Doha.

The Portuguese head coach of Iran national football team, Carlos Queiroz, says his side is ready to defeat Qatar in Doha. Tomorrow, Qatar will host Team Melli in Doha and both teams need to grab all three points of this match in order to increase their chances for getting qualified for Brazil’s 2014 FIFA World Cup.

“The team is fully prepared to defeat Qatar in upcoming match. Fortunately, all invited players are available to serve the team. I expect to get a good result from this match, because the points are really important for the destiny of Team Melli.” Carlos Queiroz addressed the pre-match press-conference in Qatar.

“This match is important for Iran, but it is far more important for Qataris. There are three more games left in the way of reaching 2014 FIFA World Cup, and we will try to do our best to get qualified for World Cup.” Queiroz added.

Carlos Queiroz also went on to criticize the behavior of Qatari Football Federation toward Team Melli. Qatari side didn’t provide any buses to Iranians for transferring the players from the airport to hotel. “It is disappointing. Qatar will host 2022 World Cup, and they must consider allocating all facilities to visitors.”

Javad Nekounam, the captain of Team Melli, also said that his fellows are looking to grab all three points from the upcoming match.

Singapore referee Abdul Malik Abdul Bashir, who will referee  the crucial match in Doha between Qatar and Iran , in the FIFA World Cup qualifier match , won the inaugural ASEAN Football Federation Referee of the Year Award. -TNP

David Lee of The New Paper, reports:

SINGAPORE – He was once the sort of player referees would hate to handle.

But in a curious twist of fate, Abdul Malik Abdul Bashir is now the one holding the whistle.

And on Wednesday, the former “bad boy” won the inaugural ASEAN Football Federation Referee of the Year Award.

Said the 45-year-old: “I played in the National Football League, and the only consistent thing I was known for was getting yellow and red cards.

“Then there was this one day when I seriously injured an opponent. The next day, I felt really down and I happened to see an advertisement looking for referees.

“I cannot explain what happened, but I went for it and got into the world of refereeing.”

If there is a more thankless job than being a goalkeeper, the match officials are probably it.

Assistant referee Tang Yew Mun, who picked up the Assistant Referee of the Year 2012 on Wednesday, said: “Nobody cheers the referees if we get a decision right.

“But if we get it wrong, you can be sure they will let us know what they think.”

Two-time S-League Referee of the Year Abdul Malik added: “For sure, there is pressure, especially in international games. If we make a mistake, they won’t say Abdul Malik is not good. They will say Singaporean referees are lousy.

“Everyone of us flies our country’s flag when we officiate a game and we know the importance of doing a good job.”

Yet, the appreciation of the crowd is not what spurs them on in this part-time career. Both referees insist it is their love for the sport.

Focus

Tang, a 37-year-old operation team leader at Singapore Flyer Pte Ltd, said: “There are no two ways about it. To be a good referee, you need to have passion and commitment.

“You must also be able to take criticism positively, stay focused and work hard.”

Abdul Malik, who is a referee executive with the Football Association of Singapore, added that in order to keep fit, he religiously goes for his runs, even if it is after midnight.

“It’s all about honesty and discipline,” he said.

But it is not all just work and no play.

Refereeing has allowed Abdul Malik and Tang, both Fifa-accredited referees who have officiated World Cup and Olympic qualifiers, to travel far and wide to countries they never dreamed of visiting.

Tang said: “The most memorable place I went to referee was Tajikistan.

“Not many people would know where this country is, and it is not somewhere most people would go for holiday. But I’m thankful that I had the opportunity to go to places like this.”

For history buff Abdul Malik, to be able to visit historical sites in Isfahan, Iran and Samarkand, Uzbekistan, was a dream come true.

However, in a few months’ time, he will have to call time on his international refereeing career as the retirement age for Fifa referees is 45.

Yet, Abdul Malik says he has no regrets about not officiating at a World Cup.

He does have one more refereeing dream though.

“I hope that with the two of us winning these awards, it will inspire more to explore refereeing as a career,” he said.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -Carlos Queiroz and his Iran team came into qualifying for the 2014 World Cup as one of the favorites to advance. Now, with three group matches left, they’re in danger of missing out.

The Iranians will take on 101st-ranked Qatar at Doha on Tuesday in what both teams consider a must-win match, with each trailing Uzbekistan and South Korea for one of the two automatic qualifying spots from Group A.

On paper, Iran should be favored to win, but nothing can be taken for granted from a team whose injury-plagued attack has scored just two goals in the past five qualifiers.

“It’s a crucial, crucial match for both teams. We are running now out of time,” Queiroz told The Associated Press. “As you know, everybody can be in and everybody can be out. Even Lebanon still has a chance so these final three games are crucial for all the teams.”

Iran captain Javad Nekounam was even more blunt, insisting the match “probably will be one of the most important games of my career” and adding that he was hopeful the team could still reach the World Cup for a fourth time despite a qualification campaign he described as a “very difficult journey.”

Qatar, with only two group matches remaining, can still book a spot for Brazil despite a losing record against Iran. Iran has three victories to Qatar’s one in past World Cup qualifiers, but the teams have drawn the past three qualifiers, including a 2-2 draw that ensured the 2022 World Cup host reached this stage of the competition.

“We are ready for Iran,” Qatar national team director Abdulrahman al-Mahmoud said on the Qatar Football Association’s website. “It won’t be easy, but with the support of our fans our team can win this match …The players have a huge responsibility.”

The match with Qatar also has political overtones, since both countries have been flexing their muscle on the regional stage and often have been at odds – most recently over Syria. It is unlikely that Qatar – where political dissent is prohibited- will allow protests to spill into the stadium, but experts say a victory will carry extra weight due to the growing rivalry between the countries.

“As much as people try to say sport is neutral, you can never separate sports and politics,” said Mustafa Alani, an analyst at the Gulf Research Center in Geneva. “Athletes are representing a country. This is, by nature, a political act. The history of sports is full of political backstories: U.S. versus the Soviet Union, Israel being shunned by many Muslim countries and, to add to the list, Iran and its rivals in the Gulf.”

Amir Hosein Hoseini, a spokesman for the Football Federation of Iran, called the match with Qatar “very sensitive” and complained Iranian reporters had not yet been issued visas.

It isn’t the first time that politics has overshadowed a match between Iran, which has overwhelming Shiite population, and Persian Gulf nations ruled by Sunnis. The United Arab Emirates cancelled a friendly against Iran last year due to a simmering territorial dispute, while FIFA appointed a security expert to monitor an earlier World Cup qualifier between Iran and Bahrain due to fears of fan violence.

Queiroz and Nekounam insist politics will play no part in the match and that their only concern is winning for the football fans back home. The team hasn’t played in the World Cup since 2006.

“We will play with our heart and soul and give it 100 percent as we have done previously,” said Nekounam, who played seven seasons with Spanish side Osasuna and now plays for the Iranian club Esteghlal. “We know our people, our nation wants our team to be in the World Cup. This gives us double motivation.”

Queiroz, a former Portugal and Real Madrid manager, said he has “no doubt” the team will reach the World Cup. But he acknowledged it faces plenty of hurdles, including the loss several players to injury including Hadi Aghili, Mahdi Rahmati, Ali Karimi and star midfielder Ashkan Dejagah, who was hurt playing for Fulham.

Several other stars had not yet arrived by the weekend including Osasuna’s Masoud Shojaei – a problem that has plagued the team throughout the campaign.

“In Asia, there are a lot of circumstances sometimes outside the game that can influence the performance of the players like traveling, the distances, the weather,” Queiroz said. “We can only bring players 48 hours before a crucial game for the World Cup. Qatar has its team in camp and they are preparing all the players. It is unfair or an unbalanced situation.”

Qatar has injury woes of its own, announcing Monday that star striker Sebastian Soria won’t be available.

“We respect the Iranian team knowing they are better ranked than us,” Qatar coach Fahad Than said. “But football is game of small details and the match on the pitch will tell a different story to the form team. We will miss Sebastian Soria. However, we have quality replacements. Our team is made of players who are ready to work for each other.”

Iran’s U-17 team played a its second friendly game against Iraq in Shahid Dastgerdi Stadium today. The match ended 1-0 for Iran with a late goal scored by Hossein Mehraban in the 88th minute.

The Iran U-17 team is preparing for the FIF U-17 World Cup to be held in OCtober n the UAE. Iran qualified from the Asian zone. Ali Doustimeher has been coaching the teams from since the qualifying rounds and has selected a large squad while gradually shoer-listing to the ideal number for the tournament.

Mehdi Mahdavikia, who has shown a keen interest in the team , was present in the match and participated in the team briefng and the half time talk.

Iran’s U-17 Line up:

Mehdi Amini: AmirHossein Karimi, Saeid Ezattolahei (77″ Milad Badreghah), Komeil Haghzadeh, Milad Dai, MohammadReza Kaveh (67″ Ali Hazami), Amir Mohammad Mazloom,  Youisef Sayyedi (75″ Reza Karmalachaab), Mohammad Bazaj, Sadegh Moharrami (65″ Hossein Mehraban), Ali Shojaei (46″ Sasan Jaffary)

Osasuna has agreed to release the Iranian Masoud Shojae a few days earlier than required by FIFA regulation to enable the midfield player to  join Team Melli’s camp in Dubai. Iran , which is preparing for the match against Qatar on Tuesday, has the full compliment of its players in Dubai except for Shojaei.

Club Atlético Osasuna will play its final La Liga match of the current season against Real Madrid next Sunday. The result of the match is immaterial for both the teams, as Real Madrid has already secured a qualification for the Champions League and  the second spot in the table behind Barcelona. On the other hand, Osasuna has also secured its place in the La Liga after last week win against Seville making them safe from relegation that has threatened the Pamplona club during the whole of the season.

According to FIFA Regulations regarding the eligibility and release of International Players (article 36) , it is compulsory for the club to release a player who is involved in FIFA qualifying competition and representing his country , a period of 3 days before the match.

Asia deserves more after World Cup qualifiers fall under friendly day, Iran boss says.

• By Ashley Hammond Staff Reporter 
• Published: 08:00 May 31, 2013

Dubai: Iran coach Carlos Queiroz has slammed the Fifa calendar after next Tuesday’s crucial World Cup qualifier against Qatar falls on a friendly day, meaning some players won’t join training until 48 hours before kick-off.

Dubai

In a surprise statement to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) Nelo Vingada who has been brought by Carlos Queiroz to assist him, for what was believed the rest of the World Cup qualifiers, has confirmed  that he has not been asked by his long time friend to sit on the bench for Qatar match on Tuesday!

Carlos Queiroz is serving a two match suspension by FIFA and he is banned from the bench in Doha. It was believed that one of the main reasons for Vingada’s involvement in Team Melli was to replace Queiroz for this particular match where the Team Melli coach will not be present with his players.

In Dubai, Vingada repeated his prior statements about cooperation with Queiroz in any capacity he can or as requested, but did not explain the particular nature of this cooperation except to say that he has a good knowledge of the football in this part of the world. Vingada, currently the coach of Chinese club Dalian,  also mentioned that he has some person business to conduct in Dubai. His involvement with Team Melli will be for the Qatar match only as then he has to fly to Lisbon to attend a seminar from 11th to 14th of June in which  time Iran will be playing with Lebanon in Tehran.

In the absence of transparency and clear official statements from the Football federation and the Team Melli coach, regarding the true nature of the Vingada mission , the speculations will continue.

For a person  who always seeks and demands full and unequivocal support from everyone and in particular the Iranian media, Carlos Queiroz has not been too exemplary in his conduct and openness to the press.  The coach perhaps needs a reminder about his own obligation to the media and the fans, taken into requirement the confidentiality of some issues. This lack of transparency will only aid in suspicious media behavior and in a country such as Iran , where speculations and rumors have lots of takers, Queiroz and his masters are only fueling these unwanted issues and creating unhealthy environment which could be detrimental to Team Melli.

Someone needs to tell the public, the true reason for Vingada’s involvement with Team Melli. The public statement given about Vingada’s knowledge of Iranian and Persian Gulf football does not carry much credibility as both of these are very limited experiences.

• Team Melli players got a partial day off training in Dubai and went on a group shopping spree to Dubai Mall on Wednesday.
• Two players suffered minor injuries. Mojtaba Jabbari had a pulled muscles while Mohammad Nouri faced a similar problem yesterday. Both players were rested due to their slight injuries.
• Iran’s ambassador to UAE , Dr. Fayyaz was as special guest in Team Melli training camp.
• Nilo Vengada was back in Dubai and actively participated in the training sessions.
• The average of of the Team Melli players is 28 years , which is on the high side
• The average cap of the 25 players is 26 ( Nekounam with 132 caps is the highest , Farzad Hatemi with 0 caps is the lowest)

  

• Goals scoring average is quite low as the 25 players managed to score an average of 0.11 in all the matches they collectively played (671 matches in total).
• The highest scoring player is Javad Nekounam with 34 goals.
• South Korean squad is camping near Team Melli hotel. The East Asian team will be playing Lebanon on Tuesday.
• While still on duty with Team Melli . Rahman Ahmadi the no.1 designated goalkeeper has rejoined his previous club Sepahan Esfahan, it was announced today.

[tableEasy class=”table-striped” caption=”Team Melli Squad FIFA World Cup Qualifiers” ]
#,Player,Age,Club,Caps,Goals
1,”AHMADI, Rahman”,33,Sepahan Esfahan,5,0
2,”BEIGZADEH, Hashim”,29,Esteghlal,11,1
3,”EBRAHIMI, Omid”,26,Sepahan Esfahan,4,0
4,”GHOOCHANEJAD, Reza”,26,Standard Liege (BEL),4,2
5,”HADDADIFAR, Ghassim”,30,Zob Ahan,13,0
6,”HAGHIGHI, Alireza”,25,Ruben Kazan (RUS),3,0
7,”HAJSAFY, Ehsan”,23,Sepahan Esfahan,51,2
8,”HATAMI, Farzad”,27,Esteghlal,0,0
9,”HEIDARY , Khosrow”,30,Esteghlal,42,0
10,”HOSSEINI, Jalal”,31,Perspolis,77,5
11,”JABBARI, Mojtaba”,30,Esteghlal,24,2
12,”KHALATBARY, MohamadReza”,30,Sepahan Esfahan,52,4
13,”KHALILZADEH, Shojaa”,24,Mes Kerman,6,0
14,”KHANZADEH, Mohammadreza”,21,Perspolis,4,0
15,”MAHINI, Hossein”,27,Perspolis,17,0
16,”MAKANI, Sousha”,27,Naft Tehran,2,0
17,”MONTAZERI, Pejman”,30,Esteghlal,13,1
18,”MOSALMAN, Mohsen”,22,Zob Ahan,2,1
19,”NEKOUNAM, Javad”,33,Esteghlal,132,34
20,”NOURI, Mohammad”,30,Perspolis,28,4
21,”OULADI, Mehrdad”,28,Malavan Anzali,13,1
22,”REZAEI, Gholamreza”,29,Perspolis,47,11
23,”SADEGHI, AmirHossein”,32,Esteghlal,8,0
24,”SHAOJAEI , Masoud”,29,Osasuna (ESP),42,5
25,”TEYMOURIAN, Andranik”,30,Kharatiyat (QAT),71,9
,,702,,671,82
[/tableEasy]

Carlos Queiroz, was the coach of Portugal  in the  FIFA World Youth Championships of 1989 in Riyadh and 1991 in Lisbon. His assistant at the time was none other than Nilo Vingada.

With players such as Luís Figo, Rui Costa
João Oliveira Pinto, and Abel Xavier, Portugal lifted the trophy on both the occasions that Queiroz and Vingada were coaching the team.

Vingada who is currently under contract with the Chinese professional league club Dalian Shide, has accepted an invitation by Carlos Queiroz to accompany Team Melli during the last three matches of the World Cup qualifiers. In a brief statement to the press in Dubai, Vingada announced that he has to return back to China as some issues have cropped up in Dalian that needs his urgent attention. He affirmed his intention to return back in time for the match against Qatar in Doha.

Vingada said that he and Queiroz have known each other for over thirty years now. They  are close family friends as well as having worked together in Portugal. The result of the duo cooperation yielded two FIFA Youth World Cups for their country. Vingada said that his close relationship with Carlos Queiroz and his trust in the man is more important than any written contracts. He is now committed to help his friend and do whatever possible in order to take Iran to the World Cup finals in Brazil next year.

Vingada said that he has enough knowledge of Iranian players as he was a coach for Perspolis for a brief period. He has also good knowledge about Arab teams as he world in the area before. His task to ensure the implementation of Queiroz strategies and plans during the match. Vingada said that he has all the confidence that he will deliver as required from him.

The Iranians will be hoping the `Dynamic Portuguese Duo’ can replicate even a minute portion of the success they have achieved a few years back for Portugal.

[archives]

• Reza Ghoochannejad , the Standard Liege player has joined team Melli Camp in Dubai.
• IRIFF has sent an invitation to Khodadad Azizi to be a guest of honor in Doha for the Game against Qatar. Azizi scored the equalizing goal in 1997 against Australia in Melbourne to qualify Iran for the 1998 World Cup in France.
• The honorrary coach of Team Melli , Nelo Vingada has arrived in the hotel where Team Melli resides. Vingada was met and brief

• 

• Carlos Queiroz had a slight illness that required a visit to the team doctor in Dubai.
• Queiroz declined an invitation by the local Iranian club in Dubai for a friendly match fearing injuries to his players ahead of the crucial encounter with Qatar.
• Qatar player of Uruguayan origin Sebastian Soria will be missing the match against Team Melli due to suspension.
• Karim Ansarifrd who was omitted from Team Melli list after his poor performance against Oman , has faced another dilemma as his club Perspolis is ready to offer him a renewal of a contract but with 50% cut in the fee.
• Ando Teymourian announced that despite him not being fully fit , he is fully ready for the match against Qatar.
• Mehdi Seyed Salehi and Shehab Gordan the two players who have not joined the rest of the Team Melli squad because of family commitments according to the players themselves, have been summoned to the IRIFF Disciplinary committee to explain for themselves why they turned down the invitation to play for Team Melli.
• For the first time in decades, Team Melli will be using a private chartered aircraft for the travel to Qatar and Korea. The Aircraft belonging to Aseman Airlines, will be used for transportation of the team in the last 3 matches. IRIFF has struck a sponsorship barter deal with the domestic airlline , however no actual cash will be given to the federation . instead the airline will provide services.