Category: News

Azizi Khadem warning on the defining moments for Iran's football.

Shehab Azizi Khadem, the head of FFIRI, discussed the dilemma of the statute of the football federation and the deadline of FIFA for the approval of the new law by the government and the parliament:

"The most important issue that I should mention is the charter of this federation. We have a very big challenge ahead. I hope some people do not complicate this issue for no logical reasons. Approval of the amended statute has been granted by the previous government. The esteemed government of the time, the General Assembly of the Football Federation, and FIFA have all approved it and now the final process is seeking the approval of Majlis (parliament). FIFA will demand the endorsement by March 1st, 2022. The exchanges we had with Infantino in Qatar, confirm that FIFA is determined that this amendment must be approved and put in motion and they have set a deadline that we have to answer to by March 1st. I hope that the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majlis) will be able to appease the nation with tact and rationality. “

Azizi Khadem added: "If the Iranian national team qualifies for the World Cup as it rightly deserves and expected, it coincides with the FIFA deadline. In February, Infantino will come to Tehran, which will coincide with the qualification of Team Melli. In these difficult circumstances, we hope to have harmony and not to complicate the issues further.”

The president of the federation said: "Now that the amended statute has been approved by three regulators, General Assembly of Football Federation, FIFA and the government of Iran, we expect that Iranian football will not go into turmoil in the fourth and last step of the process.”

" I need to declare this important and crucial issue to ensure that everyone is aware of the facts and progress of a matter which is critical for the nation and its football.”

Azizi Khadem thus made it clear that the onus is on the Majlis to approve the new FFIRI Constitution which is in line with the FIFA recommendation and guidelines. The highlight of the amendment is for the independent operation of the Football Federation and the non-interference of the government into its affairs and decision-making process.

Referring to Wilmot’s claim for compensation and damge case in the CAS court, the Head of FFIRI said: "The progress of Wilmot’s case, is that a hearing will be held next week by the legal team. Next Tuesday is a meeting with Wilmot’s legal team. I hope we will be able to reduce the amount of compensation demanded and the final vote will be issued in January.”

Tayyebi's super goal for Benfica.

Futsal Team Melli player, Hossein Tayyebi scored a goal a stir in the sport's media this week.

Benfica’s Futsal team defeated Hungarian side Haladás 8-3 in the Futsal Champions League on Wednesday. The real talk of the town is the incredible goal scored by Benfica’s Hossein Tayyebi. The Iranian pulled out some exquisite trickery to score Benfica’s third goal. Check out this Tayyebi goal.

Read some of the reactions to Tayyebi's magic goal.

"I don’t know if this trick has been done in the history of the sport. From this moment forward I will call it the Iranian Top-Tier Cranium. Tayyebi can change the name if he so chooses."

"The 33-year-old has a litany of futsal awards in his career, including a third-place finish with Iran at the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup. This fancy trick of his with Benfica might just be his finest."

"If there’s a cheesy “Tricks and Skills” video of a player with some awful non-copyright music playing in the background, then that player has made it. The good news for Tayyebi is that he qualifies for this"

An incredible definition was scored by Benfica in the futsal Champions League.
One of the most spectacular goals could be seen in the futsal Champions League and it was courtesy of Benfica’s player, Hossein Tayebi, who got a point thanks to a display of incredible skill in a definition that was difficult to see again and added to the little angle he had. The Iranian received the ball close to the baseline and had his back to the goal, so he decided to solve in a spectacular way by turning around controlling his right leg and having a small space, he fired with his left to send it to the back of the net. On the court, everyone was amazed at the incredible resource that the Asian brought up with his resolution. The rivals were obviously impressed and incredulous as his teammates ran to congratulate him on the impressive technical gesture that served to mark the temporary 3-1.

Skocic serves his sentence , but what about the cheaters?

Dragan Skocic, the head coach of Team Melli, got super excited after some tense moments during the match with the Lebanese national team. When Sardar Azmoun scored the equalizer, the Croat who was feeling immense pressure with his team a goal behind in the dying minutes of the match, jumped with joy running towards the Lebanese bench,  demonstrating his excitement while pointing towards the stretcher that the Lebanese players used umpteen times in the match.

The Qatari referee brandished the red card to Skocic and sent him to the stands.

The FIFA disciplinary committee issued its verdict and suspended Skocic for one match which he served against Syria. In addition, Skocic was ordered to pay 5,000 Swiss francs, which must be paid within 30 days of the date of notification.

Skocic will be able to lead Team Melli from the bench in the match against Iraq in January 2022.

While Skocic had no business encroaching into the opposing team's area to demonstrate his anger at the host team that was not playing football like gentlemen and professionals, faking injuries, cheating, and simulating in a farce and obvious manner, the Qatari referee was an accessory, aiding and abated in this farcical act of deception. The fault ultimately falls on the world's governing body to stop such ridiculous behavior in football. History reminds us that FIFA can and has acted before to stop such acts of anti-football. Cast your mind back to the game between Ireland and Egypt in  FIFA World Cup 1990.

The worst match at the most boring World Cup in history prompted football's rule-makers to abolish the backpass, changing the game forever

Because of the Egyptian blatant time-wasting and killing of the game, it banned the passing of the ball to goalkeepers.

FIFA needs to act again. It is their full responsibility to act against teams like Lebanon and many others who use time-wasting by faking players' injuries who drop dead with every tackle. There is no excuse for FIFA inaction. Anyone who has a passion for the beautiful game of football, must take a stand against such acts and make their voice heard against cheating.  While VAR and technology are being extensively used, it is about time that this type of technology or alternatives is also used to punish players who cheat. In this part of the world, there are aplenty.

A big call to make on Beiranvand!

Alireza Beiranvand, Team Melli’s number one goalkeeper, is going through some bad patch both at the club and national Team level these days. After conceding four goals in Boavista's game against FC Porto to experience a bitter day against Mehdi Taremi and his teammates, he also conceded another five in the next game against Famalisao, in total he has conceded nine goals in two games.

However, this dip in performance did not seem to affect Dragan Skocic's confidence as Beiranvand was picked in the starting lineup against Lebanon. As expected, he started the match in which he continued performing dreadfully against Lebanon. He still could not put things right and perform as well as expected from him.

Beiranvand was the main culprit in Team Melli conceding a goal in that match. Despite the oddity and the very strong possibility that the ball was in fact traveled well beyond the line out of play, he was nevertheless at fault for his unprofessional response. While he should have been watching the flight of the ball and being alert, he instead watched the linesman ignoring the field and raising his hand as if such action will stop the game! A clever and opportunistic Lebanon forward scored what must have been an easy gift the type of which he might never experience again at the international level.

It was a poor goal to concede even at a much lower level of competition, let alone a match in a World Cup qualifier.

The second major mistake of the day from the shaky Beiranvand came in the second half when he decided to dribble the Lebanese forward in his 6 yards area in the 55th minute of the game. As the forward was pressing on him and getting real close, in haste Beiranvand released the ball and gave it away to another Lebanon forward, waiting for a mistake, who had an empty goal in front of him, It was another gift for Lebanon!. Thanks to the great interception by Sadegh Moharrami that the shot was deflected to a corner saving Beiranvand and the Team.

A goal would have put Lebanon 2-0 up and the recovery would have been extremely difficult especially considering gift goals by Team Melli players.

There is no doubt that Alireza Beiranvand is a liability after consecutive poor performances. He is shaky and his confidence must be at the ebb. Starting him against Syria is now considered a great risk for the Team in which Skocic will be sitting on the stands as he is suspended. However, like Taremi’s absence, Team Melli has a solid bench for goalkeeping. Abedzadeh and young Niazmand are both capable and ready to slot in and relieve the underconfident Beiranvand.

Every footballer will have some downturn in his fortune and experience a bad performance patch. It remains to be seen if Skocic and the rest of the coaching staff will risk using Beiranvand against Syria, or exercise caution and rationale by choosing either of the two keepers.

The coaches of Team Melli must consider the effect of repeated failure on the psychology of a player.

There is a serious risk wherein if Beiranvand starts against Syria and heaven forbids, commits further mistakes that lead to a goal or goals conceded, the emotional uneasiness and the feeling of guilt will perhaps destroy the confidence of Alireza Beiranvand permanently ruining his career in the process. Rationale dictates that Beiranvand should not be exposed to possible psychological agony.

It is a big call for Skocic to make against Syria.

Lebanon all hyped up for the match vs Iran

Saida: Lebanon captain Hassan Maatouk will miss his country’s Group A clash in the AFC Asian Qualifiers - Road to Qatar 2022 against Iran on Thursday with a shoulder injury as Ivan Hasek’s side look to build on last month’s win over Syria.
The Lebanese will host the Group A leaders, who dropped their first points of the campaign when they drew with the Korea Republic in Tehran in October, at Saida Municipal Stadium in Saidon sitting in third place following their victory against the Syrians in Amman.
Sweden-based midfielder George Felix Melki and Al Nejmeh defender Kassem El Zein are available for Lebanon after serving one-match bans while goalkeeper Moustafa Matar is expected to feature despite picking up a shoulder injury playing for Al Ahed last weekend.
“After the performance, we had against Syria in the last match we proved that we can beat any team,” said midfielder Nader Matar. “There is great determination in our team and we promise our fans to give our best in this match in order to get a positive result.”
Lebanon, who are unbeaten in their last 12 games on home soil, are third in Group A with five points from their first four games and trail the Iranians by five points as the group approaches the halfway point.
Only the top two teams in the group are guaranteed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, with the third-placed finishers entering into a series of playoffs.
Dragan Skocic’s side started their campaign to secure the country a third successive FIFA World Cup qualification – and sixth in total – with three wins in a row before being held to a 1-1 draw by the second-placed Koreans.
The Croatian has not selected Porto striker Mehdi Taremi for the games against both Lebanon and Syria, who they face on November 16, while defenders Morteza Pouraliganji and Aref Gholami as well as Turkey-based midfielder Ali Karimi have been ruled out due to injury.
The game will be the first between the two countries since they faced off in qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 in November 2013. The Iranians won that game 4-1.
Lebanon and Iran last met in FIFA World Cup qualifying earlier the same year, with the Carlos Queiroz-coached Team Melli notching up a comfortable 4-0 victory in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium.
Lebanon v IR Iran Venue: Saida Municipal Stadium (Saida) Kickoff: November 11, 20:00 (UTC+2)

Karim Bagheri update on Team Melli.

Karim Bagheri has been loaned to Team Melli as an administrator and advisor. He recently commented on the latest situation of the Team Melli squad which is preparing for two crucial matches against Lebanon and Syria in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers,

Bagheri said: "No match is an easy one, especially at this stage of the competition where all teams are trying to get the results to qualify for the World Cup. The same goes for Lebanon. This team (Lebanon) is playing at home and is determined to achieve the best result." He added: "on the other hand, our side is the national team of Iran with the best players it has. We always do our best to get good results in every match. It is important for our national team to win this one. We also have a tough game ahead against Syria. In these few days, we have prepared ourselves well and the players are ready to play hard with good recovery and training."

Referring to the team's training in Lebanon on artificial turf, the national team coach emphasized: "The first training session was held on artificial turf because the situation did not allow us to train on natural grass. We have this issue on Tuesday as well, but this is no excuse at all as we will practice with all our might on the main field the day before the game."

Regarding the controversy created after dropping Mehdi Taremi from the latest Team Melli list, Bagheri said: "In the last few days, things happened that created a lot of conflict and disputes. These disagreements and conflicting opinions have always existed in football. On the subject of Skocic and Taremi, our media friends could have reflected the issues much better and more rationally. We have two important games ahead. All the media outlets could have paused and kept the issue under control until we finish with these two games and then proceed to discuss and comment on the issue."

He pointed out "There was a lot of talk in these few days. Mr. Skocic, Mr. Khorshidi  (the Manager of Team Melli) and I called Taremi several times to resolve any problems. Dialogue can solve problems. We could have arrested this controversy, but unfortunately, Taremi did not answer me or Mr. Skocic!" Karim Bagheri emphasized: "The last person told me to call Mehdi, but I already have called him twice, unfortunately - Taremi did not answer. He could have his own reasons for such. God willing, these problems will be solved and Mehdi will return to the national team. Mehdi is one of our most in-form players, both in the national team and his club. He works hard and has made very good progress in his career. We do not deny this. "

The coach of the Iranian national team clarified: "If Mehdi had talked to me or Skocic, the case would have been settled more easily. Mehdi's failure to speak fueled this problem. I ask everyone not to drag this issue by blowing it out of proportion. I see on some sites that they are polling who is right and who is lying!! Support the national team because this team is for Iran and not for one or two people. We have to look at the national team as a whole. I ask the press, television, and media to support the national team. Creating controversy, inflating the situation could have negative effects on the squad. Only the name of the national team should matter, not the interest of a person. We need to come out heads high after these two games."

Iran is playing Lebanon on 11th November in Sidon.

The indiscretion of Mehdi Taremi !

A reliable source close to Team Melli camp has revealed to Khabar Varzeshi that after Mehdi Taremi's tweet a while ago and on the recommendation of the Football Federation, Dragan Skocic tried to mend his relationship with the Porto star.

On this basis, the Croatian head coach personally contacted Mehdi Taremi in Portugal to explain his interview with a Croatian website and to discuss and resolve the misunderstanding, however, no matter how many times Dragan Skocic calls Mehdi Taremi's mobile, the Porto player does not pick up to answer the phone of his national team head coach!

Text messages sent to Taremi by the Croatian coach remained unanswered! Dragan Skocic then asks his Iranian assistant Vahid Hashemian to call Mehdi Taremi and help end the misunderstanding while complaining about the unanswered phone call. Surprisingly, Taremi ignores phone calls and messages of Vahid Hashemian too. As a final measure, these two coaches of the national team assign Karim Bagheri the task of contacting Taremi.

Skocic believes that considering Karim's history and stature in Team Melli and Persepolis, it is impossible for Mehdi Taremi not to answer the phone of his former coach, but still, the calls are one-sided and useless! It is alleged that Mehdi Taremi, has found out that Karim Bagheri had called him because of Dragan Skocic issue, so Taremi ignored Bagheri's call too.

 On this basis, the Croatian head coach decided to drop Taremi from the squad, because that tweet and this behavior are not justified and will cause more division in the Iranian national team camp.

Taremi is a player who is always close to controversy. His behavior remains unprofessional and poorly disciplined. Currently, in Portugal, there is a campaign against Taremi for his simulation in the penalty box and diving, according to his club coach. Taremi's disciplinary record in Porto is quite poor for a striker. He has also been dismissed in a UEFA Champions League match for childish behavior right after receiving a yellow card, which lead to another yellow and dismissal.

Dragan Skocic to contact Taremi is commended to reduce any tension. His dropping of Taremi is quite justified especially since Team Melli and Skocic have a rich number of forwards at his disposal. Players like Ghaedi and Sayadmanesh, who form the future of Iran's football deserve to be given opportunities upfront, while Sardar Azmoun is available and capable and enjoying his most successful seasons in Europe.

Taremi is developing into another Mehdi Rahmati and Hadi Aghili who thought they are above Team Melli. Like Carlos Queiroz, this time Skocic is teaching the renegades a lesson. A strong coach is a necessity for Team Melli and indisciplined players, regardless of their status, must be dropped as they will become a liability in the future and a bad example.

Taremi is out of Team Melli squad for Lebanon & Syria matches

The names of twenty-seven players invited to the camp of the Iranian national football team were announced.

Team Melli will face Lebanon and Syria in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers on November 11 and 15, respectively. For this mission, the names of the players invited to the national team by Dragan Skocic were announced as follows:

GOALKEEPERS:Alireza Biranvand ,Amir Abedzadeh ,Payam Niazmand

DEFENDERS: Shoja Khalilzadeh, Hossein Kananzadegan, Majid Hosseini, Siavash Yazdani, Milad Mohammadi, Omid Nourafkan, Sadegh Moharremi, Saleh Hardani, Ehsan Haj Safi

MIDFIELD: Saeed Ezatollahi, Ahmad Nourollahi, Vahid Amiri, Milad Sarlak, Saman Ghoddos, Soroush Rafiei, Yasin Salmani, Ali Gholizadeh, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Mehdi Torabi,

FORWARDS: Mehdi Ghaedi, Sardar Azmoun, Karim Ansarifard, Allahyar Sayyadmanesh, Kaveh Rezaei

The shock of the list, although expected, was the exclusion of Mehdi Taremi.

The FC Porto Player was the best Iranian scorer in the third qualifying round of the World Cup but his remarks against the coach in a social media posting have angered Dragan Skocic.

In a recent interview with the media in his country, Dragan Skocic described Iranian players as lacking in tactical ability, despite past praise: "Iranian footballers are technically and physically strong and are at an enviable level. What they lack, and I see progress there, is tactical ability. Iranian players are still not that good in tactical ability, but in the long run, it can be improved."

Following that remarks, Porto-based Iranian striker Mehdi Taremi, who scored the most goals for the national team during Skocic's tenure, tweeted against Skocic: "I have to say that in addition to individual technique, Iranian players and Fighting and.… Have a very high understanding in terms of football knowledge and tactics, but unfortunately, the problems lie. elsewhere. Long Live Iran".

This issue was associated with a lot of controversy in Iran, forcing the Manager of the national team, Mojtaba Khorshidi, to declare "This is a family problem and it will be solved. There is nothing to worry about."

Taking Taremi's place is the young striker Allhyar Sayyadmanesh who has been brilliant this season with Zorya in Ukraine. He has been scoring goals and with his compatriot, Shehab Zahedi helping the club win matches in the Europa Conference league.

Another bright edition is the star of Omid team the 19 years old Yasin Salmani. By far the best player in the recent AFC U23 qualifiers held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, the Sepahn Midfielder makes his first appearance in the squad.

Also back on the list are three former players Soroush Rafei, Sivaush Yazdani, and Kaveh Rezaei.

Sensational Salmani sends Iran's Omid Team to Finals

the-afc.com

Iran qualified as group winners, while Tajikistan face a nervous wait to learn their fate after Group B of the AFC U23 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2022 qualifiers concluded on Sunday.
Team Melli Omid ran out 3-2 winners in the final, group-deciding clash against Tajikistan to book their place, leaving the group hosts as potential qualifiers as one of the best placed runners-up, while Lebanon defeated Nepal 4-0 in the earlier match.
IRAN 3-2 TAJIKISTAN A sensational hat-trick from captain Yasin Salmani took Mehdi Mahdvikia’s side all the way to Uzbekistan 2022 after a thrilling Group B final ended in 3-2 Islamic Republic of Iran’s favor.
The Sepahan youngster bagged all three goals in a dizzying first half, where the teams traded five goals in the space of 35 minutes in front of a vibrant Central Republican Stadium crowd.Iran’s win sends them back to the continental Finals, but Tajikistan will have to wait to see if they will join them as one of the four best placed runners-up after they missed their chance to win the group on the night.
Mubin Ergashev’s side got off to a flying start, and the Dushanbe crowd erupted when Islom Zairov fired home a terrific volley in the 10th minute, but they were silenced when Salmani beat goalkeeper Shohrulh Qirghizboev with a low free-kick just three minutes later.
Salmani gave Iran the lead when he benefited from an error by Naimdzhon Ibrogimzoda in the 19th minute, but Tajikistan were level once again when Ehson Panshanbe converted a penalty to make it 2-2 after 22 thrilling minutes. Iran’s captain continued his one-man mission when he scored a superb header to make it 3-2 in the final minute of the first half, meaning Tajikistan – who needed only a draw to seal their place at the finals – played catch-up after the break.
Yasin Salmani, the captain of Omid team, was the star of the show with his hat-trick in the 13th, 19th, and 44th minutes, becoming one of the top scorers in the group stage. Henanov also scored for Tajikistan in the 10th and 22nd minutes (penalty) on Thursday.
In this match, Aria Barzegar was sent off in the 86th minute after receiving a direct red card, and Mahdavikia's players played with one player short for about 10 minutes.
Omid team lineup was : Reza Kakhsaz, Younes Akbarpour, Milad Kerr, Saman Fallah, Mehdi Hasheminejad, Mohammad Khodabandeh Lou, Yasin Salmani (captain), Hossein Nokhodkar, Mehdi Lamouchi, Amir Ali Sadeghi and Sobhan Khaghani.
In the group standings, Iran with 9 points, Tajikistan with 6 points, Lebanon with 3 points and Nepal without points are in the first to fourth places. Thus, the Iranian national U23 team qualifies to the finals of AFC U23 Championship, and Tajikistan, as the second team in the group, has to wait for the end of the games in the other 10 groups of this stage. The top 11 teams, the four best second placed teams as well as Uzbekistan (host) are qualified for the Final tournament in June 2022.
In their previous games, the Omid team had defeated Nepal by 4 goals and Lebanon by 2 goals
They had their chances to equalize in a second half that was no less entertaining despite the relative paucity of goalmouth action. Panshanbe narrowly missed with a free-kick, while Rustam Soirov saw an effort cleared off the goal-line just prior to a flurry of near-misses for the hosts, but Iran held on to secure a crucial victory in one of the most entertaining games seen anywhere across Asia this week.

Cracks in the dressing room!!

While Team Melli is comfortably sitting at the top of the table in FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers with a two-point cushion against the closest rival South Korea and 5 points margin against 3rd rank Team, Lebanon, signs of discord and possible conflict are appearing in the squad.

There are always distractors or saboteurs lurking around in Iranian football circles to create controversy with the aim to dictate their agenda by someone stirring up troubles and following the great tradition of creating " Hashiya". This time it seems that Skocic is the target while Taremi and Ghoddos are part of the whole episode.

The core of the matter is that Dragan Skocic expressed his opinion about the Iranian footballer's quality to which Mehdi Taremi took an exception. What Skocic said was nothing far from the truth, as we have witnessed these attributes for decades. Skocic said what accounts to that Iranian players lack technical abilities but physically are the best and capable. Taremi did not like that and he tweeted against his national team coach perhaps dragging other players into it creating a toxic atmosphere in the dressing room of Team Melli.

Ghoddis's case is about not being given playing time in the last two matches and his possible absence from the squad for the next match against Lebanon and Syria.

We can all take sides in an argument as people are free to express their opinions however before such decision making one has to look at facts and circumstances when parting judgment. Taremi is a clear-cut case. He is being silly and as usual, lacks discipline and professionalism, regardless of how many goals he scores. He has undoubted abilities in scoring, his physique is of a great classical forward,  and no one can deny that, however, he is far from a technically accomplished player, yet he is still of great value for Team Melli.

Ghoddos case is more complicated  He is the only Iranian player who plays in the English Premier League and that is no mean feat. He is creative with vision and quality. Ghoddos is the very player that Skocic complains that Iranian teams lack. Yet this skillful creative midfielder that can make an impact on a game is warming the bench! Whatever the reasons Skocic has for benching Ghoddos, it conflicts with his statement about lack of skill in Iranian footballers. The player has also the right to say that if you don't want me and I do not get playing time, I might as well stay in London and practice with my club to get better opportunities with Brentford. It is only fair.

Our verdict is with Ghoddos on this despite not knowing the exact details of the reason Goddos left the Azadi without even informing his coach.

One thing that Skocic needs to realize is that needs to keep his words to the absolute minimum. He definitely knows that there are many packs of wolves after him and his job. Despite his immaculate record with Team Melli so far, his name is not Carlos Queiroz so he is not the real charismatic coach that some want. It's a ridiculous thought, but its is all real with many.

Iranian players sulk if they are criticized and seem to be least comfortable with criticism. They accept and expect nothing short of praise as soon as they turn up. That is a reality that Skocic needs to skillfully deal with. In a football league where coaches blame the earth and the sky and anything in between for their team losses, the management/organization of football is close to comical, a partisan media & fans and lack of strong leadership,  under these circumstances, the Croatian head coach needs to be wise when selecting his word, and wiser in dealing with the players. unfortunately, he can little to change their mentality in a few days where he meets his player.

The improvement of players' mentality, technical abilities, professionalism, self-discipline, and respect for peers starts at the grassroots level in any country. Iran is no exception. There were the problems lies

So, if Skocic needs to act wisely if he wants to prevail and continue with Team Melli.