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Marc Wilmots leads first Team Melli practice session.

The first training session of Team Melli lead by Marc Wilmots was carried today with the presence of assistant coach Vahid Hashemian .

Prior to start of the session, the players and technical staff of Team Melli team handed flowers bouquets to the media personnel present at the training ground as a gesture of appreciation. . Persepolis players, who were scheduled to play the final of the Hazfi Cup in Ahvaz were absent today. Apart from Beiranvand, Torabi and Noorolahi, from Persepolis, the injured Rashid Mazaheri and  Sardar Azmoun were absent from the session.

Hossein Hosseini has replaced Mazaheri in the squad. The players started with a warm up run along the ground, then the group training consisted of practice with single-shot passes and stretching exercises. During the training, Ramin Rezaeian made errors in executing one or two moves, which forced Wilmots to give him a reminder.

The training continued in several routines under continuous instructions from Wilmots. Despite the various issues with the official sponsor of Team Melli kit, the team was wearing the Adidas kit, but it seems that the use of this kit is not expected to last for long. Media  were asked to leave after 25 minutes to allow Wilmots the freedom of continuing his work.

Vahid Hashemian appointed assistant coach of Team Melli

The former Team Melli striker, Vahid Hashemian has been appointed in the Team Melli coaching team as an assistant to Marc Wilmots, according to the FFIRI website.

 Wilmots decided on Wednesday to appoint Hashemian, because of his German language skills. The ex-striker lived in Germany for almost 20 years and can therefore communicate perfectly with the former Schalke player , now coach of Team Melli, Marc Wilmots.

Hashmeian ( 42 years) who was a Pas club player before playing in the Bundesliga with Hamburg , Bochum, Bayern Munich and Hanover 96. After hanging his boots as a player in 2010, Hashemian attended several coaching classes while still playing professional football. On 26 October 2012, he was appointed as coach of Regionalliga side SV Halstenbek-Rellingen in the Hamburg Oberliga but after a successful run with the team, he announced his resignation at the end of the season. In 2014, he continued his UEFA Pro Licence under Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich.

He was appointed assistant coach in Hamburg SV U17 team on October 2017.

Squad list for Syria & Korea Rep friendlies.

 

The FFIRI has announced the squad list for the upcoming Team Melli international friendlies against Syria and South Korea. It will the first matches that Team Melli will be under Wilmots.

The list is a copy and paste of the last squad under Queiroz with some minor changes.

Ashkan Dejagah and Saman Ghoddos are missing while Saeid Ezzatollahi and  Sadegh Mohrrami have been recalled. The only  newcomer is the young Esteghlal forward Allahyar Sayyad-Manesh.

It is quite surprising that the aging Montazeri and Shojaei are still hanging on while such international friendlies are meant for trying younger players. Since the Belgian coach has quite a limited familiarity with the players and the list is given by federation, he should be given the benefit of the doubt on this list.

Team Melli will meet Syria on the 6th of June in Azadi Stadium.

 

THE SQUAD

# Player Club Country
GOALKEEPERS
1 ABEDZADEH, Amir C.S. Marítimo
2 BIRANVAND, Alireza Persepolis
3 MAZAHERI, Mohammad Rashid Zob Ahan
4 NIAZMAND, Payam Sepahan
DEFENDERS
5 CHESHMI, Rouzbeh Esteghlal (Al Ahli)
6 GHAFOORI, Vourya Esteghlal
7 HOSSEINI, Majeed Trabzonspor
8 KANANI-ZADEGAN, Hossein Machine Sazi
9 MOHAMMADI, Milad Akhmat Grozny
10 MONTAZERI, Pejman Esteghlal
11 MOHARRAMI, Sadegh Dynamo Zagreb
12 POURALIGANJI, Morteza Al Arabi
13 REZAEIAN, Ramin Al Shahaniya
MIDFIELD
14 AMIRI, Vahid Trabzonspor
15 EBRAHIMI, Omid Al Ahli
16 EZZATOLLAHI, Saeid Reading
17 HAJSAFY, Ehsan Tractorsazi
18 NOORALLAHIE, Ahmad Persepolis
19 SHOJAEI, Masoud Tractorsazi
20 TORABI, Mehdi Persepolis
FORWARDS
21 ANSARIFARD, Karim Nottingham Forest
22 AZMOUN, Sardar Zenit St. Petersburg
23 JAHANBAKHSH, AliReza Brighton & Hove Albion
24 SAYYAD-MANESH Allahyar Esteghlal
25 TAREMI, Mehdi Al Gharrafah
 

Wilmots arrives in Tehran.

The newly appointed head coach of Team Melli has arrived in Tehran along with two assistants. The Football Federation has announced that Marc Wilmots arrived in Tehran at 3:48 AM on Tuesday, 28th  with two assistants to start work on Team Melli preparation for the two friendly international matches against Syria and South Korea. Wilmots, who has signed his three-year contract at the Embassy's residence in Belgium, will officially lead the Iranian national team as of today. According to the Football Federation, the list of players will be announced shortly. Team Melli will host Syria in Azadi stadium on  June 6th  and then travel to meet South Korea on 11th June.

MahdaviKia turns down Omid Coach job offer!

With Yahya GolMohammadi's declining, the Football federation officials face a serious problem in appointing a head coach for the Omid Olympic team.

At the moment, there is no coach who is willing to take over from Kranjcar for the next major challenge of Omid Team.

Indeed, it's safe to say that the FFIRI has run out of Options. There is also no hope for solution coming from the Olympic Committee. After the departure of Zlatko Krancjar, Mehdi Taj talked about replacing the Croat with a local talent and choosing an Iranian coach to lead the team of Olympics hopefuls. Hamid Estili's main responsibility was to pick the right person for the difficult task, however one candidate after another declined the offer by the FFIRI.

The latest name that turned down the job is Mehdi MahdaviKia, who has already received his ‘A’ coaching License  from UEFA after the completion of the coaching course and has instead decided to go on vacation with his family.

 Mahdavikia, who has experience working with young footballers in his own academy as well as the Hamburg base teams and is popular with the general public, could be a good option, but he also rejected the federation's proposal.

Mahdavikia, a household name in his own right and in response to Estili, did not believe that the current environment in Iran’s football to be accommodating and supportive to his appointment.

On the other hand, Yahya Golmohammadi and Amir Ghalenoei the two heavy weight candidates who coach in league title contenders clubs , did not fancy what would look like a downgrade to coach Omid team.

The pre-mature news of Yahya Golmohammadi's announcement was not a clever move by the federation, as the coach has already agreed terms for a two years extension with improved pay with his club.

In this situation, some members of the technical committee of the federation, proposed to Hamid Estili to take over the job himself, but Estili does not want to do anything at all with coaching the team, preferring that a competent coach takes over the task.

In desperation, Mehdi Taj and Hamid Estili, the Team manager,  may well be forced into looking at lower tier names and not so successful Iranian coaches to take over the Omid Team Job. A practice that has proved disastrous not so long ago.

It was said that there are now some options to guide Omid team, which might not be acceptable to the fans and critics. Some of those caches have not fared well in their clubs and are not exactly too popular either.

It is feared that the final selection of a coach will be a disappointment with forced selection of weaker options. Omid Team barely made it to the finals in Thailand under Kranjcar who is a veteran coach with lots of international exposure. Anything less than him will mean a certain failure for Iran U-23 team to reach the Olympics for the first time in over four decades.

Mehdi Taj's masterstroke!

Mehdi Taj and the FFIRI have to be credited for the appointment of Marc Wilmots as head coach of Team Melli replacing Queiroz.

The Iranian federation FFIRI faced many obstacles in their quest to replace Queiroz beginning from the Finances, or lack of it , to political objections, to social issues and the strong local lobbies.

The lack of funds is by now a common knowledge. Despite the lack of transparency by FFIRI including no audited balance sheet that is publically available to answer discrepancies such as the alleged disappearance of large amount of payments awarded to FFIRI during the reign Ali Kaffashian, the federation has been suffering from lack of resources for years.  Transfer of salary through normal banking channels to a foreign coach is also a great challenge thanks to one Donald Trump and his American sanctions.

It is that sanction that prompted many politicians and hardliners to question the appointment of a foreign coach and thus the wasting of rare hard currency on football while large sectors of industry and other services were in dire need of that cash and hard currency. It was certainly a legitimate question particularly that this football has yielded nothing for the country since the revolution particularly the trophy that really matters for the Iranians, the AFC Asian Cup.

Compared to other sports, football has one of the lowest returns of investment  and yields in the country yet the people associated with it are the highest paid of them all, some of whom make astronomical figures comparatively.

Socially speaking, the question foreign coach appointment has always been divisive debate in Iran. A large number of fans question such appointments based on issues such as communication, language, culture, logistics and most importantly, cost.

The other factor in this endless debate is the strong lobbying by influential people in Iran’s football. Ex-players, coaches, administrators and managers who strongly support the appointment of one of their own.

That reservation on foreign coach is responded to by the other camp who believe that Iranian coaches are not suitable or favorable at this time. Ali Daei, a legendary figure in his own right, lost his job in an un-ceremonial fashion after losing to Saudi Arabia at Azadi in a World Cup qualifier match.

Before him, Amir Ghalenoei, who is by far the most successful Iranian league club coach, tried but failed to achieve success in the AFC Asian Cup 2007.

Mansour Ebrahimzadeh was an interim coach but he was a disaster losing all the 3 matches Team Melli played under him. Finally Afshin Ghotbi, who is technically an American citizen, who failed to deliver in AFC Asian Cup 2011

In reality, in this period, there is no good Iranian candidate for Team Melli. From experience to knowledge to discipline to modern football tactics awareness and many more aspects, it is clear that Iranian coaches have a lot to learn.

Taj and his men had to navigate all those hurdles and skillfully managed to come up with the correct decision.

So, without bias, the appointment of Marc Wilmots is a masterstroke carried out under immense pressure. Mehdi Taj deserves much credit for such a move, notwithstanding the shortfalls in his administration and  lack of transparency.  Certainly there remains a lot to be corrected at FFIRI, but credit must be given were credit is due

Wilmots is not another Queiroz, he will work from Tehran.

Marc Wilmots signed a contract with the Iranian federation on Wednesday, The former coach of Belgium and Côte d'Ivoire will arrive in Tehran by coming Wednesday, if not a day or two before, to start working immediately in preparing Team Melli for two friendly matches.

Before the signing of the deal with Wilmots, and on the day that Mahdi Taj was in negotiation with the Belgian coach, the media claimed that Wilmots did not intend to settle in Iran, and would return to Belgium after the end of each Team Melli match. However, Mehdi Taj did not confirm or deny these speculations after the signing of the contract.

According to Abdul Kazem Taleghani, a member of the executive committee of FFIRI, in response to several questions by reporters about Wilmots being a “Suitcase Coach”?  He said that Wilmots being a flying suitcase coach is all false. “This coach will be based in Iran and can bring his family to our country if he wishes to. He continued “Wilmots is an accomplished coach. If we manage to pay his dues on time, he will undoubtedly deliver the goods and will be an asset to the national teams.”

Taleghani, in response to question regarding the subject of regular payments to the coach in hard currency, said “details of this issue should be directed to Mr. Mahdi Taj. Anyway, it must be followed up and the federation's president has surely has a solution.”

The executive board member stated: "According to the details of contract with Wilmots, he is planning to do great work, whether in the national team or in the age group teams. Our priorities are not only the qualification for the World Cup 2022, but also preparing youthful team and the monitoring of lower age group teams which are under Wilmots supervision.

Taleghani added “Our demands from this coach are far higher than the previous one. With the grace of God, Wilmots will arrive on Monday or Tuesday, and start his work.”

One of the ambiguities of Wilmots initial work is the list of invited players for the two international friendly matches against Syria and South Korea. Taleghani's answer to the question of whether the next squad will be named by Wilmots, or will they invite other players? He said: "I have no idea about this, and you have to ask Mr. Taj on that."

Taleghani also denied knowledge on the number and names of the Iranian assistants to Marc Wilmots.

Graham Potter's appointment as Brighton Coach, an Inspired Move

Brighton and Hove Albion’s decision to replace Chris Hughton with Swansea City manager Graham Potter might seem harsh, and a massive gamble, but dig a bit deeper and it could be one of the shrewdest appointments of the summer.

When Chris Hughton joined Brighton, they were in 21st place in the Championship. He got them to the Premier League, and kept them there for two seasons despite having one of the league’s smallest budgets.

In the final game of this season, Brighton may have got comprehensively beaten by one of the best soccer sides there has ever been, but on the last day of the season 22 years ago, only Robbie Reinelt’s goal in front of the jam-packed, dilapidated away end at Hereford United kept Brighton in the Football League. Brighton have come a long way since then, and while Hughton has only played a small part in that journey, he was the manager who took them to the top flight for the first time in 34 years.

Sacking Chris Hughton seems to many outsiders like a club getting ideas above their station, and no doubt Hughton will have little difficulty finding another job this summer (he’s already linked with the West Bromwich Albion job). But Brighton are on a downward spiral, and only a very brave gambler would have bet on Hughton’s negative brand of soccer keeping them out of the relegation places next season.

Even though Brighton stayed up this year, there was little to cheer about at the Amex Stadium – Brighton only scored 16 goals from open play all season and no side tested the other team’s goalkeeper fewer times than the Seagulls. Hughton also failed to get the most out of big-money signings like Alireza Jahanbakhsh, so there’s little to suggest that backing him in the transfer market will lead to any upturn in performances.

2022 World Cup in Qatar to remain as a 32-team tournament, Fifa announces

Efforts by the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, to expand the 2022 World Cup to 48 teams, which he said could help heal hostilities in the Middle East, have concluded in failure, with the tournament remaining solely in Qatar, with 32 competing national teams.

The expansion plan was based on sharing matches with neighbouring countries in the gulf, where Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain broke off relations with Qatar in June 2017 and blockaded its land borders. Infantino argued that sharing some World Cup matches could “build bridges” between the countries because “football makes miracles”, and a feasibility study was conducted into expansion – but the miracle has not come to pass.

In a statement issued a fortnight before the decision was due to be taken at Fifa’s congress, on 5 June, it said: “Following a thorough and comprehensive consultation process with the involvement of all the relevant stakeholders, it was concluded that under the current circumstances such a proposal could not be made now.”

An internal report at Fifa is reported to have concluded that Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain could not host matches while the blockade was still in force, even if they wanted to share the tournament with Qatar. The human-rights implications of involving Saudi Arabia have also escalated enormously since the murder at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year.

Oman, which is not part of the blockade, was reported to have declined the opportunity to host matches, and although Infantino visited Kuwait last month to explore its possibilities, Fifa decided it did not have enough time to upgrade its facilities.

Qatar has been spending billions of dollars since it won the shock vote in 2010, substantially expanding its Khalifa International Stadium and building seven new, state-of-the-art arenas, with a further $200m being spent on a new metro system, roads and other infrastructure.

Hassan Al Thawadi, secretary general of Qatar’s supreme committee for delivery and legacy, told the Guardian in November that it was cooperating with the feasibility study, but continuing its preparations for a 32-team tournament, solely in Qatar .

Fifa said it had explored the feasibility of Qatar itself hosting a 48-team tournament but concluded that could not be done in time. “The Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022 will therefore remain as originally planned with 32 teams, and no proposal will be submitted at the next Fifa congress on 5 June,” the statement said.

"I expected more from myself." Alireza Jahanbakhsh

Alireza Jahanbakhsh says he hasn't shown his best form for Brighton & Hove Albion yet and admitted he expected more from himself in his first season in England.

The Iranian winger joined the Seagulls for a club record fee, reported to be £17m, last summer but failed to register a goal or assist in a campaign which he said had 'a lot of ups and downs'.

A hamstring injury and the Asian Cup saw Jahanbakhsh miss three months of the season from November to February before he started eight of Albion's final 11 Premier League matches.

Reflecting on his debut campaign in England, the 25-year-old said: "It was a little bit up and down, to be honest. At the beginning I was trying to get into the team as soon as possible and play games.

"Obviously, as everyone knows, I played a couple of games and then got an unexpected injury. It took me out for a while and then I had the Asian Cup. There were some things which kept me away from playing games.

"The last couple of games I played, made progress and got used to the competition.

"The Premier League is a high quality league and different to what I'm used to. It (the season) wasn't what I'd planned for and what I was expecting from myself but it's gone.

"I'll have a good pre-season hopefully and will have a good season (next year) which I expect from myself and what everyone expects from me."

Jahanbakhsh admitted his season left him unsatisfied and he said: "It was tough getting used to a new environment and moving to somewhere with a totally different culture and facing new stuff, which I've never been challenged with.

"There were a lot of ups and downs but there were a lot of times I enjoyed and played a lot of minutes.

"But it wasn't something which makes me satisfied, nor the fans and people who expect more from me.

"I know the reason why I'm here and I was expecting more from myself obviously. I wanted to play more, be important for the team statistically but that was something which didn't happen this season.

"Next season I'm going to work with double energy and with the mindset of what I have from the Premier League right now. Hopefully I'll bring more quality to the team and show what I can do."

Jahanbakhsh, who played 24 times in all competitions, feels Brighton fans are still to see the best of him: "Definitely. There's been some games I've really enjoyed playing with my team-mates but my best hasn't happened yet obviously.

"I expect more of myself and I know I can show more. That's the reason I'm not really happy with this season.

"It has gone and next season I'm going to do everything to get into the best shape."

Brighton finished 17th in the Premier League and also reached the FA Cup semi-finals in Jahanbakhsh's first season with the club.

He said: "For the team it wasn't that bad a season. The last seven, eight, ten games it's been a little bit difficult with being down there and stressing about relegation.

"We made it difficult for ourselves because there was a stage of the season where we were 11th, 12th position in the table. We'd been doing a great job and got to the the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

"We lost a few points which made it more difficult in the last couple of games but luckily we are staying in the Premier League.

"We have to plan for next season which we know is going to be even more difficult. We are going to do our best to have good preparation in pre-season and to have a good season."

Jahanbakhsh now has a rare summer off with no international commitments and he said: "Now is a good time to have some time off, refresh my mind and come back in good shape for pre-season."