Author: admin

Ghoochannejad wonder goal.

Goal.com

Heerenveen's Reza Ghoochannejhad scored a stunning goal against Wolfsburg 

 Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Manchester United & Armenia) and Olivier Giroud (Arsenal & France) have both scored high-profile scorpion kicks for their respective clubs in the last month, and now one of Dutch club Heerenveen's attackers is at it too!

Following the Manchester United and Arsenal strikes, Team Melli forward Reza Ghoochannejhad took advantage of a low cross drilled in behind him by flicking it over his head and into the back of the net.

 
 

The wonder goal helped Heerenveen to defeat Wolfsburg 2-1 in Saturday's friendly fixture during their winter break training camp.

They return to competitive action - when Reza will dream of scoring another scorpion kick no doubt - next Saturday against Den Haag.

Football Management of Iran !

Much has been said about the weaknesses of management in Iran’s football circles. The endless tales of failures by management of the football federation and clubs in Iran, is becoming so intolerable to the extent that the state-controlled and highly conformist Iranian media is becoming increasingly critical of the poor showing and embarrassingly appalling performance and decisions of the men in charge of football in the country.

Lack of proper selection and appointment mechanism of directors and personnel in Iranian clubs, dearth of experienced and skilled managers in football, poor international influences and relations building strategy, non-existent public relations , lack of vision , deficiency in  commercial activities and marketing skills , and absence of long term strategies are just a few of a long list of shortcomings that mars the working of football management in Iran.

It is quite safe to say, that without the government financial backing, none of the major clubs would be in existence and would have been bankrupt. That includes the major big clubs such as Esteghlal and Persepolis the two giants of Tehran, Zob Ahan and Sepahan of Esfahan and all the way to clubs in the South and North of Iran. Simply said these clubs could not run successfully and independently because there are very few capable, experienced and qualified football management running these clubs. The fact that government handouts is readily available, makes the situation even worse because these managers do not need to work hard to generate revenue to sustain the clubs activities.

 It is believed that Sepahan is one of the best run and most successful clubs in Iran. That is all relative, of course, as other clubs believe that the generous contribution by the state owned steel industry has been the main factor behind Sepahan’s success by pouring money into it.

However, it is prudent to review Sepahan and Sardar Azmoun episode

The prolific Team Melli young striker comes from the Turkmen region and was born in Gonbad-e Kāvus ,  of Golestan province on the New Year’s eve in 1995. He played football in various small provincial clubs before the scouts of Sepahan club spotted him in 2010 and invited him to join the youth Academy for development of talented player. It was definitely a fine move by the Esfahani club.

In the 3 years that Azmoun was registered under Sepahan, he was selected to represent Iran at several age Teams. He was always excellent and full of potential. However, Sepahan failed to see his real potential and opted to put on the sideline until a club from far away land of Chechnya decided that there is an enormous potential in this young Iranian lad that is worth investing in.

Sardar Azmoun, arguably, the best Iranian talent in the past two decades, left to Rubin Kazan without playing a single match for Sepahan senior team, not in the league nor in the cup.

Furthermore,  Sepahan Management never thought of protecting their investment by binding the player to a contract or writing a clause in it for future, like most other professional clubs do. Clauses to claim part of future transfers as their share of development of the player. So, after 3 years of work by Sepahan coaches at all levels, the boy left to Russia without Sepahan getting anything of significance.

Today, Azmoun’s current market value is close to £11.05 million, which FC Rostov will be getting from his sale to any club interested in the 22 year old striker; Those clubs include Première league Liverpool and Arsenal.

What about Sepahan? They will get zilch, no development right fees and no percentage of transfer fee, simply because amateurs’ are running the commercial departments of the clubs. People short of vision and devoid of ideas and strategy.

One can only imagine how bad & chaotic the business is conducted in clubs like Esteghlal and Persepolis, who are getting the lion-share of the public funds and government handouts without producing single Iranian young talented players in the last two decades.

 

.

 

Iraq requests a Friendly International match in Tehran

The Iraqi football federation has officially announced that it has written to its Iranian counterpart requesting a friendly international match in Tehran  to face Team Melli on March 17th.

In a press conference , Kamil Al Sagheer , a member of the Iraqi FA , confirmed the request by his federation but added that the Iranians have not come back yet or showed any interest !

Iraqi team, which has very little chance of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup 2018,  is preparing for its next match against Australia in the return rounds of the Qualifiers. Team Melli is heading the other group in the Asian Zone qualifiers but has failed to announce any friendly matches so far before the crucial match away to Qatar.

 

Ashkan Dejagah looking to escape Al Arabi

Ashkan Dejagah , Team Melli's player with most impressive resume , is on the crossroad and looking for a team.

Ashkan, who was born in Tehran but immigrated to and grew up in Germany , started his professional career with Hertha Berlin before transferring to VfL Wolfsburg  then Fulham FC in England in July 2012 before eventually leaving to Qatar two seasons ago for a sum estimated to be over 5 million Euros.

The winger, who played for Iran in the World Cup 2014, made 49 appearances for Fulham and scored six goals during a two-year spell at Craven Cottage. He played under the German coach Felix Magath in his final term before moving to the Persian Gulf.

That move was generally met with disappointment and much criticism from both the fans and the media. "Leaving one of the best leagues in the world and heading to Qatar , is not exactly the sign of an aspiring professional player " said one of the critics.

Dejagah settled in well  initially in Al Arabi and Qatar Professional league, but soon found that the expectations from his paymasters are exceedingly unattainable. The media in Qatar is well-known for its bandwagon attitude of putting the blames and poor standard of the Qatari teams on shoulders of the foreign professional players. Dejagah was no different with Al Arabi.

Ashkan Dejagah lost his starting place this season with Al Arabi and that does not augur well for himself and Team Melli.  Carlos Queiroz cannot afford to have his most reliable generals and one of the key players in Team Melli warming the bench in a Qatari league out of all places. It is been rumored that the Head coach of Team Melli has advised Dejagah to find another club else he might lose his place in Team Melli starting line up.

Ashkan Dejagah

Ashkan Dejagah has requested to be released from his contract with Al Arabi, but his 3 years contract and the big money that the Qataris have paid for him is an issue. Al Arabi wants to recover some of the investment and will not release Dejagah unless a lucrative deal comes through. The 30-year-old midfielder is reluctant to pay back any money for his early release. The status quo means Dejagah will still be on Al Arabi's register but mostly used as a reserve.

As for the options that Ashkan has, most definitely it will not be playing in the Persian Gulf League of Iran. The chaotic, unprofessional and poor financial discipline of the Iranian clubs is more that Dejagah can endure and accept in his professional career. He has privately indicated that playing in the Iranian league is out of question not just because of the pathetic league system but also the lifestyle in Iran which is not what the Berliner can comfortably tolerate.

 

19 players invited to Team Melli Camp 2017.

Carlos Queiroz invited 19 players to join Team Melli Training camp , which will start immediately without Legionnaire players and expected to continue training in the UAE as of next Tuesday.

It is still not clear if the match against Morocco is On or not. As always , FFIRI has a dysfunctional PR that refuses to  give any details and leave the media speculating or seeking news about its own national team from foreign sources.

Three uncapped players were named in the squad ; Ehsan Pahlavan ,  Morteza Tabrizi (Zob Ahan) and Vahid Mohammadzadeh (Saipa Alborz) 

It is not clear if any of the legionnaires will be joining the squad despite the fact that most European are in the middle of the winter break. is

THE SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Alireza Biranvand, Mohammad Reza Akhbari, Rashid Mazaheri

Defenders: Ramin Rezaeian, Vahid Mohammadzadeh, Seyed Jalal Hosseini, Ezatollah Pourqaz, Mohammed Ansari, Milad Mohammadi

Midfield: Omid Ebrahimi, Ehsan Hajsafy, Dariush Shojaeian, Vahid Amiri, Kamal Kamyabinia

Forwards: Soroush Rafie, Mehdi Taromi, Ehsan Pahlavan , Sasan Ansari, Morteza Tabrizi

FIFA Ranking: Team Melli rules.

For the 25th consecutive time, Team Melli Iran is leading the Asian Football ranking with 814 points while moving one step up in the world ranking to 29th.

In the last ranking table issued by FIFA today, Iran remained ahead of South Korea (699) , Japan (644) and Australia (641) in the AFC ranking.

Team Melli will be playing Qatar in Doha in the next official match of the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifying rounds on 23rd March 2017 (2nd day of Nowrooz) to consolidate its grip on the group which it leads with 11 points.

In addition to South Korea , the other group teams Uzbekistan is ranked 

 
28 USA USA 822 822  0
 29 Iran IRN 814 797 1
 30 Ukraine UKR 804 804 -1
   
Asia Rank World Rank Team Total Points Previous Points +/- Positions
 1 29 IRN   Iran 814(814.49) 797 1
 2 37 KOR   Korea Republic 699(699.47) 699 0
 6 62 UZB   Uzbekistan 563(562.91) 558 0
 8 82 CHN   China PR 427(426.52) 423 1
 9 87 QAT   Qatar 411(411) 409 1
 10 96 SYR    Syria 355(354.88) 363 -2

Iranian-British Ryan Tafazolli sought by Queiroz..

Iran's national manager Carlos Queiroz has been keeping an eye on Peterborough defender Ryan Sirous Tafazolli who, though born in England, is qualified to play for the country through his father.

The 6ft 5in defender, who started out in the same Southampton academy team as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, has had rave reviews since moving from Mansfield in the summer.

Queiroz, best known here from his days as Sir Alex Ferguson's No 2 at Old Trafford, will have noted that 25-year-old Tafazolli got on the scoresheet in the 2-0 win at Charlton which moved Peterborough

into the League One play-off places.

Queiroz has previously sought the services of many different Iranian dual nationality players. Only Reza Ghoochannejad and Ashkan Dejagah remain with team.

the 25 years old Tafazolli is born on  September 28, 1991 (age 25), in  Sutton, United Kingdom. With his height of 1.94 m and a weight of 93 kg, he is a formidable and intimidating figure in the centre of defense.

Team Melli's winter camp is on!

In a statement to ISNA today, Fereydoon Esfahanian , a member of the FFIRI Executive Committee assured the fans that Team Melli will be conducting a winter camp without giving any further details.

Esfahanian said that FFIRI President and Executive Committee has recently met with the new Minister of Sports. Various subjects were discussed in the meeting including the preparation of Team Melli for the next series of matches in the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers. "The minister was well aware of our problems as he meticulously listened to our preparations plans for Team Melli. The minister pledged his support and directed his aides to prepare a package of support for Team Melli." Esfahanian said.

The EC member , as usual, highlighted the lack of funds that his federation is chronically suffering from while demanding the full financial support of the government to be provided for Team Melli in order to qualify for the World Cup. The lack of funds by the federation is in contradiction to a recent audit report highlighting failure of the football federation to properly control expenditure , misappropriation of funds , mystery payments and  un-budgeted expenditure during foreign trips by Team Mell squads or official delegations. 

Despite his vague assurance that Team Melli will be setting camp abroad, Esfahanian refused to give any details were the camp will be set up or if any friendly matches are being arranged.  Some media reports , confirmed by the Moroccan Football Federation official , have been talking about a friendly international match between Iran and Morocco in the city of Al Ain in the UAE on 6th January.  

Yesterday , another media report from Morocco mentioned that the friendly match in Al Ain might be cancelled as Iran is negotiating another friendly match against Armenia instead!

Meanwhile, the FFIRI , is supposed to have an international Media Officer and a public relation to communicate with the press. While being handsomely paid, those PR men are enjoying an extended holiday and  keeping everything a big secret while. It seems that they enjoy watching the Iranian media playing the guessing game on Team Melli program !

Team Melli's , heading the group with 11 points, will be playing Qatar in the next FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Doha. All the teams in the group have announced preparations international friendly matches except for Iran.

 

Masoud Shojaei pays for speaking his mind, Daei defends him.

A few weeks ago , Team Melli Midfield player , Masoud Shojaei stated that there is corruption in Iran's sport. He made these allegation in a n interview.

Although there is nothing new in Shojaei's statement and in Iran's football in particular, corruption is the worst kept secret, the Iranian football federation was not amused by the Panionios FC player's allegations and the Disciplinary committee summoned him to the federation to explain himself.

Shojaei's mentioned the exploitation of young players , sexual harassment of kids , financial corruption and discrimination against immigrants in football as quite common. He criticized the fact that the officials have not acted despite many prompts and indicators and no one was held accountable for such violations in several clubs across the country  For that, Shojaei is facing trouble which might very well end his career in Team Melli. Freedom of expression is not exactly a revered right in Iran and not taken kindly by the authorities especially if it is of a critical nature. Usually , only expression of content with the Islamic values and those statements supporting the ruling clan and the clergy are very much appreciated by the authorities. Messages containing religious propaganda by athletes are highly publicized and commonly promoted, anything to the contrary puts the speaker in hot water.

Ali Daei, perhaps the only outspoken person in the whole of Iran's football, came out in defense of the player. He criticized the authorities and FFIRI for summoning the player to the DC and said that such an act is the direct invasion of a person's right of expression and that the FFIRI has no authority whatsoever to prosecute a player for expressing his rights and talking about such events that should trigger some kind of investigation by the federation rather than shooting the messenger.

Daei was also strongly supportive of Seyed Mehdi Rahmati, the former Team Melli goalkeeper who was also summoned to the Disciplinary Committee because he was photographed  with a girl without Hijab, the picture was published in a social media site!! Daei was so incensed with that accusation and was  so defiant to the extent that he said that he will never refuse to take a picture with a female fan who does not wear a hijab , or the Islamic headscarves. "It is not anyone business what they wear on their head, it is a choice that people make and should not be forced to change. "I will never refuse taking a picture with my fans based on such principles. Period" Daei said in a post match press conference.

.

 

The corruption that refuses to go away in Asia.

As it stands, football has proven beyond any shadow of doubt that it is one corrupt game full of scrupulous and shoddy characters. From the high echelons of FIFA in Switzerland all the way round the globe to small but strong and influential mafias of match fixing in Asia, the corruption is rife in every sense of the word. And the sport is labeled the "Beautiful Game".

The latest scandal , hitting the English Football this time, the same football the claims purity and the guardian of ethics and the birthplace of the sport, is the stories of English youth teams coaches sexually abusing under-age players in several clubs. Paedophile coaches being allowed to abuse the children they are entrusted to coach and nourish their talents.

In Asia, a continent that has variety of corruption episodes, this time the big headlines comes from South Korea, arguable the top nation of Asian football.

Few months ago, the scandal began with stories of corrupt refereeing making the headlines. A team that was relegated few years back in to second division by the name of Gyeongnam, was found to be  guilty of bribing referees.  However, the allegations were the kick off for much bigger story and it hit the most popular team in the country. 

Referees admitted that mega club Jeonbuk was also involved in such violation.  Subsequent police investigation revealed that the club bribed referees in at least 5 matches

Korean FA disciplinary committee decided to deduct only 9 points of Jeonbuk's tally and fine the club 100 million Won (85,000 dollars). In Italy, Juventus was relegated to a lower division for a similar offense.

On the same token the AFC, which claims to be the guardian of ethics and constantly fights match fixing, has recently punished and suspended many players, officials and teams due to their part in match fixing incidents. Recently, U-16 North Korea's goalkeeper and manager been suspended for a year because of such cases.

The AFC, for reasons only known to themselves,  decided to conveniently ignore the allegations against Jeonbuk and took no actions in this case when it was proven in Korea. Perhaps there are not enough Korean employees in KL AFC's headquarters who can read and speak Korean!  Or maybe it's because of the decision date, after the semifinal first leg. But there are reasons to think there is more to it than meets the eyes behind the decision of the governing body of Asian Football.. And as if to highlight how corruption does pay off in football, the Korean team lifted the AFC champions league trophy after piping Al Ain in the two-legged final.

So, we have a crooked team lifting the AFC Champions League, and that surely puts into question AFC's authenticity and its message of "fight against corruption" of all types. If AFC is genuine, it should have a strong policy against anyone who is proven to have committed or was involved in a corrupt deal, else the whole process will be looked upon as flawed, biased, politically motivated and depends highly on who is the culprit. Not exactly a fair game at all, AFC !

You might think the Iranians are paranoid when it comes to accusations of bias against them in the AFC corridor of power, but the reality and the events proves their point. The latest AFC bias is expected soon when it, the AFC , headed by an Arab President who hardly clocks any hours in the office in Kuala Lumpur, will once again side with the brethren  Saudi Arabs and force Iranian teams to host Saudi clubs outside of Iran in the AFC champions league. The excuse, the safety concern , the real reason though is purely politics.

© 2026 Team Melli
Designed by ThemeBoy