In what looked like total collapse, Team Melli U-19 went down 4-1 against their nemesis Korea Rep, in the quarter finals of the AFC U-19 championship 2012 in Ras Al Khaima.

In what was expected to be a tough and close encounter , the Koreans scored early to put psychological pressure on Iran making them chase the game. Iran eventually scored the equalizer through their best player of the tournament , Alireza Jakan Baksh, to end the half all square for both teams. However , there was a lot to be desired from Iran’s tactical game.

In the second half , the Koreans came out much more determined and organized than the first half. It was no surprise when they scored the second goal while Iranian lost their way with for too much errors in passing and being caught out on the counter offensive moves.

The biggest surprise was the way the defense of Team Melli U-19 has collapsed against an organized and pacy Koreans. The South Asians torn Iran’s defense apart and scored further two goals , but they also missed as many. Only fate saves the Iranians a serious embarrassment and a big score line defeat,

The match ended 4-1 and it was yet another failure for Iran at this level. There was so much hope and so much promise from this team, but it all collapsed in a day of futile and feeble performance and against a powerhouse which was quite astute ,  organized and disciplined in all fronts

Korea Rep. booked its place in the semi-final to meet Uzbekistan and more importantly booked a place to the FIFA World Cup U- 20 championship in Turkey next year. For Iran , it is back to the drawing board. Iran U-19 team has to start from scratch, although quite a few of this talented team can readily make it to the next age level team.

Ras Al Khaimah: Korea Republic coach Lee Kwang-jong has vowed to maintain his offensive tactics in Sunday’s quarter-final against Iran, the team he rates as the best in the tournament so far.

The 11-team champions advanced to the last eight as runners-up in Group B following a goalless draw with table-toppers Iraq and victories over Thailand (2-1) and China (1-0) while Group A winners Iran have been in imperious form defeating title contenders Japan 2-0 and Kuwait 6-0 either side of a 1-1 draw with tournament hosts UAE.

“So far, Iran have emerged as the team to beat in this competition,” Lee stated at the pre-match press conference.

“What I have seen of them so far is that they are very good in attack but our philosophy will be the same and that is attack first then defend so let’s hope this will be a good match for the audience.”

While Lee would be delighted to extend Korea’s tournament win record to 12, he also has one eye on the future with The 2014 Olympic Games in Brazil featuring in the mind of the Korean coach.

“This team will develop as our Olympic team so we are trying our best to ensure they got lots of international exposure by winning this quarter-final and qualifying for the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

“It was very disappointing that our under 16s failed to make it to the World Cup following their defeat in the quarter-finals of the AFC U-16 Championship and we don’t want a repeat of that disappointment here.”

Having successfully negotiated the group stage Iran coach Akbar Argi is ready to embrace the knockout phase of the competition, starting with Sunday’s showdown between two sides he sees as amongst the continent’s best.

“To be honest our journey in the competition starts tomorrow,” said Argi, who will be missing the services of suspended striker Sardar Azmoun, who scored in the 6-0 win over Kuwait.

“I was always confident we would get through the group stage given the strength of the opponents and now all eight teams in the knockout stage are capable of winning this competition.

“The Koreans are one of the big names in Asian football and they are the record 11-time champions of this competition so we will be showing them the utmost respect.

“Having said that, I believe in my players and their qualities. It will be a highly-charged match with both sides going all out for the win so I guess the spectators can look forward to enjoying a match between two of the top Asian footballing nations.”

Team Melli continued the preparation for the match on Wednesday. On friday , the training was conducted in Azadi stadium. Ali Karimi was declared unfit for the match vs the Uzbek as the result of the MRI showed that the midfielder could be out for more than 4 weeks because of torn muscles.

Meanwhile , Ando Teymourian who was injured and substituted during his club’s match in Qatar and feared that he might miss the Uzbekistan match , commenced his training and is quite hopeful to make it by Wednesday. The medical staff will have to test him to ensure his match fitness.

The other absentee from training is Ashkan Dejagah who is still in London and could feature in his club match against Arsenal. The Fulham midfielder would be flying to Tehran after the match on Saturday. He should be in the camp by Monday at the latest.

Notable absentees from the match will include Masoud Shojae who was dismissed from the match reciving a red card against Korea Rep., Ehsan Hajsafy and Hadi Aghili both were not selected by Queiroz , Mohammad Ghazi on injury list.

Uzbekistan team began preparations for the match against Iran on November 8th.
Head coach Mirjalol Kasymov summoned 27 players to the training camp.The squad will assemble on November 12 in Tashkent, after two days of training , the Uzbek squad will fly to Tehran, on the 14th of November two days ahead of the the 6th round match of qualifying round of 2014 World Cup against Iran. The final team roster will include 23 players only.

Uzbekistan squad

Goalkeepers
1 Ignatiy Nesterov     “Bunyodkor”
2 Murodjon Zukhurov     “Nasaf”
3 Sardor Kabuldzhanov     “Bukhara”

Defenders
4  Shohruh Gadoev     “Nasaf”
5  Vitaliy Denisov     “Dnepr”, Ukraine
6  Yegor Krimets     “Pakhtakor”
7  Shaukat Mulladzhanov     “Al Nasr”, Saudi Arabia
8  Akmal Shorahmedov     “Bunyodkor”
9  Islom Tuhtahodzhaev     “Locomotive”
10 Artem Filiposyan     “Bunyodkor”
11 Islom Inomov     “Locomotive”

Midfielders
12 Odil Akhmedov     “Anji”, Russia
13 Vadim Afonin     “Shurtan”
14 Server Djeparov     “Al-Shabab” Saudi Arabia
15 Fozil Musayev     “Nasaf”
16 Aziz Haydarov     “Al-Shabab”, UAE
17 Timur Kapadze     “Aktobe”, Kazakhstan
18 Oleg Zoteev     “Olmalik”
19 Stanislav Andreev     “Pakhtakor”
20 Jasur Hasanov     “Bunyodkor”
21 Sanjar Tursunov     “Alania”, Russia

Forwards
22 Ivan Nagaev     “Dinamo”
23 Marat Bikmaev     “Aktobe”, Kazakhstan
24 Vladimir Shishelov     “Nasaf”
25 Alexander Geynrikh     “Aktobe”, Kazakhstan
26 Igor Taran     “Shўrtan”
27 Ulugbek Bakaev     “Irtysh”, Kazakhstan

Team Melli climbed up 14 places in the monthlky FIFA ranking to the 44th place with 611 points.

According to the latest FIFA ranking released on Wednesday, Iran rose to 44th place with 611 points after series of declines in the months before.

One of the best results for Carlos Queiroz’s team, was the defeat of South Korea 1-0 on October 16 in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. A win which carries valauble points across.

Iran is still fourth place in the contenental ranking behind. Japan on top of Asian teams with 810 points followed by South Korea with 728 and Australia with 719 points respectively.

Bangkok.

During the final group match of FIFA Futsal World Cup Thailand 2012 that was held on Thursday in Bangkok , Mostafa Tayebi was taken of the area with severe nose bleeding after a  clash with a Panamanian player.

While Tayebi was trying to tackle the ball , the Panamanian player swung his arm and hit Tayebi’s face, which lead him to fall on the deck with blood streaming. Apparently it was a severe case as Tayebi had to be rushed to the hospital from the arena for urgent medical attention.

After the match ended , the Panama coach asked all his players to go to the Iranian team’s dressing room to apologize for that unintentional incident which hospitalized one of the Iranian quality players.

Latest reports indicate that Tayebi’s condition is stable and has been released from the hospital;. There is no world on whether he will be available for the last 16 round match.

Meanwhile,  Hamid Ahmadi will not be available for Iran’s team after receiving his 2nd yellow card of the tournament. Ahamadi will be absent against Colombia or Guatemala in the next round.

Iran’s Futsal team defeated the C3ntral American representative 4-3 to make it to the last 16 of the FIFA Futsal World Cup Thailand 2012.

In a tight match that was marred by many wasted chances from Team Melli , the Panamanians were a tough nut to crack with their solid defense and strong attack. Iran took an early lead through Ahmad Esmailpour  (3’00”) , before the Panamanians equalized through  Claudio GOODRIDGE (5’13”)

Before the end of the first half , Afshin KAZEMI (13’02”) and Mohammad TAHERI (18’44”) scored for Iran for the first half to finish 3-1.

The second half saw a much better organized Panama and with their determined and spirited playing , they managed to get their second goal through a a penalty converted by
Carlos PEREZ (34’12”) to make it a nervous few minutes for Team Melli.

Mohammad TAHERI eased the pressure on the team and the fans by scoring Iran’s fourth before Alquis ALVARADO (39’21”) scored from a stunning shot seconds before the whistle. It was a goal too late for the Panamanians who displayed good spirit but coud not match Iran’s skill and experience.

Esmailpour ,  Ahmadi and Rahnama received yellow cards in this match,

With 2 wins and a draw , Iran finished 2nd in the group behind Spain on same points but inferior goal difference. Team Melli will be playing against the second of group F in the last 16 round on November 11th in Bangkok. The opponents will be either Guatemala or Colombia.

In the last group match of the AFC Asian U-19 championship, Team Melli U-19 put six goals past the hapless Kuwaitis to confirm its qualification to the next round of the competition as group leaders.

Japan and UAE played a goal-less draw which puts Iran on top of the table with 7 points , while Japan qualified as the second of the group with 4 points.

Team Melli played a one-sided match and completely overwhelmed the Kuwaitis. In an astonishing event , hardly experienced as such level of football , Iran’s goalkeeper Nasseri , has not touched a single ball from a Kuwaiti player during the whole of the match. Whatever Kuwaiti offensive there was ,  it was simply and easily dispatched with by the “Wave-breaker” defense of Iran.

The midfield was controlled effectively by the Iranians , and fed many good balls for the forward players, however, the bravery of the Kuwait goalkeeper prevented a drubbing early in the first half. The First Iran goal came late but it was worth waiting for. on the 27th minute , from a rebounded ball ,  Valid Zadeh Mashaei scored a scorcher from outside the box into the roof of the net.

The first half ended 1-0 for Iran.

The second half started with Kuwaiti players looking exhausted from the onslaughts of the first half. in the 53rd minute ,  a brilliant piece of individual skill by Ehsan Pahlavan made it 2-0 for Team Melli. Pahlavan dribbled past 3 Kuwaiti defenders before shooting past the Kuwaiti keeper from inside the box.

5 minutes later it was Sardar Azamoun’s turn to score. The substitute pounced on a lose ball and turned 180 degrees to score into an empty net. Iran was leading 3-0 with another half an hour to go. The floodgates was open for Team Melli U-19 while the Kuwaitis started playing rough in order to stop the much fitter and the more skilful Iranian players.

On the 64th Hossein Fazeli , the other substitute scored Iran’s 4th.

Defender Rozbeh Cheshme made it 5-0 from a simple tap in with 15 minutes to go.

3 minutes later , Hossein Fazeli scored his second and the team’s 6th from a nice header that wrong footed Kuwait keeper. From then on the frustrated Kuwaiti were clearly trying to stop the Iranian player by any means including hurting the opponents by intentional rough play. For their dirty tactics , they got several yellow cards and two red cards courtesy of the South Korean referee. One Kuwait player nearly crippled Framarzi in a rough tackle. The Iranian stretchered out never to return to the match as Iran had to play the final 9 minutes of the match with 10 players as they have exhausted their 3 substitutions.

With this comprehensive win , Iran will now meet Korea Republic in the Quarter final

AFC U-19 CHAMPIONSHIP 2012				FINAL ROUND
	07-11-2012 21:00 GST		Fujairah Stadium, Al Fujairah City, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES		1,200

	96 minutes		EHSAN PAHLAVAN
	Warm and humid		27 C

Goals: Valid Mashay Zadeh (27), Ehsan Pahlavan (53), Sardar Azmoun (58), Hossein Fazeli (65 , 78), Roozbeh Cheshmi,(75)

Iran :  Mohammad Naseri (gk); Yousef Vakia, Roozbeh Cheshmi, Hossein Kanani, Mohammad Ali Faramarzi, Ahmad Abdollahzadeh (66; Mohammad Daneshgar), Alireza Jahanbakhsh (c), Ehsan Pahlavan, Valid Mashay Zadeh, Behnam Barzay (55; Hossein Fazeli),  Ali Choopani(40′ Sardar Azmoun)

Kuwait:  Khalifah Aldhufairi (c); Saud Altourki (59′ Meshari  Alobaidan ). Nader Alenezi , Sami Alsanea (68′ Yaqoub Husain), Abdullah Alrashidi, Mohammad Albathali, Mohammad Alqabandi (32′ Mohammad Alenezi), Fahad Alhamdan , Omar Almutairi, Mohammad Alfahad, Abdulrahman Alshammari

Referee: KIM DONG JIN (KOREA, REPUBLIC)

Yellow Cards:

Iran: Sardar Azmoun (53)

Kuwait: Abdullah Alrashidi (22), Mohammad Alenezi (33 + 93),  Sami Alsanea (50)

Red Cards

Kuwait: Mohammad Albathali,(92), Mohammad Alenezi (93)

afc.com reports

Fujairah: Iran outlined the AFC U-19 Championship title credentials with an emphatic 6-0 victory over Kuwait on Wednesday that saw the Iranians advance to the quarter-finals as Group A winners.

Valid Mashay Zadeh gave Iran a 1-0 advantage to take into the second-half before the four-time champions turned on the style after the interval with five unanswered goals saw them top the Group A table and set up a quarter-final clash with Korea Republic on Sunday.

Iran dominated from the start and after Alireza Jahan saw his 22nd minute free-kick pushed out for a corner by Khalifah Al Dhufairi before the Kuwait keeper needed to be bailed out by a defensive team-mate who was on hand to clear Behnam Barzay’s goal-bound header off the line.

The crossbar came to Kuwait’s rescue four minutes later when Jahan beat two defenders only to see his shot rattle the woodwork.

But as the game approached the half-hour mark Iran’s dominance finally paid off when Zadeh collected a defensive clearance on the edge of the area and dispatched the ball into the Kuwait net.

Kuwait were more composed at the start of the second half but after Jahan and Zadeh had efforts on goal Iran doubled their advantage in the 54th minute through Ehsan Pahlavan before the Kuwaiti defence couldn’t deal with Jahan’s cross from the right which allowed substitute Sardar Azmoun to slide home number three five minutes later.

Azmoun turned provider for fellow substitute Hossein Fazeli to make it 4-0 in the 64th minute before Jahan’s cross gave Roozbeh Cheshmi he time and space to slot the ball into an empty net.

Fazeli completed the scoring in the 78th minute when he headed in Pahlavan’s cross at the near post but Kuwait’s misery didn’t end there as Mohammad Al Bathali and then substitute Mohammad Al Enzi were both sent off in stoppage-time, with Al Bathali receiving a straight red for kicking out at an Iranian player and Al Enzi getting his marching orders after picking up a second yellow card for a foul shortly after.

Iranian football federation announced the list of 30 players who will be participating in the training camp for the upcoming West Asian Football Federation tournament to be held in Kuwait in December.

The strong list of players , which is a good mixture of Team Melli players and the younger promising members of Iran’s U-22 team , is indicative of the federation intent of regaining the title they have lost to Kuwait in the last edition of this competition. The Under-22 teams has seven representative in the list.

The bulk of the players that have played against Tajikistan in the friendly , which ended 6-1 to Team Melli , are included in the list. The competition rules allows 22 players only. The final list will be announced in due date.

GK: Alireza Haghighi (Ruben Kazan), Sousha Makani (Naft Tehran), Hamed Lak (Saba Qom), Ali-Reza Piranvand (Naft Tehran)
DF: Hossein Mahini (Perspolis), Milad Fakhreddini (Tractorsazi Tabriz), Vahid Esmailbeigi (Mes Kerman), Pejman Montazeri (Esteghlal), Mohammad Khanzadeh (Perspolis), Maziar Zare (Malavan Anzali), Shoja’a Khalilzadeh (Mes Kerman), Mehrdad Pooladi (Perspolis), Ehsan Hajsafi (Tractorsazi Tabriz)
MF: Omid Ebrahimi (Sepahan Esfahan), Reza Haghighi (Fajr Sepasi), Omid Nazari, (Ängelholms FF), Shahram Goudarzi (Mes Kerman), Abolghasim Dehnavi (Tractorsazi Tabriz),  Milad Nouri (Saba Qom), Mohsen Mosalman (Malavan Anzali),
FW: Yaghoub Karimi (Naft Tehran), Arash Afshin (Foolad Khuzestan) Ahmad Hassanzadeh (Mes Kerman), Payam Sadeghian (Zob Ahan), Milad Gharibi (Saipa Alborz) , Mehdi Nazari (Fajr Sepasi), Jalal Rafkhaei (Malavan Anzali), Karim Ansarifard (Perspolis), Mostafa Shojaei (Mes Kerman), Mehrdad Oladi (Malavan Anzali).