Khalatbary killer strike earns Team Melli 3 points.

Tashkent.

A last minute injury time goal by substitute Mohammad Reza Khalatbary, ensured all the three points of the match against Uzbekistan the first match of the group.

In a lackluster performance , the two teams failed to impress and the match was scoreless until the dying seconds when a counter attack and a brilliant pass by Karim Ansarifard , found Khalatbary on the far side. The Al Wasl forward slotted the ball calmly on the far right of the Uzbek goalkeeper.

The first half started with Iran having most of the play and controlling the pace , but that quickly changed as Uzbekistan took control and created two serious chances both saved by Mehdi Rahmati in Iran’s goal.

The second half continued on a similar pattern to the first with the host pressuring Team Melli into defense and even managed to put the ball past the goal line but the Japanese referee was unable to spot that and the game continued .

Despite the host creating most of the chances, there finishing left a lot to be desired while Team Melli managed one shot only from the disappointing Nekounam during the 90 minutes.

With the three points in the bag , Iran will be facing Qatar in Azadi with a huge confidence . however , the performance of Carlos Queiroz was feeble and disorganized. The lineup , has raised a few question marks. The Portuguese will be hoping to get it right next Friday  and with a near capacity crowd expected , there is very little margin for error.

 

 

Saturday 3rd June 2012

 

Uzbekistan  0 – 1 Iran

 

Goal : Khalatbary (90+4)

 

Tashkent
JAR Stadium
Referee:  Yuichi NISHIMURA (JPN)

Uzbekistan
Ignatiy NESTEROV (GK); Anzur ISMAILOV, Islom INNOMOV, Jasur KHASANOV Out (68′ Lutfulla TURAEV), Azizbek HAYDAROV,Odil AHMEDOV,Stanislav ANDREEV, Alexander GEYNRIKH, Timur KAPADZE, Jasur HASANOV Out (87′ Ulugbek BAKAEV ),Victor KARPENKO Out (50′ Marat BIKMAEV )
Coache: Vadim ABRAMOV (UZB)

Iran
Mehdi RAHMATI ; Ehsan HAJI SAFI (61′  MohammadReza KHALATBARI), Seyed jALAL HOSSEINI, Pejman MONTAZERI ,Pejman NOURI, Hossein MAHINI , Javad NEKONAM , Andranik TIMOTIAN , Mojtaba JABARI (75′  Karim ANSARIFARD) , Ali KARIMI, Mohammad EBRAHIMI (45′ Khosro HEYDARI)

Coaches:
Carlos QUEIROZ (POR)

Uzbekistan vs. Iran Statistics.

UZBEKISTAN vs. IRAN

Competition: WC Qualifying Asia
Date: Sun, 03 Jun 2012
Game week: 1
Kick Off: 14:00 GMT
Venue: Stadion Majmuasi (SOK Jar)

 

Head to Head

H / A / N Matches W D L Goals + / –
H 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 +0
A 1 0 1 0 0 – 0 +0
N 2 2 0 0 6 – 1 +5
Total 3 2 1 0 6 – 1 +5

H Home  / A Away / N Neutral

 

Date Comp. H / A / N Final score Stadium Attendance
05.09.2009 Friendly A 0 – 0 Tashkent / Pakhtakor 9500
11.07.2007 Asian Cup N 2 – 1 National Stadium Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur 3000
14.12.1998 Asian Games N 4 – 0 Suphachalasai 0

 

Last 5 results   

UZBEKISTAN 

                                             


Feb 29, 2012 Japan 0 – Uzbekistan 1 WCQA
Feb 25, 2012 South Korea 4 – Uzbekistan 2 FR
Jan 17, 2012 Kuwait 1 – Uzbekistan 0 FR
Nov 15, 2011 Uzbekistan 3 – Tajikistan 0 WCQA
Nov 11, 2011 Uzbekistan 1 – Korea DPR (PRK) 0 WCQA

 

  Last 5 results    

IRAN
May 27, 2012 Albania 1 – Iran 0 FR
May 1, 2012 Iran 3 – Mozambique 0 FR
Feb 29, 2012 Iran 2 – Qatar 2 WCQA
Feb 23, 2012 Iran 2 – Jordan 2 FR
Nov 15, 2011 Indonesia 1 – Iran 4 WCQA

 

SQUAD

 

UZBEKISTAN IRAN
V. Abramov Coach Carlos Queiroz Coach
I. Nesterov Goalkeeper S. Rahmati Goalkeeper
A. Turaev Goalkeeper A. Haghighi Goalkeeper
A. Ismatullaev Defender S. Gordan Goalkeeper
A. Filiposyan Defender M. Forouzan Goalkeeper
A. Ismailov Defender G. Dehnavi Defender
K. Tadjiev Defender H. Aghily Defender
A. Haydarov Midfielder K. Heydari Defender
O. Kilichev Midfielder J. Hosseini Defender
A. Merzlyakov Midfielder H. Mahini Defender
D. Rakhmatullayev Midfielder P. Montazeri Defender
S. Andreev Midfielder S. Khalilzadeh Defender
S. Salomov Midfielder M. Pooladi Midfielder
J. Hasanov Midfielder R. Haghighi Midfielder
I. Magdeev Midfielder M. Zare Midfielder
T. Kapadze Midfielder G. Haddadifar Midfielder
I. Inomov Midfielder M. Khalatbari Midfielder
I. Rahimov Midfielder J. Nekounam Midfielder
A. Shadrin Attacker M. Jabbari Midfielder
B. Nasimov Attacker P. Noori Midfielder
M. Nori Midfielder
E. Hajy Safi Midfielder
A. Teymourian Midfielder
G. Rezaei Midfielder
K. Ansarifard Midfielder
A. Karimi Midfielder
A. Dejagah Attacker
M. Ebrahimi Attacker

 

May 1, 2012Iran 3 – Mozambique 0

Team Melli long and winding road towards World Cup 2014

A Crucial encounter against the Uzbeks on Sunday

Tashkent : Team Melli will be commencing the long and arduous road to Brazil 2014 for the qualification to the FIFA World Cup by playing away to Uzbekistan on Sunday. While Uzbekistan had a very impressive qualification record in round 3 topping its group that had Japan , the current Asian Champion as the favorite , the Uzbeks will be handicapped by the absence of several key players.

Team Melli , who will have Askan Dejagheh on the bench still not fully fit , while Mohammd Ghazi is definitely out, is still not full strength but still better than the Uzbeks who faces the loss of 5 major players due mixture of suspensions and injury. However, it would be truly unwise to consider that as a major blow for the Central Asian team who has a mixture of experience and youth in its squad.

The match is expected to be a tight affair between the two teams who are amongst the favorite in addition to Republic of Korea.

Team Melli, has been stuttering on the field and none of the results or performances during the matches against weak games have been very encouraging. However, the Persian have always shown a resolute attitude when it matters and the fans count on such attitude to pass the first hurdle in Tashkent successfully.

With the last minute arrival from Dubai of Al Wasl midfielder , Mohammad Reza Khalatbary , the squad had its last member and headed for the Uzbek capital from its Turkish camp in Istanbul.

The previous records between the two teams augur well for Team Melli. They have never lost to Uzbekistan since their first encounter back in 1998 when Team Melli defeated the Uzbeks 4-0 courtesy of a hat trick by Ali Daei and a goal by Ali Mousavi in the last the Asian Games where teams had their full squads.

Queiroz and Nekounam in Pre-match news conference

Queiroz “Regardless to the result of the match , I wishthat Iran and Uzbekistan qualify from this group.

 

 

In the pre-match news conference, Queiroz said that regardless to the result of the match , he wished that Iran and Uzbekistan qualify from this group. On the issue of 5 key players absent form Uzbekistan , Queiroz said “I do not think that this a crucial issue for us. This team is quite strong and with many players missing , they managed to defeat Japan. So , in such caliber of a team , the absence of few players does not make a big dent in its abilities. We take our opposition seriously despite these absentees”

Iran’s first loss under Queiroz in Albania friendly

Istanbul – BJK İnönü Stadium.

http://media.isna.ir/content/12-70.jpg/6

Team Melli Iran lost its first ever match under Carlos Queiroz  when they went down to Albania 1-0  in a friendly match held at BJK İnönü Stadium , the home of Besiktas football club in Istanbul. The match was in preparation for the upcoming clash with Uzbekistan on 3rd June and was carried out as part of the one week camp in Turkey set up by the Portuguese coach.

The first half was goal-less as Team Melli started the match in a disorganized style with mainly aimless ball distribution dominating the proceedings. However , the team performance improved as the match went on but without much offensive prowess.

Albania scored their goal against the run of play when the midfielder Emiljano Vila  pounced on a lose ball on the hour and shot to the far right of Alireza Haghighi in goal to score the only goal of the match.

Albania (84 in FIFA Ranking ) has already defeated another of  Iran’s (52 in FIFA Ranking)  group opponent , Qatar  in the same city 2-1 a few days back.

At the press conference , Carlos Queitroz was uncompromising about  about the match result and the fact that his players had 5 clear scoring opportunities 3 of which was one on one sitiution , yet they lost the match against an opponent who had only two scoring chances.

Queiroz  asserted that  it was a good game, and he will analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the team from this match.

He continued “  I am happy with the team especially the defenders who had a good day behind the other player also demonstrated an acceptable performance on the ground and were able to match the opposing team under pressure to 90 minutes.

“From the technical point of view ,we have reached our objective and the match was useful but , but I was extremely upset for the loss.”

Asked about the new player Omid Nazari , Queiroz said that he was very enthusiastic about using the player in the line up to assess his performance , regrettably the IFF has failed to finalize his paperwork , hence he was not eligible to participate in the match as part of the team. Nazari holds a dual citizenship of Sweden and Iran and plays in the Swedish League.

Queiroz remarked that he was quite impressed  with the fighting spirit and the motivating of his players in this contest and hence he is satisfied.

The Team Melli coach said that he did not use the main players in this match because of the fatigue of those players and the pressure of playing in the league and AFC Champions league.

Iran continues its domination of Asian futsal with an Aussie drubbing.

Dubai – Maktoum bin Rashid Arena – Al Wasl Club..

Iran futsal team dominated their strongest group rival and scored 9 goals without return in what was dubbed as the battle for group leadership. At the end , it was just another practice session for the Persians as they run over Australia 9-0 in a one sided match.

Vahid Shamsaei , the ever green Iranian Captain was on the score sheet again as he lead his young teammates to an emphatic third victory on a row scoring an average of 10 goals a game ( Played 3 Won 3 Goals for 31 against 1). The first half ended 5-0 for Iran and despite some strong efforts by the Australians , they could not manage to penetrate the solid Iranian defense. On the rare occasion that they managed , Nazari , Iran’s goalkeeper was more than capable of handling any threats.

Iran , therefor concludes its group matches with an impressive record. Team Melli will be facing Uzbekistan in the Quarter Finals on Monday.

Team Melli is meeting Albania

Sunday 2t May 2012 – Istanbul – Besiktas Stadium :

Team Melli , currently undergoing a training camp in the preparation for their first match in the final rounds of Asian Zone FIFA World Cup qualifiers , will be meeting tha Albanian National football team in Istanbul. This friendly comes about a week prior to the opening match vs. Uzbekistan in Tashkent.

 

Albania , has already played another of Iran’s group opponents , Qatar and manged to beat them 2-1.

 

 

A whirlwind start for defending AFC Futsal Champions, Iran.

Iran Futsal teamThe defending AFC Futsal Champions, Iran has started their campaign in whirlwind style when they defeated their main rival in the group , Korea Republic by a whopping 14-1 score line.

The first match of the two powerful Asian opponents played in Al Shabab arena to a full capacity mostly Iranian fans who did not stop supporting their team from way before kickoff. Apparently, many fans were unable to gain entry due to the limited space and seats available at this venue.

The first half ended with a 6-0 score line for Team Melli , but the floodgates really opened a few minutes into the second half.  Iran displayed some fantastic  team world and wonderful goals to keep the crowd entertained through the match.

Midway through the second half, Iran’s coach played virtually the reserve team , but that did not stop the Iranians notching goals one after another.

The irony of this match was that the Korean were quite strong and opponents who did not give up at any stage. Perhaps the gamble taken by the coach in playing the goalkeeper as a field player was behind the large number of late goals conceded in the second half , but apart form that the Koreans were  simply overpowered  by their nemesis the Iranians who were excellent in individual skills and teamwork.

Another odd occurrence was the failure of the world’s top futsal scorer Vahid Shamsaei and the Captain of the team , to score.

Iran will play Qatar , who lost their first match 3-1 , on Saturday before finishing their group  matches against Australia on Sunday.

 

Lineups

I.R. IRAN

4              DF           MOHAMMAD KESHAVARZ NASRABADI 23

7              MF         ALI ASGHAR HASSANZADEH         12,  33

9              FW         SHAMSAEE VAHID (C)

10           FP           TAHERI MOHAMMAD    11

12           GK          MOSTAFA NAZARI

Substitutes

1              GK          ALI REZA SAMIMI

5              DF           HAMID AHMADI

6              MF         JAVAD ASGHARIMOGHADDAM                29,  39

11           DF           MAJID LATIFI

14           FW         MAHDI JAVID    15,  17  27

15           MF         HOSSEIN TAYEBI               31

17           MF         AHMAD ESMAEILPOUR                  7

 

ALI  SANEI ARANI (Head Coach)

Queiroz quest for World Cup qualification

Ando Teymourian

Team Melli is embarking on its ultimate stage in qualification for FIFA World Cup 2014 by playing Uzbekistan in Tashkent on June 3rd and then Qatar within a few days in Azadi. Carlos Queiroz has selected the best available players but as a matter of routine, he always has a surprise or two in his selection.

The Portuguese coach selection of a much unknown player playing in the Swedish League by the name of Omid Nazari (21 years) has risen more than a few eyebrows.  The young Malmo born midfield player is eligible to play for Sweden, Iran and Philippines, is of unknown quality as hardly anyone has seen him in action in Iran.  What has impressed Queiroz so much in Nazari remains a mystery but the fans and the experts hope that Nazari ‘s debut , if he manages some playing time , would be similar to the German-Iranian Ashkan Dejagah who scored a brace against Qatar in his debut.  However, Dejagah was a known quality playing in one of the best leagues in Europe while such cannot be said of Omid Nazari’s case.

Due to injuries, Queiroz has lost 3 key players including Dejagah who will not be available for the first two matches. Hadadifar who has been on and off the injury list, could not make the list. A late addition to the injury list was striker Mohammad Ghazi who was unfortunate to suffer an injury during a practice match against Iran’s U23 team a few days back.

The list however, has some very welcome additions. Teymourian and Jabbari who have fully recovered from their injuries are once again included in the squad, but perhaps the most interesting and refreshing addition is Fereydoon Zandi. The German born Iranian has been out of Team Melli squad for nearly two years. His stint with the Cypriot Club Omnia Nicosia and then his unsuccessful time in the doomed club Steel  Azin , discouraged Team Melli selectors from including in the previous squads. Zandi joined Esteghlal after the relegation of Steel Azin and quickly found his true form and imposed his class becoming one of the best Esteghlal players in this current season and convincing Carlos Queiroz to add his to the team.

There are also some fresh names like Shojaa Khalilzadeh , a young Mes Kerman defender who has played in many age levels for Iran , Dehnavi also from Mes Kerman and Ebrahimi of Tractorzasi. Although it is hardly unlikely that anyone of these players will make the starting 11 or even in the subs bench, Queiroz is smart enough to realize that some of the current players have already reached their peaks and alternatives should be looked at from the onset of the final qualifying round in order to build a strong team comes July 2014.

TM vs. Mozambique
Team Melli line up vs. Mozambique

The easily agitated and sometimes impulsive coach once again displayed his frustration with the football federation by complaining bitterly about the inability of Sepahan , Esteghlal and Perspolis Players from flying to Istanbul with the squad due to the commitments of these clubs in the Round 16 of the AFC Champions league. The 3 qualified Iranian clubs will be playing their knock out stage matches on the 22nd and 23rd May.

Iran will play Uzbekistan on 3rd of June, and Qatar at Azadi on 12th June. The squad flew to Istanbul on Monday 21st May and will be meeting Albania for a friendly international on the 27th May before flying directly to Tashkent 2 days before the match.

List of Team Melli players for Uzbekistan match announced.

Tehran Sunday :

The technical committee of Team Melli and team coach Carlos QUEIROZ has announced the list of 24 players who would be attending the training camp in Turkey in preparation for the FIFA World Cup 2014 Qualifying  match vs. Uzbekistan to be held on 3rd June 2012 in Tashkent.

The squad will be flying to Istanbul on the 21st May to set up a camp in Turkey whic includes a friendly match against Albania. The squad will be missing 10 players from Sepahan , Esteghlal and Perspolis due to the three clubs upcoming match in the AFC Champions league to be played next Tuesday and Wednesday. The players will fly to Istanbul right after the match.

Team Melli will conclude the camp in Turkey on 1st June and will be flying directly to the Uzbek Capital Tashkent two days ahead of their first match in Round 4 of the World Cup qualifiers.

Ashkan DEJAGAH and Mohammad Ghazi NAJAFABADI will be the two main absentees from the squad due to injuries. None of the two are expected to recover for the next game against Qatar in Tehran.

The squad:

1 Hadi AGHILI
2 Karim ANSARIFARD
3 Abolghasim DEHNAVI
4 Mohammad EBRAHIMI
5 Mohsen FROUZAN
6 Shehab GORDAN
7 Alireza HAGHIGHI
8 Ehsan HAJSAFY
9 Khosrow HEYDARI
10 Jalal HOSSEINI
11 Mojtaba JABBARI
12 Ali KARIMI
13 MohamadReza KHALATBARY
14 Shojaa KHALILZADEH
15 Hossein MAHINI
16 Pejman MONTAZERI
17 Omid NAZARI
18 Javad NEKOUNAM
19 Pejman NOURI
20 Mehrdad POOLADI
21 Mehdi RAHMATI
22 Gholamreza REZAEI
23 Andranik TEYMOURIAN
24 Fereydoon ZANDI

Iran’s Futsal squad announced for the Asian Championship.

Friday – Tehran

The technical committee of Futsal Team , announced the name of 14 players who will form the squad for the upcoming Asian Championship in Dubai later this month.

The squad will begin its training camp starting next Friday , and will be carrying out their training until the start of the championship.

The Squad are:

Mostafa Nazari , Alireza Samimi , Mojtaba Nasirnia , Vahid Shamsaei ,

Mohammad Taheri , Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh , Javad Asghari , Mehdi Javeed ,

 Ahmad Ismaelpour , Hossein Tabibi , Mohammad Keshavarz , Majeed Latifi ,

 Qudrat Bahadori , Hameed Ahmadi.

 

Iran , the defending champion , is in group C along with Australia , Korea Republic and Qatar.