Category: News
The dilapidated Azadi stadium is in danger!
The unsafe conditions of the facilities and the tribunes of Azadi Stadium has been a topic that has been discussed umpteen times by the Iranian sports press, now it is the turn of the guest and this time the Russians to see from close the dangers facing anyone going to the stadium.
While the national Russian football team played a friendly in Iran, it was an opportunity for the Russian media to get a close look at the sporting facilities and in particular the grand old Azadi Stadium to report on the state of this stadium. Azadi Stadium, which is in its worst condition with the local media repeatedly warning about the dangers and its insecurity, has now become the subject of Russian media. In a report, the ‘championat’ news site discussed the conditions of Azadi Stadium for the match between Iran and Russia and wrote about the bad conditions of this stadium: “When you enter Tehran’s Azadi Stadium, you have a strange feeling. A beautiful trophy greets you upon entering the stadium, although it looks very out of place here; Especially considering the dilapidated state of the stadium. It has been raining in Iran for the past few days. You enter a room under the stands and water is dripping from the ceiling. To be honest, water flows everywhere in this stadium. It seems like the arena is about to be destroyed.”
The “destruction” of Azadi Stadium is a prediction that the local media have been talking about for a long time. Now the voices of the Russians have come out and they have emphasized that water leakage from everywhere from ceilings in the rooms below the uncovered stands. Amazingly these observations by the Russian guests occurred despite the fact that there was no rain on the day of the match between Iran and Russia, and these waters have accumulated from the last two previous days.
Azadi Stadium has been neglected for many years. Signs of dilapidation and decay are everywhere from the cement stands that fans use as weapons to throw on the field to the washrooms, to the offices and properties that are below or at the ground level of the stadium. The worrying question is whether the officials in charge of this great facility will act in time before a disaster occurs and people lose their lives. History tells us that public safety is not the top priority in Iram=n.
Azadi Stadium is 52 years old and opened as the Aryamehr Stadium. The stadium was ordered to be built by the late Shah of Iran with eyes on the Asian Games of 1974. It was inaugurated on 17 October 1971 by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi,
Iran draws with Russia in a friendly.
Team Melli tied Russia 1-1 on Thursday at the Azadi Stadium. Both goals came from penalties scored by Anton Miranchuk ( 28′) for the Russians, while Mehdi Taremi leveled with his penalty at the beginning of the second half.
It was quite a decent start for Amir Ghalenoei in his return to the Team Melli bench after 15 years from his first stint. Iran was the better team in both halves and dominated the games for a long time. It was Mehdi Taremi and his teammates who deprived Iran of a deserved win with wastefulness and some erratic final shooting. Moghanlou, Mohebbi were also guilty of missing golden opportunities.
Russia was neither short of practice nor individual skills and the sanction imposed against the Russian athletes does not seem to have affected their performance. Valery Karpin seems to have a good job with the domestic league players. There were some delightful moves from the guests in Azadi and some quick counters, however, Iran was solid at the back, and the combination of central defenders, Khaikzadeh and Kananizadegan, who were the key defenders in qualifying Iran for the World Cup, were forming a formidable front to protect Beiranvand goal.
It was a clumsy challenge by Ezzatollahi that cost Iran a penalty.
With Azmoun absent, Mohammad Mohebbi and the debutant Shariyar Moghanlou filled in to support Taremi. However, despite the support from the flanks especially from Ramin Rezaeian, the forwards failed to turn those chances to goals. Moghanlou had a debut to forget.
Overall, it was quite a good challenge for Ghalenoei as he becomes more familiar with the players and the roles they can fill in.
Next will be Kenya, a lighter opponent but a physically strong team.
Andranik Teymourian joins Team Melli coaching staff.
Amir Ghalnoei has recruited the former Team Melli captain, Andranik Teymourian as an assistant coach joining the coaching staff today.
Teymourian was introduced to the players by the Ghalenoei before the training started today thus starting his coaching career in the national team.
Before this, Rahman Rezaei, one of the former players of the national team with the experience of playing in the World Cup and the AFC Asian Cup, was added to the staff of Amir Ghalenoui, but Rezaei, for reason not declared, did not turn up for the first training session and then subsequently turned down the job. Amir Ghalenoei went to Teymourian, who was one of his players in the national team of Iran and Esteghlal. Team Melli is currently in camp and preparing for two friendly matches with Russia and Kenya.
Iran v Russia Match preview
Team Melli team will play a friendly match against the national squad of Russia on March 23 in Tehran.
The match is scheduled to kick off at 8:00 p.m. local time on Thursday (tomorrow)
IRAN
This will be the first Team Melli team under the newly appointed Head Coach Amir Ghalnoei. The former Esteghlal player and coach, has won many titles with Esteghla and Sepahan, however, his brief stint with Team Melli back in 2007, was not up to expectations as he resigned after elimination from the AFC Asian Cup quarter-finals.
Despite the expectation, the squad picked for the matches vs Russia and Kenya in six days’ time, still consists of players of the age of 30 seven (7 players are 30 years and over) while only 2 players are at the age 20 or below. That does not sound like Ghalenoei is going all out to rejuvenate the team. Of course, he needs time to do that and his selection of over 7 uncapped players is an indication that he is going for some kind of tactical and personnel changes.
Ghalenoei has declared that the fans need to see beautiful football. It remains to be seen if he is going to do anything about that after 8 years of bland defensive football of Carlos Queiroz. Under the Portuguese coach, Iran was subjected to an embarrassing 6-2 defeat against England in the World Cup.
There are several players missing in Team Melli the most significant of them is Sardar Azmoun. However, with Taremi in excellent form in Porto, the absence of Azmoun will be mitigated. The rest of the lineup should see some changes too as Ghalenoei will surely be looking at options against a strong opponent.
RUSSIA
Russia is a team in turmoil. Politics has harmed the team with sanctions barring the Russian football team from participating in all football activities. Still, they have managed to play some friendlies lately. Last year, the Russian national football team played three friendly football matches, namely against Kyrgyzstan in September (2-1) and against Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in November (both matches ended in scoreless draws).
Iran will be a powerful opponent, especially at home, in which the Russian team has to be at its best. It is not known how many changes in the team will Head coach Valeri Karpin embark on for this match. Karpin who was appointed on 26 July 2021 had lost 1 match in 10 so far, so his record is quite good with Russia. who also has another match against Iraq in St. Petersburg.
None of the current squad plays outside Russia.
Russian Football Union (RFU) President Alexander Dyukov announced in late November 2022 that, in light of the barring of Russia’s national teams and football clubs from UEFA and FIFA competitions, the RFU was looking at joining the Asian Football Confederation.
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Russia negotiating with UEFA and FIFA on their future.
The Russian Football Union (RFU) is negotiating with FIFA and UEFA to retain eligibility to participate in competitions with friendlies already lined up.
The Russian team will play a friendly match against Iran in Tehran on March 23 and are also due to face Iraq on March 26 in the city of Saint Petersburg.
They will also be participating in the Championship of the Central Asian Football Association, which will involve Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan, and is due to be held from June 9 to 21 in Bishkek and Tashkent.
FIFA and UEFA were both on the list of sports associations that banned the Russians for the invasion of Ukraine on February 21 2022.
The ban was imposed exactly one week later on February 28.
The Russian national team was due to face Poland in a qualifier for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, with the winner going on to face Sweden for a spot in the finals, but the ban took effect before the match and Poland got a pass through the round.
Since the ban, the Russian national football team have participated in three friendlies, defeating Kyrgyzstan 2-1 in Bishkek and drawing with Tajikistan in Dushanbe and Uzbekistan in Tashkent, with both matches ending goalless.
Denis Rogachev, the RFU deputy secretary general, spoke on the current state of the national team in a meeting of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports.
“The activity of the national team is not frozen,” Rogachev said, as reported by Russia’s official state news agency TASS.
“It has suffered greatly, we do not experience a flow of people who want to play with us. This is a very difficult negotiation process, negotiations are underway to participate in the Championship of the Central Asian Football Association in June. We have retained corporate rights to participate in FIFA and UEFA, but we are negotiating with colleagues about a phased return to competition.”
“I can’t add anything new. ”
“A working group has been created, a negotiation process is underway with UEFA and FIFA on a phased return. “A FIFA Congress was held in Africa, and there will be elections of the UEFA President, which we will attend.
“The process of restoring our rights as a priority option provides for keeping us in European football, but all scenarios are being considered.” The RFU attempted to appeal to overturn the ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but failed to meet the deadline for the filing of the complaint. The CAS already rejected the return of Russia to tournaments in May 2022 after a majority vote by members on the matter.
The 2018 World Cup hosts will be looking to return to international competitions, as well as competitions for their club teams such as the UEFA Champions League.
Azmoun withdraws from Team Melli camp.
Team Melli’s training camp the preparatory games against Russia (March 23) and Kenya (March 28) that started today was joined by several legionnaires but with a notable absentee.
Domestic league players, who have been invited to the national team camp, have introduced themselves to the technical staff this morning at the Olympic Hotel. Ahmed Noorolahi, Mohammad Hossein Kananizadegan, and Shoja Khalilzadeh, the three legionnaires playing in the UAE and Qatar have also been added to the national team camp. It is reported from the camp that Bayer Leverkusen striker Sardar Azmoun has requested the national team’s coaching staff to be excused from joining this camp. Apparently, Azmoun will not accompany the team in the upcoming games with Russia and Kenya due to family reasons and with the permission of the head coach.. Azmoun’s presence in the team camp was especially important for Russian media and experts because of his time with Rubin Kazan, Rostov, and Zenit for many years, and was considered one of the best foreign stars of the Russian league.
Today, the Football Federation also introduced the assistants of Amir Ghalenoei. According to this, Saeed Elhawi, Rahman Rezaei, Ali Asghar Ghorban Alipour, Alian Dinka (Goalkeeper Coach of Tractor ) and Ali Kamangari (Analyzer) are members of the national team’s technical staff. Due to the limited time between the end of the league games and the start of the camp, the first foreign assistant to the head coach of the national team will be introduced after this camp, and another Iranian coach will be added to the current staff.
Another masterclass for Iran’s beach soccer defeating UAE 7-2
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Amir Ghalenoei announces his first squad
Amir Ghalenoei has picked up his first squad ahead of the two international friendlies against Russia and then Kenya both in Azadi Stadium, Tehran.
There were no major surprises as the bulk of the previous Team Melli squad was picked. Ghalenoei, however, did not call eight players from the previous squad of Carlos Queiroz. Karim Ansarifard, Saman Ghoddos, Ali Karimi, Milad Mohammadi, Abolfazl Jalali, Morteza Pouraliganji, Amir Abedzadeh and Majid Hosseini. Apart from the latter who is injured, the rest have been suffering performance issues or warming their club’s benches.
One of the notable absentees is Allahyar Sayyadmanesh, of Hull City in the championship. Although he is back after a longish injury deprived him of playing, it seems that Sayyadmanesh still requires more time to fully recover.
Of the new players, many of them passed 25 years of age bracket, Hezbavi of Team Melli U19, is the most significant. Despite his good performance in Uzbekistan in the AFC U19 Asian Cup 2023, he was unable to lead the team to the finals, although his selection to Team Melli is a good consolation.
the squad
Position | No. | Player | Club | Age | Caps |
MF | 1 | Ahmad Nourollahi | Shabab Al Ahli (UAE) | 29 | 28 |
MF | 2 | Ali Gholizadeh | Kasimspor (TUR) | 26 | 29 |
MD | 3 | Alireza Jahanbakhsh | Feyenoord (NED) | 29 | 66 |
GK | 4 | Alireza Beiranvand | Persepolis (IRA) | 30 | 54 |
FW | 5 | Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh | Charleroi (BEL) | 22 | 3 |
DF | 6 | Aref Aghasi | Foolad Khuzestan (IRN) | 26 | 2 |
DF | 7 | Armin Sohrabian | Gol Gohar Sirjan (IRN) | 27 | 0 |
MF | 8 | Ehsan Hajsafi | AEK Athens (GRE) | 32 | 122 |
GK | 9 | Hossein Hosseini | Esteghlal (IRA) | 30 | 8 |
FW | 10 | Hossein Kanaani | Al Ahli (QAT) | 28 | 36 |
GK | 11 | Hossein Pourhamidi | Aluminum( Arak (IRN) | 24 | 0 |
DF | 12 | Mehdi Hosseini | Mes Rafsanjan IRI) | 29 | 0 |
FW | 13 | Mehdi Taremi | Porto (POR) | 30 | 63 |
MF | 14 | Mehdi Torabi | Persepolis (IRA) | 29 | 39 |
MF | 15 | Milad Sarlak | Persepolis (IRA) | 27 | 11 |
MF | 16 | Milad Zakipour | Sepahan (IRA) | 27 | 0 |
DF | 17 | Mohammad Amin Hizbavi | Foolad Khuzestan (IRN) | 19 | 0 |
FW | 18 | Mohammad Hossein Eslami | Zob Ahan (IRI) | 22 | 0 |
MF | 19 | Mohammad Karimi | Sepahan (IRA) | 26 | 0 |
MF | 20 | Mohammad Mohebi | Esteghlal (IRA) | 24 | 3 |
DF | 21 | Omid Noorafken | Sepahan (IRA) | 25 | 15 |
GK | 22 | Payam Niazmand | Sepahan (IRA) | 27 | 1 |
FW | 23 | Ramin Rezaeian | Sepahan (IRA) | 32 | 48 |
FW | 24 | Reza Asadi | Tractor Tabriz (IRI) | 27 | 0 |
FW | 25 | Reza Shekhari | Gol Gohar Sirjan (IRI) | 24 | 0 |
GK | 26 | Roozbeh Cheshmi | Esteghlal (IRA) | 30 | 21 |
DF | 27 | Sadegh Moharrami | Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) | 26 | 21 |
MF | 28 | Saeid Ezatolahi | Vejle (DEN) | 26 | 50 |
FW | 29 | Sardar Azmoun | Bayer Leverkusen (GER) | 27 | 68 |
FW | 30 | Shahriar Mughanloo | Sepahan (IRA) | 28 | 0 |
DF | 31 | Shoja Khalilzadeh | Al Ahli (QAT) | 33 | 25 |
MF | 32 | Vahid Amiri | Persepolis (IRA) | 34 | 68 |