Category: News

Futsal National Team players invited for Training camp.

Iran's National Futsal Team is setting a training camp with a list of players invited.

the names of the players invited to the camp are as follows:

Salar Aghapour, Alireza Samimi, Farhad Fakhim, Hamid Ahmadi, Hamzeh Kadkhodaei 

Sepehr Mohammadi, Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh, Mohammad Reza Sang Sefidi, Saeed Ahmad Abbasi , Farhad Tavakoli

Mehdi Javid, Behzad Azimi, Alireza Rafieipour, Muslim Olad Ghobad, Sina Perkas, Mohammad Shajari 

Taha Nematian, Ahmad Ismailpour

Baqer Mohammadi (Benfica ) and Hossein Tayyebi (Shenzhen)

The National Futsal Team Training squad will be travelling to Belarus for two friendly preparation matches and finally participate in the 2021 Futsal World Cup hosted by Lithuania. The above camp will be held until 31 August.

The draw for the 2021 Futsal World Cup grouped Argentina, the USA and Serbia with Iran in Group F Iran will be playing its first match in the world championship against Serbia on 14th September 2021  
   Venue: Avia Solutions Group Arena, Vilnius
14 Sep 2021 [18:00] Serbia  Match 11  Iran
14 Sep 2021 [20:00] Argentina  Match 12  United States
17 Sep 2021 [18:00]  Iran Match 23  United States
17 Sep 2021 [20:00] Argentina  Match 24  Serbia
20 Sep 2021 [20:00] Iran  Match 35 Argentina 
20 Sep 2021 [20:00]  United States Match 36 *  Serbia
Švyturys Arena, Klaipėda *

 

Jahanbakhsh scores a brace for Feyenoord.

Team Melli winger Alireza Jahanbakhsh scored twice in the opening 34 minutes on his third appearance for Feyenoord at home to Lucern in the Europa Conference League against Swiss club Luzern.

The match ended 3-0 for Feyenoord for an aggregate of 6-0 win and qualification to the next round. The second goal by Jahanbakhsh was rather spectacular and was a reminder of Alireza during his heydays in AZ Alkmaar where he scored at will and managed to win the Golden Boot award of the Eredivisie.

The bad news is that Jahanbakhsh left the field limping.  The Iranian winger was on fire but just before the break he hobbled off injured and had to be replaced by Robert Bozenik.

Jahanbakhsh joined Brighton for a record club fee and endured two miserable seasons under Graham Potter management before moving on to Feyenoord this summer for a reported fee of less than 1 million Euro.

The attacking midfielder and winger will be playing under a completely different environment in Feyenoord a club that is usually at the top of the leagues and compete for trophies and honors, while in Brighton he was playing for a club whose highest success and ceiling of ambition are to remain in the premiership and avoid relegation, year in years out.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh - Feyenoord

Team Melli complexion is changing rapidly.

After the transfer of Sepahan's and Team Melli Captain Ehsan Hajsafi to AEK Athens, Iran has just five players playing in the domestic Persian Gulf league. That puts Iran among the group of countries whose majority of the national team players play abroad. These countries, including World Cup holder France and FIFA Top ranking team Belgium, have only a few footballers that are based at home.

With the conclusion of the 2020/21 season of the Persian Gulf League in which Persepolis won the title for the fifth time in a row, 3 significant transfers were confirmed. Hossein Kanani from Al Ahli of Qatar from Persepolis, Payam Niazmand to Portimonense of Portugal, and Ehsan Hajsafi to AEK Greece from Sepahan, the last 23-man squad of Team Melli home-based players reduced to five only,

Vahid Amiri,  Milad Sarlak, Ahmad Nourollahi, Mehdi Torabi (all Persepolis), and Mehdi Ghaedi (Esteghlal) are the only players present in the World Cup qualifiers who are based in Iran. As for the latter player, Mehdi Ghaedi, his suitors have increased since his brilliant performance in AFC Champions League. Farhad Majidi announced a while ago, that he will not stop Ghaedi from seeking his fortunes in other pastures to improve his standard, which means the possible transfer of the best current talent in Iranian football to a foreign club.

The full list of Team Melli with 19 players

Team Melli legionnaires also include the following players who were not part of the squad for the return legs of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, who could be possibly invited to the next stage of qualifiers. These 6 players are as follow

In total 25 (83%) players are legionnaires out of 30

It is quite possible that under these circumstances, Iran will probably not have any players from domestic league playing for the country in the national team for several years to come, and there will be no trace of the old superiority and total control of Team Melli squad by the to poles of Iran football, Esteghlal, and Persepolis.

Several years ago, at the time of the decline of the domestic leagues of France and Belgium, all the players of these two powerful national teams were players working outside the domestic leagues. It seems that no player from the Belgian league was in the Red Devils' starting line-up at Euro 2020 this year, and that was the case in France before the re-emergence of Paris Saint-Germain in France as one of the top teams in Europe.

The standard of Iran's domestic league has fallen quite badly in the last few years due to several factors. Total government hegemony on clubs, chronic incompetent management, nepotism, poor coaching, politics, lack of resources, favoritism, corruption, and exceptional indiscipline have all resulted in a league that is relegated in the AFC Asian ranking to mid tables.

Iranian clubs have never won the AFC Champions League and the last time a club from Iran won a trophy was back in 1990/91 when Esteghlal won the Asian Club Championship, the predecessor of Champions League.

Official: Ehsan Hajsafi signs with AEK Athens.

Team Melli Captain Ehsan Hajsafy joined the Greek club AEK Athens. HajSafi who traveled to Athens after finishing his season with Sepahan in the 20th edition of the Persian Gulf League, officially signed a contract with the Greek side this evening. The contract of the captain of the Iranian national team with this club is until the end of the summer of 2023.

Hajsafi will be joining Karim Ansarifard in AEK Athens.

Hajsafi (31 years) previously played for Panionios in the 2017–2018 season and played 14 matches scoring 1 goal before moving briefly to 2018 Olympiacos where he played 6 times and scored 1 goal. AEK is one of the three most successful teams in Greek football (including Olympiacos and Panathinaikos), winning 30 national titles. The team is coached by the Serbian Vladan Milojević.

Hajsafi has played 113 games for Team Melli since his debut against Zambia in a friendly in May 2008. He scored 6 goals for Team Melli.

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.