A week after scoring that decisive goal of Javad Nekounam against Korea Republic, which secured three vital points for Team Melli, the Captain of the team spoke about various aspects of football to Esteghlal official website.

Asked about his feeling of the goal and the ensuing celebration, Nekounam said “There was little time for celebration. As soon as the International commitment was over, we had to return back to the club to prepare for the league games which are becoming crucial at this stage.  I had a slight knock and at the moment I am trying quite hard to recover from it.”

Asked if the goal he has scored against Korea, eased some pressure over him as the Captain of the team and a key player. Nekounam said that he has nothing to prove to anyone. He has proven himself some time ago.

“I always wanted to join Esteghlal.”

After 4 months of returning back to Iran’s league, Nekounam said he was satisfied with his decision to return back home after so many years as a legionnaire playing in the UAE and the La Liga. He also stressed that he always wanted to play for Esteghlal. When he made his decision to return to Iran’s league , Esteghlal was his first choice and fortunately, that was the case. “Even before going to Spain, I spoke to Amir Ghalenoei and indicated to him that I like to join Esteghlal. But he encouraged me to pursue my career in Spain. His advice was quite valuable.”  Nekounam said. He also added that he had little expectations about the football in Iran and was not affected by some bad publicity that was and is still going around about the so-called corruption in football. He said that he had not personally experienced some of the claims that have been aired and he is happily doing his trade in home land, however, if he ever found unbearable difficulties and if the environment is not encouraging, he would not hesitate to think about playing abroad again.

Nekounam down played the issue of Esteghlal Captaincy which created some ill feeling between players. He said that he did not join Esteghlal to walk over other more senior players and instantly become a Captain of the team. “Seniority is very important and even if a player who joined a day before me , should also be more senior than I am. I am not going to demand that I have to be the Captain and will respect the senior players’ position in Esteghlal.”

Nekounam said that he does not care much for the critics who had issues with his form in Esteghlal and Team Melli. Claims that his form is below par and not consistent with his form in Osasuna, did not bother him. Nekounam said that he wants to enjoy his football and that is his objective. He said that he is not too fond of giving interviews and admitted that he had a bit of a problem with the media while he was in Spain but he managed to sort it out with some diplomacy.

“There are lots of lies and fabrications doing the rounds here.”

On the aspect of off field issues surrounding football in Iran, Team Melli Captain was very critical of what is being mentioned in the media which has no relation to the factual events. He said that some reporters dream of some imaginary event and the next day they publish it in their newspapers as facts or hot news!. “There are lots of lies and fabrications doing the rounds here. For some people it seems that they enjoy reading controversial tabloid type news which is created by some reporters.  There is a wide gap of thoughts between here and Europe in this sense.”

On the forthcoming match against Uzbekistan , Nekounam said “it is going to be a tough game despite the fact that we will be at home. We really need this victory as this will be our path to qualification for the World Cup 2014 in Brazil.” Commenting further on the match , he said that the absence of Masoud Shojaei from that match due to suspension for his red card against Korea , will not affect the team as there are enough competent replacement in Team Melli to fill the gap.

Team Melli will play Uzbekistan in Azadi on November 14^th , 2012. With 4 matches played, Iran is second behind Korea Republic on goal difference with 7 points.

Iran Football Federation announced the names of the 22 players who will take part in the 2012 AFC U-19 Championship, which will be held from November 4 to 17 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The squad that will be coached by Akbar Mohammadi, i starting training immediately and will be in camp at Azadi Sports complex until the commencement of the tournament.

Iran enjoyed a morale-boosting win ahead of the AFC U-19 Championship by claiming the AFF U19 Tournament in Vietnam with a 2-1 victory over Uzbekistan. Australi and home team Vietnam were the other two participants.

In the final match,  Iran’s skipper Alireza Jahanbakhsh scored both his side’s goals, opening the scoring with barely a minute at the Thong Nhat Stadium gone and netted what transpired to be the decisive goal in the 23rd minute, four minutes after Igor Sergeev had headed home Uzbekistan’s equalizer.

Iran is pooled with hosts UAE, Japan and Kuwait in Group A.

List of 22 players

1. Roozbeh Chashmi (Moghavamat Tehran),
2. Ali Mohsenzadeh  (Moghavamat Tehran)
3. Vahid Heydarieh (Peykan Tehran)
4. MohammadHossein Knanyzadgan (Persepolis)
5. Behnam Barzay (Sanat naft Abadan)
6. Yusuf  Vakya (Foolad Khuzistan)
7. Ahmad Abdollahzadeh, (Foolad Khuzistan)
8. Amin  Jehankohan (Foolad Khuzistan)
9. Waleed Mashayzadeh (Foolad Khuzistan)
10. Ali Choopani (Sepahan Esfahan)
11. MohammadHossein Radmand (Sepahan Esfahan)
12. Sardar Azmoon (Sepahan Esfahan)
13. Hossein Fazeli (Sepahan Esfahan)
14. Mohammad Naseri (Sepahan Esfahan)
15. AliReza Jahanbakhsh (Damash)
16. Mohammad Daneshgar (Fajr Sepasi)
17. Farshid Esmaeili (Fajr Sepasi)
18. Mohammad Ali Framarzi (Fajr Sepasi)
19. Ehsan Pahlavan (Gostarish Foolad)
20. Mohammad Heidari (Mes Kerman)
21. Hojat Sidghi (Mes Kerman)
22. Farshad Murad  Karimi (Mes Kerman)

 

The final list of 14 players of Iran’s futsal team has been submitted to FIFA Funtsal World Cup 2012 organizing committee as the representative of Team Melli in the championship starting in Bangkok on th18th November 2012..

The two most notable omissions were the legendary Vahid Shamsaei  and Javad Asghari Moghaddam.

 

1) Alireza Samimi – Melli Haffari Ahvaz

2) Saeed Kiaei – Shahid Mansouri Qarchak

3) Ali Rahnema – Shahid Mansouri Qarchak

4) Mohammad Keshavarz – Giti Pasand Esfahan

5) Hamid Ahmadi – Shahid Mansouri Qarchak

6) Afshin Kazemi – Giti Pasand Esfahan

7) Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh – Saba Qom

8) Mostafa Tayebi – Shahid Mansouri Qarchak

9) Masoud Daneshvar – Labaniayat Arzan Shiraz

10) Mohammad Taheri – Shahid Mansouri Qarchak

11) Hossein Tayebi – Giti Pasand Esfahan

12) Mostafa Nazari – Dabiri Tabriz

13) Ahmad Ismailpour – Giti Pasand Esfahan

14) Sepehr Mohammadi – Giti Pasand Esfahan

 

 

Iranian Football federation , through its official website , announced the arrangement of a friendly football match against Tajikistan (Ranked 136) on November 6th , a week before meeting Uzbekistan in Azadi.

The match against the Farsi-speaking country will serve as a preparation for the match against Uzbekistan in the FIFA world Cup Brazil 2014 qualification match. Iran is currently second in the table of 5 teams with 7 points , the same as the leaders Korea Rep. who have  a superior goal difference.

Iran has become notorious for announcing and then canceling friendly international games, the latest was the match with North Korea which was canceled in the aftermath of the loss to Lebanon. Although Team Melli has failed to arrange any high quality matches at home, a match with Tunisia was played in Hungary during the training camp held there. Since Carlos Queiroz took the helm , Tunisia was the only friendly opposition which was ranked slightly higher that Iran in the FIFA ranking system.

AFC.com

Tuesday, 16 October 2012 20:37

Tehran: Captain Javad Nekounam scored the only goal with 14 minutes remaining as 10-man Iran drew level on points with Korea Republic at the top of Group A of the final round of qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup with a 1-0 win over the Taeguk Warriors at the Azadi Stadium on Tuesday. The home side went a player down when Soleimani Shojaei was dismissed for his second yellow card in the 56th minute, but Nekounam fired home the winner after the Koreans had failed to deal with a free-kick to give his side three crucial points. It was the first win and goal for Carlos Queiroz’s side since their fortunate 1-0 away victory over Uzbekistan in their Group A opener in June and made amends for their disappointing 1-0 loss in Lebanon last month. “We deserved to win this match although I confess that both teams played really well,” said Iran assistant coach Antonio Simoes, who attended the post-match press conference instead of Queiroz, who had been sent off by the referee. “We trained hard during the past two weeks to get every player mentally and physically ready for the match, and once again, I believe we deserved all three points from the match. “Above all it is the Iranian nation who deserved this win. When you beat a strong team like Korea Republic with 10 players on the field, this match will stick in everyone’s mind forever,” added the 69-year-old Portuguese. “We can’t divide the match into two parts where we played better and where we didn’t. Prior to the goal, we were trying to score and we were looking to make the best of every chance we had and fortunately we managed to do so. Tonight out main priority was to win the match in which we succeeded very well.” For Korea, it was also the first competitive defeat under coach Choi Kang-hee although they remain at the top of the table on goal difference. There was plenty of good movement from both teams early on but the first chance did not arrive until the 14th minute when a diagonal pass from the right found Mohammad Nori but he stabbed his attempt wide before being saved embarrassment by the linesman flag. Belgium-based Reza Ghoochannejhad made his debut for Team Melli and the striker, who is set to join Standard Liege in January, almost marked it with a goal as his low drive from the edge of the box forced Jung Sung-ryong into a good save. As the half progressed, Korea began to take charge of the match with the dead-ball delivery of Ki Sung-yueng causing huge problems for the Iranian defence. In the 26th minute, the Swansea midfielder swung in a free-kick from the left that an unmarked Kim Shin-wook headed over the crossbar and shortly afterwards, he delivered a free-kick from the other flank which caused confusion in the home side’s defence which ended with Kim Bo-kyung’s header being touched onto the crossbar by goalkeeper Mehdi Rahmati Another Ki free-kick in the 34th minute resulted in a scramble inside the Iran box during which Kim Shin-wook saw his shot stopped by Rahmati and Park Chu-young had his effort blocked by the massed Iranian defence. On the stroke of half-time, Ki’s corner from the right picked out skipper Kwak Tae-hwi but his header came back off the crossbar. The match took a dramatic turn in the 56th minute when Shojaei, who had already been booked early in the second half, flew in with a two-footed challenge on Oh Beom-seok and was sent-off. However, the sending-off appeared to galvanise the home side as their 10 men began to control proceedings and Ghoochannejhad sent an overhead kick from 10 yards out over the crossbar before Nekounam saw his header tipped over the crossbar by Jung. But the Iranian breakthrough finally arrived in the 76th minute as the Korean defence were unable to deal with a free-kick from the right allowing Anderanik Teymourian to divert the ball back out towards the penalty spot for an unmarked Nekounam to lash the ball into the bottom corner. Roared on by a capacity crowd at Azadi Stadium, Iran defended heroically in the closing minutes and Korea’s best chance of an equaliser fell to Yun Suk-young, who curled the ball from outside the area just over the crossbar with five minutes remaining. “We’d created many opportunities which we never used and on the other side, Iran converted their only chance into the winning goal of the night,” said Choi. “We took the upper hand in the match, but we failed to benefit from our dominance despite having young and confident players. From the beginning of the match, we had the game under control and we even struck the post, but Iran managed to make the best of their chance. “It was a difficult night for us. However, despite the defeat, I don’t believe all of our chances are gone and we still have games to make up for this one.”

Reza Ghoochanejad

I am so glad that I made my debut for Team Melli in front of  more than 100 thousand spectators, and I did it in  this critical game. I’m really proud of that and I’m glad that we went on to win and get three points of  the game. With this victory our ranks in the table is much better.

I am not very satisfied with my game, only when I’m scoring in the game I’m fully satisfied. But the all-important thing is that we achieved our objective and got a sweet victory making our people happy. The fans support and cheering with excitement was so satisfying and delightful.

 

Khosrow Heydari:

It was a difficult game. Korea has a strong team and they do not play a defensive and compact style . Thanks God that we won this match and have the same point as Korea. Hopefully we can go on and win the next game.

After the bitter defeat against Lebanon, the fans and media outlets came to our support in a way that increased our spirits and determination to win. Even the president and Speaker of the Parliament visited our training camp and boosted our morale.

 

Masoud Shojaei:

I cannot say that the referee was wrong, but my dismissal was unexpected, I committed  two fouls within minutes of each other and got two yellow cards for them.! I do apologize to everyone for that, but I am grateful and thank God that we got the three points of the game.

With this victory, our morale is boosted while our confidence is much higher. We will continue to give our best. We have to be prepared for Uzbekistan match and with the support of the fans, I am sure we can defeat the opponents.

We should not really be concerned with other team’s results but focus on our own. I’m sure we can qualify for the World Cup with 13 points; however, we also should aim to lead the group.

 

 

Seyed Jalal Hosseini:

The people were very kind and cheered us right to end of the game, and I really appreciate their support. Today, our tactical plan included periods that we controlled the game while at other times , go on full offensive. It was a balanced approach.

Uzbekistan match is another crucial game. They are one of the best teams in Asia and I hope that the fans will continue their fantastic support, which really reflects wonderfully on the players. With such support , we will be more determined to win.

Courtesy of PersianFootball.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rW858P5N-LU

Javad Nekounam who scored the winning goal for Team Melli against Korea Rep., his 31st goal for his country in his 129th appearance,  said that this goal was one of his best ever for Team Melli. The Captain of Team Melli who also won the Most Valuable Player of the match title was very thankful for the crowds support “With their presence , we have managed to win despite being down to ten men. I dedicate this victory to the fans and the whole of the Iranian people. They truly deserve this victory.”

The ex-Osasuna midfielder who is playing for Esteghlal Club said that the untied front of all concerned , was pivotal in this victory, ” Victories are not made by one person or player only, it is the combined efforts of all players , coaching teams , fans and the media. I am particularly thankful for the media who have created a friendly and supportive atmosphere for the match.”

Carlos Queiroz , who was quite emotional and tense after the dismissal of Shojaei and as a result he was also sent to the stands by the referee from Singapore , was a much more  relieved character after the win. In the presence of the media , Queiroz said “The player deserve a big congratulation, Each one of them performed to the required standard and showed a lot of grit and determination to win despite our handicap. However, let us not get too carried away because this was simply a win with three points , albeit an important win. We must prepare for the Uzbekistan match and must get the three points out of that match as well.”

Queiroz urged the fans to replicate the fantastic support they provided his team today by turning up in force for the next game against Uzbekistan.

Asked about the referee, Queiroz was not complimentary about the Singaporean referee and his assistamts. The Portuguese coach said “the refereeing was the low point of this exciting match. Quite a few events went unnoticed by the referee , however , if we need to win matches , we should not depend on the referee to help us but do it ourselves”

Team Melli scored a famous win in Azadi despite being down to 10 men , when they defeated the group leader Korea Republic 1-0 from a strike by Javad Nekounam in the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 Qualifying match of the Asian Zone. Azadi stadium was full to the brim with over 110,000 fans hours before the kickoff for this match. The surprise of Carlos Queiroz line up was starting with Reza Ghoochanejad , who made his debut and the benching of Ali Karimi , else the Team Melli was playing with full strength.

 The match first real threat came in the 12^th minute when Nouri missed a setter but was called offside anyway.

In the first  quarter of an hour of the lively game with a great atmosphere. On the 19′ Iran having most of the play and possession and debutant Reza Ghoochannejhad  stings the hands of the Korean Goalkeeper  JUNG Sungryong  with a shot from the edge of the box which the keeper does well to turn away for a corner.

23’ first shoot by Korean from 30 meters easily saved by Rahmati.

30′ Brave goalkeeping from Seyed Mehdi RAHMATI  denies Korea Republic the opening goal. KIM Bokyung (KOR) hits the underside of the bar with a header – and hits the rebound towards goal, but Rahmati gets his body in the way!

38′ PARK Jongwoo (KOR) is cautioned.

45+3 Corner Koreans hit the bar from strong header.

 The South Koreans were clearly the more threatening of the two teams. Rahamati saved at least two goals while the woodwork deprived the Koreans on two occasions.

With the begining of the second half , Team Melli received two quick yellow cards card shojaei (47′) and then Mehrdad  Pooladi (52′)

 55′ a reckless uncalled for foul by the visibly frustrated Shojaei results in his secondThe card was awarded for a late challenge on OH Beom Seok (KOR), which left Shojaei with little cause for complaint. Iran playing with 10 men for the next 35 mints. It was drama in Azadi as Iran, needing a win are reduced to ten men following a dismissal for Masoud SOLEIMANI SHOJAEI . The Osasuna midfielder leaves the pitch in tears.

59′ Iran go close with a spectacular overhead kick from Reza Ghoochannejhad . The ten men are showing great spirit against the Group A leaders.

 74′ Azadi explodes as Captain Javad Nekounam scores with a fine half-volley from 14 yards which left JUNG Sungryong (KOR) with absolutely no chance. The Azadi has gone wild.

81′ Iran coach Carlos Queiroz has been sent to the stands for repeated protests  as his team hang on. The home fans are tense, while the visitors are looking on

Nervous minutes pass and Iran holds up to the final whistle as Team Melli scores a very crucial win.

Freedom of press and expression, highly cherished by the western governments, will deprive Iranian fans in Europe from watching their National football team matches. Millions of Iranian expatriates living in Europe will be unable to watch Iranian TV after the European satellite provider Eutelsat SA stopped the broadcast of all Iranian satellite channels following an order by the European Commission..

The company ordered media services company, Arqiva, to take the Iranian satellite channels off one of its Hot Bird frequencies on Monday. Arqiva said that the decision was made by the EU Council.

“We terminated the contracts because it was the order of the European Commission. We have to follow it,” Karen Badalov, area management of Eutelsat SA told Press TV.

Meanwhile, Head of Public Relations of Arqiva, Gary Follows, told Press TV that as a result of reinforced EU Council sanctions and repeated requests by France’s broadcasting authority for the permanent switch-off of Sahar 1, which is broadcast in the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) multiplex, the IRIB broadcasts through Eutelsat Hot Bird have been terminated.

The Iranian channels being taken off the air include Press TV, al-Alam, Jam-e-Jam 1 and 2, which broadcasts football matches and other Iranian sport events.

The decision follows months of jamming of Iranian channels by European satellite companies.

The politically motivated move to block Iran’s TV is part of American and British lead effort to isolate Iran as a result of claims that the Islamic Republic is developing nuclear weapon. While the British Foreign Minister, commenting to the BBC Persian Service on the latest European sanctions ,  claims that all sanctions against Iran is targeted at the government , it is really difficult to believe how depriving Iranian expatriates from watching events such as televised Football match can hurt the Iranian government and influence the policies , while not harming the ordinary Iranian abroad!

While freedom of expression and the freedom of Press is vehemently practiced and promoted by the west and forms a fundamental pillar of democracy in those countries , to the extent that they pour their wrath on foreign governments who do not respect these rights , it is ironic that the same western government block the opposing Iranian views.

The end result of this political game is Millions of very disappointed Iranians expatriates in Europe. The Iranians ate well known for their great passion towards football and particularly Team Melli.