Category: News

Taremi wins best Champions League Goal Award.

The Iran international has been recognized by European football’s main governing body for his acrobatic effort in the Champions League quarter-finals

Porto striker Mehdi Taremi has won the UEFA Goal of the Season award for his stunning bicycle kick against Chelsea.

Taremi scooped the prize as a reward for scoring Porto’s last-gasp winner in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie with Chelsea on April 13.

The Portuguese outfit ultimately exited the competition 2-1 on aggregate to the eventual winners, but their talismanic frontman has secured a place in European football history after receiving 30 percent of the final vote for the best goal of 2020-21.

Taremi’s wonder strike

There did not appear to be a lot on when Porto substitute Nanu raced down the right-wing in stoppage time at Sevilla’s Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium, but he managed to produce a perfectly weighted cross that found its way to Taremi with his back to goal.

The Iran international could have tried to bring the ball down before letting fly, but instead trusted his goalscoring instincts to unleash a sensational first time overhead kick, which flew into the top corner and left Blues goalkeeper Edouard Mendy rooted to the spot.

Who did Taremi beat to the award?

60,000 votes were cast for the UEFA prize in total, with Italy talisman Lorenzo Insigne coming in second for his superb individual goal against Belgium in the Euro 2020 quarter-finals, which ultimately gave the Azzurri a 2-1 victory before they went on secure the trophy with wins against Spain and England.

Rangers star Kemar Roofe has completed the top three, having been recognized for the spectacular long-range effort he produced in a Europa League group stage clash with Standard Liege.

Taremi’s overall record for Porto

Taremi joined Porto from Rio Ave last August and quickly established himself as the focal point in Sergio Conceicao’s set-up at Estadio do Dragao.

The 29-year-old scored 23 goals in his debut season with the Primeira Liga club, including his wonder goal against Chelsea, while also recording 18 assists.

Iran Futsal wins the Continental championship 2021

Iran National Futsal Team defeated host Thailand in the final of the Continental championship 2021.

In the match held this Friday afternoon, Iran was facing its toughest opponent in the tournament in host Thailand. Buy the final whistle, The Persian came out 5 -1 winners to clinch the title in which 8 teams participated.

Playing a silky futsal and with a dazzling performance, Iran made it look easy against a tough Thai team that struggled to beat weaker teams on its way to the final. Within minutes of the start, Iran scored, and by half time Team Melli was 3-0 up0.

In the second half, Iran continued as they left scoring two more goals to make it 5-0. Thailand scoring a consolation  3minutes before the final whistle.

Alireza Rafiei (2 goals), Behzad Azimi (2 goals), and Farhad Tavakoli scored for Iran. The Iranian national futsal team is preparing for a strong presence in the Futsal World Cup 2021 in Lithuania to improve on the previous tournament result.

Italian media: Roma loses Azmoun to Bayer Leverkusen!

According to some Italian media, Azmoun is heading towards the Bundesliga. The Team Melli central forward who opened his scoring this season with a goal this weekend is the center of much speculation about his immediate future. The player himself is tight-lipped so is the Russian club, but that does not prevent daily news about his possible transfer out of Zenit.

footballItalia.net has published the following report today:

Roma are expected to miss out on Zenit St Petersburg center-forward Sardar Azmoun, as Bayer Leverkusen are closing on a deal.

The Giallorossi and Germans were both interested in the 26-year-old Iran international.

His contract with Zenit is due to expire in June 2022 and he seems ready to move on for a new experience.

According to Tuttomercatoweb, Roma are not going to pursue Azmoun, as he has already pledged his future to Bayer Leverkusen. The Bundesliga outfit still needs to agree terms with Zenit, who are asking for circa €20m.

However, they are expected to whittle it down and probably get closer to that fee than Roma was prepared to pay.

Azmoun has 34 goals in just 52 senior caps for Iran, playing his club football for Rubin Kazan, Rostov and since February 2019 at Zenit.

He found the net 19 times in 29 competitive games for Zenit St Petersburg last season, as well as setting up six goals for his teammates.

Iran’s Futsal to meet Uzbekistan in the Semi-Finals

Uzbekistan beats Iran in Thai Futsal Tournament semi-final

The Iranian national futsal team will face Uzbekistan in the semi-finals of the Continental Futsal Championship.

On matchday 3 of the championship, a shock defeat was registered when Kosovo were beaten by Mozambique while the host Thailand escaped narrowly after defeating Uzbekistan. Yesterday, Kosovo managed to stop Thailand the tournament host, but today it lost to a weak Mozambican team and failed to advance to the semi-final.

In the last match of the group,  Thailand and Uzbekistan played a close competitive game. Thailand finally managed to defeat Uzbekistan 4-3 to jump to the top of the group. The Thai team along with Uzbekistan advanced from the first group while Iran and Egypt qualified from the second group for the semi-finals.

The semi-finals will take place on Thursday, with Iran facing Uzbekistan and Thailand facing Egypt.

 

Earlier in the championship, Iran emerged victorious over Tajikistan on Monday with a 7-0 win over their opponents in Group B. In its first group match, the Iranian futsal team defeated Lithuania 5-0.

Iran participates in the competition as part of the preparation for the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup, which will be held in Lithuania from Sept. 12 to Oct. 3.

Iran is in Group F along with Argentina, the U.S., and Serbia.

25-30/7/2021

Venue: Show DC Hall 1

Live Streaming: Futsal Thailand FB page and Thairat On Line Youtube Channel

Nations

Group A
A1 – Thailand
A2 – Uzbekistan
A3 – Kosovo
A4 – Mozambique

Group B
B1 – IR Iran
B2 – Egypt
B3 – Tajikistan
B4 – Lithuania

Fixture

25/7/2021
10.30 Egypt vs Tajikistan 1-0 (1-0)
12.45 IR Iran vs Lithuania 5-0 (5-0)
15.00 Uzbekistan vs Kosovo 6-3 (3-3)
17.15 Thailand vs Mozambique 6-4 (6-1)

26/7/2021
10.30 Lithuania vs Egypt 4-2 (2-1)
12.45 Tajikistan vs IR Iran 0-7 (0-4)
15.00 Mozambique vs Uzbekistan 0-10 (0-2)
17.15 Kosovo vs Thailand 6-6 (2-2)

27/7/2021
10.30 Tajikistan vs Lithuania 9-2 (3-1)
12.45 IR Iran vs Egypt 2-2 (1-0)
15.00 Kosovo vs Mozambique 1-2 (0-2)
17.15 Thailand vs Uzbekistan 4-3 (1-2)

Continental Futsal Championship – Group A Standing
1. Thailand ——————–3-2-1-0-16-13-7
2. Uzbekistan ——————3-2-0-1-19–7-6
3. Mozambique ——————3-1-0-2–6-17-3
4. Kosovo ———————-3-0-1-2-10-14-1

Continental Futsal Championship – Group B Standing
1. IR Iran ———————3-2-1-0-14–2-7
2. Egypt ———————–3-1-1-1–5–6-4
3. Tajikistan ——————3-1-0-2–9-10-3
4. Lithuania ——————-3-1-0-2–6-16-3

29/7/2021

7/8 place final
Group A 4th ranked vs Group B 4th ranked
10.30 Kosovo vs Lithuania

Semifinals

SF 1 – Group B Winners vs Group A Runners up
13.30 IR Iran vs Uzbekistan

Group A Winners vs Group B Runners up
SF2 – 16.30 Thailand vs Egypt

Why is Carlos Queiroz coaching of Iraq seems farfetched?

Despite no official announcement, sources all over Europe and Iraq have confirmed that the Iraqi Federation is close to signing a contract with the Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz to lead Iraq’s challenge of qualification for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

Katanic was the last coach of Iraq to leave his post after Iraq secured the qualification to the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The reason was simply, monetary. Iraqi football federation has not paid the Slovenian for months which can frustrate even the most loyal and tolerant of coaches.

The fact is Iraq FA is bankrupt and has no steady income. Securing the services of an international coach requires a hefty budget which is not available to the Iraqi FA. So, recruiting a coach with an asking price of the north of two million US$ seems to be unattainable.

If Iraq FA could not regularly pay Katanec, how on earth they can afford an expensive and very demanding coach such as Queiroz?. Let’s face it, he does not come cheap and he is a very heavy burden to the budget of any federation.

Here comes the role of the insecure government of Iraq. To gain some hardly sought popular approval from the masses, the government of Iraq has agreed to pay for Queiroz and burden all his expenses. Such things will never be published, of course, but enough information has been leaked to give this theory some credibility.

Assuming that the Iraqi FA has sorted out the big challenge of Queiroz fees, it has to tackle other serious issues with the Portuguese. Like the 8 years that he spent with Team Melli, he was never a permanent resident of the country. His preference has always been the limelight of the City of Dubai. He traveled to Tehran when required and nothing more than that. He hardly attended league matches to find out about the standards of the local players, the tactics, and the physical strength of players, ironically he saved his travels to Europe to check on the Iranian legionnaires.

What is another big challenge is the demeanor of the Portuguese man. He is a difficult character to deal with. Aggressive, confrontational, and generally outspoken, the Iraqis have a challenge. He is a “never wrong” type of person who easily shifts the blames on others for shortfalls. Quite demanding when it comes to facilities, training equipment, player’s comfort, rest, league scheduling, and the time allocated for training camps. Queiroz will perhaps make one friend versus 10 enemies in any period of time in Iraq.

Despite all that, it is fair to say that Queiroz did a fine job with Iran. Whether the Iraqi’s will accept the heavy baggage that comes along with Carlos Queiroz is another story. If all financial issues are settled, the chances are that Queiroz will find some adversaries in Iraqi politicians. Many will question his pay reported to be more than 2 million dollars per annum while Iraqi people are living in extremely harsh conditions with frequent power cuts in the sweltering heat of summer not to mention the lack of security. That may be the reason that Queiroz does not intend to live in Baghdad

Why is Jahanbakhsh move is a win-win situation?

When Alireza Jahanbakhsh, a pacy winger, who beats defenders with agility, capable of accurate and powerful shooting from distances, a player who was scoring goals at will, and recently being crown as the Highest Goalscorer of the Eredivisie elected to choose Brighton and Hove Albion, many eyebrows were raised.

Many Iranians fans had to Google Brighton, while others with more knowledge wondered what on earth attracted the promising Jahanbakhsh to a recently promoted club that will spend life in the top flight of the English League struggling not to be relegated!

Chris Houghton, then Brighton coach had a lot of faith in Jahanbakhsh and managed to convince the Team Melli winger to join his team even breaking the record of the club in transfer fee. He had plans for Jahanbakhsh, unfortunately, his faith did not survive the brutal reality of football as he was sacked.

It was always a question of survival for the seaside city team, which continued to struggle in the competitive  English Premier League.   In the late 1990s, Brighton was in the fourth tier of English football and were having financial difficulties. After narrowly avoiding relegation from the Football League to the Conference in 1997, some investors injected funds into the club and their fortune changed.

In the 2016–17 season, Brighton finished second in the EFL Championship and was thus promoted to the Premier League, ending a 34-year absence from the top flight. In the first 3 seasons, Brighton finished 15th, 17th, 15th in the Premier League.

It is no wonder that the focus of the club was different from the more established teams.

To maintain its status and avoid relegation, the strategy was based on tight defenses with physically strong players who would run and run the way classic English football has been known for in the hope of not conceding goals.

Brighton under Graham Potter was operating under this strategy as pressures to maintain the EPL status simply reduced the chances of a player in the caliber and capabilities of Alireza Jahanbakhsh. As such Jahanbakhsh did not fit in the grand scheme of the Brighton project.

In Hindsight, Jahanbakhsh made a poor choice opting to move to a struggling club in England, and despite his denial, he must regret all the wasted time in England. Feyenoord Rotterdam is a completely different class and category of football teams. One of the most successful clubs in Dutch football. A team synonymous with championships (15 Eredivisie titles, 13 KNVB Cups, and 4 Johan Cruyff Shields) European Titles (one European Championship, two UEFA Cups), legendary players, and occupants of one of the largest stadiums in the Netherlands and Europe (The Stadion Feijenoord capacity 51,177)

The scene is set for return to glory to Alireza Jahanbakhsh at Feyenoord. A coach that has worked with him before, knows him and loves his style, a team that is always challenging for the Eredivisie title (3rd, 3rd and fourth in the last 3 seasons), and most importantly, Alireza will be operating at his most favorable position in the right-wing where his success was evident in AZ Alkmaar.

There is also a great opportunity to improve his style and prowess working under the legendary Robin van Persie who is the striker’s coach at the club.

This is completely a different setup than the modest struggling Brighton.

At the recently concluded FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers, Team Melli qualified with full marks with many remarkable performances from the players such as  Azmoun, Taremi, and Ghoddos amongst others. However, Jahanbakhsh was less than impressive.

Even the likes of Kaveh Rezaei and Ghaedi played well, that cannot be said of Jahanbakjsh where there always is a lot of expectation from him. Sitting on the bench at club level and away from competitive football has always affected professional players and Alireza is no exception. Playing in mighty Feyenoord is a breath of fresh air for the capable winger and exceptionally good news for Team Melli too if he keeps playing regularly. He needs to prove himself, of course, but that will probably take some time in order to acclimatize and gain some of the confidence he lost in England.

The confidence will be provided by the capable and caring head coach Arne Slot. The future looks bright, let us hope Alireza Jahanbakhsh takes this opportunity well.

Iran announces 12 man Beach Soccer Squad.

Iran has announced the squad for th upcoming FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Tahiti.

 

IRAN are set to grace the world stage once again when the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Tahiti 2013 gets underway this September. Having failed to make it to the quarter-final stage at their last four appearances at the tournament, the Iranians are looking to a new clutch of stars to put the past behind them.

Top of the list is striker Moslem Mesigar, a cornerstone of the team’s plans, who will be playing in his fourth FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. Speaking to FIFA.com, the sharp-shooting Mesigar opened up about his dreams for Tahiti and looked back at some of the highlights of his beach soccer career.

Image change
With three competition appearances behind him, Mesigar believes the time has come to change the reputation his national side have earned in their previous four campaigns: “We’ve competed at the World Cup on four previous occasions and never made it to the quarter-finals. Our stumbling block has always been the first round. We have a lot to learn in this game but I reckon the time has arrived for us to make the experience we’ve accumulated count.”

“We are looking forward to taking part in Tahiti 2013,” he went on, “and we’re eager to set new benchmarks. Qualifying is our first target and if we manage that then there’s nothing to stop us thinking of going even further. Reaching the quarter-finals is a big deal and that is what we hope to do.”

Iran have played a total of 12 matches in their previous FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup campaigns, losing 11 of them. It was at Rio de Janeiro 2007, their second tournament appearance, that they managed their only win to date, beating Spain 5-4, before their winning ways deserted them once again.

Their most recent outing at Ravenna 2011 saw the Iranians put in their finest performance to date. Their tally of three first round defeats does not to justice to the quality of their play in a group that comprised Italy, Switzerland and Senegal. There were clear signs that the Iranian beach soccer team was finally making progress.

Mesigar certainly sees a pattern: “Looking at how far we’ve come, from our first tournament to our most recent campaign, we’ve improved our performances. We have played great games, taking on strong teams and making it hard for them. If we step up our preparations a little, I believe we can close the gap, though nothing’s certain in football.”

The hard yards
To get themselves up to the standard required for a tournament of this magnitude, Iran have been working flat out since they booked their tickets for Tahiti. Central to their plans is an intensive training program, as Mesigar explains: “When the Asian qualifiers finished at the beginning of the year, we drew up plans to develop our technical skills. Our Brazilian coach Marco Octavio has brought some new ideas with him, plus the latest tactics, and we will continue working hard to gain the attributes we need.”

Things have not been so easy in the past. “One of the reasons for our failure to win at past tournaments is changes to the coaching staff,” Mesigar said, “as well as a lack of adequate preparation for such a major event. We did not play friendly internationals against the big teams. Things have improved a lot. We are set to play suitably competitive warm-up games, which will definitely raise our standards. Our aim is to progress and in this game you need everything to be in place to ensure you give a good account of yourself.”

Hopes and dreams
Moslem Mesigar began his footballing career at Iranian club Shahin Bushehr before a chance encounter led him to take up beach soccer, playing for local side Daryanavardan. A move to Vision Tehran brought the youngster his first taste of success, with two league titles, three runners-up medals and the personal accolade of the season’s top goalscorer on two occasions.

His form soon brought him to the attention of the national team and he played in his first FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in 2007, retaining his place for Marseille 2008 and Ravenna 2011. As Tahiti looms on the horizon, Mesigar still has fire in his belly: “Looking back on my journey with the national side gives me the hunger to put my technical and physical skills to the test at a World Cup. I want to prove my ability alongside my teammates and show the world how much we want to make it to the later stages. We want to show them that Iranian football can evolve.”

“We got off to a great start this year,” the 28-year-old continued. “We put on some fine performances at the Asian Beach Soccer Cup in Qatar and beat Japan to take the title. It was a wonderful achievement. In that final I managed to bring the scores level in the dying second then I was the last one to hit the net during the penalty shoot-out. I also made it to the list of top goalscorers with 11 strikes. That was just terrific. I felt amazing and my morale is sky-high going into the biggest tournament of all.”

The Iranians begin their Tahiti 2013 campaign in Group C alongside Brazil, Ukraine and Senegal. Mesigar has no illusions about the size of the task ahead: “It’s a strong group and a tough one for sure. Brazil are the complete team and have been crowned world champions several times. But we will try to compete hard in all three games and make it through to the quarter-finals. We will fight with all we’ve got.”

Mesigar’s record with the national team is a good one. After taking third place at three previous editions of the Asian Beach Soccer Cup, he can now place this year’s champion’s medal alongside one from a WAFF Beach Soccer Championship and an Asian Games gold on his mantelpiece. In addition, he has twice finished top goalscorer in Asian beach soccer.

But the trophies and acclaim have not dimmed his ambition: “There is still so much to achieve. My great dream is to turn pro for one of the top European clubs. I will do everything in my power to prove that I deserve that chance and that an Iranian player like me has what it takes to play abroad.”

 

 

The Squad 2013

Peyman HOSSEINI
12 Mohammad HAJIPOUR
Defenders
2 Amir AKBARI
3 Hassan ABDOLLAHI
4 Mehdi HASSANI
6 Mostafa KIANI
7 Mehran MORSHEDI
Pivot
9 Mohammad MOKHTARI
10 Moslem MESIGAR
11 Mohammad AHMADZADEH
Wing
5 Ali NADERI
8 Farid BOULOKBASHI
Coach
OCTAVIO Marco