Budapest.

Daniel “Dan” Gaspar  “Iranian goalkeeprs cannot win a place in the starting line up by using the media”

On the eve of the friendly match with Tunisia , Daniel Gasper , the Portuguese American goalkeeping Coach of Team Melli, commented on the week long training camp that was set up in Hungary. Gasper stated his satisfaction with the facilities provided and the resources available. He also declared that this was a very timely training camp which gave the technical crew a good opportunity to work with the players, specially the new faces, after a longish break since the last match against Qatar. The camp was quite productive.

Gapser praised the work ethics of the players and said that all of them showed a lot of enthusiasm and energy which was quite pleasing for the coaching team. Asked whether new goalkeepers will be added to the squad , Gasper said that there will never be anything called a permanent position in the team. We always look for new talents and capable players. At the moment I have two new goalkeepers that I will work with and hope that they reached a high standard to enable them to be competent keepers for the near future. These two are Mohsen Forouzan and Hamed Lak. They are both young and very talented. We are keeping very close eyes on them and I believe that the pair of them will excel”

“Goalkeepers need to show their worth to the coaching team of Team Melli , by being impressive and working hard. They need to focus their energy on the practice session and subsequently during matches in order to attract attention. Goalkeepers cannot win a place in the team or be selected by talking to the press . It is their good work on the pitch that distinguishes them and forces the coach to select them , not by talking or marketing themselves”

Gapser then went on to comment on Alireza Haghighi” Alireza is a very good goalkeeper and an excellent prospect. He currently plays in the Russian league which we must admit is of a higher standard than Iran’s league. He is the second choice goalkeeper in Rubin Kazan and he will have a very tough time replacing the first choice , who is a very popular Russian keeper. But with determination and persistence, Alireza is certainly capable. I believe he has the abilities and skills to be a first rate goalkeeper, in fact, I believe in him. He just needs to stay focused and continue working hard.”

Gapser is the long-time assistant and consultant to Carlos Queiroz with whom he co-authored Project 2010 for the USSF in 1998, with the goal to create a blueprint for long-term improvements in US soccer. He is living away from his family but hope that they could join him in Tehran after the New Year. He said that he is quite happy living in Iran after he settled in his own flat.
Gasper says he spends his spare time learning cooking , and in fact he has competition with Carlos Queiroz on who is the better cock. Gasper said he normally wins that competition, but a man in the caliber of Queiroz will soon beat him if he puts his mind on it.

 

Tehran/Budapest.

Iranian football federation has announced the appointment of the Belgian , Bart Caubergh as Physical Trainer or Team Melli.

Tehran

Carlos Queiroz , has announced the list of 23 players who will be undergoing a training squad starting from 9th August in Hungary. The squad will include a friendly international match against Tunisia in Hungary

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Reza Ghoochannejad  Sint Truiden VV (Belgium) and Omid Nazari was also included in the list. These two European based Iranian players will be joined by Ashkan Dejagah and will be directly flying to the camp site in Budapest. Reza Ghoochannejad is making his debut in Team Melli camp , while Omid Nazari has been with the Team Melli squad in Turkey camp but for immigration and naturalization reasons , he was not able to joining the team during the initial matches versus Uzbekistan and Qatar in the FIFA World Cup Qualifications round.

The major exclusions from the list seems to be Ando Teymourian , who is cup tied in Qatar League , Mojtaba Jabbari , Esteghlal player who has not figured for his team this season , and Gholamreza Rezaei whose form with Perspolis has dipped this season.

The team will be flying to Budapest on Thursday after an initial practice session in Tehran on Wednesday.

 

The Full List

 

	Name	Openin.	Subst.	Goals	Yellows	Reds
1.	AGHILI, Hadi	3	1	0	1	0
2.	ANSARIFARD, Karim	3	2	0	1	0
3.	DEJAGAH, Ashkan	1	1	2	0	0
4.	EBRAHIMI, Mohammad	2	0	0	0	0
5.	FROUZAN, Mohsen	0	1	0	0	0
6.	HADDADIFAR, Ghassim	2	0	0	0	0
7.	GHOOCHANEJAD , Reza
8.	HAGHIGHI, Alireza	1	0	0	0	0
9.	HAGHIGHI, Reza	2	0	0	0	0
10.	HAJSAFY, Ehsan	5	0	0	0	0
11.	HEYDARI, Khosrow	2	2	0	0	0
12.	HOSSEINI, Jalal	5	0	0	1	0
13.	KARIMI, Ali	4	1	1	1	0
14.	KHALATBARY, MohamadReza	1	2	1	0	0
15.	MAHINI, Hossein	5	1	0	0	0
16.	MONTAZERI, Pejman	2	0	0	0	0
17.	NAJAFABADI, Mohammad Ghazi	2	1	1	1	0
18.	NAZARI, Omid	0	0	0	0	0
19.	NEKOUNAM, Javad	4	0	0	1	0
20.	NOURI, Pejman	4	1	1	0	0
21.	POOLADI, Mehrdad	2	1	0	1	0
22.	RAHMATI, Mehdi	4	0	0	1	0
23.	ZARE, Maziar	0	1	0	0	0

Tehran

Team Melli will set camp in Hungary in preparation for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2012 Asian Zone Qualification matches.

The Director of Media and  International Relations in IRIFF , Khosrow Valizadeh has announced the details of the upcoming Team Melli training camp. The selected players , will be gathering in Tehran on Wednesday evening before flying to Hungary a day later on Thursday 9th August 2012.

Carlos Queiroz will be announcing the list of the players next Monday at the latest and the list will include a few new faces , according to Valizadeh . He added that since the start of the league, there has been a few impressive performances by some players which attracted the attention of the Portuguese Team Melli coach , and hence , it is quite probable that a few players will be added to the current squad.

Khosrow Valizadeh mentioned that the venue for the friendly match against Tunisia which was scheduled to be held on 25th August in Budapest has been changed. Since hist nation Hungary has a friendly game in the same day in the capital city , according to FIFA rules , two international matches cannot be held in the same city on a FIFA day. Valizadeh stated that IRIFF is actively seeking an alternative venue for the match , away from Budapest in coordination with the Tunisians.

Asked about the rumors of Reza Ghoochinejad joining Team Melli , Valizadeh denied any knowledge of  the Mashhad born Iranian-Dutch footballer, who currently plays for Sint-Truiden in the Belgian Pro League , is in the list of Queiroz, however , he said that barring any visa problems , a few new faces will be in the list of passengers to Hungary without specifically naming them.

Carlos Queiroz has visted Jordan to inspect the training facilities for team Melli’s upcoming September camp in Amman, added Valizadeh . Queiroz will be back on time to attend the Pesrpolis – Saba match in Azadi.

Tehran.

 

Ali Kafashian , the head of Iran’s football Federation , has announced that Team Melli will be taking part in the next West Asian Football Federation t (WAFF) Tournament to be held in Kuwait.

 

Kafashian has mentioned to news agency ISNA , that his administration has discussed with Carlos Queiroz , the Portuguese Team Melli coach on the possibilities of sending the full team to Kuwait. Both sides have studied the merit of participating in WAFF championship, which Iran has dominated since its inception some 12 years ago and finally agreed to it.

The timing of the tournament has been deemed to be appropriate for the participation of the full team taking into account the preparations and the matches in the FIFA World Cup 2014 qualification rounds. Kafashian also added that the period of the tournament falls in the half season league break , which is quite ideal for the players and the clubs. He also advised that some slight date shifting could be possible to accommodate the participation of the team in this upcoming tournament.
The 7th West Asian Football Federation Championship,WAFF C 2012  will be hosted by Kuwait . West Asian Football Federation confirmed the final dates for WAFF.  The tournament will be taking place during 8-20 December 2012. WAFF sent the invitations for the thirteen member associations to confirm their participation. The 6th edition of WAFF championship was held in Jordan in 2010, as Kuwait won the title after winning 2-1 against Iran in the final.

12 member associations confirmed their participation, whom are: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iran, Bahrain, Syria, Lebanon, Oman, Yemen, Palestine, Iraq and UAE. The only country that did not enter this year’s tournament is Qatar. The dates for the draw will be  announced  by WAFF later this coming month.

 

 Nekounam agrees terms with Esteghlal

 

Javad Nekounam has finally signed for Tehran’s Esteghlal club after a prolong negotiation between the two sides. The settlement for the transfer was dependent on Esteghlal paying the penalty for Osasuna as the Iranian National Team Captain has still one year to go on his contract with the La Liga club.

 

Javad Nekounam was  believed to be the highest player in the cash stripped Spanish club and they were desperate to offload him to another club. It is believed that no European club could match Nekounams asking wages while Esteghlal offered quite an attractive package to bring back the ex-PAS club player home after many years playing in the UAE league and the Spanish La Liga.

Nekounam was one of the Pampolana club stars and leaves the club with some fond memories and excellent performances.

 

 

 

Meanwhile , Vahid Hashemian , the ex-Team Melli forward and Perpsolis player , who spent quite a few years in the Bundesliga , has announced his retirement form football at the age of 36.

Hashemian , was not able to gain much  opportunity to play for Perspolis under the Turkish coach , Mostafa Denizli in last year’s disappointing Perspolis team and is believed that the New Portuguese coach has no plans to give him much playing time either.

Tehran –

Iran’s Team Melli fitness trainer Mick McDermott gas resigned his post, The Iranian Football Federations has announced.

Al Nasr club of Dubai have prized away Iran’s fitness trainer Mick McDermott as an assistant to Walter Zenga in charge of the players’ fitness.

McDermott , who previously worked for Al Ain Club in the Emirates, claimed that he was not seeking a job in the UAE and was simply there for a visit. However, when he talked to Walter Zenga , The ex-Italy goalkeeper and current Al Nasr coach, he was persuaded to join the Dubai based club.

McDermott also cited family reason, who are apparently residing  in the UAE , as one of the factors he left his job in Iran alongside Carlos Queiroz.

The Physical trainer who has previously worked with Walter Zenga in Al Ain club , has lasted 15 months with the Portuguese coach in Team Melli. He said that he enjoyed his time in Iran and praised the capabilities of the Iranian players. And added that there is a pool of talented players in Team Melli and he had no problems dealing with anyone of  them .

He also commented that living in Tehran was sometimes challenging while regretted the fact that his separation with Carlos Queiroz and Team Melli might mean that he wasted an opportunity to be in the World Cup finals, and that he does regret.

The 45 years coach, is a former Northern Irish football player and he has played in USL Second Division.(Minor Leagues).  McDermott claimed that due to political reasons, fewer teams are willing to play friendly matches against Iran and for that reason he sympathizes with the Iranian players. McDermott claims are unsubstantiated and in direct contrast to what IFF’s Torabian , at the time the Manager of national Teams , mentioned a few months back that the technical team is reluctant or unwilling to play stronger teams that the IFF has been negotiating with for friendly matches.

Doha

Hadi Aghili , Iran’s national Football team central defender has signed a one year contract with Qatar FC.

The Iranian defender , who is capped 66 times for Team Melli and scored 10 goals playing for his country , has parted company with Al Arabi club of Qatar Soccer League . Aghili joined Al Arabi in the beginning of 2011/12 season from Iranian champions Sepahan Esfahan. He played one season only for Al Arabi club while the low final table position of the club was  one of the reasons the two sides parted company.

 

Qatar is coached by the Brazilian Sebastião Lazaroni . Both Iran and Qatar are in the same group of the FIFA World Cup qualifying group – Asian Zone.

 

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Tehran.

Melli will be camping in Hungary in preparation for the match against Lebanon. Mr.  Ayatollahei Vice President of Iran Football Federation , has confirmed the camp  details and also advised the media that correspondences with Tunisian FA has be initiated in order to arrange a friendly match between Tunisia National Team and Team Melli  with a proposed  date being 13^th August. Mr. Ayatollahei did emphasize that the arrangement has yet to be finalized but he was hopeful to sign an agreement in a few days from now.

Meanwhile,  Sami Al Traboulsi , Tunisian Head Coach confirmed that there is an ongoing  negotiation with the Iranians to arrange a friendly. He said that it will be a perfect opportunity for his team ahead of the encounter with Sierra Leone. Both Iran and Tunisia are involved in the qualification rounds of FIFA World Cup 2012 in Brazil.

 

Iran will be facing Lebanon in Beirut on September , 11th in match day 3 of the Final qualification rounds – Asian Zone. Iran is ranked second behind Korea Republic ahead of Qatar on goal difference.

Tehran

The Iranian football federation (IRFFI) President has demanded the release of his federation’s money blocked by the Americans Government for over a year.

In an act of victimization and in direct contradiction of American & Global stance of separating politics and sport , especially at these days where the spirits of Olympics games is on the ascend  , the US authorities have blacked the transfer of US$ 1 million ,  a sum awarded to the Iranian Football federation by Kuala Lumpur based Asian Football Federation (AFC).  Ali Kafashian has strongly protested this illicit act by the American Government and demanded the immediate release of the funds to his federation which is a Non-Government Organization (NGO) operating under the FIFA regulations.   Kafashian in a statement in Tehran today, said, “ that there is no basis whatsoever for the American Government to black our money. We are a NGO and have nothing to do with politics. We have approached the AFC and several other organizations to persuade the Americans to release our money, which we are desperate to have, to no avail.”

There is no independent confirmation from the US government or any justifications for blocking a foreign NGO fund. However, The tighter trade sanctions recently imposed on Iran and the increasing  American pressure on other nations to follow suit to pressurize the Islamic Republic to abandon its  Nuclear program , measures which  includes forcing other nations and foreign  corporations all across the world  to stop dealing with Iran , has also extended to sanction against sport federations.

The American political pressure in Iran has ultimately created an increasing number of cases of discrimination against Iranian-Americans such as the case of , Sahar Sabet, a 19-year-old Iranian-American woman, who was improperly prevented from buying an iPad at an Apple store in Alpharetta, Ga. Because she spoke Persian! There is also a major case brewing in Canada where many Iranian-Canadians in Vancouver accused TD Bank Group of discriminating against the community by abruptly closing their bank accounts. Historically and ultimately , political events  have influenced and  threatens to affect people’s  behavior resulting in discriminatory acts against  Iranian community in the west.