Iran U-16 routs Sri Lanka.

Iran’s U-16 team routed Sri Lanka 8-0 in the opening match of the AFC Asian U-16 championship qualifiers in Lahore, Pakistan.

The match was a one sided affair with the first half ending 5-0 in favor of Team Melli. 3 more goals was scored in the second half for an easy win to the championship contenders. In the other group match , UAE managed to beat host Pakistan 2-0 to share the top of the table , with Iran leading on goal difference.

Iran’s U-16 next match will be on Friday against host Pakistan.

 

AFC U-16 Championship

Qualifications Round – Group  E

Iran – Sri Lanka

8-0 (5-0)

25-09-2013
Punjab Stadium, Lahore,
Referee: Dmitrii Mashentsev (Kyrgyzstan)

GOALS:  Reza Karimipiraghoom (13′ , 25′) , Fathollah Darzi (30′), Reza Shekarighezelghayeh (37′) ,Nima Mokhtari (67′,85′), Ali Khodadadi (68′)

Iran: Farid Nejatpashaki, Mahdi Abdollahvand, Nima Daghestani (55′ Ali Khodadadi) , Fathollah Darzi, Mostafa Rokhbinzadeh, Saeed Hasseinpour (67′ Vahid Aftari), Reza Shekarighezelghayeh, Reza Karimipiraghoom (46′ Mohammad Shamsi), Nima Mokhtari (c),Reza Dehghani,Bagher Niari Shamasbi

Team Melli beach soccer bow out in style.

Iran’s Beach soccer bowed out of the 2013 FIFA Beach Soccer World cup after a gallant display against the defending Champions, Russia.

Russia , who recovered a two-goal deficit to edge Iran 6-5 , booked a FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup semi-final date with hosts Tahiti. Dmitrii Shishin, the star of a stunning upset of Brazil in the Ravenna 2011 decider, settled an engrossing game in the defending champions’ favor with just 124 seconds remaining. The game which saw both teams exchanging the lead in three periods of the match was heading for a 5-5 draw and extra time, when a hopeful mild shot form the Russian Shishin bounced off an Iranian defender leg to end up in the roof of the net with Team Melli’s goalkeeper Hosseini at full stretch, but unable to save it and .

Russia were the heavy favorites before kick-off, but they were given a grueling examination in Papeete. Moslem Mesigar and Farid Boulokbashi fired Iran into a 2-0 lead and although Egor Eremeev swiftly pulled one back, the Asians’ stellar marking and physical approach largely stifled Mikhail Likhachev’s game plan for long periods.

Yury Krasheninnikov did equalize midway through the second period, before Anatoliy Peremitin capitalised on a seldom defensive error to put Russia ahead for the first time. That advantage lasted just 12 seconds as Boulokbashi thumped home his second to ensure the teams began the concluding third at deadlock.

Mesigar completed his brace shortly after the restart to restore Iran’s lead, but Russia began to exact their superiority thereafter. Goals from Kirill Romanov and Eremeev sent the Europeans 5-4 ahead, only for Mohammad Ahmadzadeh to level the scores, against the run of play, on 32 minutes.

Likhachev urged his charges to find a winner and cometh the hour, cometh the man. That man was the ever-reliable Shishin, who netted an engrossing contest’s 11th and final goal to keep the Russian dream alive and move himself joint-top of the tournament’s scoring chart.

Russia and Tahiti, who stunned Argentina 6-1 in their quarter-final, will now have a one-day rest before meeting on Saturday for a place in the final.

RUSSIA vs. IRAN

6:5 (1:2, 2:1, 3:2)
Match 28 , Papeete ,  To’ata Stadium
Goals Russia

 

Group matches

19/09  vs Brazil  1-4

21/09 vs Senegal 5-3

23/09 vs. Ukraine 2-3

 

If Ali Daei is not bluffing , there is a big corruption scandal in Iran’s football.

Tehran

In the ‘Navad’ TV show , the same program that Daei likes to ridicule and criticize when he fancies, the Perspolis coach has stunned millions of Iranian viewers   by his revelations and accusations of corruption and bribery in the domestic league.

Speaking to Ferdouwsipour on telephone, Daei said that he has evidence and documents to prove that corruption exists in the league and his team was victimized by the referee Mohsen Gharemani who sent off Perspolis defender a few minutes into the game. When asked about the evidence that he has , Daei rebuffed the presenter and told him that he is not here to be investigated and he does not have to answer to the presenter of  “Navad”  show. “It is the football federation’s job to investigate and ask for evidence. I do not need to explain myself for you her. All the evidence that I have was presented to the FFIRI in our meeting today.” Daei said.

Rouyanian , CEO of Perspolis club and Ali Daei were summoned to the headquarters of FFIRI in the aftermath of their accusation for a hearing with the top brass of FFIRI on Monday.

Daei’s wrath

The blazing accusations boarding insults and ridicule towards the match referee Mohsen Ghahremani who was on the other phone line included not just poor decision making and poor vision ,  that Daei accused the referee of in a live TV broadcast , but also included a direct accusation of match fixing and bribery.  Daei explicitly mentioned that Gharemani was leaning towards Sepahan and was paid for it. When Ferdowsipour asked Daei  to elaborate what he means about leaning , the Pesrpolis coach played on the words and refused to provide a direct answer by saying “it is sufficient that that all the evidence that I have , are already submitted to the proper authorities “ , The authority is the football federation ethics committee. When pressed further to mention what type of evidence Ali Daei has regarding the corruption accusation , Daei responded by saying that the Match footage is the greatest of evidences!.

As a consequence to that, many recent news and developments in relation to bribery scandals in Iran’s football came to light.  There was footage of an Azadegan league Club CEO who gave details of a referee who allegedly demanded a bribe in order to fix a match for the club. The CEO apparently named many people , although IRIB censored those names for legal reasons. Further to those accusations, the longtime member  of the disciplinary committee Alipour , was interviewed regarding these accusations and detailed description by the Azadegan league Club CEO. Alipour confirmed that they have also received such information, however , every time they requested that CEO to attend a hearing , he kept coming up with excuses of ill health. The matter was never fully investigated by the federation.

Azadegan corruption scandal

What the FFIRI firmly acted upon was the scandal of last year in the Azadegan league ( First Division).  This was by far the biggest corruption scandal that shock Iran. The main Instigator & culprit was Shahrdari Tabriz team which won the title and promotion to the top flight of Persian Gulf League. After what was a deemed to be a rapid accelerated investigations, the federation found that Shahrdari Tabriz was guilty of match fixing in collaboration with another team , Chalamsheh.  Shahrdari was stripped of the tile and the promotion while the other team was relegated down to the third division.  The two teams match was fixed for a Shahrdari win which would assure the Tabriz team of promotion. Many famous names were involved in this scandal, including Fraz Kamalvand, a well know coach, Sadegh Varmazyar , ex-Team Melli player who was the assistant coach,  Peyman Sahib Jaamei , another well know footballer originally from Khuzestan. All of the three were found guilty on several counts of corruption, and subsequently were suspended from all football activities up to two years. There were also other players involved who received lighter punishments such as Sheys Rezai , the controversial ex-Perspolis defender who also made a brief appearance as Team Melli player, Mehdi Vaezi and Ali Alizadeh all of who represented Team Melli.

Courts of Law

All sort of accusations of match fixing , favoritism , and bribery has been circulating in Iran football in the last few years,  however apart from the aforementioned Azadegan league scandal, none was seriously investigated or dealt with by the football federation or by the courts of law. What the federation has failed to do is to take a stern action against the profligates.  When people started spreading accusation or rumors, there was no action taken to stop them or demand proof of their accusations. As such, those accusation took the round and very easily reached the stands where the fans became disillusioned by this football. In general , there is a lot of trash talk but little action, however , with Ali Daei’s recent accusations which is nothing but allegations at this point that requires full investigation  and proof, it is clear that match fixing and bribery which has been suspected to be widespread in Iran’s football, is a reality that has to be immediately and forcefully dealt with by the law and the courts in Iran. Simply depending on a weak federation with lethargy and hesitancy to rock the boat, is a time bomb.

Iran qualifies for the Beach Soccer quarter finals.

Iran’s Beach Soccer team qualified for the quarter finals of FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup despite the loss against Ukraine

Ukraine have scored a hard-fought 3-2 win over Iran but it was not good enough for the Europeans who missed the knockout stage.

The match was a tight and bruising affair throughout with scores tied 1-1 at the first interval with goals from Iran’s Mohammad Ahmadzadeh and Ukraine’s Andrii Borsuk.

Olexandr Kornichuk put the Europeans in front at the midway point of the middle period with a superb strike.

Iran looked more dangerous in the third period but Ukraine goalkeeper Vitalii Sydorenko remained a challenging obstacle. Captain Igor Borsuk then put his side ahead with another excellent strike for the Ukrainians.

Goalkeeper Peymann Hosseini reduced the deficit late on, leaving Ukraine chasing more goals to have any hope of progressing.

Ukraine put a field player on goal in the last minute, but that was not enough to avoid elimination despite the victory.

Why FFIRI needs to hang on to Queiroz?

In the past few weeks, Team Melli’s coach Carlos Queiroz had a few issues and grievances concerning the status and the preparation of Team Melli for the 2014 World Cup. Issues such as Team Melli camps , friendly matches arrangement , the scheduling of the league , differences of opinions with Club coaches among many other niggling and frustrating matters created an unpleasant atmosphere around Team Melli .

The result of all that led to Carlos Queiroz publically expressing his frustration to the extent of  even threatening to quit his job. In an interview, Queiroz said that he is not willing to work under this inauspicious environment or facing the hostility of the people who seem to be working against Team Melli’s interest. Another grim statement came from Carlos Queiroz when he said that it did not bother him one bit if Ali Daei or Amir Ghalenoei replace him as Team Melli coach.

That last statement is the one that really interest us here and right now. Whatever one can think of Queiroz, he is still professional coach who is well aware of his working environment and the atmosphere surrounding it.  Perhaps he has heard that Kaffashian and his men are working on their options if Queiroz decided that he has enough and his demands cannot be met by the federation. Queiroz knows that Daei and Ghalenoei, are the closest candidates to the job of coaching Team Melli, in case he resigns. The nomination of those two does not take much intelligence to figure out as the pair coach the two most popular clubs in Iran by far. In this bi-polar football, everything has to revolve the two.

Can the task of Team Melli be safely handed to Ali Daei or Amir Ghalenoei and expect success and honor in Brazil?

Ali-daei

The answer is a big question mark. One match on Friday emphasized the vulnerability of Ali Daei’s character and painted a very dim picture of Iran’s footballing legend as a responsible person who can act gracefully under pressure.  The episode started in the early few minutes of the game between Daei’s  club Perspolis and host Sepahan coached by the Croat Krangcar. The referee, Gharemani , awarded a penalty for Sepahan and then red carded the offending Perspolis  defender for kicking an opponent in the box. Whether the referee’s decision was right or wrong is academic and not a subject of our discussion here, it is Daei’s post match conduct and statements that is the subject of interest in this article. What was said by the World highest Scorer in international matches, and a legend in his own right, is certainly a huge concern and puts a big question mark on the character of the person and his ability to be the mentor of Team Melli in the World Cup, if he ever takes over.

Daei , quite well-known for his outburst and a coach who hardly smiles during matches, which is a good indication of amount of stress he endures, has accused the Referee of Sepahan-Perspolis match of bribery. He claimed that he has evidence of Gharemani received bribes from Sepahan and will produce if asked ! A couple of days later, Daei , who many thought was emotional after his team loss to bring such serious accusations at the end of the match was unrepentant. Two days later when it was thought  that he has cooled down, the Perspolis coach said he does not care about the consequences of his accusations as long as he tells the truth.

Amir Ghalenoei, again no stranger to controversy and clashes with referees and the media, was at it again after the derby match. When everyone was talking about How dour and boring the top clash of the league was between his team Esteghlal and Perspolis which ended in yet another goal-less draw, Ghalenoei opened fire on all fronts. One of the most interesting targets of his wrath was ‘Navad’ TV show. Ghalenoei said that Navad, which is by far the most popular on Iran IRIB network, and its presenter, Adel Ferdowsipour is the reason for Iran’s football ills and misfortunes! He also told the critics to go and analyze Team Melli if they dare a team which has not played a decent football at all since the takeover of Queiroz!, according to the ex-Team Melli coach. Ghalenoei bemoaned the fact that during his days of coaching Team Melli he was scorned and blasted by the media, similar thing happened to Daei , but no one is concerned with the current poor form of Team Melli.

Such rhetoric, outbursts and wild claims by the two of the most popular Iranian coaches, does not augur well for any of the two to be considered for Team Melli coaching job. When a coach and leader needs to maintain dignity, composure and grace under pressure, those two have shown very little of it and in a scene such as the World cup , where the whole world is watching ,  it could be truly embarrassing.

This brings us back to Carlos Queiroz. No one claims that Queiroz is perfect but right now he is the best man for the job. Any differences between him and the federation or the league need to be sorted out for the Portuguese to continue all the way to next summer’s world cup. He is tried and tested and compared to the options available from the domestic scene, he is well versed and has better self-control and composure. For the sake of a presentable and respectable Team Melli in the World Cup, it is vital that FFIRI does everything possible within reason and logic, to maintain Carlos Queiroz.  Whether the Portuguese man will endure the pressure is simply another question.

Beach Soccer: Iran outlast Senegal amid goal-rush

Iran revived their Tahiti 2013 hopes with an action-packed 5-3 victory over Senegal to leave Group C intriguingly poised.

Senegal scored a powerful 5-4 win over Ukraine to open their Tahiti 2013 campaign two days ago, while the west Asians knew their tournament ambitions were on the line having fallen to a 4-1 defeat to Brazil.

Iran made the perfect start with Mohammad Ahmadzadeh scoring in the second minute. Senegal thought they had equalised from the ensuing kick-off only for the goal to be ruled out by the match officials.

It was to be double anguish for Senegal soon after as Ahmadzadeh doubled the advantage with a flicked header to give Iran a 2-0 lead by the third minute mark.

It could have soon been a three-goal margin as Farid Boulobashi came within inches of perhaps the most spectacular goal of the tournament but his athletic volley crashed off the underside of the goal and onto the line.

Senegal hit the frame of the goal after the restart, and captain Ngalla Sylla halved the margin soon after.

Incredibly they equalised almost immediately with goalkeeper Peyman Hosseini conceding an own goal, only for Amir Akbari to score virtually from the kick-off for a third goal within 30 seconds.

Ahmadzadeh nabbed his second before the end of the middle period as Iran made it 4-2 for a handy advantage.

Senegal pushed hard in the dying period of a torrid encounter and came within inches of scoring on several occasions, before Sylla rocketed home a third.

But still the scoring was not over as Boulobashi netted with a sweet strike midway through the final period.

Israeli coach ensures Team Melli is handicapped.

 

Despite being the golden boy of Iran’s football and the hero who took Iran to the finals of the FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil, Reza Ghoochannejad has no place in the his club thanks to the Israeli coach of the Belgian Club , Standard Liege.

With their Israeli coach, Guy Luzon , Team Melli goal scorer is not only sidelined in his club, Ghoochannejad frequently finds himself not even in the list of 18 players for league matches.  To ensure that Ghoochannejad has no place in the team, the Israeli coach has recruited two of his own Israeli players to fill Ghoochannejad place.  Dudu Biton and Tal Ben Haim have recently joined Standard Liege to add the weight of Israeli flavor in the Belgian team.

With maximum points from 7 games in the Belgium pro-league, no one is too overly concerned with the plight of Ghoochannejad in Liege or whether his exclusion from the team line-up is justified.  There is little or no eyebrows raised either on relegating the Iranian star player to a mere peripheral reserve. No question arising if the Israeli coach ignoring the Iranian player is politically or patriotically motivated act or is it purely technical.  It must be said that the Israeli Guy Luzon has indemnified himself quite well, and certainly covered all angles by his team’s excellent results in the league so far.

Guy Luzon,  a former footballer who represented his country,  is also the nephew of the current chairman of the Israel Football Association, Avi Luzon. All of his activities in football and achievements were in his homeland Israel where the peak of his accomplishment was coaching of Israel U-21 team. His first work outside Israel is the coaching Standard Liege. It is pretty naive to think that Luzon is acting purely on technical and ethical terms. With the political hatred between the two countries leaders, and the rhetoric exchanged between them on every little opportunity, it should not be a surprise that such discrimination can occur between high profile citizens of each country. The motive being for one race to teach another some lessons or at least, flexing of a muscle.

Guy Luzon who served in the Israel defense forces no doubt had received a good doze of ideological training guiding him to identify who the enemy is. The same cannot be said about Ghoochannejad who left Iran as a boy and was not exposed to the Iranian system of political anti-Israeli ideological education.

Whatever the case, it seems that the only loser in this episode is no one by Reza Ghoochannejad and Team Melli. Reza, no doubt a promising and competent scorer, proved by the valuable goals he scored in the World Cup qualifiers, is nailed to the bench of Standard liege. At best , his only hope is to get a few appearances in reserve or in Europa Cup out of necessity due to roster rotation that clubs normally practice.His next window of opportunity comes on the New Year or the winter transfer period. Whether Ghoochannejad will maintain his competitive edge and form, is the big question that Queiroz no doubt is already concerned with.

[box title=”Reza Ghoochannejad last 5 matches” style=”glass”]

Date Comp. team Result Goals
06.02.2013 Asian Cup Qualifier Lebanon 5 – 0 2
26.03.2013 Asian Cup Qualifier Kuwait 1 – 1 0
04.06.2013 World Cup Qualifier Qatar 0 – 1 1
11.06.2013 World Cup Qualifier Lebanon 4 – 0 1
18.06.2013 World Cup Qualifier Korea Rep. 0 – 1 1

[/box]

FIFA Beach Soccer: Iran finds it tough against Brazil.

 

Iran’s Beach Soccer Team Melli lost the opening match in the FIFA Soccer World Cup in Tahiti. The Brazilians were the toughest test for Team Melli Melli who played a strong game in the first half but crumbled ion the second.

Bruno Xavier scored a hat-trick as Brazil kicked off their Tahiti 2013 campaign with a morale-boosting 4-1 win over Iran to move top of Group C.

The four-time world champions didn’t have it all their own way against the Asian champions, but their class and clinical finishing eventually told in an entertaining match.

Bruno Xavier was the architect of their win and he settled any early Brazilian nerves with a sweetly struck volleyed opener after just two minutes.

Undeterred, Iran – who had come into the game on the back of a 26-match unbeaten streak – stuck to their game-plan and created several chances of their own, eventually gaining their reward when Amir Akbari restored parity.

However, Brazil re-established their supremacy in the game’s latter stages and eventually clinched a comfortable win through two more goals from Bruno Xavier and another from Bueno.

Brazil now lead Group C on goal difference from Senegal, who beat Ukraine 5-4 in the section’s opening fixture earlier today.

 

Iran’s squad

Goalkeepers
1 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

Shojaei on Team Melli shortlist

Masoud Shojaei has already been invited to Team Melli squad for the Thailand game even before the selectors announced the full list of the team; according to local Spanish press reports. Shojaei has joined the Segunda División Las Palmas and scored on his debut after rigorous effort to find a team for himself in Spain.

Because Las Palmas is playing in the second division, the League does not have the mandatory international or FIFA day break that is normally awarded to the first division Spanish teams and players.  In anticipation, it appears that correspondences have been made between Las Palmas and FFIRI in order to release Shojaei for the 15th of October match in Azadi Stadium.

By joining Team Melli squad,  Shojaei would possibly miss two crucial matches for the mid-table club. One Copa Del Rey match against Hércules and another against Sabadell in the league.

Masoud Shojaei who had a long layoff from football lasting a season and a half due to a dogged foot injury that required a couple of operations , was one of the least productive players in Team Melli’s last three crucial matches in the FIFA 2015 World Cup qualifiers. However, the midfielder is a favorite of Carlos Queiroz regardless to his form and is assured of a place in the team, perhaps due to his experience in the La Liga.

Mojtaba Jabbari is officially out of Sepahan.

The creative midfield player of Sepahan and Team Melli has finally left the club according to Sepahan official.

Ali Torabian , who has been appointed as the acting CEO of the club due to resignations of Ali Rahimi from his post, said that the club was willing to take Jabbari back into the team despite his transgression, however after a series of meetings with the player , it was evident that the ex-Esteghlal player  does not wish to continue playing with Sepahan or remain in Esfahan. Torabian said that Jabbari is admitting his wrongdoing and gave the club the full right to file a case against him. “The player said that he will settle his financial status with the club and return the sign-on fees he received from the club or pay any penalties according to the rulings” according to Torabian who described the agreement between Sepahan club and Mojtaba Jabbari to separate , as amicable.

Despite what seems like an end of the episode, perhaps there are more to it than a simple handshake. Mojtaba Jabbari has joined Sepahan at the beginning of the season after he left his club Esteghlal following a series of unresolved differences.

This arrangement if true, means that Mojtaba Jabbari cannot play competitive football for another club until mid-season transfer window opens . Any club that wants the service of the Jabbari needs the approval of Sepahan. The Esfahani club will not be willing to easily give their direct competitors in the league an added advantage by signing Jabbari, the way Esteghlal admitted their fault after they released the same player.  In practical terms, this results in a  4 months of inaction for the midfield player. Assuming he gets a club after the mid-season transfer window , which no doubt is a formality, he needs much time to regain his form and physical condition especially that he has only recently recovered from injuries. That seems to be yet another piece of negative news for Team Melli in their preparation for the World Cup. Having an influential and creative midfielder in the caliber of Jabbari , out of action for that long, is a blow for Team Melli.

The bulk of the talented Team Melli’s players , are facing difficulties in one way or another. The legionnaires are all fringe players in Europe sometime not even on a substitute list like Ashkan Dejagah at Fulham and Reza Ghoochannejad at Standard Liege. The only lucky one is Masoud Shojae who eventually managed to find a club after several attempts. Masoud, who scored on his debut,  has playing time in a European league , although he earns his money down in the second division of the Spanish league. Even on the domestic scene, only a few of the Team Melli star players have shown quality performance in their games recently. The dip in form , lack of playing time all boils down to a tough task for Carlos Queiroz or whoever takes over for him in case Queiroz decides to call it a day with Iran.