Author: Editor

Ghalenoei criticizes the match vs. Sierra Leone

Amir Ghalenoei, ex-Team Melli and current Zob Ahan coach , spoke about the upcoming match of Team Melli versus Sierra Leone team.

“We need to find out if our international communications director and our Public Relations are such that we can attract better teams to Iran? In the days I was a coach of the national team, I swear to God that I had arranged the international friendlies, preparation matches and logistics two years in advance.” Ghalenoei said.

The former Estighlal coach and the record holder of league titles with different Iranian clubs, added “although the Football Federation was suspended at that time, with the in-fighting between the two political factions within the FFIRI, I said to myself that even if I have little time as the coach of Team Melli, I would do something significant”

Ghalenoei prompted “We should look for the preparation program of the national team’s technical staff.  Certainly, such games like Sierra Leone, do not serve Iran’s football, but the question remains, have we been able to meet the demands of the technical staff with all those political problems surrounding us? I doubt that the technical staff of Team Melli would have been interested to meet such a team in the preparation for the World Cup, perhaps they had no choice but grudgingly accept the game as they had no other options. “

In another part of the interview, Ghalenoei spoke about the Secretary of the Football Federation Mohammad Reza Saket, “He (Saket) has 15 years of administration experience in football, but this game against a weak African team, does not help our cause.”

“I’m sorry, to say this,” he said. “but, in countries like us, some executives work 20 hours a day; this means disaster. This shows that our country is a hundred years behind. The executive‘s disillusionment will be disastrous in the second month. One manager should work eight hours, have eight hours to rest and have eight hours to go to his family; where not a programmer, a manager is proud to say that I am at work from five in the morning or I work for 20 hours; I have to work on everything in the program and the perspective.

Ghalenoei praised Carlos Queiroz for his results with Team Melli. “In general, his reputation and fame meant international recognition, and after six years he has become an aristocratic football coach. In countries like Iran, where there is systematic lack of planning, managers who can make a difference and are competent , do not have a chance or not given the opportunity  to be leaders, and there are some who are elevated by nepotism, who  get to position they do not deserve and serve without much vision or success. The end result is that nobody is enjoying football run by these people.”

Squad for Sierra Leone match

22 player have been called to the Team Melli squad which is facing the west African side Sierra Leone on 17th march 2018 as part of the preparation for the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018′

The majority of the squad are the local League players with the exception of Kaveh Rezaei.

Ali Alipour (Persepolis) , Omid Noorafkan , Hossein Hosseini (Esteghlal) and Ali Gholizadeh (Saipa Alborz) have been called for the first time to Team Melli squad.

Meanwhile MohammadReza Khanzadeh has been recalled after a long break from the team. The surprise omission is the Zob Ahan forward Morteza Tabrizi

 

The SQUAD

Name
1 ABDOLLAHZADEH, Ahmad
2 AGHAEI, Saeed
3 ALIPOUR, Ali
4 AMIRI, Vahid
5 ANSARI, Mohammad
6 BIRANVAND, Alireza
7 CHESHMI, Rouzbeh
8 EBRAHIMI, Omid
9 GHAFOORI, Vourya
10 GHOLIZADEH, Ali
11 HOSSEINI, Jalal
12 HOSSEINI, Sayed Hossein
13 KAMYABINIA, Kamaleddin
14 KARIMI, Ali
15 KHANZADEH, Mohammadreza 
16 LAK, Hamed
17 MAZAHERI, Mohammad Rashid
18 MONTAZERI, Pejman
19 NOORAFKAN, Omid
20 REZAEI, Kaveh
21 REZAEIAN, Ramin
22 TORABI, Mehdi

Zlatko Kranjcar is a leading candidate to coach Omid team.

The Iranian Football Federation is considering the appointment a head coach of Iran’s U23 (Omid) team to prepare and represent the country in the Asian Games 2018  Jakarta, although the team has already wasted a lot of opportunity, as the FFIRI Technical Committee should have selected a coach last month.

Federation officials have been negotiating with some domestic and foreign coaches during the past few days. Even the president of the federation, Mahdi Taj, told reporters yesterday that the talks are continuing, and this week the coach’s name will be announced.

The former head coach of the Sepahan squad Zlatko Krancjar, who failed to meet expectations this season with the Esfahani club, is one of the main choices for the federation, and even the Football Federation’s secretary Mohammad Reza Saket had talks with the Croatian coach.

FFIRI has always been a failure with the U23/U22 teams. For some odd reason, they have never managed to get their acts together at this age level and seem to have some complex on how to deal at this age level football teams. Most of the problems are self-inflicted, though including their chronic late preparation, and last minute search for a coach and finally poor preparations.

Krancjar, who has arrived in Tehran for a few days, is a favorite with the Federation officials who have started serious talks with him. It was confirmed that a meeting was carried out with federation officials in one of the hotels in Tehran, but the results are not clear.

Krancjar was the main choice to be the head coach of the Omid team in in December 2014 under the leadership of Habib Kashani, but the blatant intervention of the Ministry of Sports who claimed that the Croat does not conform for ethical/religious values (…), eventually meant that the federation so dependent on the government, had to shelve the idea of recruiting Karanjcar. Th coaching of the team was given to the novice coach Mohammad Khakpour, who failed to achieve anything and also failed to qualify for the Olympics.

Ali Alipour, challenging for a place in Team Melli.

Ali Alipour, with sterling performances in the Persian Gulf League and the AFC Champions league has finally convinced Carlos Queiroz to pick him for Team Melli squad.

Iran is preparing for the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018, where they are grouped with Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

Born in Ghaem Shar on 11th November 1994, young Alipour grew up in the wrestling champions breeding province of Mazendran This northern province, where the tradition wrestling rules  supreme, has produced countless number of world class wrestling champions and Olympics medals winners, however, this young man was determined to be a champion in a different sport, his beloved football.

Alipour started playing football with with Nassaji Mazandaran in 2011 in the lower leagues before making his dream trip to Tehran and joining Rah Ahan in 2013. . He first made his professional debut in 2012 at the age of 16 with Azadegan League club Sang Ahan.

In his two years in Rah Ahan, Alipour hardly managed to set the stage alight scoring only 3 goals in 25 matches.

However, it was in Persepolis, where he started to make a name for himself. He started as a sub for the club but steadily went up the pecking order until he became a fixed player and a prolific scorer. On May 2015, Alipour became a cult hero .  

On May 15, 2015 Alipour scored in the Tehran derby against Esteghlal, making him the youngest ever player to score in the famous and iconic Derby, with only 19 years of age. 

It was only a matter of time for Queiroz to recognize the talented center forward who has a knack of scoring fancy goals. The AFC Champions League is a testament for this talented 22 years old. Under Branko Ivankovic , the Persepolis coach, Alipour has thrived and continues to develop to a classy forward.

His selection to Team Melli will not give him a guarantee of playing time as the competition is stiff up the front. With Sardar Azmoun, Reza Ghoochannejad who is playing his best season in Holland, Karim Ansarifard enjoying similar success in Greek league ,  Alireza Jahanbakhsh continuing his excellent form and finally Mehdi Taremi , now in Qatar Star League, Alipour is far from being assured a place in the World Cup squad, let alone playing in the world biggest football show.

Alipour, however, remains a potential winner and a hard worker with talent and pace and good enough to seriously challenge for a place in the Team Melli.

Team Melli to play a friendly vs. Sierra Leone

Azadi Stadium will host an international friendly on Saturday 17th March between Team Melli and  Sierra Leone national team.

The west African nation is ranked 114 in FIFA ranking and has never made it to a major tournament before. For Team Melli , it will be a welcome practice despite the weaker opposition and a chance for Querioz to test some domestic league players who have showed great potentials in the Persian Gulf League and the AFC Champions league.

There is a slim chance   of any Legionnaires making an appearance for Team Melli in this match.

Prolific Iran maintain futsal hegemony

  • IR Iran build on FIFA Futsal World Cup bronze with another Asian crown
  • Sixteen-nation event held in Chinese Taipei for first time
  • Iranian Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh named tournament’s best player

Competition for Asian supremacy in eleven-a-side football is finely balanced as evidenced by the finale to last year’s FIFA World Cup qualifying in the world’s most populous continent. The same cannot be said on the futsal court, however, as IR Iran once again underlined their supremacy in emphatic fashion.

The Iranians stormed to a 12th continental victory in Chinese Taipei on Sunday, retaining the title they reclaimed two years ago. Only Japan have broken Iran’s stranglehold, winning on three occasions, but the east Asians had no answer in the tournament decider this time. Iran proved their breakthrough third-place finish at the FIFA Futsal World Cup Colombia 2016 was no fluke, with an unusually heavy 4-0 scoreline in the decider.

Broad reach throughout Asia
A total of 30 teams from all corners of Asia competed in the qualifying competition, demonstrating the growing appeal of the game across much of the continent. Chinese Taipei hosted the event for the first time, though they previously welcomed the globe’s best for the Futsal World Cup in 2004.

That 30-strong crowd was cut to 16 teams for the ten-day event in New Taipei City. Much focus was, of course, on the home side but locals were to be left frustrated with Chinese Taipei edged out of qualification by Bahrain, despite a win over Malaysia. Vietnam topped the group, but there was to be disappointment for the south-east Asians as the 2016 semi-finalists were eliminated by Uzbekistan.

There was no surprises as Japan and Iran shaded Uzbekistan and Iraq as all four progressed from their respective groups. Lebanon, meanwhile, were arguably the surprise packages. Despite having never reached a continental semi-final, Lebanon defeated 2015 semi-finalists Thailand 5-2 to top their group. The Cedars’ luck, however, ran out in the knockout stage with a heartbreaking 9-8 penalty shoot-out defeat against Iraq.

Iran’s accolades

  • Most individual goals: Hossein Tayebi (14)
  • Most team goals: 46
  • Tournament’s best player: Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh

Japan eased past Iraq with a 3-0 scoreline in the first semi-final, while Iran crushed Uzbekistan 7-1. Despite the lop-sided scoreline in the final, it was Japan who had the better of early exchanges only for some profligacy in front of goal to prove costly.

The tournament’s best player Ali Hassanzadeh scored with just a minute remaining remaining of the half, before the Iranians finished in style by scoring a further three to wrap up their title defence.

“Yes, it was a little bit difficult at first in the game, but I was 100 per cent confident that we would pull through and score the goals we needed to win,” said IR Iran’s Alireza Rafieipor. “This victory is just the starting point for us. From now we are focused on 2020 [World Cup]. We are number three in the world and everyone is expecting us to get even better.”

Team Melli futsal qualify tot he semi-final in style

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Taipei:

Iran are one step closer to defending their AFC Futsal Championship title after beating Thailand 9-1 in the quarter-finals on Thursday at the Xinzhuang Stadium. 

The defending champions produced a dominant performance, taking a five-goal lead in the first half with strikes from Ahmed Esmaeilpour, Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh and Hossein Tayebi.

Thailand’s Jirawat Sornwichian found one back but further goals from Mahdi Javid and Mohammad Shajari, sealed a comprehensive win for Iran.

Iran took the lead just 10 seconds into the match with Hassanzadeh’s long range pass finding Esmaeilpour, who made no mistake with a left-footed shot.

It was just the beginning for the title holders as Esmaeilpour scored his second in the fourth minute when he intercepted a pass and surged down the middle, before hitting home.

Hassanzadeh turned goalscorer less than 30 seconds after the restart from a set-play, tapping the ball in from close range, before Tayebi made it 4-0 in the sixth minute, courtesy of Farhad Tavakoli’s swift pass.

ASEAN champions Thailand’s first real chance came in the 10th minute with Madyalan aiming for the top left but Ali Reze Samimi palmed the the ball away.

Thailand conceded again in the 17th minute with Tayebi’s superb ground shot to the bottom right corner.

 

There was to be no respite for the Southeast Asians as Javid etched his name on the scoresheet two minutes into the second half, but Thailand’s five-men assault team avoided a whitewash with Sornwichian finding the back of the net moments later.

Shajari restored Iran’s six-goal lead in the 25th minute with a simple tap in, and as Thailand piled on the pressure in search of goals, they were hit again.

Tayebi completed his hat-trick in the 36th minute, before Shajari struck the final goal of the match.

Iran will face the winners of the Vietnam-Uzbekistan quarter-final, which will be played later on Thursday.

Mohammed Nazemasharieh: Iran Head Coach

“There were some good reasons for our win. Firstly, we had a meeting with our players, because we weren’t satisfied with their performance against Iraq and told them to have better concentration. And we also analysed Thailand’s performance in this and other tournaments. Thailand have been one of the best teams in Asia, and have been one of Iran’s rivals since 20 years ago, and we really respect them. I will say it again, the Iranian team play with our hearts.  We have a vision, it started in 2016 Colombia. We started with some new players, and are aiming for the 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup. We aren’t only representatives of Iran in that competition, but of Asia as well. Whatever way we can improve, we will try to reach there.”

Jose Maria Pazos: Thailand Head Coach

“There was no game. Once they scored the first goal in the opening seconds, it was over. It was important to keep the concentration, but we lost that in the first few minutes after conceding three goals in four minutes. The score reflects our performance. Maybe our mental preparation was not there, and making one mistake after another against Iran meant it’s over. We showed two faces in this tournament, our really good and bad. We showed today that we are not ready to face a team like Iran. Now we must analyse what was the problem here. We need to know why we have two faces, and find a stable level. This tournament is the first tournament for some of our players, and the last for some, and we need to fix the problems we have in this tournament, ahead of 2020.”

Photos: AFC

 

Iran Scorers

Ahmed Esmaeilpour, 1′ , 3′

Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh 4′

Hossein Tayebi 5′ , 16′ , 36

MahdiJavid 21′

Mohammad Shajari 24′ , 35

 

AFC Futsal Championship 2018: 1/4 final review Iran v.Thailand

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Taipei:

Head coach Jose Maria Pazos believes Thailand have every reason to be confident going up against defending champions  Iran, after their convincing win over Kyrgyz Republic on Matchday Three of the AFC Futsal Championship 2018. 

 

Iran not only maintained a 100 percent record but only conceded four goals to claim top spot in Group C, while Thailand opened their campaign with a 5-1 win over Jordan, suffered a 5-2 loss to Lebanon but bounced back to beat Kyrgyz Republic 8-1 to finish second on Group D.

Maria Pazos acknowledged the challenge but believed that his side have regained the confidence and momentum after their comprehensive win over Kyrgyz Republic, saying: “We all know that Iran are one of the best in the world. And If they play their best tomorrow, it’s going to be difficult, but we will try our best to make it difficult for them too.

Group D: Thailand 8-1 Kyrgyz Republic
Group C: Iraq 3-5 IR Iran

“Nobody here wants to face Iran in the quarter-finals, but if you want to be champions, you have to face them eventually. It’s not the game we wanted to play in the quarter-finals, but because we didn’t perform well enough in the group stage, we are here.

“I hope that our victory (against Kyrgyz Republic), and the way we won will give us confidence to face this big challenge.

“The level they (Iran) have is incredible, but if we continue to play the same way we did yesterday, I know we can do it.”

 

Iran head coach Mohammed Nazemasharieh respects the Thai team, recognising them as the ASEAN champions but believes his players focus will make the difference.

“We have passed the first stage of the qualification, and while we did our best in the group stage, we have Thailand ahead now,” said Nazemasharieh.

“This shouldn’t have happened like this, but in a continental tournament, anything can happen but we respect every team who have reached this far into the tournament, knowing how strong and what they are capable of.

“But the main thing for us is concentration, and if our players have that, they are going to perform beautifully, and we are aiming to play with full concentration against one of the strongest opponents.”

Thursday’s quarter-final will be at the Xinzhuang Stadium.

Full marks for Iran futsal as group leadr

Taipei:

Defending champions Iran edged Iraq 5-3 on Tuesday to win Group C in a match that proved the first real test of the holders’ credentials.

 

Both Iran and Iraq had already qualified for the quarter-finals ahead of the match at University of Taipei Gymnasium but, nevertheless, it was to be a hard-fought and intriguing contest to see who would top the standings.

With Iran having netted double figures in both previous ties against Myanmar and China, Iraq shocked the defending champions by taking the lead with seven minutes played as Waleed Khalid burst up the field on the counter to fire across Alireza Samimi into the far corner.

But Iraq’s joy was cut-off in less than a minute. Hossein Tayebi bravely challenged flying Iraq goalkeeper Zaher Mahdi for Farhad Tavakoli’s chipped ball forward, and his header looped into the unguarded net.

And with just over eight minutes remaining Iran completed the turnaround with Ali Hassanzadeh notching his seventh of the tournament after his shot took a wicked deflection off Hasan Ali to wrong-foot Mahdi.

Iraq were determined to restore parity before the break, though, and Samimi needed to be on his toes to keep out several efforts, including a firmly-struck shot from Salim Faisal that needed a particularly agile parry, while at the other end Mahdi bravely smothered at the feet of Tayebi.

It was a closely fought affair after the restart and it took over five minutes before the next goal was scored, Moslem Oladghobad tapping home Tayebi’s cross at the back post to double Iran’s lead.

Firas Mohammed reduced the deficit to 3-2 by converting Khalid’s cross with a little over 10 minutes remaining but, as before, the Iraq goal triggered an immediate response from their opponents with Tavakoli side-footing in a fine strike to restore the two-goal advantage.

The back-and-forth nature of the game continued with Mohammed adding his second and Iraq’s third of the night as he headed home after a three-on-one counterattack.

But it was Tayebi who had the final say in the game as he took the outright lead in the top goalscorers standings with his second of the night and eighth overall to give Iran the 5-3 victory.

Mohammad Nazemasharieh: IR Iran Head Coach:

“It was expected that we would have a tough game. We know Iraq very well, as we play each other two to three times a year. The tough teams always give tough games. It was clear Iraq wanted to be number one in the group so they played a strong game. Time by time and step by step, the games get harder and harder as the tournament progresses. The knockout stage is no joke, if you make mistakes you’ll be eliminated. We may look to be more conservative in some matches going forward.”

Haitham Abbas: Iraq Head Coach

“We talked before the match that Islamic Republic of Iran would be a difficult team. In futsal sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. We looked at this game as preparation for the next round. Iran are the champions of Asia and third in the world. Iran are very strong technically and very strong physically, and in Mohammad Nazemasharieh they have a very good coach. We focused on the defence in this game, but we made some mistakes which saw us concede five goals. We can’t make these mistakes in the knockout stages.”

Photos: AFC

Iran Futsal to defend AFC Futsal Championship title in Chinese Taipei

Team Melli, who recently beat Belarus 5-0 and 2-1 with Ahmad Esmaeilpour and Asghar Hasanzadeh scoring a goal apiece on both occasions, will play Azerbaijan on Tuesday and Wednesday..

Iran, who are preparing for their defence of the AFC Futsal Championship title – which will be held in Chinese Taipei on February 1-11 – are drawn in Group C alongside Iraq, China PR and Myanmar.

Sixteen teams are divided into four groups with the top two sides in each section advancing to the knockout phase.

Iran won their 11th AFC Futsal Championship title after beating Uzbekistan 2-1 in the final of the 2016 edition.

AFC Futsal Championship 2018: Group C Preview

 IRAN

Best finish: Champions – 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2016

How they qualified: Group B winners (South & Central Zones)

FIFA Ranking: 5

Defending champions Iran are the favourites to lift the title again in Chinese Taipei as Mohammad Nazemosharia’s side prepare to open their defence against Myanmar on Feb 2.

Team Melli, who won the Asian Indoors in Ashgabat last year, beating Uzbekistan 7-1 in the final, topped their group during qualification as they maintained a perfect record beating Afghanistan 8-2 and Tajikistan 12-2.

Ahead of the Finals, Iran beat Belarus 5-0 and 2-1 in Tehran. They also played to a 3-3 draw against Azerbaijan before beating them 4-1 in the return leg.

Two-time AFC Futsal Player of the Year Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh will lead a star-studded cast in Chinese Taipei which includes Mahdi Javid, Farhad Tavakoli, Ahmad Esmaeilpour, Moslem Oladghobad and Alireza Rafieepour.

 

IRAQ

Best finish: Quarter-finals – 2002, 2016

How they qualified: Group A runners-up (West Zone)

FIFA Ranking: 50

Iraq qualified for the Finals after finishing second in Group A during the West Zone qualifying behind group winners Bahrain.

The 2002 and 2016 quarter-finalists head to Chinese Taipei after completing a series of friendlies against Lebanon and Malaysia as part of their tune-up ahead of the Finals.

The Lions of Mesopotamia beat Malaysia 5-1 and lost to Lebanon (5-1) and (3-2) in Beirut.

CHINA PR

Best finish: Fourth place – 2008, 2010

How they qualified: Play-off winners (East Zone)

FIFA Ranking: 74

China PR’s best finish in the competition was finishing fourth in the 2008 and 2010 editions and Team Dragon will be looking to better their record in Chinese Taipei.

Li Jianjia, Zhuang Jianfa, Zeng Liang, Zhao Liang, Xu Yang and Li Zhiheng will lead China’s charge in Chinese Taipei.

MYANMAR

Tournament debut

How they qualified: Group A runners-up (ASEAN Zone)

FIFA Ranking: 71

Myanmar will be making their debut in the Finals following an impressive ASEAN Zone qualifying, scoring 41 goals in finishing runners-up in Group A behind group winners Vietnam.

The White Angels beat Brunei 13-0, Phillipines 25-0, Indonesia 3-2 but fell 3-0 to Vietnam as Pyae Phyo Maung emerged top scorer with 11 goals.

Khin Zaw Lin, Naing Ye Kyaw, Nyein Min Soe, Aung Aung and Hlaing Min Tun make up the rest of Htay Myint’s side in Chinese Taipei.

Group C Fixtures

Feb 2:

Iraq v China PR,

Iran v Myanmar

Feb 4:

Myanmar v Iraq,

China PR v Iran

Feb 6:

Iran v Iraq,

China PR v Myanmar