeper Amir Abedzadeh was dealt well by him. Abedzadeh played the whole game and apart from one or two errors in his timing for crosses, he did quite well.

In the second half, the intensity of the game increased as both teams were looking for a winner. It was obvious however, that Iran was the more likely to score than the host team.

The goal was scored by Torabi from a clever penetrating pass from Saeid Ezatollahi from the left side after nifty exchanges involving  Ali Gholizadeh. Eventually it was a simple tap in for Torabi as the Uzbek keeper was stranded and nowhere near the ball.

It was a pretty good test for Iran and more of this is needed between now and January 2019 when the AFC Asian Cup will start. There are still some work to be done especially up the front where the finishing is week and last touches are poor. While the build up and counter attacks by Team Melli is all nicely executed the final ball left a lot to be desired. Ansarifard drew an isolated figure and had little of the ball. Jahanbakhsh was not prominent in the match, while Mehdi Taremi who was substituted in the second half could have done much better to put Iran ahead.

Queiroz keeps using Saman Ghoddos sparingly. This player need s a full match to blend in. His cameo appearance once again was fruitless.

Overall, there was much more positives to be take from this match. If Iran has any ambitions to win the Asian Cup again, they need stronger more potent offensive plan which can score goals.

Hector Cooper, the Argentine head coach of Uzbekistan said that tomorrow’s game against Iran is a serious test for the new Uzbek team in preparation for the AFC Asian Cup.

Cooper “Queiroz has given this team stability. “

Uzbekistan and Iran will meet tomorrow night (Tuesday) in an international friendly match in Bunyodkor Stadium , Tashkent. “Tomorrow we will have a serious match against Iran,” Hector Cooper said at the pre-match press conference. “This is a test for us. We are going to send new players on to the field. Iran is a very good and powerful team, and Carlos Queiroz has given this team stability. Tomorrow I want my players to play football and I have told them that they have to follow orders from the coaching staff on the pitch.”

He went on to say: “We want to fix the mistakes we have seen in the practice sessions. I know that the team faces a lot of problems and we have to be able to make the most of the match against Iran. Uzbekistan is ranked 95th in FIFA and Iran ranked 35th. I kindly ask you to please consider this fact. Our legionnaire players have been added to the squad recently and we hope we can use them in the game tomorrow.”

Shojaei: We do not let anyone go to another team!

Team Melli’s captain predicted that his national team’s match against Uzbekistan will be quite attractive and exciting.

In the pre-match News Conference , Massoud Shojaei, told the media , “I thank the Uzbekistan Football Federation for making this friendly match possible. We are glad that we are here and tomorrow (Tuesday) will surely be a beautiful day for the fans as we aim to put on a good show for the audiences and the fans to enjoy“

The captain of Team Melli added: Iran has been the best Asian team in recent years. We must always try to show that this is not by mere luck. In every match, such as this friendly match against Uzbekistan, we must try to get a result “

Shojaei continued to talk about the presence of Carlos Queiroz in the national team, adding: “Since Queiroz arrived, the national team has made significant progress and achieved a good place in the world. That’s why has been working in Iran for 7 years. We appreciate the work he has done for our soccer, and we will not let him go to another team.(laughter)”

Head2Head

The failure of the Iranian national team to play friendly games against leading teams over the past few years, and especially since the time of Carlos Queiroz took over the helm, has caused a lot of doubts and raised many question marks among the football community. One such concern was echoed by Amir Ghalenoei in today’s interview with ISNA.

The poor international relation and media team of the Football Federation in the past, or the sanctions against Iran was frequently mentioned as reasons for the reluctance of major football countries to play Iranian teams, but some also believe that this is deliberate strategy by the coaching staff who are reluctant to hold big games and face quality opponents.

Amir Ghalenoei , a former head coach of Team Melli, who has challenged many of Queiroz statements in the past, is one of those critics who consider the coaching staff’s perspective as the main factor in determining the national team’s preparations for the big games. He has been one of the main critics of Queiroz playing style and his selection system. In his latest statement, Ghalenoei indirectly criticized Team Melli’s head coach and accused him of being afraid of confronting strong teams. Ghalenoei dismisses the idea of foreign country’s reluctance to meet or travel to Iran, and cited the example of Iran national volleyball team that easily visits major countries and hosts all nations including the USA.

“I have a question. Is football federation’s international communications and networking good enough? Why is our volleyball federation’s planning is so good in all aspects on international scene including playing world class games? Well, this volleyball team is for Iran too, right?”

“It’s all about the attitude and mentality of managers and coaching staff of the team, how to plan , whom to play with and on which dates” Ghalenoei said. “Officials should not just be looking for the FIFA ranking that, for example, if they play with a certain team, their ranking in FIFA will be affected negatively.”

One of the recent critiques of Queiroz’s strategy, which has been raised in today’s interview with Ghalenoei, is the prolonged negotiation and wasting of time to extend the contract between FFIRI and the coaching staff, which means loss of opportunities for the next big challenge, the Asian Cup 2019. Ghalenoei has occasionally criticized Queiroz’s in the past for his selection criteria of inviting players, how to organize training camps, as well as Queiroz’s low regards for the domestic league players.

Team Melli is continue training sessions under Carlos Queiroz in preparation for the Uzbekistan match in Tashkent. The team trained at Azadi Stadium on Wednesday evening.

“We have a friendly  game with the Uzbek national team, which we have to put all our focus on.” Queiroz said “We will try to go to Uzbekistan with 25 players. We aim to play a decent game and utilize the the new players. Support work is under way. However it is slow.”

In response to some of his earlier statements about leaving his post,  which was not too convincing to many critics, the national team head coach said : Who has said this? As I said before, I have no worries and I will carry on doing my job. There is no problem with this and we shall do our work.”

Referring to Sardar Azmoun who abruptly announced his retirement from international football, Queiroz said “He is one of the best players in the national team, and I’m sure that his problems will be resolved soon,”.

Asked if he has declined playing friendly games against Argentine and Colombia: “Who has said this? Do you have an official letter of this game?”

When Queiroz was presented by the federation with documentation and letters, he responded by saying: “I have no clue about these games, If this is true, then it would be like a miracle.!!! If this  thing is right, I’m happy to crawl on my knees all the way to Dubai. After all these years, where we had problems with the arranging friendly games, if that’s is true , it’s excellent.”

“We all know that these problems exist,” he said about foreign currency issues.” Everyone should try to work to solve these problems so that we can get good results in the Asian Cup. When the dollar goes up, then Mehdi Taj should solve this problem, but when Ronaldo rises, it’s a technical problem and I have to fix the problem.”

Queiroz emphasized on the quality of player for Team Melli selections: “As long as I am in the national team, it does not matter to me where the player is from. A good player should be in the national team. It’s a very serious matter, as long as I am here at the helm, it does not matter if the player is from the north, south, center, or west and east of the country. A good player must be selected.”

The selection of 6 Esteghlal players (all defence line) against only one player from defending champion Persepolis, has raised lots of concerns about Queiroz selection criteria. Many accuse him of ignoring Persepolis due personal grudges with Persepolis head coach Branko Ivankovic.

Carlos Queiroz, referring to the change in the national team’s media manager, and said that Hosseini, who was previously present, has become the successor to the media coordinator Moa’tamed Kia. I hope the media will ask me directly if they have any ambiguity about the national team, or from the department of national teams to minimize the problems.”

It has been claimed that the U 23 team (Omid) has been dispatched to the Asian Games Jakarta 2018 for gaining experience in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but the loss to Myanmar has undermined all these goals, and what remained was a shameful act that is Iran football is suffering from.

“The only thing that is worse than losing is one’s inability to admit the mistakes.” This phrase is a dialogue that has been spoken by Kevin Spacey in movie 21, but it currently applies to the Iranian football federation, and it is also generally wide spread phenomena in Iran’s sport.

They simply do not admit mistakes, excel in giving excuses and hence those mistakes are repeated and losses continue.

One of the mistakes that the federation will not accept in any way is the shameful ill conceived loss to Myanmar in the Group stages of the Asian Games 2018 Jakarta. The pre-planned loss did not even achieve the objectives in the end, at with it the team’s hope.

The tale of Omid team for the Asian Games in Jakarta began a few months ago. After a lot of drama  and the usual chaotic ill programming of FFIRI.  Zlatko Krancjar was appointed on May 22 as the head of Iran’s Omid team. What was the purpose of the employing of such a veteran coach? Gain experience in Asian Games to prepare this squad to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics!

After the coach’s appointment, Omid hosted a series of training camps, featuring friendly matches with the Iraqi and Chinese teams. Throughout this time, Hamid Estilli, Zlatko Krancjar and a horde of football officials proclaimed that the Asian Games, is a platform on which the team will gain experience for the bigger goal. As a result, a team of under 21 was organized to compete in Indonesia.

In the three months before the games,  despite the approval of the FFIRI Council’s mandate that the clubs are obliged to release invited players to Omid team for training sessions, which practically means not more than 2 players from each league team, however, several clubs including Nasiji and Tractorsazi refused to release players.

Also, Omid Nourfakan and Reza Shakari, two key players playing for  Charleoi Belgium and Rubin Kazan Russia , were not released by their clubs. While South Korea was able to call on star players like Son Hyun Min, a key player for a Premier League title contenders, Tottenham to join.

Eventually, the Omid football team with 20 players headed towards Indonesia to compete in the Asian Games Group F with Saudi Arabia, Myanmar and North Korea. The glitches started to surface as soon as they landed in Jakarta.  Nutritional problems and training ground were the major concerns. Team had to practice on gravel, showing Indonesia’s weak hosting.  The squad also experienced the dismissal of Mohammad Amin Asadi , after what the Team officials claimed as the Persepolis’ players repeated indiscretions and disciplinary matters. Asadi was sent home.

With all these problems, admittedly nothing of which was a show stopper, Iran managed a satisfactory goal-less draw against Saudi Arabia in the first game. The best result was gained against North Korea by defeating the physically tough last Asian Games finalist by three goals, but these two promising results and a 4 point group lead all crumbled in the fiasco and pre-mediated loss to Myanmar.

Plan was for the Omid team to be placed second, and avoid facing South Korea in the next round! The fear of confrontation with South Korea, which eventually became the Gold Medal winner, resulted in Iran playing a match which was so shamefully orchestrated to lose and so poorly executed, that FIFA ,  AFC or even the Games Organizing Committee could have easily expelled Iran from the Football tournament for fixing a match or based on unsportmanship conduct. It was that bad and that obvious. It was akin to a wrestler who is expelled for inactivity in Free Style wrestling.

Despite that, the disgraceful defeat against Myanmar did not achieve the team officials wishes, as Iran ended up the top of the group and faced their nemesis South Korean side in the next round. Iran lost 2-0 and eliminated from the tournament. The interesting thing about the group, was that Saudi Arabia lost to North Korea 3-0 and were ranked third in the table and as such they faced China in the round of 16.

The comedy and Irony is that thick-skinned officials of Iran’s team like Hamid Estili and Reza Shahroudi had the audacity to condemn Saudi Arabia’s loss to North Korea, considered it cowardly and accused them of cheating, while considering their own team loss to Myanmar as just an honest football game!!

Still, with all the hoopla about the team competing in Asian Games just for experience, no official is willing to explain the steep drop of form, lethargic performance and the sudden fall from grace of the team against Myanmar. The objectives, were forgotten in Asian games, to be replaced by fear of facing South Korea .

Perhaps the best comment on Iran’s loss to Myanmar was by Iran’s football legend Ali Daei. “We lost everything in the game with Myanmar.”

However, there might still be a trace of hope for coaching Staff of Omid team, to  re-energize and re-group in order to qualify this group of young talented Iranian players, to break the spell 44 years of failure to reach the Olympics.

It is a big mistake to forget the Asian Games event. The common man in  Iran has suffered a lot because of poor management by the hierarchy. Football fans suffered twice as much because processes, systems, accountability, Scheduling & programming , visions, talent resource management and culpability has always been missing in Iranian football institution….what remains is prayers and false hopes.