After the un-ceremonial departure of Mojtaba Jabbari from his club Esteghlal following a bitter financial dispute, it is now the turn of Karim Ansarifard to follow suite. The young Perspolis striker had a financial dispute with his club. However, unlike Jabbari’s dispute which was about the non- payment of the dues to the player by the club, Ansarifard was given a new contract with a pay cut which did not please the Aradbil born player. With Daei taking the coaching job, it was widely believed that the master will sort things out with his prodigy. Ansarifard, though, stood his ground and insisted on better terms in order for the popular Tehran club get his services.  The player refrained from reporting on duty for the club and had unauthorized absence while skipping the training camps. Today, and after two weeks of deferral, Ansarifard finally decided that he will re-sign the contract after all. He shocked to hear that the club is not interested in him as per  Ali Daei’s instruction, according to a club official.

The Perspolis coach has explained that Ansarifard was away for a long period of time while the team was in training camp where a lot of teamwork was carried out. His sudden appearance after such long absence, will upset the team balance.  Apparently even one player coming late, can break the rhythm of the team and Ali Daei will not allow that to happen despite his special and close relationship with the player that he discovered from his home town , Ardabil , and brought to Saipa, when Daei was coaching there.

Team Melli Captain , Javad Nekounam has yet to extend his contract with Esteghlal , while a last minute act by Esteghlal management has stopped Khosrow Heydari’s departure to Esfahan. With Ando Teymourian’s contract with Qatari club Al Kheraytiat coming to end, his future club is uncertain despite the efforts of Esteghlal to bring him back to the club he left to Qatar. Team Melli defender, Pejman Montrazeri  is also out of contract with Esteghlal and his future with the club is uncertain.

Reza Ghoochanejad is still under contract with Standard Liege in Belgium but he seems to be unsettled and looking for much more playing time which the club has not provided him. Another player who is unsettled with a foreign club for the same reason as Ghoochanejad is the Rubin Kazan keeper Alireza Haghighi. The ex-Perspsolis player has seen very little playing time in the Russian league club and with the World Cup in mind; Haghighi does not fancy his chances for selection to the squad for Brazil if he did not get playing time. Apparently, his ex-club Perspolis has shown little interest in buying him back from the Russian club.

While Masoud Shojaei had trouble finding a place for himself in the Osasuna line up last season, and even trouble making the bench sometimes, he did not seem to have any difficulty in being picked for Team Melli starting line up by Queiroz. However, The Portuguese coach might re-think as Osasuna has already told Shojaei that he is in the sale list. The Pamplona club are trying to cut the wages and balance their books while fighting for survival. It seems that Shojaei is among many players that the Pamplona club wants to offload.

Team Melli players continue to switching team which is not a very good omen for stability of Team Melli itself.

Afshin Ghotbi, the former coach of Team Melli is facing a torrid time in Japan.
After the Asian Cup, in which Team Melli failed to pass the quarter finals stage under Ghotbi, the Iranian-American coach resigned to join  the Japan’s J. League Division 1 side Shimizu S-Pulse on a three-year contract with.
In his first season in Japan , Ghotbi lead his club to the tenth position in the table. In the following season ,  in which he had a good start,  the team started slipping towards the end and ended up in in 9th place with one progress. They also reached the final game of J. League Cup but lost 1-2 to Kashima Antlers.
This year the team is languishing in the 10th place away from the top that S-Pulse have been used to before Ghotbi’s take over.

Because of these poor results, the S-Pulse fans have shown their anger in quite a strong manner. Recently the coach carrying the players was attacked by the fans but there were no serious injury reported. The fans have singed a petition to sack Ghotbi from his coach. The petition has gathered around 12,000 votes in which the majority have blamed the coach and demanded his removal.

Ghotbi has coached Perspolis in two periods from 2007-2008 and managed to win the league , before being appointed as Team Melli coach from 2009 in the aftermath or the very short period that Mohammad Mayeli-Kohan was appointed.

The head of Iran football federation declared that his federation has something like 1/20^th of the budget of the Japanese and Korean federations and is way behind the Arab neighbors in sporting infrastructure.

Talking to the press during the opening ceremony of a football management symposium, Ali Kaffashian said that his federation is awaiting a road mapby Carlos Querioz after Team Melli’s coach return from holiday, in which the preparation plans for Team Melli in the aftermath of the Qualification to FIFA World Cup, will be laid.

Kafashian said  “ Queiroz is demanding that Iran arranges friendly games against strong teams to enable the players to get used to facing powerful oppositions , such experiences will assist in mitigating any fear or  barrier of facing high class strong team in the World Cup.”   However , Kaffashian has already hinted his federations budget limitations , which might mean that the federation cannot afford to spend too much on arranging friendlies, the way other Asian teams like Japan and South Koreas.

Kafashian also indicated that his federation has done well in the past few months. “ success of our football federation  should not be measured by the qualification of Team Melli to the World Cup only.  There has been other accomplishments at youth levels and the continuing of the Futsal team success is something to be proud of ,  particularly the women futsal team that despite wearing Hijab , has managed to win the Silver medal of the Asian Indoor games. Overall we do have lots of successes.”

The head of Iran football federation with all his customary modestly said “ I personally had little influence in the success of Team Melli and its qualification to the World Cup.”  That is clearly a fact, but interestingly enough, he attributed the Team’s qualification to God’s well and peoples prayer’s.

  “We need to think from now how to prepare a powerful team for the 2016 Rio Olympics games  . We have to qualify as the aspiration and the expectation of the fans is so high now that we cannot afford not to qualify.”

Referring to Queiroz, Kafashian said that “He extended his leave by a week after his visit to Brazil where he inspected facilities and met with FIFA official and Brazilian football personalities. Queiroz should be presenting his plans to us within 10 days.”

“Queiroz requires the arrangement of friendly matches with strong teams to prepare Team Melli for the world cup. We will do our best to accommodate him within our abilities and limitations” Kafashan added.

“The picture will be clearer after the draw for the World Cup which will be held  in November of this year, in which we should have a pretty good idea how to proceed and which teams are available.” Kafashaina Added. He also mentioned that there are already some requests for friendly matches, which if Queiroz  agrees to , we will finalize with the other party” Kaffashian refused to name the teams , however, he was most probably referring to South Korea’s request for a friendly , cum revenge , match against Team Melli according to South Korean FA spokesman.

 

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]fter the huge sigh of relief and the celebration and jubilation of Team qualification to the World Cup in Brazil , it is prudent to think about the plans beyond. Time and again , the officials of Iranian football have announced that the aspirations of Iranian football is not just to turn up in the elite of the World game but powerfully represent the country’s image and reputation to the global viewers.

For such to materialize, Team Melli needs an effective program planning to prepare itself well for the big stage. The IRIFF have already announced that the participation of Team Melli in next year’s World Cup will be taken into consideration in all their planning and league scheduling. In reality, the IRIFF and Iran sport official have hardly been transparent in their actions and always vague about their plans while pushing aside any potential problems that could occur as irrelevant or can be resolved with a few prayers and good well.

Added to the bitter reality , the fact that the IRIFF is not exactly a powerful player in the continental or the world stage in diplomacy. Poor communications and relationship with other countries, failure of the officials to gain influences and posts in the AFC, influences of Arab neighbors who, if not hostile, have not been very amicable with Iranians, Ability of Arab Persian Gulf states to buy their way into the corridors of powers of the AFC and FIFA has all contributed to the marginalization of Iranian football in recent years.

Internal and external influences have resulted in less than ideal progress of Iranian football and inability to reach its deserved prestige in Football. There is no shortage of talents in Iran; it is the manipulation, development, politicization, management and organization that have been significant limitations. As far as preparation for the world cup in concerned, arranging meaningful friendly matches with quality teams is at the top of the priorities of any aspiring national team.

In Europe, a group of professional managers and administrations are assigned to arrange friendly games well in advance with careful planning and knowledge. Friendly matches are arranged two years in advance in some cases catering for the participation of their teams in the World Cup and European championships. In Iran, such planning has not only been scarce , but also impractical for many reasons. That is why, it is quite important to address right now consider next year’s World Cup participation for Team Melli..

[dropcap]C[/dropcap]arlos Queiroz is a well-known name in World Football arena. They just don’t come much bigger than him. Coaching and managing in the World Cup, association with Portugal national team, Real Madrid, Manchester United, South Africa and Japan,  among many other jobs,  is just not a small feat. He has built powerful relationship in those countries and beyond hence it is important for the IRIFF to capitalize on the status of Querioz and assign him the task of arranging friendly matches with the countries willing to play Team Melli.

With the qualification to the World Cup and under a famous coach such as Queroz, there will be no shortage of national teams willing to play Team Melli.  However, this planning has to be done right now

The merry go-round of Team Melli players transfer continues unabated with the latest news of the transfer of the Esteghlal and Team Melli midfielder Mojtaba JABBARI to Sepahan Esfahan.

The addition of the creative midfielder to Sepahan, has ensured that Kranjcar team has a formidable title challenging line up for the upcoming season with Sepahan already getting the services of several Team Melli players including  Rahman AHMADI,    Abolghasim DEHNAVI , Ali HAMOUDI ,and  Shojaa KHALILZADEH . Out of those players , the status of Dehnavi is still unclear after the former Tractorsazi player signed for two teams at the same time resulting in his suspension by the IRIFF following Perspolis official complaint against him.

Jabbari has been having a long dispute with the club that repeatedly does not honor its contract commitments. Esteghlal seems to be cash strapped and has been in trouble with the courts and FIFA for not paying the contract commitments to the local and foreign players. The last time Jabbari went to see the CO of Esteghlal , Fathollahzadeh , the meeting abruptly ended with apparently harsh exchanges of words between the player and the official. Fathollazadeh claims that Jabbari was disrespectful in his claims and would refuse to have him in his club. Jabbari said that he merely wanted his money which was his right and already long due, while the club is dragging its feet and not paying. In another development, Fathollazadh admitted on Thursday that the court has frozen his personal assets because of his bouncing checks given to players without sufficient funds to cover the amounts.

Jabbari was a pivotal player for Esteghlal in their title winning team and will be sorely missed in the next stages of AFC Champions league quarter finals which Esteghlal has qualified to and will be facing  Thai FA Cup winners Buriram United in September.

 

Futsal Team Melli , continued its championship winning trail by defeating Japan 5-2 this morning , in the final match of the 2013 Asian Indoor games in South Korea to win the title and team Gold Medals.

In the first half , Iran was in control , but could not create serious chances. In a counterattack move in the 13th minute, Japan scored the only goal of the half. After the goal , Team Melli increased its pressured on the Japanese , but there was no goal coming. Japan however , nearly doubled the score late in the half when they were awarded a penalty which Sepehr Mohammady saved in goal and got slightly injured in the process. 3 Iranian players received yellow cards in the 1st half. Tahebi, Hassanzadeh and Vafaei.

In the 2nd half , Iran finally managed to score the equalizer from the penalty spot after Japan exceeded their 5 fouls. Ali Vafaei took that long penalty and equalized. Hossein Tayebi put Iran ahead two minutes later from a corner kick.

In the 31st minute, Mohammed Taheri then scored a third for Iran after dribbling past the Japanese defenders before shooting the ball up the opposing team roof. 3 -1 for Iran. Jesus Candelas was still not too satisfied with the margin and in a brave move , he replaced the the keeper with the veteran Mohammad Keshavarz to increase the pressure on the Japanese and limit their offensive moves. However, this move was rather risky as the Japanese nearly scored in the keeper-less Iranian goal. However, with 4 minutes left to the end, Japan managed to reduce the deficit when they scored the 2nd to make it 3-2 for Iran.

With one Japanese player out of the game and playing short, Iran took maximum advantage as Asghar Hassanzadeh and then Vahid Shafei scored two goals for Iran in the last two minutes of the match.

 

The match ended 5-2,   Iran’s goal were scored by Alireza Vafaei (2), Hassanzadeh, Taheri and Shafei. This was Iran’s  fifth win in the row previously defeating UAE,Iraq, China and Thailand. It was also Iran’s 4th consecutive title in the Asian Indoor Games.

Prior to this match , Thailand which lost to Iran in a close match in the semi-final, beat Kuwait 9-6 to win the bronze medal.

On Friday , a similar encounter between Iran and Japan in the women version of the Futsal competition ended in favor of Japan Women Futsal team 2-1 in extra time. Iran’s women team achievement by winning the silver medal is its first ever at this level and a good omen for the sport despite some serious limitations.

The 4th Asian Indoor Games ends today in Incheon, South Korea with China leading the medal table by a big margin from host South Korea.

Reza Ghoochannejhad need to find a new club, according to his agent René Eijkelkamp. The Standard liege attacker was hardly used by his club last season and had little playing opportunities in the past six months.
The Belgian club Standard Liege has four strikers and would probably get another one soon in Igor De Camargo., the naturalized Belgian Brazilian. “Reza wants to play regular football to maintain his form and compete for a place in Iran’s team for the World Cup.” His agent added” He was not use regularly by his club , so we need to look at other options. We have inquiries from clubs in Belgium , Netherlands and Germany” ” Reza is a very motivated player and who is in the right frame of mind. He thrives on challenges, however, he needs playing time to show his worth. He cannot do that sitting ion the bench.”

Ghoochannejhad’s contract with Standard Liege extends to 2016.
Reza previously played for STVV and showed his class already in the Jupiler Pro League.

Translated article

voetbal International

02/07/2013 13:00

(Lars Ulrich)

In the Netherlands and Belgium Ghoochannejhad was not much more than modest club player for mid table or lowly teams like Go Ahead Eagles, FC Emmen, SC Cambuur and Sint-Truiden. Only less than two months ago, The Iranian scored his first goal for the club when Standard Liege won 4-3 on May 19 thanks to a goal by Gucci against SC Lokeren.

But in Iran, his name is now in the same level as the greats among the footballing compatriots. Ghoochannejhad is a hero of Team Melli, which a month ago qualified to the World Cup for the fourth time.

Legend Hassan Rowshan helped Iran qualify for the World Cup with his goals in 1978 for the first time on the World Cup stage, such as Khodadad Azizi and Vahid Hashemian did in qualifying for the World Cups of 1998 and 2006 respectively.

Now Gucci, as he is affectionately named, has achieved the same. Ghoochannejhad reached that status in less than a month. Born in Iran but grew up in Friesland, the striker played a decisive role during the final of the World Cup qualifiers for Iran, in time recovering from some disappointing earlier results.

On June 4, Gucci brought back hope for a place on the global stage by scoring against Qatar (1-0), then seven days later he contributed to the big win against Lebanon (4-0). His major contribution was in another week with the winning goal against South Korea. His goal against South Korea was decisive. Ghoochannejhad had three goals in as many games to lead his country’s way to the World Cup in Brazil next year.

The begining of his of success in his way to Iran’s team was in Herman Vanderpoorten Stadium on October 22 warm autumn day in 2011. Ghoochannejhad made quite an impression in Sint-Truiden team playing against Lierse SK, which went was won partly due to the contribution of the Iranian striker. Sint-Truiden won at home 2-0.

It was the prelude to an appealing international career for his native country. Coach Carlos Queiroz was in fact witnessed the starring of Reza and came into action. The Portuguese made contact with the attacker.

“It was a surprise that Queiroz called me,” says Ghoochannejhad on the FIFA website about the change in his football life. “He told me that playing for your country is an honor to be if you love your country. And he told me I think you can help us. ”

Green light
That was indeed the case. After some effort to get all the paperwork completed , the green light was given in 2012. Almost a year after the discovery of Queiroz in Lier debuted Ghoochannejhad for his country. With five goals in seven international matches, he has become the Iranian hero and World Cup hopes.

He may challenge his illustrious predecessors in 2014 to the crown. Rowshan scored well in 1978 but further injuries during the tournament in Argentina saw him barely in action. Yet ever alive the idea that Team Melli was also featured as Rowshan had been. Well fit Azizi scorer of the goal that qualified Iran to World Cup 1998 France , did not help his country further in the finals. Further on twenty years later nor did Vahid Hashemian in Germany in 2006.

Ghoochannejhad thinks Iran can write history, and he is not pointing at himself. “I’m really confident in our team. There is a perfect balance in the selection, with young talents and experienced campaigners. We can achieve more if we keep playing. “As a team

An official of the South Korean Football association has announced that its association has proposed a friendly match with Iran on FIFA day September 6th. The venue has yet to be decided so is to the response of Iranian counterparts.

The Korean official reason for the request was highly unorthodox, citing the non-availability of European teams in that FIFA Day as most of the teams in Europe will be engaged in playing in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers while the other reason that the Korean official offered was the fact that Korea wants a revenge match after two successive defeats in the World Cup qualifiers at the hand of Iran.

Iran and South Korea have a long history of rivalry between them in football. The Koreans have been particularly mindful of the results against Iran and take it quite seriously. The rivalry dating back from the Tokyo Asian games of 1958, in which 27 matches were played with Iran edging the Koreans 11 to 9 in victories.

The humiliating 6-2 defeat at the hands of the Iranians in the Asian Cup 1996 held in UAE, left a perpetual bitter taste for the proud Koreans.

For South Korea, Iran is the team who always kill off the dream of winning the Asian Cup. In the Asian Cup 2011 in Doha, when the final whistle went to signal South Korea’s 4-1 win over India, you could hear a big sigh from Korean football fans. Not because the result was underwhelming, but because it meant they will again face Iran at quarter final stage – for the fifth time in a row.

Since 1996, South Korea and Iran have developed a fierce rivalry like no other in Asian Cup. The very first meeting of two teams concluded with Iran registering a 6-2 smashing, causing South Korean gaffer Park Jong-hwan to resign.

Four years later, South Koreans exacted revenge against Iran by beating them 2-1. Lee Dong-guk scored the golden goal, which was the common rule adopted by competitions at that stage.

But, South Korea’s Iranian nightmare wasn’t over. In 2004, Iran enjoyed a thrilling 4-3 win against South Korea courtesy of an Ali Karimi hat-trick.

In Asian Cup 2007 , South Korea won via a penalty shootout, when Mehdi Mahdavikia and Rasoul Khatibi’s attempts denied by Lee Woon-jae, eliminating Iran from the tournament.

That entire rivalry history aside, the two recent 1-0 losses to Iran in this current World Cup qualifiers have been a bitter pill for the Koreans to swallow. Iran won 1-0 in Azadi in Tehran courtesy of a Nekounam goal. The return match in Ulsan was a chance for the Koreans to “Teach them (the Iranians) a lesson in football” according to claims by some overconfident Korean players. Added to the heat, was the pre- match rhetoric by the beleaguered coach Choi who publically declared his despise for Iran.

Iran, however, still managed to beat the Koreans at home by a brilliant effort from Ghoochannejad. That was yet another humiliation for the Koreans that angered their fans on and off the field. Choi resigned after the game, while some fans threw objects at Iranian players celebrating, an assistant coach of Iran was attacked and ugly scenes followed.

The result of that defeat extended beyond the stadium when millions of Korean fans spammed the Korean FA website bringing the website it down,  in protest against the team , coach and the association.

It looks like the South Koreans are in a dire need of win against Iran, even in a friendly match, hence the proposal of this match!

 

Iran futsal continued its route towards winning its fourth consecutive title in the Asian Indoor games. In the semi-finals match played today, Iran futsal team beat Thailand in a closely contested game 5-4 to qualify for the Friday final.

Thailand, which has been a thorn in Iran’s back and a serious challenger to Iran’s futsal supremacy in Asia, scored quite early in the match in the 3rd minute. However, the Iranian response was quick and decisive. Hossein Tayebi , the top scorer for Team Melli Futsall team scored two quick goals in the 5th and 6th minutes to stun the Thai team and put them back where they started.  The match continued with Thailand pressing hard to score the equalizer, but it was Iran who scored the third on the stroke of half time. Maysam Khayyam scored with 3 seconds left to the whistle making it 3-1 for Iran.

Iran scored again in the 2nd half when Hossein Taybei completed his hat trick in this match making it 4-1 for Iran. Thailand players who started the second half quite strongly were determined to make a match out of this one and they soon got what they wanted when they scored their second to make it 2-4.  Iran players were still recovering from that goal when a whirlwind Thai attack added another goal within 9 minutes for Thailand to narrow the margin  4-3 leaving the Iranian dazed and fearing a repeat of last year heart-breaker when the same team beat them in the same stage , the semi-final , of the AFC Asian Futsal championship.

Jesus Candelas men however, were not going to allow the resolute Thai to repeat the result of last year. Iran took a grip on the game and played a patient and passing game in hope of drawing the Thai out of their defensive shell. Thailand was content to defend and let the Iranian have the ball as they pleased hoping for counter attack opportunities which they have demonstrated with success in this tournament.  As time was getting critical for both teams, and with 5 minutes to go, Iran got the break they wanted when Ghodrat Bahdori scored Iran’s 5th to relieve the Iranians from pressure and increase the margin to two goals. As Iran was leading 5-3, and the game coming to close, Thailand got a penalty which they scored with 7 seconds of the match left. It was one goal too late for the Thai as Iran took revenge of last year’s defeat and qualified for the final .