Tevez has no World Cup hopes.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Carlos Tevez holds out no hope of being part of Argentina’s World Cup squad and prefers not to watch their matches on television, the Juventus striker said on Friday.

The 29-year-old, who has been in fine scoring form with 10 Serie A goals for juve so far this season, has been overlooked since Alejandro Sabella became Argentina coach in August 2011.

“If Sabella hasn’t called me up, I’m not going to phone him to find out why he doesn’t pick me,” Tevez told Argentina’s La Red radio station.

“Sabella must not be asked to call me up… Let him work in peace because it’s not easy for Sabella not to call me. I know there’s a lot of pressure especially from fans.”

The former Manchester City, Manchester United and West Ham United striker said he had a good relationship with the Argentina players and national team captain Lionel Messi.

“I have no problems with the group and I get on great with Messi. I don’t lose sleep over the World Cup. I don’t think I will watch it because it hurts me to see the national team, it’s bad for me,” he said.

Some media pundits say Tevez, who last played for Argentina in the 2011 Copa America quarter-final defeat by Uruguay, may not fit into Sabella’s tactical plans while others argue that he might disrupt the squad’s harmony.

Tevez was part of the Argentina teams that reached the quarter-finals of the last two World Cups in Germany in 2006 and South Africa in 2010.

Argentina, winners in 1978 and 1986, are in Group F with Bosnia, Iran and Nigeria at next year’s finals in Brazil which kick off on June 12.

(Reporting by Luis Ampuero; Writing by Rex Gowar)

William Atashkadeh aiming for the World Cup with Iran.

Back in April 2012 , Carlos Queiroz was in Sweden hunting down yet another  European player with Iranian ancestry. Queiroz  was eyeing the Swedish William Atashkadeh. The 21 years old  Gothenburg, Sweden  born player currently plays for Örebro SK in the Allsvenskan.

Queiroz was present when the striker played one of  his best games and scored two goals. That made an impression, and Queiroz extended his invitation for the half Iranian player.. However , William Atashkadeh  was quoted by the media after the game that he prefers to play for Sweden and that he’s looking forward to first be invited to Sweden U21. The call has never arrived , nevertheless, even if he does play for a Swedish Youth team , he is still eligible to play for Team Melli according to international and FIFA regulations.

Between the players lack of interest or enthusiasm to play for Iran, his long term injuries and the discovery of one Reza Ghoochannejad, the attention of Queiroz towards the Swede faded and his track went cold. A few days ago , Atashkadeh re-surfaced in the media and was interviewed by a Swedish website,  Fotbollskanalen.se

William Atashkadeh was featured on a national team with Iran.
Then he injured himself.
The question is whether a good spring can take him to the World Cup.
– The national coach has eye on me, he says.

 AIKs Celso Borges will play the World Cup with Costa Rica but the question is whether he will be the only premier league player in Brazil. In March, William Atashkadeh invited to a squad with Iran, but shortly thereafter he injured himself and has been absent until now. Örebro striker is back in full training and the question is whether a good spring in the headlines can take him to the summer’s World Cup, where Iran is in the same group as Argentina, Bosnia and Nigeria.

“I’ve been injured in the hip all year so my physical shape is not that good yet. I need to find the right form and get into it now. You can slowly but surely. Now I have been training on this and it feels good”  he says to fotbollskanalen.se.

Wlliam Atashkadeh
Wlliam Atashkadeh

– I aim not at the World Cup because I’ve been injured so much. I’ll see here now what happens. I will do everything I can to see how far I can get. It can go fast. Nothing is impossible.

During the 2012 season Iran’s coach Carlos Quieroz – former coach of Portugal and the assistant manager to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United – traveled to Örebro and checked when William Atashkadeh played match. When Quieroz was watching the striker, Atashkadeh scored two goals against Atvidaberg and hailed by Quieroz.

– Carlos had a good look at me and he had contacted me several times. They have a good group of players in Europe with Persian ancestry and there is a contact in Skåne who usually watch these games. They heard about me and Carlos came to Sweden. I scored twice and we talked after the game. Then I said that I wanted to wait because I wanted to come up with the Swedish U21 national team, but I was not in it even though it went very well. In December, he asked again if I wanted to come and then I said certainly and went in March.

How did it go?

– I was just back from a foot injury so I was in the fitting exercises and so. It felt good and I know what I’m going for.

How did it feel to Carlos Quieroz when he went to Örebro to see you?

– It was really awesome of course. He has held global player and World Team so it was really cool. They were proud and it was impressive that a great man was in Örebro and watching me play.

How do you see the chances of being in a World Cup squad?

– Like I said: I was with a squad in Dubai in March. But then I played almost the entire year. Now I’m on the way back and there might not be games until April so it’s nothing I’m aiming for.

– But I do not know. I actually have no track of the team’s second forwards, I just know that one is in Standard Liege and he has started in almost all internationals and he took the team to the World Cup. But the rest of the squad’s strikers I do not know much about, so I do not really know how I can measure myself.

How do you see the Iranian group with Argentina, Bosnia and Nigeria?

– It’s a damn tough group but anything can happen. These are not easy teams and all have very good players.

Carlos Queiroz keen on Spurs job

By Mani Djazmi
BBC World Football

Former Manchester United assistant boss Carlos Queiroz says he is interested in becoming the next manager of Tottenham.

The Premier League club are looking for a new man at the top following Monday’s sacking of Andre Villas-Boas.

Fellow Portuguese Queiroz, 60, is now in charge of Iran, who have qualified for next year’s World Cup in Brazil.

Asked whether he was interested in the Spurs job, he said: “Absolutely. Tottenham is a club I really appreciate a lot and I have great admiration.”

In an interview with BBC World Football, Queiroz revealed he had had “some private connections in the past” with Spurs owner Daniel Levy.
He also said he wanted to return to the Premier League after two spells as Sir Alex Ferguson’s number two at Old Trafford, first from 2002-2003 and then from 2004-2008.

“One of my coaching dreams is to get back to English football,” said the former Real Madrid, Portugal and South Africa coach.

“I was very happy in Manchester. It was the most happy and outstanding football period of my entire career.”

Team Melli continues its ascend in FIFA ranking.

Team Melli jumped 12 places up the ranking table to 33 in the World and number 1 in Asia in the FIFA/CocaCola  monthly world ranking for December 2013.

Accumulating 720 points , Iran also overtook Nigeria which is grouped with Iran in the FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil , while at continental level , Iran is leading the ranking ahead of Japan South Korea and Australia.
With the qualification to the World Cup and 3 consecutive wins in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Team Melli’s points accumulated as others lost ground.
According to the latest ranking, Spain still leads the World Ranking , followed by Germany and Argentina.

1) Spain 2) Germany 3) Argentina 4) Columbia 5) Portugal 6) Uruguay 7) Italy 8)Switzerland  9)Netherlands 10) Brazil.

FIFA World Cup Group F Rankings

3    Argentina    1251    0
19    Bosnia and Herzegovina    899    2    Up
33    Iran    720    12    Up
37    Nigeria    710    -1

Asia top 10 team

Dec 2013
Rnk Zone Rank Team Pts +/- Pos
33 1 Iran 720 12 Up
47 2 Japan 638 1 Up
54 3 Korea Republic 577 0 Equal
58 4 Australia 565 1 Up
65 5 Jordan 536 5 Up
68 6 Uzbekistan 526 0 Equal
71 7 United Arab Emirates 507 0 Equal
85 8 Oman 408 2 Up
87 9 Saudi Arabia 391 12 Up
92 10 China PR 376 1 Up

Puma to provide Team Melli U-22 kit.

The German sportswear manufacturer PUMA will be supplying Team Melli U-22 kits in the forthcoming AFC U-22 championship to be hel in the middle of next January in Muscat Oman.

In a statement to ISNA , the Vice-President of FFIRI  Seyed Hadi Ayatollahei , announced the deal and said that the U-22 team is not included in the contract with main Team Melli kit supplier UHLsport. PUMA is the supplier to many World Cup finalist teams and was the supplier of the kit in Iran’s last world Cup appearance in Germany 2006.

PumaAyatollahei also dismissed fears expressed by Alireza Mansourian about the recruitment of a foreign coach for the Omid Team.

 

The FFIRI official emphasized that the coach will be assigned to the U-23 team or the B team and not the U-22 which will remain under Mansourian for the foreseeable future. “He should focus on his job as we have no plan on changing him, The coach we are trying to recruit is fo another TEam Melli age rank , which is the Omid or U-23” Ayatollahei said.

Ayatollahei also confirmed that the current Team Melli sponsor , a Car dealer , has been having difficulty sticking to its

contractual obligations. A last minute sponsorship deal was struck between the FFIRI and a small company that deals in importing foreignluxury cars to Iran , in what seemed like a surprise move. The deal was questioned by many observers, and it does not come as a surprise that the sponsoring company has difficulty in paying its commitment. Ayatollahei said that a last warning was given to the sponsor to respect its obligations. “Failure by the sponsor to carry out its contractual obligation will force us to cancel the contact and look for a new sponsor”

 

 

Team Melli U-22 squad announced

Alireza Mansourian has announced an initial list of 31 players who will be called for a Training camp to be conducted at the National Teams training centere in Azadi Complex.

The squad was strengthened by the availability of both Sardar Azmoun and Alireza Jahanbakhsh ,both of whom will be enjoying the European winter breaks from their clubs and are available for the competition.

26 players will proceed to Kish Island for a friendly match against South Korea.

During the period, the U-22 team will be playing 3 friendly matches with club sides. At the end of the camp ,Mansourian will issue a shortlist of 23 players who will form the squad for the inaugural AFC  U-22 championship which will be held in Muscat , Oman. Iran is grouped with Australia,Japan and Kuwait in Group C. Team Melli U-22 will meet Japan on the 12th January 2014.

Team Melli U-22 is one of the title contenders.

PLAYERS LIST

1    Ahmad GOHARI (12/01/1996)
2    Ali FATHIAN
3    Ali GHOLIZADEH (10/03/1996)
4    Ali RIGI
5    Alireza JAHANBAKHSH (08/10/1993)
6    Amir ABEDZADEH (26/04/1993)
7    Amir Mohammad MAZLOUM (27/01/1996)
8    Amirhossein KARIMI (09/02/1996)
9    Armin HASHEMI  (04/02/1996)
10    Armin SOHRABIAN
11    Iman SALIMI (01/06/1996)
12    Mehdi AMINI (16/05/1996)
13    Majid HOSSEINI (20/06/1996)
14    Maysam JOODAKI
15    Milad SARLAK
16    Mobin EZZATI
17    Mohammad BAZAJ (30/03/1996)
18    Mohammad BAZARAFSHAN
19    Mohammad NIYARAKI
20    Mohammad SAEEDBROAYEH
21    Mohammadreza KAVEH (22/07/1997)
22    Mohammaed ABBASI
23    Mojtaba MOGHTADAEI
24    Morteza TABRIZI
25    Mostafa HASHEMI (19/10/1996)
26    Pyam NIAZMAND
27    Sadegh MOHARRAMI (01/03/1996)
28    Sivahsh HAGH-NAZARI
29    Sardar AZMOUN (01/01/1995)
30    Yahya NAJJARIAN
31    Yousef SEYYEDI (08/03/1996)

Ali Karimi expresses his desire to play in another World Cup.

Ex Team Melli player and current Tractorsazi Tabriz player , expressed his interest in playing in what would be his second World Cup after his initial appearance in World Cup 2006. Ali Karimi , who was injured and off football for a few weeks, is still considered an influential player in his club, but was ignored by Carlos Queiroz after he decided to quit football altogether at the end of last season.

Karimi’s decision to quit football was as the result of losing the Hazfi Cup Final to Sepahan at the end of last season, however he soon changed his mind but neither his club Perspolis nor Team Melli showed any interest in his services. Karimi eventually turned up at Tractorsazi and showed glimpses of his brilliances and wizardry, although not consistently. The Tabriz team temporarily claimed top spot in the Persian League  table before Karami’s previous club Perspolis replaced them at the top.

 Asked by a reporter of his aspiration with team Melli in Brazil, Karimi responded “If there is a chance , God willing , I like to serve my country and play in the World Cup. Players’ selection should be based on  skills, abilities and standards, their current forms , the number of appearances with their clubs and their track record. These are the standards that the national teams across the world are using for their selection. If that criterion is applied here, then I think I stand a chance and hope through my display and effort with my club, I make the squad. However , if there are other things behind the scenes  that I am not aware of or hidden from the public,  then I am not interested.”

Karimi continued his sarcastic tone when he said “I wish success for Team Melli but I sincerely hope that our players do not fight amongst themselves at the end of the match against Argentina trying for Messi’s shirt”

With such a statement, it is highly unlikely that the 35 year old midfielder will endear himself to the Team Melli selectors and find a place in next year’s World Cup squad.

Kranjcar threatens to prevent his Sepahan players joining Team Melli.

Foolad Sepahan coach Zlatko Kranjcar has threatened that he will stop his players from joining Team Melli camp a result of Queiroz ignoring the club’s request for a coordination meeting.
The root of the problem lies in the insistence e of Queiroz to have full control on players, requiring the selected Team Melli players to be fully available and committed for the camps or friendly matches while clubs such as Sepahan will be involved in Asian Champions League next year.

The Croat coach , Zlatko Kranjcar said that “Sepahan has accumulated 200 points on its own and that was the deciding factor in AFC awarding 4 places for Iran in the next Asian Champions league to Iran. This competition is very important for us and is a good source of revenue. We have asked FFIRI several times for a coordination meeting with Team Melli technical staff to sort out a program , but they have ignored our requests.”

Queiroz announced in his Sunday meeting that ” if Iran wants success in the World Cup , all the decisions regarding the players must be taken by him (Queiroz)”. That statement infuriated the coaches of the 4 Iranian clubs taking part in this current Asian Champions league as the clubs will be deprived on their best players and hence their chances of qualifying will be seriously threatened. Krancjar has also taken an exception on Queiroz statements which the Croat thinks of as undermining the role of the clubs coaches on their players.

Krancjar added “All the World Cup teams have players who would be playing the Champions League. I don’t see anyone of them holding their players because they will be playing in the World Cup. Anyway, playing in such a high level competition will only lead to improve their readiness and competitive edge for Team Melli.”

The tension between Queiroz and Kranjcar has been on the rise lately.

Aria Jasuru Hasegawa on Queiroz radar.

During the press conference which Querioz held to announce the Road Map to Brazil 2014 , the Team Melli coach announced his interest in the Japanese/Iranian player  Aria Jasuru Hasegawa.

The 25 years player ( born 29 October 1988) Japanese born  football player , is the son of an Iranian father and a Japanese mother who currently plays for FC Tokyo. Jasuru Hasegawa has in fact been selected for Japan National team several times but never played for the Japan which makes him eligible to play for Iran if he is awarded the Iranian nationality based on his father’s  citizenship.

The FC Tokyo player Jasuru Hasegawa’s situation is very much like the American/Iranian Beitashour , both born outside Iran and both selected for their country of birth national teams , but never made their debuts.

With the interest in Aria Jasuru Hasegawa now in the open, Queiroz once again sends an explicit message that he puts much effort in selecting players based outside of Iran rather than looking domestically for home born players.

“Queiroz is considered for the WBA job” claim sportsdirect.com

The British sport website sportsdirect.com claims that West Brom Albion WBA , the Premier league club which has sacked their coach Steve Clark last night, are considering Carlos Queiroz as a replacement

From Sportsdirect.com

“Former Real Madrid manager and Manchester United assistant Carlos Queiroz is an outsider for the West Brom job, SportsDirect News understands.

The 60-year-old is a vastly experienced coach at the top level, having managed Real Madrid and the Portuguese national team as well as having worked alongside Sir Alex Ferguson to great success at Old Trafford.

However, with Queiroz having recently guided Iran to next summer’s World Cup finals in Brazil, West Brom may face a fight to lure him full time to the Premier League.

The Baggies parted company with Steve Clarke on Saturday evening, and are hoping for a more experienced coach of Queiroz’s calibre to replace the Scot at the Hawthorns this season.

Several other candidates have already been linked with the post, and it may be that they will have to consider some more realistic alternatives to the Portuguese manager.”

This is not the first time that Queiroz is being mentioned as a candidate for a coaching job in England. Queiroz himself has always refused to comment on these speculative news and opted to focus on his job as the coach of Team Melli.