In its second match of the WAFF competition , Team Melli failed to take advantage of Bahrain shortage from the 27th minute, and was held to a goal-less draw. The match held in Al Kazma Stadium was a drab affair in its first half until late in the half when a sending off changed the games pace.

With Team Melli needing all the 3 points of this match to ensure qualification to the next round , the coaching staff elected to field their strongest line up. In the starting period of the match, Iran managed to get a good grip on the match but without much serious moves on the opposition goal. Team Melli’s performance was marred by sub-standard passing and ineffective finishing.

The turnaround of the match was in the 27th minute when Veteran Bahrain player , Mohammed Salmin was shown the second yellow card for diving and subsequently sent off. Iran failed to capitalized on the numeric advantage as the first half ended 0-0.

In the second half , Team Melli desperate for the 3 points and sensing the advantage , went on all out attack. The majority of the second half was played in Bahrain’s half, The combination of Mehrdad Ouladi , Mohammad Hadi Nazari and Ahmad Hassanzadeh creted many offensive threats to Bahrain , but the post , excellent goalkeeping and some feeble finishing , prevent Iran taking a lead.

As the match went on , the Iranian players were looking more desperate. Amongst the few nice moves and quick passing , there were far too many shortcomings from this inexperienced line up. Ouladi was caught offside numerous times , so was Nazari. The Bahraini’s piling up the box took most of the shooting opportunities from Iranian players and the few that were actually not blocked by the Bahrain defenders , were easily handled by Bahrain excellent keeper.

Closer to the end , Team Melli forwards ran out of ideas and with the match reaching the end , there was a real scare when Iran’s keeper Haghighi , who was idle for the majority of the half , came out of his area and was nearly caught out by a long ball that missed the empty goal and was off target.

Bahrain is leading the group with 4 points, with Iran temporarily in second spot with two goalless draws.   The situation is becoming more critical as Team Melli’s fate would be in the hands of other teams since it has failed to take much out of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia will be playing Yemen right after this match. A win for the former will complicate Iran’s position and will most certainly mean the practical elimination of Team Melli even if they win their last match against lowly Yemen

Kuwait.

Team Melli played a goal-less draw against Saudi Arabia in the first match of the WAFF 2012 championship played in Friendship & Peace stadium in Kuwait.

In a dull first half devoid of any serious scoring opportunities, the two teams both fielding a large number of fringe players, The Saudis were more in control but with little effect while Team Melli was content with defending and counter attacking in the rare occasions.

The second half was quite different as Team Melli took the initiative and was clearly going for a win and three points. Majority of the attacks were from the left flank where the combination of Pooladi and Ouladi created several chances.

Ouladi , clearly the most effective attacker , created several opportunities including a powerful header that just cleared the post. With several changes in the line up including the introduction of Hassanzadeh , the coaching team of Omid Namazi & Markar Aghajanian were trying to vitalize the offensive force taking advantage of the Saudi’s retreat , but to no avail.

The goal-less draw and the sharing of  points between the two powerful team , gives advantage to Bahrain which is taking part in this competition with the full A team squad , playing later on against Yemen.

Tehran.

Carlos Queiroz , Team Melli’s coach said that his duty is to open his eyes and ears to monitor everything around Team Melli while differentiate between illogical view points and the reasonable advice that can benefit the team. He continued his statement about Team Melli by asking the media to allow him to do his job and qualify for the finals of the World Cup and then he will expose those people who work behind the scene for Qatar !

Queiroz was speaking to the press during the first Training session of Team Melli which is preparing for the WAFF tournament in Kuwait. The players carried out their first training in the Futsal Arena of Team Melli camp. The coach emphasized the point that this tournament is a very good opportunity for him to assess the potential of many players who have not featured in Team Melli and give the others who played limited time a chance to show their full potential.

Asked why he did not select the U23 team for this tournament , Queiroz said that “the regulation of this tournament prohibits the participating countries from taking a weakened or second rate teams, however , the team we are taking to Kuwait is a mixture of youth and experienced players”. Quieroz said that he personally wants to lead this team as he is looking for players that can fill some roles and play in the first team. A few of the players in the squad have already featured for Team Melli , and this will be an ideal opportunity for them to support their claim for a much more important roles in the near future. “It is up to these players to proves themselves , and if they do  then they will have a good chance to feature in the rest of the World Cup Qualification games” Queiroz added. He mentioned Yaghoub Karimi and Mehrdad Ouladi as examples of such players with potential.

Queiroz spoke about the absentees and stated that Jalal Rafkhaei is doubtful as he is not fully fit for the tournament, hence the introduction of Mehrdad Ouladi, his Malavan teammate. He also added that Perspolis defender, Hossein Mahini has requested a leave of absence from him which was approved and hence he will not accompany the team to Kuwait. Arash Afshin is in the process of negotiating a contract with a European team and consequently he asked Queiroz to be excused from WAFF in order for him to focus on the negotiation and high possibility of a transfer which might occur in the January transfer window. Querioz said that he always supports players who can succeed in signing for European clubs. He said “if we have 5 , 6  or even 10 players playing the European leagues , it will benefit Team Melli as the exposure there and the style of play will enhance their abilities and skills.” He said that he wishes the players well and hope they succeed ion signing contracts with European teams.

 Queiroz commented on the critics voicing concern about Team Melli performance and weak results by saying that “there are always those people who like to show off during the matches of the national team. Similar things occur on regular basis in Portugal and France.” “In reality , very few listen to them but they still continue and criticize regardless (…), saying that, I do like to differentiate between the illogical unfounded criticism and those critics who might have a valid point or two up their sleeve.” The Under-fire Portuguese coach added.

Queiroz was asked by a reporter about the rumors of his cooperation with Qatar Team, in which the coach responded “Yes…I also heard such talks. Does that mean that someone from Korea is also working for the Qatari’s or maybe Lebanon and Uzbekistan have similar people? Please allow us to focus on our objective and finish our mission, only then I will tell you who, in fact, is cooperating with the Qataris”

Team Melli will be participating the WAFF tournament and is grouped with Saudi Arabia , Bahrain and Yemen.

Team Melli squad is as follows.

Goalkeepers: Alireza Haghighi (Rubin Kazan, RUS), Sousha Makani (Naft Tehran), Hamed Lak (Saba Qom)

Defenders: Vahid Esmael-Beighi (Mes Kerman ),  Milad Fakhreddini (Tractor Sazi Tabriz), Pejman Montazeri (Esteghlal Tehran), Shoja Khalilzadeh (Mes Kerman), Mohammad-Reza Khanzadeh (Persepolis Tehran), Mehrdad Pouladi (Persepolis Tehran), Ehsan Hajsafi (Tractor Sazi Tabriz)

Midfielders: Omid Nazari (Ängelholms FF, SWE), Omid Ebrahimi (Sepahan Esfahan), Ghasem Dehnavi (Tractor Sazi Tabriz), Milad Nouri (Saba Qom), Mohsen Mosalman (Zob Ahan Esfahan)

Strikers: Payam Sadeghian (Zob Ahan Esfahan), Mehrdad Ouladi (Malavan Anzali), Ahmad Hassanzadeh (Mes Kerman), Yaghoub Karimi (Naft Tehran)

Iran’s football continued its setback during the AFC Awards ceremonies held in Kuala Lumpur to honor top footballers , teams and officials of Asian football. Ali Karimi was short-listed for the coveted AFC PLAYER OF THE YEAR , while Iran’s futsal was represented by the Captain of Team Melli futsal, Mohammad Keshavarz in AFC FUTSAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR

 Iran had two more nominations as AFC MEMBER ASSOCIATION OF THE YEAR and Alireza Fagahni in AFC REFEREE OF THE YEAR , while Iran’s Futsal Team Melli was nominated in the AFC FUTSAL TEAM OF THE YEAR categories .

At the end of the ceremony , Iran’s football was awarded one of the 6 nominations with the IRIFF selection as AFC MEMBER ASSOCIATION OF THE YEAR.

Iran had no nomination in the Women section while it was absent ion the other coveted sections of Young player and the best clubs.

As the year is coming to close, this ceremony award had typified the pitiful status of football in Iran in 2012. Bitter loses at all levels have highlighted the football federations failure to deliver the success that has been far too long coming. The losses have dented the confidence and the trust of the football supporters in Iran which is one of the largest fan base in Asia. For a nation that has an eternal passion for football, Iran’s trophy cabinet has a dearth of silverware, and has failed to win the Asian Cup since 1976, while also failing to qualify for the Olympics or winning the Asian Youth title (U19) cup since the revolution in 1979.

 The full list of winners can be found at the Asian Football Confederation site.

 

The Former head coach of Team Melli , has rejected any ideas of him coaching the national team and said that “ I have already been there twice and I’m not hungry for a third term”. Mohammad Mayeli-Kohan was responding to questions ahead of his club Gahar Doroud league match. Mayeli-Kohan who was the coach of Team Melli in Asian Cup 1996, criticized the federation and said that instead of these gentlemen doing their proper due diligence specially when it came to the contract , they we far too excited  with Queiroz and instead , they all lined up to take  pictures with him.

“I have said repeatedly that the team does not play well, no progress, no results and this is one of the main problems in our nation’s football.”  “However, qualification to the World Cup is quite difficult now and lots depend on others results in the group. Making it to the Finals would not be considered the greatest achievement, while failing to qualify is not a disaster, either. Not everything depends on our qualification to the World Cup. We’re looking forward to see our team play a nice game to start with.” Added Mayeli-Kohan

Gahar Doroud football coach continued his comments on the status of Team Melli and said that “We should have studied the clauses of contract before agreeing  terms with Carlos Queiroz , instead the gentlemen were far excited and lined up in turn to take picture with their prize catch rather than doing their due diligence.”
“So , we ended up paying  lots of money, we have lost our pride and dignity and lost our reputation at  international level.  Can anyone tell me of one proper instance that the recruitment of a highly paid foreign coach assisted in developing of our team or gaining a much needed result? Also, anyone can tell me the value of bringing foreign-based players? We should have been much smarter in signing the contract, unfortunately we fell far short.

Mayeli-Kohan did not specifically point to any clause in the contract between IFF and Carlos Queiroz that seems to be a matter of concern to him or the public.

Gohar coach noted that the Team Melli has no manager for administration, has no Public Relation and media manager, no one to liaise with , officials , TV and the Press. The result of such poor management an absence of a man with such responsibility backfired immediately,  that happened in the home game against Uzbekistan. Did you not see how Team Melli started the second half with one man short ? Because there was no one competent to prepare the players’ substitution form ! That was comical and if it was an Iranian coach in charge with such mistake happening, you reporters would have buried him with barrages of criticism, showed the clip over and over again in that famous TV program ,  but with Queiroz , no one dared to question him , not even that TV program!” Mayeli-Kohan added.

“ I have a question for you. Our national team defender Hadi Aghili was one of the best defenders in the country and the highest defender goal scorer in the history of our football team, where is he? Why was he not invited to the national team? I think the neighbor’s chicken is a goose. Your media people have an obsession with foreign coaches. You think they are geese and for me, the foreign reporter is!” Concluded the outspoken and frequently trouble seeking coach.

Futsal Team Melli Captain , Mohammad Keshavarz has been nominated once again for the AFC Futsal Player of the Year award 2012. Keshavarz joins Ali Karimi who is nominated in the best football player award. Karimi has won the award in 2004.

It will be a historical first for both the players , as no Iranian player has managed to grab the award on two different occasions.

Ali Karimi , has played for Bayten Munic and Schalke 04 after his succes in the Asain Cup 2004 where he was sel cted as the tournament best player and also the top scorer.  Karimi also played for Qatar FC , Steel Azin before setteling in Perspolis.

Mohammad Keshavarz has played for several clubs in the last 10 years. The 30 years old Captain of Iran’s Futsal team has played for Kowser,Shensa Saveh, Shahid Mansouri, Foolad Mahan, Shahid Mansouri before moving in 2011 to Giti Pasand, where his is currently the captain.

AFC ANNUAL AWARDS 2012 NOMINEES (in alphabetical order)         AFC DREAM ASIA AWARD All Nepal Football Association  (Nepal) SALT Academy  (Cambodia) United Arab Emirates Football Association  (UAE) Myanmar Football Federation  (Myanmar ) National Unity & Integrity Dept (JPNIN) -(Malaysia) AFC MEMBER ASSOCIATION OF THE YEAR IR Iran Football Federation Japan Football Association Korea Football Association Qatar Football Association AFC FAIR PLAY ASSOCIATION OF THE YEAR  Football Federation Australia IR Iran Football Federation Uzbekistan Football Federation   AFC CLUB OF THE YEAR Al Ahli (Saudi Arabia) Kuwait SC (Kuwait) Ulsan Hyundai  (Korea Republic) AFC FUTSAL TEAM OF THE YEAR Iran Japan Thailand AFC NATIONAL TEAM OF THE YEAR WOMEN DPR Korea U-17 Team Japan Olympic Team Japan U-20 Team MEN Japan Olympic Team Korea Olympic Team UAE Olympic Team AFC ASSISTANT REFEREE OF THE YEAR WOMEN Cui Yongmei (China) Kim Kyoung Min (Korea Republic) Widiya Habibah Binti Shamsuri (Malaysia) MEN Bakhadyr Kochkarov (Kyrgyzstan) Matthew James Cream (Australia) Rasulov Abdukhamidullo (Uzbekistan) AFC REFEREE OF THE YEAR WOMEN Qin Liang (China) Ri Hyang Ok (DPR Korea) Yamagishi Sachiko (Japan) MEN Faghani Alireza Mohammad ( Iran) Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan) Yuichi Nishimura (Japan) AFC COACH OF THE YEAR WOMEN Honda Midori (Japan) Takemoto Asako (Japan) Tezuka Takako (Japan) MEN Hong Myung Bo (Korea Republic) Kim Ho Kon (Korea Republic) Sasaki Norio (Japan) AFC FUTSAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR Mohamad Keshavarz (Iran) Rafael Henmi (Japan) Thueanklang Suphawut (Thailand) AFC YOUTH PLAYER OF THE YEAR WOMEN Hasegawa Yui (Japan) Ri Hyang Sim (DPR Korea) Shibata Hanae (Japan) MEN Mohanad Abdulraheem Karrar (Iraq) Moon Chang Jin (Korea Republic) Taro Sugimoto (Japan) AFC ASIAN INTERNATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR Mark Schwarzer (Australia) – Fulham, England Shinji Kagawa (Japan) – Manchester United, England Yuto Nagatomo (Japan) – Inter Milan, Italy   AFC FOREIGN PLAYER OF THE YEAR             Bruno Correa (Brazil) – Al Nasr (UAE) Ricardo de Oliveira (Brazil) – Al Jazira (UAE) Rogerio de Assis Silva Coutinho (Brazil)- Kuwait SC (Kuwait)   AFC WOMEN’S PLAYER OF THE YEAR Aya Miyama (Japan) Homare Sawa (Japan) Yuki Ogimi (Japan) AFC PLAYER OF THE YEAR Lee Keun Ho (Korea Republic) Lucas Neill (Australia) Mohammad Ali Karimi (Iran) Mohsen Bengar (Iran) Zheng Zhi (China)

A member of the executive committee of Iran’s football federation has said that in the meeting that was recently held, he requested from Ali Kaffashian to publically apologize to the Iranian fans for the series of defeats and poor results of Iranian teams in recent competetions.

Shehab-Uldeen Aziz Khadem , has said that that Iranian fans have endured hardship and have been greatly disappointed by one defeat after another in the international arena and it is a high time that someone takes responsibility and  prudently apologize for these defeats.  He added that the public and fans are quite obviously dejected,   disconsolate and losing hope and it is the duty of the federation to change and positively react to this situation. The absence of the fans in the league matches of the last round was an obvious indication of the public feelings and sentiments towards football.

Commenting on the meeting , Khadem said that there was a suggestion of a meeting between Queiroz , Kaffashian and the executive committee. The proposal was put forward to limit some of the authorities and powers given to Queiroz “We believe that Queieroz should serve the interest of Iranian football not vice versa.” “ We need people to come out of their cocoons and air their criticism , as  shying away from criticizing the team and the coach  and instead praising a team whose performance is lackluster and devoid of success on the pretext of national interest, will never serve our progress in football.”

“Admittedly, looking back at the results of Iranian football in the recent years , we have to say that the federation has failed in meeting the high aspiration and expectations of the Iranian fans. I am not talking about individual failures here , but addressing a group in the shape of Iran’s football federation.” Khadem said. The outspoken Khadem also mentioned that the absloute majority of the committee memebers agreed with Torabian’s resignation as the head of Iran’s futsal team , but Kaffashian was dragging his feet on the issue. Torabian has been a close ally and a confidante of Kaffashian during his tenure as the head of IFF.

Khadem demanded immediate reforms within the federation as the failures in football and futsal have been far too frequent. This administration must act and properly interact with the public and media.

TEHRAN TIMES – TEHRAN

Akbar Mohammadi stepped down as coach of Iran U19 football team on Wednesday.

Iran was knocked out of the AFC U-19 Championship last week after being crushed 4-1 by South Korea.

“I apologize to all Iranian people since we failed to qualify for the World Cup. But I keep my head up because I did my best in the team,” Mohammadi said.

Iran futsal coach Ali Sanei and head of Iran’s Futsal Committee Abbas Torabian, have previously resigned from their jobs after the futsal team lost to Colombia in the 2012 Futsal World Cup in Thailand.

(FIFA.com) Thursday 22 November 2012

 In a sense, one scenario Iran had not prepared for in their planning for 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ qualification was a home defeat. Carlos Queiroz’s side, after all, boast a proud home record at the legendary Azadi Stadium which had seen them undefeated in 15 matches across three years, with the last defeat coming in March 2009 when they were edged out 2-1 by Saudi Arabia during South Africa 2010 qualifying. Thus last week’s solitary-goal defeat against Uzbekistan not only brought an abrupt end to that record, but also deprived them of the chance to move top of the section. While the Uzbeks were catapulted to the summit of Group A, Iran slipped to third, trailing behind Korea Republic on goal difference, with only three matches left. Taking solace in history On the surface, Team Melli were punished by their inability to provide a killer punch in front of goal. Although they dominated large periods of the home match against the Uzbeks, it was the visitors who grabbed the match-winner with Ulugbek Bakaev firing home off Server Djeparov’s free-kick.

Queiroz’s outfit had finished the previous round as the biggest scorers with 17 goals scored across six outings. Yet, the Iranians are now, alongside Lebanon, the most goal-shy of the ten remaining Asian teams having scored just twice in their five matches during the ongoing final round. While the fans are still bemoaning last week’s defeat, it is the lingering goalscoring problems that are causing the most concern. Having long dazzled the continent with a knack of constantly finding the back of the net, Iran now see their campaign in jeopardy due to their profligacy in front of goal. On the road to France 1998, the team emerged the group’s top scorers with 13 goals – 5 more than top-finishers Saudi Arabia. They racked up seven goals in the final round for Germany 2006 which sealed their early qualification, and even in their failed campaign for South Africa 2010 Iran were the group’s second best scorers with 8 goals.

As a country which has produced global goal-king Ali Daei, Iran have never been short of striking talents. Aside from Sepahan marksman Mohammad Khalatbari, notable amongst Queiroz’s attacking options is 22-year-old Karim Ansarifard who finished the last Iranian season as top-scorer with 21 goals, while both Fulham new acquisition Ashkan Dejagah and Belgian-based Reza Ghoochannejhad also enhance the attack. Neither are lacking in creativity, with captain Javad Nekonam pulling the strings in midfield, a fact which even Uzbekistan Mirdjalal Kasimov coach acknowledged. “Iran created many good chances but they failed to break our deadlock,” he said. “And that is exactly what happened to us in the first leg.” Iran assistant coach Antonio Simoes, overseeing the game for the suspended Queiroz, though, shed light on where the team must improve. He said: “We played well, but the winning spark never lit for us and the players lacked support from each other in different moments.”

Team Melli seek to rebound While the defeat was a rude awakening for Team Melli, Queiroz received unwavering support from Iranian FA boss Ali Kafashian. “Queiroz is a good coach and he will continue as Iran coach,” the latter was quoted as speaking to local press recently. “He has a good knowledge of Iran’s football.” Aside from the faith offered by his pay-masters, the Portuguese coach has over six months to prepare for their next crucial match in Qatar on 4 June next year. In order to test more new faces, he announced a young squad for next month’s West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Championship in Kuwait. Meanwhile, he continues to scour Europe for more overseas-based recruitments with Eintracht Braunschweig goalkeeper Daniel Davari recently on his radar. “Our duty is to fully concentrate on the next match,” said the 59-year-old. “We respect the other teams, but we will make our best effort to win.”

In a press conference held today, Ali Daei the current Rah Ahan coach has denied rumors that he has been approached to take over the Team Melli coaching job. The pre-match press conference was being held ahead of Rah Ahan match against Mes Kerman in the Persian Gulf League.

Daei , who was the Team Melli coach in the last World Cup qualification, said that ” Team Melli already has a coach. I was not offered nor approached by the federation to take over the coaching of Team Melli, but even if they do offer me the job , I would respectfully decline.”

Commenting on Ali Karimi’s nomination for the Asian Player of the year , Daei said “This shows the value of Ali Karimi despite his age. I sincerely hope that he wins this award for the second time in his career and also hope that he quickly recovers from his injury so that we can see him perform for Team Melli and his club.”

Asked about the merits of nominating Mohsen Bengar along with Ali Karimi , Daei said that he was not in the committee to justify such nominations and asked the reporter to direct his question at those who have nominated him. However, Daei admitted that he is not aware of the criteria for nomination players in the AFC player of the year awards but commented on the good performance of Bengar in Sepahan in the last season competition and speculated that this could be one of the reasons for Bengar’s nomination.

After the disappointing results of Team Melli and the real concern that the team might fail to qualify to the World Cup finals in Brazil , there has been strong rumors regarding changes in the Team Melli technical cadre and coaching. The names of Amir Ghalenoei and Ali Daei , both former Team Melli coaches, have been mentioned in various circles as possible replacement for the current coaching team.

Ali Kaffashian has denied that there is any intention in changing the current coaching staff and has been backing Carlos Queiroz even during the poor performances and the poor results of the team.