Team Melli starts on the right track: Iran 1 0 Syria

Azadi Stadium.

Team Melli grabbed all the three points of matchday 1 of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 third round qualifiers after beating Syria with a goal to nil scored by the skipper Alireza Jahanbakhsh.

It was from the pretty or solid performance from the Iranian side, but considering lack of preparation, no friendly matches, and a camp of 3 days with both the Head Coach and his assistance missing due to Covid19, not much was expected.

Team Melli started with the lineup consisting of Alireza Biranvand, Shoja Khalilzadeh, Mohammad Hossein Kananizadegan,  Jafar Salmani, Vahid Amiri,  Ahmad Noorollahi, Milad Sarlak, Ali Gholizadeh, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Saman Ghoddos, and Mehdi Taremi.

The match went on as per the script, Iranian on the offensive while Syria defending en masse and waiting for the right opportunity for the counter.  However, despite ta massive difference in ball possession for Iran, the players in white failed to create any meaningful threat on Syria’s keeper.

In the first half a serious-looking injury in a form of a concussion to Milad Sarlak, forced the coach Marjio Toth on an unexpected substitution where Saeid Ezatollahi came in for the dazed Sarlak.

The second-half substitution must have raised a few eyebrows as Saman Ghoddos was substituted out.  He was by far the most creative of the Team Melli players. And what was even stranger is the introduction of a debutant in Saleh Hardani. Only the coaches can decipher that strategy. Introducing a rookie player in an important International match has never been the wisest of moves, not when the score is so close.

In the second half, perhaps the most beautiful of the Team Melli moves resulted in the ball reaching Taremi who squared it to Jahanbakhsh. The Feyenoord winger hit the ball purposely goalward but it was deflected by a Syrian defender to announce Iran’s only goal,

Nizar Mahroos, the Syrian coach failed to act on the weak points of team Melli, which were plenty. Insisting to pile up the defense, which deprived the Syrian attackers manned by two good attackers in the form of Mahmood AlMawas and Omer Khirbin, to form a serious threat. Both players found themselves isolated in attack and lacked support else their speed and tricky could have troubled Beiranvand. Instead, Iran’s keeper had a pretty comfortable day.

The biggest concern with Team Melli or this particular group of players in the serious lack of personal and tactical discipline. This match could have easily seen two red cards for Taremi and Khalizadeh. They were both lucky to escape being sent off by a weak Japanese referee who was constantly hustled by players without standing firm and giving a few cards. Iran received three cards and at this rate, there will be more suspension of players as the competition continues.

On the tactical discipline, despite the superiority of Iran in all departments, there was also a large number of lax passes, poor finishing, and some elementary mistakes by players especially towards the end of the match, which was most critical with only one goal margin.

 

Earlier today, Iraq forced a goalless draw on the hosts South Korea . At the time of writing this report, UAE vs Lebanon is goalless too, THis means Iran is setting at the top of the table on Matchday one with 3 points.

Team Melli next match will be against Iraq on Tuesday in Doha, Qatar.

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Starting Lineup vs. Syria

The starting lineup for the game against Syria in the Group A of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers has been announced.

This evening’s game against Syria at 20:30 was picked up by the deputies of Dragan Skocic and Vahid Hashemian, both guaranteed due to covid19 infection:

 Alireza Biranvand

Shoja Khalilzadeh, Mohammad Hossein Kananizadegan,  Jafar Salmani 

Vahid Amiri,  Ahmad Noorollahi, Milad Sarlak,

Ali Gholizadeh, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Saman Ghoddos

Mehdi Taremi.

Aref Aghasi, Saleh Hardani, Milad Mohammadi, Saeed Ezatollahi, Karim Ansarifard, Payam Niazmand, Mehdi Torabi, Seyed Mohammad Karimi, Siavash Yazdani, Omid Nourafkan, Amir Abedzadeh, Mehdi Ghaedi are bench players in this match. The big absentee of this match is Sardar Azmoun, who cannot accompany the team due to suspension.

Cristiano Ronaldo finally breaks Ali Daei’s record.

Cristiano Ronaldo was able to change the outcome of the game on the night of his outstanding solo performance.

Equal with Ali Daei as the Worlds Top international striker, Ronaldo needed just one goal to hold the record on his own. The chance to achieve that came quite early in the match against the Republic of Ireland in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 European qualifiers.

Portugal was awarded a penalty and after a long-drawn discussion and VAR which seriously took a long time, Ronaldo took the penalty but Ireland’s young keeper Gavin Bazunu saved.

But despite a lackluster performance by the 36 years old, the ending was a thriller. In the 89th Minute, Ronaldo scored the equalizer for Portugal and in the dying seconds of the match, he scored the winner in injury time,  both goals coming from headers.

In midst of his excitement, the Manchester United forward took off his jersey in celebration and was given a yellow card.

Later, Cristiano Ronaldo has extended a heartfelt apology to his Portugal teammates despite guiding them to a thrilling 2-1 comeback win over the Republic of Ireland. Ronaldo missed a penalty in the opening exchanges of the game but made up for it with his late brace that sealed the win for Portugal.

 After achieving this record, he thanked Ali Daei on his personal page on Instagram, with the following message:

The Syrians have no lack of confidence!

Nizar Mehros, the head coach of the Syrian national football team,  in the pre-match press conference said: “We have an important game against the Iranian national team. This match is held in special circumstances and the match against Iran is an important match for us.” He continued: “As you know, Iran does not have Sardar Azmoun and we have lost Omar Soma. That is a problem for both teams and our conditions are almost equal. Although Omar Soma is an important player for us, I believe both teams have good options who can replace them.”

Mahmood Al-Mawas, Syria’s key player who accompanied his coach in the press conference repeated his coach’s thoughts but recognized the strength of Iran.

Meanwhile, Abdul Razzaq Al-Hussein, the former captain of the Syrian national team, acknowledged that Syria’s task is very difficult against Iran. Al-Hussein said in an interview that Syria can return from Tehran with a satisfactory result and strong performance, praising the capabilities of coach Nizar Al-Mahroos.

“The match is difficult as it is an opening. The Syrian team suffers from important and influential absences, specifically striker Omar Al-Soma, who scores from half-chances. Despite that, the Syrian team will not be as easy prey as many critics expect. Our team has a good group of players and they do not lack experience, especially in strong matches. Therefore, I am optimistic and expect the tie to impose itself.

“Absentees contributed to the lack of any friendly matches with full ranks, and this alone confuses coach Nizar Al-Mahrous’s plans. But the Iranian team is better, more experienced, and more prepared. It is true that it is not in its ideal conditions, and it will play without the backing of its supporters. Therefore, the match will be even in this sense, but an advantage for the Iranian team is in speed. We have to support the players and give them great confidence before the confrontation that would have been in our favor with the presence of Soma and the rest of the injured players”

“What are the most important strength of the Syrian team?”

“All our players will fight and will not let their supporters down, we are sure of that, but the key to winning or a draw will be Omar Khribin, Mahmoud Al-Mawas, and Ibrahim, the goalkeeper. In addition to the enthusiasm of the rest of the players, the team must play without any pressure, and the capabilities of its players qualify it to achieve a satisfactory result.”

Skocic still absent, Marijo Tot deputizes him!

The designated Head Coach of Team Melli in the pre-match press conference said that “Iran, as one of the giants of Asian Football, is looking to qualify to the World Cup and we want to win all our.”

Marijo Tot, the coach of the Iranian national team, in the absence of Dragan Skocic, who is still suffering from Corona and has been absent from the current training camp, attended the press conference before the game with Syria. He said: “As you all know, we have an important game tomorrow. We are in a difficult period and we have to get the best results in 10 games. Everything is going well and we only have a few injuries but that will not make our job difficult.”  He continued “we have to win tomorrow’s game. The games get harder every time you have to play an opponent. Our team has quality and experience.”

“As we showed before, we worked hard in Bahrain, but we were able to get the best results. The teams here are fighting hard to be their best in order to qualify.” Marijo Tot was asked about the bench for the Syria game and who will lead Team Melli from the bench. “I believe and we will keep our hopes high until the last moment that Skocic will be available and be with the team tomorrow. He has had very difficult days in the hotel for the past 15 days, but if that does not happen, we will definitely get help from him during the game. With 22 years of coaching experience, I know what is required and our conversations should be short.”

The 49 years old Croatian coach has been an assistant to Dragan Skocic in Team Melli.  He has been assistant manager to Vahid Halilhodžić at Dinamo Zagreb during 2010-2011 season. When Halilhodžić was dismissed in early May 2011, Tot takes charge of Dinamo for the remaining matches. He also guided Dinamo to win the 2010–11 Croatian Cup, defeating NK Varaždin 8-2 on aggregate in the final.

Tot Coachd in Malaysia, China, and Saudi Arabia where he was coaching for the Saudi Premier League football giant Al-Ittihad as assistant to the head coach Slaven Bilić, the most famous Croatian football manager.

Lyon deal for Sardar Azmoun collapses.

As reported by RMC Sport and Foot Mercato, Ligue 1 side Lyon’s attempted deal for Iranian international striker Sardar Azmoun has collapsed, as Zenit St Petersburg have decided that they do not have time to find an adequate replacement.

Sporting Director Juninho now has little to no hope about a u-turn in talks for manager Peter Bosz’s number one target in the striker position.

As a result, on Monday morning OL began to accelerate conversations to sign 27-year-old French striker Gaëtan Laborde from Montpellier – Director of Football Vincent Ponsot has been in direct contact with the relevant parties this morning.

MHSC are open to selling should an acceptable proposal come in, with MHSC seeking around €20m. West Ham United, Rennes, and Sevilla all remain interested in the ex-Bordeaux man with just hours remaining during this transfer window.

Mehdi Mahdavikia appointed as Head Coach of Omid team

Mehdi Mahdavikia was officially appointed as the head coach of Iran U23 (Omid team) and received his ordination from Shahabuddin Azizi Khazem, President of the Football Federation.

Mehdi Mahdavikia, who is working in Germany where he is based, arrived in Iran to complete the formalities of his appointment.

Meanwhile,  in addition to the coaching appointment, the former Team Melli player will also work as the technical advisor of the Football Federation. He will advise the federation president and various committees on technical issues for the improvement of the national teams and football league.


Mehdi Mahdavikia was working with Hamburger SV as a youth coach, and also manages his own youth academy, FC KIA.

Mahdavikia currently represents Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in the Football Advisory Panel of the International Football Association Board (IFAB), joining the body in 2019. On 15 May 2013, Mahdavikia was appointed as AFC Grassroots Ambassador.

Apart from being an icon of Iranian football, Mahdavikia is the first recognized Iranian coach wh is actually qualified by attending FIFA and German FA recognized courses.

His appointment as Head Coach of Omid Team is remarkable progress by FFIRI after a series of disastrous haphazard appointments of coaches, the result of which was total humiliation of Iran’s Omid Team and failure to qualify for the Olympics once again.

List of Team Melli Players vs. Syria and Iraq

The Football Federation website published the names of the 27 players invited to the Team Melli camp by the coaching staff.  The training camp is already active with the Europen players starting to arrive in Tehran to join the domestic players. The list is as follows:

Goalkeepers

Alireza Biranvand, Amir Abedzadeh, Payam Niazmand.

Defenders

Shoja Khalilzadeh, Mohammad Hossein Kananizadegan, Milad Mohammadi , Omid Nourafkan, Sadegh Moharremi, Jafar Salmani, Saleh Hardani, Siavash Yazdani, Aref Aghasi, Milad Sarlak.

Midfield

Ahmad Noorollahi, Mohammad Karimi, Yasin Salmani, Zubair Niknafs, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Saeed Ezatollahi, Vahid Amiri, Saman Ghoddos, Mehdi Torabi , Ali Gholizadeh.

Forwards

Karim Ansarifard, Mehdi Ghaedi, Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi.

 

Team Melli’s next match is on Thursday September 2nd against Syria in Azadi Stadium. It will be the opener of round 3 of FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar qualifiers

Iran vs. Syria : Technical analysis.

Team Melli has two crucial games against Syria at home then away match against Iraq in Doha, in which the full six points will propel Iran to a commanding lead in this group.

Although none of the matches will be a forgone conclusion as even the weakest team of the group, Lebanon can spring one or two surprises, it is important for Iran to start on a winning note.

As witnessed in the second part of the qualifiers in round 2, Team Melli was excellent in terms of results getting the maximum points. On the field, performance was not too shabby either with some excellent display of skills by the individual players. Skocic and his coaching team strategy for concluding the matches were admirable. Taking into account the harsh climate, the psychological pressure from depriving the team of playing its home games at home thus giving an unfair advantage to the opposition in form of the Bahrain Team, in General, the team was quite well and achieved the objective with full marks.

What was ignored by the press and media in Iran was that playing the four matches in Bahrain in a round-robin format, had a great advantage for Team Melli as well as the obvious disadvantages. This squad had hardly enough time to train with the full team players available to Dragan Skocic. In Bahrain, it was a perfect opportunity for continuity, consistency, and tactical work while training on a daily basis.

In round three of the qualifiers, the picture is different. No doubt Skocic will stick to the successful formula in which it brought maximum points last time. Emphasis on players shifting the ball from attack to defense and vice versa flawlessly.  Pressing high against teams with counter-attacks strategy and ensuring solid defense with cover from the midfield.

 

Skocic Game Plan

 In general, the system that Skocic deployed for these games was 2-4-4, which in some matches was transferred to a diamond. Or it was the 1-4-1-4 system that forced Taremi to play as a pseudo-striker behind Azmoun. The coaching staff used Taremi and Azmoun at the same time enabling the duo to put pressure on the opposing players and forcing the opposing coaches to have his midfielders cover the Iranian two forwards.

Perhaps the presence of both Azmoun and Taremi, was considered a point of criticism against Skocic by some, but a clever coach can complement the two if the right and effective plan is used. It is a misconception that you have two top attackers, and you should not use them at the same time. One of the advantages of the 2-4-4 system is that it can help the team in the spaces and, of course, put the players in a situation where they first maintain the result and then think about scoring the winning goal.

Improvements

Given that we know that Syria and Iraq are fighters and like Iran, they stick to the physical style of the games, Skocic has to choose a way that can cover these characteristics. Unfortunately, Team Melli has a persistent problem in the defense. The defenders do not put playmaking on the agenda and often resort to direct play and long aimless balls.

Team Melli needs to improve the transition from attack to defense with the focus on improving the mental switch to react quickly and recover to defend.

The coaching staff needs to address the role of each player when the team loses the ball, and the opponents get possession with intent to quick counter. Syria and Iraq have their eyes on the counterattack, that is why Team Melli players must act quickly in transition and changing the mode from attack to defense.

One area of concern with Iranian players in general and it is not specific to Team Melli is the psychology and mental strength/agility of the players. Unfortunately, Iranian are quite emotional people and at the time when the brain must be engaged much more than the heart, they become vulnerable.

Players get easily frustrated and easily intimidated too by tricky oppositions. Time and again, Iranian players have lost concentration and opportunities which lead to negative results. Understandably, Skocic is limited in what he can do in short spells with the players, nevertheless, it must be recognized and addressed at all times with the players.

It is hoped that with the integration of the legionnaires, this side of Iran’s weakness is improved and even eliminated soon.

Syrian style

The Syrians played more with its three coaches with three defenders. It was 2-3-3 in attack and 2-3-3 in defense. The full-backs were added to the three central defenders during the defense and also played a role in the attack. The dominant style of play in Syria was to cross from the wings so that the team’s target striker could use them. This plays well for Team Melli as the aerial prowess of the defenders is quite good in Khalizadeh and Kanani.

In general, Syria is a team that does not have complicated tactics as its football is based on strength and hard work. The players of this team try to defend sparsely on their own ground, even with a new coach. Another thing that was visible was that they were trying not to be crowded in front of their own goal and to keep the opposing team in the middle third of the field. This caused more powerful teams to target the space behind the Syrian defenders in many games and create many opportunities.

Syria is not the kind of a team that is able to dictate the game to Iran. However, underestimating the Syrians is a big mistake. The Iranian flanks must be quite active in sending the balls to Azmoun and Taremi, however, too much emphasis on such tactics makes Iran predictable, and also solutions can be provided by the opposition. Penetration from the center and quick one-two, the type that Amount-Taremi used in Bahrain, can easily split the Syrian defenses.

The counter-attacks are their main weapon offensively. In Mahmoud Al-Mawas they have a classical pacy forward that needs special attention With the half-backs of Team Melli venturing forward, during the transition to defense, Al-Mawas needs special handling else he could be a serious threat.

There is a great chance that Syria will park the bus in Azadi on Thursday. The onus is on Skocic to use a variety of tactics to break such defense. Also, emphasis on Team Melli players not to get frustrated.

L’ÉQUIPE claims Azmoun has signed with Lyon!

Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon) leaders have a signed contractual agreement with the Iranian striker, Sardar Azmoun who wants to join Peter Bosz’s team. The two clubs are very close to agreeing on the transfer fee of € 15 million, excluding bonuses.

The French sports publication L’ Equipe has published the news last night claiming the transfer of Azmoun. The article is translated below:

Failing to be able to count on André Onana, Peter Bosz the head coach of French Ligue 1 side Olympique Lyonnais will perhaps see his second priority of the summer arrive in the coming few days. The Dutch Coach is absolutely keen to recruit Sardar Azmoun, the Zenit St. Petersburg striker, as L’Equipe revealed on August 9. He also had talked to the Iranian international on the phone several times this summer to convince him to join OL. And the 25-year-old, whom Bosz already wanted to recruit for Leverkusen, was convinced.

With one year left to the end of his contract in Russia, Azmoun has rejected all offers to extend with Zenit, which forces the club to sell him before September 1 and the end of the transfer window if the club wishes to draw a transfer fee from the deal. Zenit will first have to find a replacement OL is trying to take advantage of this and has been negotiating hard for weeks on this issue. The Russian club leaders initially demanded 25 M €, a sum inaccessible for the finances of Lyon. But Vincent Ponsot, OL’s football director, is in the process of securing an agreement around a transfer fee estimated to be around € 15 million, excluding bonuses.

The player has agreed to personal terms for several days with OL for a long-term contract, probably for five years. His arrival nevertheless remains complex to finalize because Zenit has set a condition for the transfer: the Russian club must first find a replacement for Azmoun. The leaders, who primarily targeted Matheus Cunha of Hertha Berlin (finally at Atlético de Madrid), are now trying to convince Carlos Vinicius (Benfica), but are also looking at Andrea Belotti (Torino) and Gaëtan Laborde (Montpellier).

If Zenit manages to find a replacement solution this weekend, Azmoun could pass his medical examination on Monday, according to his entourage, on the eve of the closing of the transfer window, before joining his national team squad. The Iranian (55 caps, 37 goals) would come to occupy the place of Jean Lucas, sold to Monaco this summer.