With his leg in a cast , Mehrdad Pooladi , Perspolis defender joined Team Melli camp for their first training session on Wednesday. According to Mehr News report , the 26 years old Perspolis player had a broken leg a few weeks back and his leg is in cast , however , it is not clear how Pooladi was named for the squad while injured and unable to play or practise!

Pooladi last league game for Perspolis was on the 15th of March against his previous club Mes Kerman. He has not featured since then for Perspolis due to the injury , but that did not prevent his inclusion for the Team Melli squad!

Pooladi’s cameo appearance at Team Melli camp involved joining Iran’s futsal team weight lifting training at the gym. Pooladi will have his leg examined in the next few days before final decision on removing the cast is given. It is not clear how much time the player will have available to recover and regain his form in order to play for Team Melli.

As part of the preperations for the upcoming FIFA Woerld Cup matches, Team Melli will be playing a friendly match against Oman in Muscat. The match on the 22nd of May will be played in Sultan Qaboos Sport Comples in Boshar and will be the only frindly for Team Melli before the match against Qatar in Doha.

Shehab Gordan , Sepahan and Team Melli Player has declared that he will not be joining the Team Melli camp due to some family problems. Gordan told Mehr News reporter that he has already contacted the Team administrators and sought their permisiion to be excused from the camp at this stage due to family commitments.

“I will be available to team melli anytime soon after this period is over and will train very hard to be included in the squad in the near future.” said the Sepahan goalkeeper who won the Hazfi Cup with his club this season.

After the conclusion of the first practice session of Team Melli on Wednesday , a press conferee was held by Carlos Queiroz attended by a large number of reporters. The Portuguese coach welcomed the reporters to the conference and emphasized the importance of theses coming few weeks where Team Melli will have three important matches which will decide its fortune and whether it will have a place in the World Cup finals in Brazil. Queiroz also pointed out that he is glad that the media has realized the importance of the team preparation and news and said that the large number of media personnel in this press conference is indicative of the importance of the next few weeks to the Iranian public.

After the welcome note , Queiroz said that all the facilities were provided for the squad and training has started in a good spirit with the support of the football federation. He also added in preparation for the camp in UAE has been, everything is going according to plan and no problems has been reported so far.

Questions from reporters started by mentioning the fate of Ali Karimi. Queiroz replied “ With all due respect to a player like Karimi ,  who has a special place in my heart and without whom the team, would not have progressed so far, my focus and concentration is on the players that are available for me right now and who will do the job against the opposing teams such players like Rahman Ahmadi , Shojaa Khalilzadeh and Haghighi. I really have no time to think about Ali Karimi at this stage”

Asked by another reporter if Mehdi Rahmati will be pardoned and accepted back in the team if he submits a written apology , Visibly irritated Queiroz responded “I want you all to note that today is the 15^th of June 2012 and we do not have much time until the first crucial match against Qatar. All my efforts are focused on the players in the training camp. If you want to talk about these players, then I will happy to oblige. I am not going to talk about the past nor turn my attention to trivial matters.  If you keep on like that we will reach a stage where you will start talking about Bagheri and Daei. I really don’t know what is going on with the press but you have to believe that we are under pressure and have to focus. I have no time to waste on these matters you are referring to.”

 Despite such straight and emphatic talking , the Iranian press continued such line of questioning unabated and insisted on asking about Ali Karimi and Mehdi Rahmati and whether they will be called to Team Melli.

Carlos Queiroz left the press conference in protest, never to come back.

 This is not the first time that Queiroz has stormed out of a press conference in protest against the media’s line of questioning that Queiroz does not think is appropriate.  Despite his efforts to accommodate the sensational and controversy seeking Iranian media, Queiroz has found it difficult to come in terms with media that reflects another downside of the country’s football.

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Tehran

An initial 24 players squad has been selected for Team Melli in preparation for the upcoming matches in the FIFA World Cup 2014 Qualification rounds. The squad will be flying to the UAE for the training camp where Iran was supposed to play a friendly match against Iraq. The UAE Football authorities objected and the game got canceled, however Team Melli has one friendly match arranged against Oman in that period.

The initial squad has no players from recently crowned league champions , Esteghlal as the Tehrani team is still engaged in the AFC Asian Championship league and will be playing against Al Shabab of UAE in a home and away round. The first match on Wednesday will be in Dubai with the return match a week later in Tehran.

9 players of the squad are from the other popular team , Perspolis who have just finished the season on a bitter and disappointing note as they lost the Cup final against Sepahan and were defeated in the last match of the regular season to drop to seventh rank in the final league table. This is one of Perspolis’ worst seasons in top flight of Iranian leagues , but such drawback apparently has not made any difference on selecting virtually Persepolis’s whole starting line up to Team Melli !

In addition to the 7  Esteghlal players  (Hashim Beigzadeh , Ali Hamoodi , Pejman Montazeri, Khosrow Heydari, Javad Nekounam , Mojtaba Jabbari and Farzad Hatami) who have been selected for the squad but not joining the camp until after the 22nd of May , it is expected that the legionnaires will also be joining the  training camp in the second phase. Players such as Daniel Davari , Omid Nazari, Reza Ghoochanejad, Andranik Teymourian and Masoud Shojaei will joining the camp as soon as the leagues they are playing in finishes the season.

The most significant absence will undoubtedly be of Fulham player Ashkan Dejagah, who has suffered an injury requiring operations and Ali Karimi of Perspolis who suddenly announced his retirement from football in the aftermath of his club poor results and defeat in Hazfi Cup final. Karimi has clearly indicated that he is not available for Team Melli selection.

In a separate statement to the press , an Iranian FA official has hinted that Mehdi Rahmati and Hadi Aghili , two ex-Team Melli players who have been disciplined by Queiroz, might be joining the squad soon. Apparently Queiroz had a meeting with head of the IRIFF Ali Kaffashian who asked the Portuguese coach to re-consider his decision on excluding these two players from selection since they both publicly apologized for their misdemeanors !

There was no comment by Queiroz on the case of these two players.

Team Melli is commencing their training camp in the UAE next week , but a friendly match against Iraq National Football team was cancelled because of the Iraq federation decision to cancel their own team’s training camp in Dubai.

According to the Iranian Football Federation spokesman, the arranged friendly against Oman is still on the agenda, however , no further details were given on the dates and venues.

Ali Karimi  & Mehdi Mahdavikia the Perspolis and Team Melli players have announced their retirement from football in the aftermath of the bitter defeat of Perspolis in the Hazfi Cup final. On Sunday , Sepahan Esfahan won the Hazfi Cup after a penalty shootout depriving Perspolis from qualification to the AFC Asian Championship League next season.

Karimi who was injured for several weeks was making his first competitive appearance for Perspolis after the longish layoff. This match was crucial for himself as much as for his teammate Mehdi Mahdavikia who was making his final appearance before hanging his boots. While Mahdavikia’s retirement was known beforehand, Karimi’s announcement was an unexpected surprise.

Both players have a run in with the club management at different stages. In a veiled statement to the press on his retirement announcement , Karimi said that by leaving the club , he hopes that those people who take over are more dedicated to the club principals that himself. Karimi also emphasized that he is also not available for Team Melli selection.

 In an interview with “Emarat alyoum” newspaper, the Captain of Team Melli expressed his deep regret on leaving the La Liga club, Osasuna.  Javad Nekounam scored the winning goal against Al Ain the UAE champions in the penultimate match of the AFC Asian Championship League Group D to ensure his club Esteghlal win the group and qualify for the next round.

Nekounam said that several clubs from the Professional UAE league are negotiating with him at the moment for a possible transfer next season; however he declined to name those clubs and said it is not prudent to do so at this stage. He also refuted any ideas that his aim in playing in the UAE league is purely financial and emphasized on the point that as a professional player, he wants to give his best and achieve glory with any club he plays for.

Nekounam added that he is no stranger to the UAE league as it was his stepping stone to Europe while he was a player with Al Sharjah and Al Wehda clubs. He also confirmed that these two clubs are not involved in the present negotiation for him to return to the UAE league.

As for his thoughts about the Spanish La Lega , the 30 years old Iranian Captain said that he made a grave error in leaving Osasuna where he was playing for six seasons. “There was a professional management and training system that Osasuna applied which always encouraged the players to excel and succeed. The way the system run helped me tremendously in improving myself and to deliver my best to the club and country” Nekounam said.

Nekounam added that he has no problem to admit when he makes an error in judgment because such admission will help him avoid such errors. The Esteghlal Captain also emphasized that his playing for such a big club , added a lot of value to his game and the current successful run in the AFC Asian Championship  League is indicative of how the team , including himself , is delivering  at the highest level of football.

Original article in Arabic

Mohammad Mayeli Kohan , the ex-Team Melli coach and current Gahar Dorood football team coach, commented on Iran’s Team Melli and the league. He was particularly concerned by the Federation’s league committee decision to reduce the number of clubs next season to 16 teams down 2 from the current 18. The outspoken Maylei-Kohan said “I agree with and I am in favor of any decision that is in the interest and benefit of football of the country. Unfortunately some people are only looking for the their own individual interests and interests of the Club rather than the football as a whole. This is detrimental to Iranian football”

“I hear much talk about this reduction of league team and unfortunately quite a bit of such talk is only to serve personal interest of individuals.”

“At one point there was suggestions that each province should be allowed a representative in the league , but now we are told that we should reduce the number of teams to 16. So , why is this sudden turn?”

“Such vital decision making process should be carried out by a group of specialists and professionals who have long experience in this field. By people who have been around in Iran’s football and know the ins and outs of it. Such decisions should not be based on a whim of one individual and that is the Coach of the national team because he wants to have his players gathering much more often and free them from playing for their clubs in the different competitions.” He added that “we should re-think such decision and use the right experts in this field. It is not at all the duty of Team Melli’s coach to decide how many teams should be in the league.” Carlos Queiroz belongs to country named Mozambique. I like this country and its football but Mozambique has no reputation in the world football hierarchy. However, even in Mozambique, Queiroz will not be allowed to interfere in such issues because this beyond his expertise and terms of reference. But here, we are asking Queiroz about right number of teams in our premiere division, we are sliding down. Looks like he wants us to back to the old times again.

Mayeli-Kohan continued his criticism of the national team coach selection of players and planning. He said ” Every Team Melli game means that we have to stop the league program for several days and sometimes weeks, resulting in interruption of our programs and loss of momentum.  While all over the world just two or three days before any match suffice for their national team matches. We produced so many potentially good players like Arash Afshin , Mohsen Mosallman, Mehrdad Jama’ati, and many others, yet our Team Melli coach gets player from mediocre leagues to represent the country. Ashkan Dejagah is one fine player with talent and ability. I don’t think there is any doubt about his value for the team, but then again Queiroz selects players such as Omid Nazari or Atshkadeh just to occupy the bench.  In my humble opinion, I don’t even think that Ghoochanehan is anything but an ordinary player the like of him are quite a plenty in Iran. Many people say that the 1996 team was the best recent Team Melli, but with the players that are available now in Iran, we can even have a better team than the 1996 one.”