Team Melli maintains top Asian ranking.

In the latest FIFA Ranking , Iran maintained its position as the Top Asian team ahead of Japan an Korea Rep. , despite dropping one position to 34th in the

world. Romania is in 33rd rank while Cape Verde Islands is only below Iran. Nigeria who is in Group F of the FIFA World Cup 2014 has dropped 4 positions and lies in 41 position below Iran. The other teams in the group Argentina and Bosnia have maintained in their position 2 and 19 respectively.

Rank Team Pts +/- Pos
31 Egypt 748 10 Up
32 Costa Rica 743 -1 Down
33 Romania 734 -1 Down
34 Iran 727 -1 Down
35 Cape Verde Islands 726 4 Up
36 Panama 722 2 Up
37 Scotland 717 -3 Down
38 Armenia 716 -3 Down
39 Venezuela 715 -3 Down
40 Mali 703 5 Up
41 Nigeria 701 -4 Down
42 Peru 698 -3 Down

 

Asian Ranking

Last Updated 16 Jan 2014 m Next Release 13 Feb 2014
Jan 2014
Rank Zone Rank Team Pts +/- Pos
34 1 Iran 727 -1 Down
48 2 Japan 641 -1 Down
53 3 Korea Republic 581 1 Up
56 4 Australia 571 2 Up
63 5 United Arab Emirates 548 8 Up
65 6 Uzbekistan 546 3 Up
72 7 Jordan 504 -7 Down
73 8 Saudi Arabia 487 14 Up
79 9 Oman 440 6 Up
92 10 China PR 376 0 Equal

Kaveh Rezaei’s hat trick not enough for Iran

A second half hat trick by team Melli’s center forward Kaveh Rezaei against Kuwait was not enough for Iran to qualify to the next round.

In the match played on Thursday , Iran U-22 beat Kuwait-U22 3-1 in Muscat , Oman in the final game of group C in the AFC Asian U-22 Championship 2014.

Japan routed Australia 4-0 in the other game that was played at the same time of Iran-Kuwait game, to qualify for the next round along with Australia. Both Iran and Kuwait were eliminated.

In a match which was totally dominated by Team Melli U-22 , the Iranians did everything but finish their attacks in the first half. The hero of the match was undoubtedly the Kuwaiti goalkeeper who saved many goal bound shoots from Iranian forwards. In the second round the trend continued as the first with the Kuwaiti’s having nothing to offer but sit back and defend. However , Rezaei managed to score in the 62nd minute with a flying header after the Kuwaiti goalkeeper again parried in front of Kaveh Rezaeh who cleverly headed into the goal. Rezaei scored his second 5 minutes later in a similar circumstances before completing his hat trick in style with a curved shoot on to the far corner of the Kuwait goalkeeper in the 81st minute. Kuwait scored a consolation late in the added time.

Kaveh Rezaei
Kaveh Rezaei

For all his effort , Rezaei’s fine scoring record in this tournament , could not save Iran. 5 goals from 3 matches is a record to be proud of but the Japanese with a convincing win in their decider match against Australia, sealed the feat of Iran. It was a bitter end for Team Melli U-22 under Human Afazeli who took over only a few days before the start of the competition after Alireza Mansourian resigned his post as a coach.

 

 

Team Melli U-22 lose against Australia.

Team Melli U-22 faltered against Australia in its second match of the AFC Asian U-22 championship as they went down 1-0 in Muscat’s Royal Police stadium.

The performance of the team was in sharp contrast to the first game against Japan when they showed grit , and skills against the opponents.

Against an organized Australian team , Team Melli U-22 was facing a physically strong , highly organized and motivated players. The Iranians were poorly disciplined tactically and by conduct , played emotionally and insisted on individual plays rather than team work. There was far too many dribbles, even the goalkeeper Biranvand dribbled like his teammates. Despite having a better percentage of ball possession , there was far too many shortcomings in the team to produce a winning performance.

With this result , which qualifies Australia, it looks like Team Melli is in a precarious position. Even a win against Kuwait in the last match of the group , which is by no way a forgone conclusion , might not be enough for the team to make it to the next round.

In the other match of the group , Japan and Kuwait drew 0-0.

Details
Published: 15 January 2014

Muscat: A goal from Petros Skapetis put Australia into the quarter-finals of the AFC U-22 Championship with a 1-0 victory over Iran in Group C at Royal Police Stadium on Tuesday.

The Australian forward latched on to a loose ball on the 56th minute and fired home after Iranian goalkeeper Ali Reza Beiranvand could only parry defender Curtis Good’s header following a corner kick.

And although Iran threw on two more forwards in an attempt to restore parity, they were unable to breakdown a very organised Australian side, who might have scored again through midfielder Stefan Mauk in the final minutes of the match.

“We knew it would be a hard and physical game but I’m happy with the performance of my players” said Australia coach Aurelio Vidmar.

“We need to get a bit more composure, especially through the midfield, as the game got very stretched at times. But overall, I’m very pleased.”

While Iran welcomed back defender Vahid Esmaeilbeigi and midfielder Morteza Pouraliganji to the side from suspension, Australia coach Vidmar swapped almost his entire starting line-up from the 11 that began the 1-0 over Kuwait on Sunday.

“Every team has the same amount of players, our philosophy is to give everyone an opportunity.

“we wanted everyone to each get a full game, and we’ve achieved that so far,” explained Vidmar.

“There’s no first team or second team, I’m just trying to build one team.”

In a tight first half with chances at a premium, one of Vidmar’s changes, striker Adam Taggart, had his side’s first effort on goal inside the first 10 minutes as his free-kick from just outside the penalty area went narrowly over the crossbar.

Taggart was the most likely source of a breakthrough for Australia in the first period and on the 23rd minute he sent another curling shot drifted wide.

In between those strikes by the Australia forward, Mehdi Shiri went close for Iran with a deflected effort that goalkeeper Aaron Lennox pushed out, and a swerving long range effort that was just off target.

Australia came out fired up for the second half, however, and in the first minute after the restart Andrew Hoole’s penetrating run down the right side was followed by a shot from the right winger that needed to be punched clear by an alert Beiranvand at his near post.

Centre-back Good was then forced to leave the field for treatment to a nasty gash above his eye following a clash of heads, and with the big centre-back off the field, Iran had their best chance to open the scoring as Kaveh Rezaei slipped in Benham Barzay for a low shot from inside the penalty area that was parried wide by Lennox in the Australia goal.

But with Good back on the field sporting a mass of white gauzing around his injured forehead, it was Australia who took the lead.

Awarded a free-kick in a central area on the 55th minute, Hoole skimmed a low shot off the turf that was pushed out for a corner by the Iranian custodian.

But from the resulting set-piece, a hurtling blur of bandages in the form of Good powered a header on target that Beiranvand could only parry as far as the waiting Skapetis, who hooked the ball into the gaping net.

In a bid to seek an equaliser, Iran brought on strikers Arsalan Motahhari and Seyed Miri and it was the former who had his side’s best chance with a low shot into the arms of a sprawling Lennox following good work from Rezaei.

Australia dominated possession for the remains of the second half, although Motahhari had time for another effort at the death but this time his shot from the edge of the penalty area went wide of Lennox’s right-hand post.

With a lengthy seven minutes of stoppage time added due to Good’s extended treatment, Maulk could have put the game to bed, but a good save from Beiranvand prevented the second half substitute from doubling the advantage.

“It was a physically demanding game and we can say a game of small differences. Australia is a great team, very organised with a fighting spirit,” said Iran coach Human Afazeli.

“A big difference was that Australia used almost 11 new players, and we couldn’t do that as we have only 20 players in our squad and three of them are goalkeepers.

“I want to praise my players, they showed fantastic effort. I am satisfied with their efforts, they did a good job.”

[divider]

AFC U-22 CHAMPIONSHIP 2013
FINAL ROUND

14-01-2014 17:00 GST
Royal Oman Police Stadium, Muscat, OMAN
[Attendance]     250
IRAN     0     1     AUSTRALIA
0      Half time    1
MVP: SHAHRYAR SHIRVAND
Referee:     KIM JONG HYEOK (KOREA REPUBLIC)

Lineups
IRAN: 1 ALI REZA SAFARBEIRANVAND , 2 VAHID ESMAEILIBEIGI , 3 SHAHRYAR SHIRVAND (C), 5 MOHAMMAD AMIN HAJMOHAMMADI, 13 AHMAD ZENDEHROOH, 23 MEHDI SHIRI [16 FARDIN ABEDINI 62′], 6 MORTEZA POURALIGANJI, 14 SHAHAB KARAMI, 19     BEHNAM BARZAY [11 SEYED PEYMAN MIRI 71′], 20 EHSAN PAHLAVAN [17 ARSALAN MOTAHHARI 84′], 9 KAVEH REZAEI
HUMAN AFAZELI (Head Coach)

AUSTRALIA: 1 AARON LENNOX ; 3 CURTIS GOOD (C),4 CONNOR CHAPMAN , 6 JOSHUA BRILLANTE , 8 RYAN EDWARDS [17 JAKE BARKER-DAISH 80′],13 SCOTT GALLOWAY, 16    REECE CAIRA,21 ANDREW HOOLE, 23    PETROS SKAPETIS [9 DYLAN TOMBIDES 90′], 10 ADAM TAGGART [7 STEFAN INGO MAUK 86′], 11 CONNOR PAIN
AURELIO VIDMAR (Head Coach)

Yellow Cards: CHAPMAN (AUS) 23′, HAJMOHAMMADI (IRI) 38′, GOOD (AUS) 49′, KARAMI(IRI) 78′

[divider]

Group C

 

Teams
P
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
PTS
AUSTRALIA 2 2 0 0 2 0 2 6
JAPAN 2 0 2 0 3 3 0 2
I.R. IRAN 2 0 1 1 3 4 -1 1
KUWAIT 2 0 1 1 0 1 -1 1

Team Melli U-19 finishes in style.

Iran’s U-19 team outscored their European opponents 3-2 to win its last match in the alentin Granatkin Memorial Tournament played on Sunday n St Petesburg Peterburgsky Stadium.

Team Melli scored  through Fathian (18), Bazaj (34) and  Sohrabian (40),

The match  against Greece concluded Iran’s participation in this tournament winning the 5th place match.  Iran played five matches winning four of them while losing one in the group stages.

 

Match № 38

The match № 38, match for the 5th place, tenth tournament day

I.R.IRAN – GREECE 3:2 (3:0)

January 12th, 2014, St. Petersburg, Peterburgsky SCC, 300 spectators

Referees: Ivan Saraev, Kirill Bolshakov, Konstantin Averyanov

Goals: Fathian (18), Bazaj (34), Sohrabian (40), Neumann (47; 51, pen.)

I.R. Iran: Amini, Joudaki (c), Sohrabian, Hosseini, Sarlak, Aghaei (Ezzati, 88), Bazaj (Hashemi, 81), Seyyedi (Baghdadi, 90), Haghnazari (Soleimani, 84), Moharrami (Moghtadaei, 90), Fathian (Salimi, 65), Niazmand

Head coach: Ali Dousti Mehr

Greece: Kotsaris, Saliakas, Toufas, Oikonomou, Gialamidis (Kanavetas, 59), Tzanoulinos, Fasidis (Tsolakidis, 46), Koulouris, Neumann, Deligiannidis (c), Ktistopoulos

Head coach: Theodoros Pachatouridis

Yellow cards: Gialamidis (27), Bazaj (35), Toufas (38), Neumann (58), Joudaki (72), Tzanoulinos (75)

Red card: Hosseini (50)

Best players: Golibolagh Yousef Seyyedi, Marios Tzanoulinos

 

Photo-icon-h24Photos >>>

 

After match comments

Head coach of the team I.R.Iran Ali Dousti Mehr:

– I want to thank the organizers of the tournament. It is difficult to keep a good level of the tournament with so many teams and tough schedule, I realize it. We say thank you from our team and ask to invite us again. Your tournaments help us much. We hope that our team left only best impressions last year and this time. Talking about this match, we asked our players to follow the coach’s instructions and obey the discipline as on the pitch and off it.

– You started second half with a good advantage 3:0. Had your players decided that the result was done and came to the second half relaxed?

– Don’t forget that we played in the minority. The mistakes of players of this age are more obvious, plus their emotions. There are not professionals still; they will be able to manage with it in future. But now they are playing with such moments. They can score 5 goals and stop playing, but then it is a problem to come back to the game. But also they can spend the whole match with a good speed and performance but without scoring. It is obviously difficult to play 10 to 11 and show good football, finding the strengths for the offence. It is a good experience: we can understand the points we have to work at.

– Have you studied the playing of team Greece before the match? They won St. Petersburg and saved the match against Azerbaijan on the last seconds.

– Yes, we know the Greeks play by the scheme 4-1-4-1, and that they have strong, tall, robust players. Players with good physics can play football. And now they won the second half 2:0, though they could have won 4:0. But our analyzing their playing led us to the triumph. Though, again, playing shorthanded it was rather hard to accomplish. But we didn’t see their performance during the whole second half, because we didn’t allow them to play. And losing one player affected our playing very much.

– But when you were ten and missed two goals the team rushed forward, pushing the opponents from its goal area. And in the end you were making substitutions, setting the Greeks off tempo. So you had forces? And the tactics was to keep the winning score by all means?

– Yes, sure, while we had forces we tried not to allow the Greeks to play sharp. But the forces soon were over, for we were only ten. So I had to make substitutions in order to keep the players fit. And there was some kind of cunning. Many do so to kick the clock. We were to decide something, to add something new and to slow down the Greeks’ playing, because our players were not so fast anymore.

Head coach of the team Greece Theodoros Pachatouridis hasn’t attended the press conference.

AFC U-22 Championship: Group C Preview

 

Published: 12 January 2014

Muscat: Japan coach Makoto Teguramori is banking on his young side developing a winning habit starting at the AFC U-22 Championship with victory in the competition a crucial step on the road to future success.

Boasting a flawless record in qualifying in which Teguramori’s attack-minded Blue Samurai were second highest scorer, the former Vegalta Sendai coach emphasised the significance of the 16-team tournament to his side’s development.

“Since the first day I was nominated for this position, I have always said this tournament was important for the development of our young generation of players,” said Teguramori.

Japan are placed in arguably one of the toughest groups of the tournaments alongside Australia, Iran and Kuwait, with Teguramori’s team beginning their campaign against Iran at the Royal Oman Police Stadium in Group C on Sunday.

“It’s extremely important for my young team to compete against other strong nations,” said Teguramori. “It’s important to win for the team’s attitude to prepare and win. It’s important to get into the experience of winning tournaments.

“As this squad consists of a generation that didn’t play as well at U-19 level, so players want to pay back those emotions from unsuccessful tournaments by showing a fighting spirit in this tournament.”

Teguramori’s opposite number, Iran coach Afazeli Human, was full of admiration for his opponents, highlighting the superior make-up of their side.

“At the moment, the Japan football team has a mixture of individual quality and teamwork. That is the possible way to grow, when you have a mixture,” said Human.

“If you have good individuals not in the team that is a problem. If you have a good team but no top individuals, that’s also a problem. Japan has both great individuals and a great team.”

Human’s team earned their place at the AFC U-22 Championship by winning their qualifying group, and although their squad in Muscat lacks some of the stars that led them to the finals, Iran will have the striking talents of forward Kaveh Rezaei who top-scored for the side during qualification. However, they will have to make do without defender Vahid Esmaeilbeigi and midfielder Morteza Pouraliganji against Japan due to suspension.

“We are here to stay in Oman as long as possible,” added Human. “We will also focus on the quality and mentality of the players – the most important thing in this tournament is to get the last steps for a pro’s life.”

In the opening game of Group C, Australia will take on Kuwait with coach Aurelio Vidmar expecting his Olyroos squad to savour the opportunity of top level international fixtures.

“It’s important to have competitive games, we don’t play enough international football at youth level, so for us this tournament is very important,” said Vidmar.

“We expect tough games and we’re going to be competitive. We’re here to get experience into young bodies and young careers, that’s the most important thing for us. The more games they get the better.

“We haven’t had the opportunities for camps or friendly games throughout the year. It’s not going to be perfect, but if the attitude is right, then we can go a long way.”

Kuwait’s coach Jorvan Vieira concurs with his Australian counterpart that the AFC U-22 Championship provides a good opportunity for competitive matches for his youthful charges.

Vieira has already tasted national team success in an AFC continental competition after guiding Iraq to a famous victory at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup and will be hoping his side that includes two members of his senior side, forward Faisal Al Harbi and defender Fahad Al Hajeri, can get the team off to winning ways in Muscat.

“Our target is the same: provide real experience for the young players,” he said.

“Players only get real experience when they are exposed to, and participate in, matches and according to the results they can get.”

Ghalenoei condemns “Navad” TV show.

Tehran.

Amir Ghalenoei, the ex-Team Melli coach and the current coach of league leader Esteghlal club, has severely criticized “Navad” TV show and its anchor, Adel Ferdowsipour, for exposing wrongdoings of Iran’s football players and officials.

In the aftermath of “Navad” uncovering of the Shisha smoking by several players and officials of Team Melli U-22 in a Kish Island hotel, where the team was camping for the friendly match against South Korea,  the results of which lead to the suspension of the persons involved , Ghalenoei accused Navad and Ferdowsipour of attempting to discredit footballers and tarnish their name by publicizing their wrongdoings while ignoring their charity works.

Ghalenoei pointed at the recent function when his team’s players visited a hospital specializing in artificial; limbs operations, which did not receive any publicity, according to Ghalenoei.

“When my players do any type of charity work , similar to what Sepahan , Fajr Sepasi  and Tractorsazi players do , it is not reflected in the media , but a few young players smoking Shisha gets much attention” Ghalenoei moaned “Why do they have to highlight such wrongdoing? If only a few people knew about such misdemeanor , and I say that as a person who is totally against smoking , now 20 million knows about it, thanks to Navad ”  referring to the number of audiences that regularly watch “Navad” every week.

“Navad” is a weekly sport show hosted by Adel Ferdowsipour. It is the most popular TV show on IRIB TV network by a large margin and the show that creates substantial advertising revenue for the network due to this immense popularity in Iran. Ferdowsipour, through his bold and skilful investigative journalism has created a large fan base making him arguably, the most influential person in Iran’s complex football politics. But his influence and popularity is not shared by many people in Iranian football circles. Navad and Ferdowsipour is loathed by officials, coaches and players who are exposed or investigated for their misconducts., High profile club bosses and coaches such as Daei and Ghalenoei are regular critics of Ferdowsipour, but the same people who criticize Navad , do not hesitate to use the program as a tribune to advertise their own causes.

 

 

 

Team Melli U-19 trounce Slovenia.

trounce Slovenia.

Team Melli U-19 bounced back from the disappointing loss to Slovakia  to beat Slovenia 3-0 in St Petesburg Peterburgsky Stadium.

in the Valentin Granatkin Memorial Tournament played on Friday , the young Iranians scored  through Milad Sarlak as early as the 11the minute. Despite the majority of possession , the Iranians could not manage to add further goals i the first half which ended 1-0.

In the second half , Ezzati (59) and Seyyedi (72) added two further goals to complete a fine display by Team Melli U-19 and set up a match vs. Greece.

The next match will be against Greece for the 5th place match. The Greek had already qualified for the match after defeating St Petesburg.

 

Match № 29

The match № 29, play-off round, seventh tournament day

I.R.IRAN – SLOVENIA 3:0 (1:0)

January 10th, 2014, St. Petersburg, Peterburgsky SCC, 200 spectators

Referees: Yury Aponasenko, Aleksandr Rodionov, Roman Milyuchenko

Goals: Sarlak (11), Ezzati (59), Seyyedi (72)

I. R. Iran: Niazmand, Joudaki (c), Sohrabian, Hosseini (Salimi, 78), Sarlak, Bazaj, Seyyedi (Baghdadi, 74), Haghnazari (Soleimani, 46), Najarian (Moharrami, 51), Ezzati (Fathian, 71), Moghtadaei (Hashemi, 46)

Head coach: Ali Dousti Mehr

Slovenia: Sorchan, Primc, Kumer (Plavschich, 63), Poljanec, Vokich, Lorbek, Ojbolt (Petrovchich, 76), Gajich (c) (Adamich, 82), Krivichich, Vidovich (Taneski, 46), Nemanich (Zupanc, 46)

Head coach: Gliha Primoj

Yellow cards: Primc (60), Sarlak (66), Poljanec (77)

Best players: Chiva Milad Sarlak, Gal Primc

 

 

Post match comments

Head coach of the team I.R.Iran Ali Dousti Mehr:

– First of all I want to congratulate Slovenia for playing a good game. The result shows nothing of the real form of the match. I’m not happy with my players. I think players must improve from game to game and today our team has rolled back. We were developing and making progress in the previous matches. Our aim is to repeat the success of playing at the World Championship. But if we keep playing this way we can forget about it. We all, coaches and players, must be studying and developing all the time. I came to this tournament as a student as well. And I’ve already learnt much.

– You filled in the team sheet today quite late. Was it because of the indecision?

– No, we handed the sheet on time.

– You’ve said many times that your main goal is getting on the World Cup. And what’s next?

– Next we must show a good, notable playing there. We want our players to be memorable, we want them to be invited in European clubs. We have bright players who are able to shine on the football arena of the Europe. By the way we have very good contacts and relations with the Russian Football Union. They help us very much with developing Iranian football.

Head coach of the team Slovenia Gliha Primoj:

– A very good game. I liked it. Both teams had equal chances to win. I guess we created even more scoring moments but we haven’t realized any. It happens in football, when you don’t score the opponent scores.

– Your team was wasting scoring moments today. Have you trained or will you train the realization?

– No. There’s no sense. The problem is our individual playing, taking quick and right decisions. How can it be trained? I think good players will acquire this skill as they acquire more experience.

– Today you surprised everybody with your composure in the coach area, after you made us used to your emotional behavior. Why has happened?

– The game was normal: my players’ actions, fair playing and referees’ judging. By the way our delegation representative consulted with the referees. They discussed all the disputable moments and he confessed there were no mistakes in the judging. But my opinion is that referee has to read the game and not only follow the letter of law.

– Do you have prospective stars in your team?

– I think all our youth teams have candidates to the national team. We have a system when every year we take somebody for the national team. That’s where the result comes from, including the win over the team Russia.

Sadeghian & Mosalman suspended by IRIFF

Payam Sadeghian and Mohsen Moslaman two of the most promising Iranian players are suspended indefinitely by IRIFF.

The suspension was a swift reaction by the football federation that was initiated and enforced by Ali Kaffashian after the controversy in Kish island after pictures of members of Team Melli U-22 were published in the social media showing them smoking the Shisha in the hotel they were accommodated in.

Sadeghian and Mosalman were both excluded from the U-22 squad competing in the AFC Asian U-22 championship that will start in Muscat in a few days, while Kaffashian instructed Carlos Queiroz not to select the two mentioned players in any Team Melli squad including the upcoming World Cup.

Three other personal associated with the camp. The team manager ,  doctor , and  the masseur were also given an  indefinite suspension from all football activities for their role in this misdemeanor. It is not clear what was the role of the 3 officials in this incident. There is another player involved whose name was not mentioned at this time.

Both of the Persepolis players , who have been instrumental in Persepolis recent good run , were hopeful of making the final list of Carlos Queiroz for the World

Cup , but this incident has badly hurt their chances and once again highlighted the indiscipline that is rife in Iranian football especially at the younger level. Sadeghian, a a player who is no stranger to controversy , has previous misdemeanors on and off the field , including several public statements in the press criticizing Team Melli players selection process and indirectly accusing Queiroz for ignoring his performance and goals in the league.

Reacting to the news of the suspensions, Rouyanian , Persepolis club CEO , quickly came to the aid of his players and denied that his players were guilty of smoking during the camp in Kish and accused the federation of trying to sabotage his team ahead of the local derby. Rouyanian, no stranger himself to controversy and rhetoric said that the IRIFF had no concrete evidence and came up with a decision in haste without examining the evidence.  Rouyanian did not offer any concrete evidence himself in the defense of the players nor did he elaborate on his serious accusation against the IRIFF.

Team Melli U-19 disappoints against Slovakia.

All hopes of young Iranians making their mark in the Valentine Granatkin memorial tournament were dashed when they lost the final match of the group A againt Slovakia 2-1. Iran was leading the table with 6 points from 2 games ahead of their European opponent but failed to stamp their mark when it was most needed.

Despite having a large percentage of ball possession , the failure by the young Iranians to convert their chances was their Achilles heels. Slovakia , playing strong and aggressive football managed to score two goal from much less chances than Iran.

Iran were shocked when only 3 minutes passed , The Slovakian forward Haraslim pounced on an opportunity and opened the scoring for the Slovaks. Iran’s response was , however, quite swift. Najarian scored Iran’s goal 5 minutes later to restore parity in the game.

While Team Melli U-19 was slowly taking a hold of the game, they were once again stunned when the referee awarded a penalty for the Slovaks which Haraslin the scorer of the first goal, converted to make it 2-1 for his team. The first half ended with the Slovak leading but with difficulty.

All hopes for Iran’s recovery in the second half were met with strong and disciplined Slovakian defense. The several chances the Iranians had were all wasted in a profligate manner by the young players.

With this loss , Iran will be playing for the 5th to 8th place in this major youth tournament . The next match will be on the 10th January against Slovenia.

Team Melli U-19 vs Slovakia
Team Melli U-19 vs Slovakia

Match № 18

The match № 18, group A, fifth tournament day

I. R. IRAN – SLOVAKIA 1:2 (1:2)

January 7th, 2014, Saint-Petersburg, Peterburgsky SCC, 300 spectators

Goals: Haraslin (3, 20, pen.), Najarian (8)

Referees: Nikolay Voloshin, Aleksey Manin, Denis Savin

I. R. Iran: Amini, Salimi, Hosseini (c), Sarlak, Aghaei, Bazaj, Seyyedi, Haghnazari, Moharrami, Najarian, Hashemi (Sohrabian, 46)

Head coach: Ali Doustimehr

Slovakia: Bajza, Vavro, Slaninka (Rajnik, 86), Vodezcky (Lovas, 90), Kacher (Siplak, 90), Gric, Shpalek (Vlchek, 89), Berejny, Kupec, Haraslin (c), Chvatal (Kotrik, 67)

Head coach: Milan Malatinsky

 

Yellow cards: Salimi (41), Aghaei (79), Kacher (79)

Best players: Armin Sohrabian, Denis Vavro

 

Armin Sohrabian - Iran's best player vs. Slovakia
Armin Sohrabian – Iran’s best player vs. Slovakia

Post match comments

Head coach of  Iran Doustimehr Ali:

– I congratulate  Slovakia for their deserved victory. Their players showed their best during the game, played organized in the defense and made quick attacks. We couldn’t transfer our domination into the goal.

– Your team had several good long distant shots in the first half. Why did you stop using it in the second half and preferred to come to penalty area where the defense was much more solid?

– Slovakian team played very compact, closed all areas and created opportunities  even for outside the box. That is why we wanted to play wider, use our wings more often and send the ball from sides to the penalty area. But our opponent had a well-organized defense and stopped all our attempts. But I should note also the referee’s mistakes. Through his faults the penalty kick he called was not fair and other time the penalty kick can be pointed to our favor.

– Football in Iran is improving. Do you think your players have aspirations to play for European clubs and championships?

– For sure, they want it. That is why we come to different tournaments, as this one, in order to show our players. We thank the organizers for this providing us with such opportunity.

– Are the players, who collided with their heads, all right now?

– Yes, everything is all right. Our player feels good.

 

Head coach of the team Slovakia Milan Malatinsky:

– We enjoyed very much playing against Iran. It’s a good team, they have very good players and it was difficult to play one to one against them. We had to provide constant support to each other. But we managed to score and we are happy to win against such a strong team. We were not allowed to play as we used to, so it was quite hard for us. The Iranians are very quick and good at controlling the ball. So we decided to concentrate on defense trying to close them down while making quick counterattacks.

– After quite an early goal you turned to defensive strategy and passed the initiative to the opponent. Was it your tactics or it was the Iranians who made you play in defense? You paid for it with the missed goal.

– We just had no opportunity to play open football. The Iranians are very quick, they were pressing us in all the zones, so our players sometimes didn’t have time to take the right decision. We didn’t pass the initiative, we just couldn’t oppose. But when we were able to run forward we created dangerous moments one of them was finished with the penalty kick.

– By the way, your player executed the penalty kick in a risky style. Was it his own decision?

– He made a penalty kick in Panenka style, thus paying tribute to the Czechoslovak player. But this was his decision. I’m glad he has scored.

– In the end of the match when your players ran in counterattack three to one you asked one of the forwards to play by himself. But if he made a pass they would have come out two to one and make score 3:1, so the ending of the game would be less nervous. Why did you decide he had to strike himself?

– As you’ve fairly mentioned the ending was quite nervous and I wanted him to hold the ball and run out the clock a bit. I wanted him to do something. That’s why I shouted “By yourself!” Though now I understand that I had to give another advice. But that’s what has happened. The nerves were strained to the full, we were eager to win, so in retrospect I did not give him the correct command. As for the moment of collision, I haven’t come to the change room yet, but hope it is not injury and our player will be able to play next match.

 

Nekounam on his way out of Esteghlal

The Captain of Team Melli has finally decided to leave his Club Esteghlal.

In a statement to ISNA news agency ,  Nekounam said that negotiations between Ghalenoei and Fatthollazadeh regarding his demands and future in the club was fruitless and he was lead to believe that Esteghlal does not want him at the club as he may leave anytime he wishes.

“When Pejman Montazeri has made it known of his intention to leave Esteghal, the club including Ghalenoei did all they can to persuade him to stay ” Nekounam added” However , it was not the way they acted in my case as they simply said that I can leave if I wish!”

the 33 years old Javad Nokounam who joined the popular Esteghlal club in 2012 , was bitter about this treatment by the club and the coach and hence he declared his intention that he will be leaving. Nekounam who played for Osasuna in the La Liga for 5 successful seasons, said that he has offers from Qatari and Chinese clubs on the table.

The apathy and disinterest shown by the club towards Nekounam is due to the public demand by Nekounam for the club to respect the terms of contracts with the players especially when it comes to payments of wages. That did not endear him to the club. Esteghlal , notorious for late payment of wages ,

had problems with virtually all of their players , however , it was the minority and the stronger character players who dared to

challenge the club management openly. The more vociferous of them like Nekounam went public in hope of forcing the club to pay up.

On the playing field, Nekounam was far from his best with the club as his form has dipped and was hardly instrumental or effective in the league as expected by Ghaleneoi. This form , or perhaps the lack of real interest shown by Nekounam while playing for Esteghlal, has dampened the enthusiasm of the very demanding Amir Ghalenoei , who has little sympathy with players who show contempt or lack of form on or off the field. Ghalenoei never shied away from confronting even the most famous or popular players when ever he

What is clear now, is that Nekounam is finally on his way out of Estghalal after a turbulent and difficult time in Tehran.

 

,