Khalilzadeh and Hosseini are off injury list.

Team Melli’s next match against Korea Rep. in 13 days’ time will witness the availability of two key players.

Shojaá  Khalilzadeh and Majid Hosseini, both injured playing for their clubs, will be available for selection. The fact that Khalilzadeh’s injury was not serious as initially thought, gave Skocic positive news and quite a relief.

With Kananizadegan’s suspension, Siavash Yazdani unavailable due to Military service, the backline of the team looked suspect and a serious source of concern by Dragan Skocic in recent days, The Croat Head Coach was closely following the situation of his players for the matches against South Korea and Lebanon, two matches in which a victory or at least a draw against Korea and a victory against Lebanon will guarantee Team  Melli, top finish in the table.

Contrary to KayseriSpor’s statements about Majid Hosseini’s deteriorating condition, the Team Melli defender returned to the field in last week’s Turkish Premier League and played for his team for 90 minutes. Skocic, would have picked Omid Nourafkan to play in the central defense although Nourafkan has limited experience playing in that defensive role. Hence the availability of Majidi Hosseini is assuring.

Unlike years ago when Team Melli defenders outnumbered players in the midfield and attack, lately not many players have been selected for the squad in the defensive line.  Paulo Bento, the Portuguese coach of South Korea, recently stated in an interview that his team, despite qualifying for the World Cup, is looking to win the next two remaining games and intends to take the top of the group and will play with all its might.

Frank O’Farrell, former Team Melli coach, dies aged 94

The former Team Melli coach Frank O’Farrell has died at the age of 94. The Irishman also managed Leicester and Manchester United.

O’Farrell guided Leicester to the 1969 FA Cup final during his three-year spell in charge but the Irishman was best known as the man who succeeded Sir Matt Busby as United manager in 1971, although his Old Trafford reign would last only 18 months.

O’Farrell was a wing-half who played for his native Cork, West Ham, and Preston, winning nine Republic of Ireland caps between 1952 and 1959.

He began his managerial career at Weymouth in 1961 and spent three years at Torquay before landing the Leicester job in 1968. Leicester were beaten 1-0 by Manchester City in the following year’s Cup final and relegated from the First Division three weeks later.

O’Farrell was quickly appointed as Busby’s successor. After a promising start which saw United top the table for the first time in three years, O’Farrell fell out with George Best and the team ended the season eighth. O’Farrell was sacked in December 1972 with United third from bottom.


After a short spell at Cardiff, O’Farrell was appointed as the Head coach of Team Melli in April 1974. He began his tenure with seven consecutive wins, leading them to the gold medal at the 1974 Asian Games and qualification for the Montreal Olympics.

O’Farrell was credited for undertaking the development of national coaches like his protege Heshmat Mohajerani, Bahman Salehnia, and Hasan Habibi. Mohajerani took over from O’farell and became the best Iranian coach in the history of Iran and was crowned with his qualification to the World Cup 1978.

In January 2006, O’Farrell was invited to Iran to attend a ceremony in honor of Persepolis’ former players, along with Alan Rogers

In testimony to O’Farrell, the Iranian superstar of the 70’s Hassan Rowshan commented Frank O’Farrell, was a real gentleman; A coach. In my opinion, I believe that Rykov built the infrastructure and foundation of Iranian football, and O’Farrell completed it. Interestingly, unlike Carlos Queiroz, O’Farrell believe in domestic trainers and had several Iranian assistants, such as Mohajerani, Habibi, and Salehnia, with him, and taught them the work. After O’Farrell left Iran, Mohajerani took the helm of the national team and achieved good results in the Asian Cup, the Olympics, and the World Cup, especially in Argentina.

O’Farrell later attended the 1978 World Cup in Argentina as a reporter and met with the Iranian national team players.

Reacting to the fact that some consider O’Farrell the architect and a kind of gateway to the world football arena, Rowshan said: “With the change of generation that took place, O’Farrell invited younger players to Team Melli who later formed the main body of the team. First of all, if you want to build a 100-story apartment building, you have to have a solid foundation. Rykov did that and tore down our old football foundation and built a new one. O’Farrell helped modernize our football. Rykov was a coach from Eastern Europe and Yugoslavia. Most of Europe’s great coaches at the time were from Eastern Europe. As I said, Rykov took the first step and then O’Farrell prepared the team in the style of Western European teams. Unlike Queiroz, who was looking to play against weaker teams, Rykov focused on the likes of Brazil, Hungary, and Manchester United. In my opinion, Rykov and O’Farrell, in addition to Mohajerani, were our best national coaches.

Dragan Skočić stress is reduced with Azizi Khadem’s removal.

During his one year in charge, the former president of the Football Federation never voiced strong support for Team Melli head coach Skocic and always avoided answering questions regarding Skočić, future with Team Melli. Now that Azizi Khadem is dismissed, the FFIRI’s managers are already discussing extending the Croatian coach’s contract until the World Cup.

Despite all the criticism, adversaries, and plots behind his back, the Croatian head coach Dragan Skocic, was able to lead Iran to one of the fastest qualifications to the world cups. He and his team were able to qualify for the 2022 World Cup three rounds before the end of the qualifying round, which sounds like Skocic’s contract will be automatically renewed. According to a contract signed two years ago in February 2009, Skocic was tasked with leading the national team to the World Cup in Qatar, and as a result, his contract was successfully extended at every stage. The first phase of Skocic’s mission was successfully completed after overcoming the crisis in the second phase of the World Cup qualifiers in Bahrain. As a result, he has the opportunity to accompany the national team in the final qualifying round of the World Cup, and by advancing to the World Cup, he was successful in the second step and can now be at the helm of Iran in Qatar.

Hamid Estili, recently appointed as the Manager of the Iranian national football team, has recently spoken about this issue. He says that with the World Cup, Skocic’s contract has been extended until the end of the biggest football event in the world, and the Football Federation has confirmed this. In this way, Skocic is comfortable sitting on the coaching bench of Iran in Qatar 2022; Something that never happened during the administration of Shahabuddin Azizi Khadem, the ousted president of the federation. Azizi Khadem religiously avoided answering the important question of whether Skocic will lead Team Melli in Qatar or not. Azizi Khadem’s ambiguous answers over the past year have also raised concerns for Skocic, who has spoken in numerous interviews about his inalienable right to lead Iran to the World Cup, he has never before been so firm about being in Qatar like he was after qualification. Skocic firmly believed that he deserved an extension of the contract based on merit and acheivments.

But with the departure of Azizi Khadem, the current board of directors of the federation and the acting head namely Mirshad Majedi, in a meeting with Hamid Estili, also confirmed Skocic’s retention for the World Cup. Shortly before taking over the presidency of the federation, he spoke of the validity of Skocic’s contract with the federation until the end of the World Cup. Recently, Ehsan Osuli, spokesman and member of the board of directors of the Football Federation, in response to this question in the post-Azizi Khadem era, praised the excellent performance of Skočić and pointed out that the board of directors of the Football Federation, is highly appreciating the performance of Team Melli under Skocic, supports his presence on Iran’s bench in Qatar.

Dragan Skocic, in his first coaching experience as head coach of a national team, recorded 14 victories in 15 games and has not suffered any defeats so far. During this time, he was able to climb the FIFA Ranking all the way up to the 21st position in the monthly global table, and now he has the opportunity to record one of Iran’s best performances in the World Cup with a generation of experienced and talented players.

Team Melli will be meeting the Korea Republic and Lebanon in the last two rounds of the World Cup 2022 qualifiers.

The saga of Azizi Khadem!

The events leading to and following the temporary removal of Azizi Khadem are indeed mind-boggling affair and is indicative of how crooked and dodgy football is in Iran.

Hardly a household name or a person with an illustrious football career,  Azizi Khadem, found himself occupying the most important post in Iran’s football. In a dodgy election, he managed to beat a much tried and tested Kiomars Hashmi, Mostafa Ajrlou, and Iran’s football legend Ali Karimi to win the presidency of FFIRI.

Azizi Khadem was in fact was a member of FFIRI working behind the scenes but he was hardly a newsworthy item and rarely quoted in public. He tried his luck for the post of presidency twice and failed, it was his third time lucky for the former executive of several government-owned industries.

Government-owned is indeed the magical word, as through such connections that even dubious people can go a long way climbing the ladder.

Azizi Khadem’s win, which was a surprise for many critics, did not start on a positive note. He was media-shy and prepared to work quietly. His modus operandi was to keep below the radar, follow his agenda, and hope he was not noticed frequently. In such a post, it was difficult to achieve tor that. But, he managed to ruffle some feathers, and the opposition to his management style and threat to his post started brewing within the corridors of tFFIRI growing bigger and bigger by the weeks.

Career and Biography

Shahabuddin Azizi Khadem was born on February 22, 1977, in Lorestan. He was a Bachelor of Political Science graduate from the University of Tehran, holds a Master’s degree in Regional Studies and International Relations from Allameh Tabatabai University, and a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Tehran.

A man with two birth certificates

Shahabuddin Aziz Khatam used a birth certificate number 755 and date of birth 11973 in Pol Tang, which belonged to his deceased brother

On August 10, 1997, he was able to get his new identity card with the date of his birth of January 21, 1976, which conflicts with many of his records and does not match his real age!

a 10 years old soldier!

In his own words, Azizi Khadem said that in 1987, according to his old identity card, he was drafted and sent to the war front as a 15-year-old boy, although according to his new identity card, he would have been a 10-year-old child!!

football background.

After the war, while studying in 1997, he played as a right-back for the Rah Ahan team and was a member of Iran’s students’ national team. During the reign of Ahmadinejad’s government, and due to his close connection with Parviz Kazemi, the then Minister of Welfare, Azizi Khadem was appointed to the board of directors of several government-owned companies operating under the authority of the Ministry of Welfare.

He was a board member of Amirkabir Petrochemical and Shazand Petrochemical government-owned companies and was also the Parliamentary and Legal advisor to his mentor the Minister of Welfare and Social Security.

Azizi Khadem somehow entered football administration by recommendation and influences through an appointment in the board of directors of the Football Federation  FFIRI. in 2012 at the age of 33, and a year later he became a member of the Executive board of directors of the government-owned club “Peykan”.

He somehow was appointed as a Board Member of FFIRI at the age of 33 when the bylaws of FFIRI stipulate that the minimum age for such appointment was 35 years!

Running for Presidency

In 2017, he tried to register his candidacy for the Presidency of the Football Federation, but his application was rejected due to his lack of 10 years of managerial experience required to be eligible. He was disqualified.

Azizi Khadem tried her luck again a year later in 2018, but the assembly voted for “Mahmoud Islamian“. in 2020, he was able to enter Saipa Club as a Board Member of the government-owned club

In 2021, Azizi Khadem along with Ali Karimi, Mostafa Ajrlou, and Kiomars Hashemi were approved as candidates for the post of President of the Football Federation. Finally, he was able to win 48 votes of members of the Assembly against 38 votes of Kiomars Hashemi. After winning the election on his third attempt, he was appointed as the President of FFIRI.

Most of his career progression was through appointments. A career that started by faking his National Card “Shinasnameh” and dubious claim he was on the war front at the age of 10. The common factor in all his career was a government-own entity and a close connection to a Minster or person in a powerful position.

Interaction with sorcerers!

From the very first days of his tenure as president of the federation, there were rumors about how he interacted with some people active in the field of foreign sciences. A reference to witchcraft !. In August 2021 after Team Melli defeated Syria 1-0 to put its feet firmly for the qualification to the World Cup 2022, Azizi Khadem attributed the victory to God and the prayer of “Khooban Alam” rather than the players, coaches, or the whole squad. ‘Khooban Alam’ was a reference to those mystery forces which his critics believe to be similar to mysterious voodooism.

VAR controversy from Israel

After “Khooban Alam”, he produced another blooper which led to controversy. Iran was about to acquire the VAR system. FFIRI contracted a company based in Hong Kong, to supply the system.  The contract was suspended with that company after the revelation that it was indeed an Israeli shareholders company. This refereeing assistance system was supposed to reach Iran, but it was stopped. Seems that Azizi Khadenm and his staff failed to carry out the proper due diligence.

It was all downhill from then on as a series of shortfalls, gaps, maladministration, and bad decision making put Azizi Khadem in loggerhead with the rest of the executive members. It is safe to say that he was exposed for what he was.

And then came his suspension in February 2022. That is 353 days after his appointment.

He was blamed for and subsequently held accountable for sub-standard training facilities for the national teams, supply of poor quality jerseys, the expulsion of Esteghlal and Persepolis from AFC Champions League, negligence in finalizing the coaching staff contracts,  delayed or non-payment of staff and coaching wages, the pseudo-VAR contract, and rumors of links to some witches and sorcerers, failure of timely response to AFC/FIFA correspondences while providing inaccurate or false information with FIFA, lack of transparency, nepotism, inflating FIFA with extra staff, the appointment of unqualified administrators in FFIRI ..etc which was said to be 43 violations.

Azizi Khadem is a classic example of how dark forces operate in Iran. Corruption is deep-rooted. While their pawn in FFIRI has left after being exposed for what he is, an incompetent and unfit person to lead Iran’s football to its glory days, the big players who put him there in the first place are still there, untouched and waiting. No doubt that at the next opportunity, they will pounce to produce another man to protect their interests. Nowadays, football is a lucrative business more than being a sport. It is being used by all sorts of nefarious characters since it can generate huge amounts of money.

It is how badly football is managed that has been the Achilles’ heel of Iran’s football for decades.

Azizi Khadem removed from his Presidency of FFIRI

Azizi-Khadim removed from his post

The executive board of directors of Iran’s Football Federation FFIRI has temporarily suspended the President of the federation FFIRI until further notice on Thursday. This suspension is the initial motion to remove Aziz Khadem from his post permanently.

At the request of five executive members, an extraordinary meeting was held on the morning of February 17th with the main item of the agenda being the suitability of the current president Shababudin Azizi Khadem in running the federation and addressing several shortfalls attributed to him.

The meeting reviewed the conditions upon which the president may continue in his post and conduct the duties of the top executive of the federation or the temporary suspension allowing another candidate to fill the role until the general assembly meeting that decides on the president. The executive board decided to suspend Azizi Khadem in the extraordinary meeting whose term of office did not last more than 354 days.

The most important managerial post in Iranian football lasted less than a year for the unpopular Aziz Khadem. Interestingly enough, under the so-called incompetent president, Iran recorded a historical third consecutive qualification to the World Cup with three matches yet to be played. ONly Brazil managed one better than Team Melli.

The Secretary-General becomes the De Facto President

The meeting was formalized at 9:30 am today, when Hassan Kamranifar, the Secretary-General of the Football Federation, made a great effort to implement the articles of association of the federation. He also asked the support of the Ministry of Sports to seriously prevent the entry of various people into the meeting.

The Arrival of Azizi Khadem

The president arrived at the National Football Center at 9:00 AM a good half an hour early to attend the decisive meeting.  Shahabuddin Azizi Khadem rushed through the gate of the National Football Center with his driver right in front of the reporters and press photographers. He refused to comment and had to be seen or photographed.

On the other hand, Shohreh Mousavi, Vice President of the Football Federation, and head of Women Football Affairs entered the National Football Center with a contrasting way, She and a number of the board were smiling for the media. Mousavi is credited for leading that gang of five, as referred to by some media outlets, for the move to outset Aziz Khadem. She along with Hasan Osouli, Mirshad Majedi, Ahmad Reza Barati, and Bahram Rezaian arrived full of confidence in achieving their goal..

The Strict security.

Security personnel of the Ministry of Sports and the Football Federation strictly prevented various people from entering the National Football Center. They even asked Bonyadi-Far who had a scheduled task at the center, to return back another day.

Journalists and other media personnel were present in front of the main door of the National Football Center from 8 o’clock, but they were not allowed to enter.

Filming for the day lest

The Public Relations of the Football Federation have fully filmed today’s meeting of the Executive Board of Directors in order to provide it to the competent authorities and the Asian Football Confederation if necessary.

Two management members were Barred from the meeting

According to the official announcement of the AFC, two of Aziz Khadem’s allies were prevented from attending the meeting. Haidar Baharvand and Hamid Reza MehrAli, the first and second vice-presidents of Khadem were excluded. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has stated that the two men are not legally allowed to attend the board meeting deciding the fate of their boss, so both the deputies had to leave before the meeting deliberations started.

Obstruction to the entry of Khadem’s closest friend.

Mojtaba Khorshidi, the Manager of Team Melli was on his way to attend some business at the National Football Center, but the security of Azadi Stadium stopped him from entering. Khorshidi claimed that he intended to attend his office and not the meeting but the security informed him that the area is restricted even for the employees!. According to some witnesses, Khorshidi who is a personal friend of Azizi Khadem and his ally intended to have a short and urgent conversation with Azizi Khadem, but as he was not o enter under any circumstances, he slipped a note to his boss on a small piece of paper.

Police protection.

The arrival of the police security force which has deployed its patrol units around the National Football Center to ensure there will be no interruption or disturbances of the board meeting by the proponents of the incumbent president.

Breach of Security

The mysterious entry of a former head of the Futsal Committee, Davood Parhizkar, became a hot topic. Parhizkar is not an active member of the FFIRI and holds no official post, yet he was allowed to enter the National Football Center, but it is not clear whether he was able to attend the board meeting or is there only for personal matters.

The chairman responded and left.

A voting session was held on the dismissal or continuation of Azizi Khadem without his physical presence. At this meeting, he first defended himself against accusations and charges of shortfalls in his duty.  At the end of the interrogation, the majority of the board members voted to temporarily suspend Shahabuddin Azizi Khadem from the post of President of the Football Federation. This is unprecedented in Iran’s football history.

A majority consensus to expel the President.

Hassan Kamranifar, secretary-general of the Football Federation, called on the members present at the meeting to keep their votes secret. However, there has been a lot of talk about an alliance of eight members who could decide whether Shahab Azizi Khadem should stay or leave.

Ahmad Reza Barati, Shohreh Mousavi, Tahmours Heidari, Khodadad Afsharian, Mirshad Majedi, Ehsan Osouli, and Bahram Rezaian were present at the meeting.

Azizi Khadem’s entourage started packing.

The President of FFIRI under immense pressure had a few backers in the federation offices and corridors, however, those in his favor soon started packing their belongings in anticipation of worse things to come. That did not escape the hawkeyes of some reporters as they reported that a number of Azizi Khadem’s regular associates gathered their belongings after his temporary dismissal to say an early farewell. Azizi Khadem also bid farewell to all the staff at the national teams’ camp when he left the National Football Center, but refused to talk to reporters.

A serious challenge for FFIRI lies ahead.

The board of directors of the Football Federation, now headed by Mehrdad Seraji, not only has to make transparency its top priority but also has to resume the process of approving the bye-laws, which was previously approved by FIFA, in order to draw the approval of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. They should also try to hold a meeting of the General Assembly of the Federation as soon as possible to permanently remove Azizi Khadem.

Mahdavikia leads Iran in a difficult Asian U23 group

Tashkent: Korea Republic will open their defense of the AFC U23 Asian Cup title in Group C following the conclusion of the Uzbekistan 2022 Finals draw in Tashkent on Thursday.
Joining the Korea Republic, which defeated Saudi Arabia 1-0 in 2020 final, will be the ASEAN trio of Thailand, 2018 runners-up Vietnam and Malaysia.
Hosts Uzbekistan, the 2018 champions, will have Iran, Qatar, and newcomers Turkmenistan to contend with in Group A.
Australia, third in the 2020 edition, was drawn in Group B with Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait while Japan, the 2016 champions, are in Group D with 2020 runners-up Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and debutants Tajikistan.

AFC U23 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2022 – Official Draw

The fifth edition of the Championship will be played in Central Asia for the first time, with Uzbekistan hosting 32 matches across the cities of Tashkent and Karshi.
Four former champions and nine teams to have reached the semi-finals or better within the last decade alongside two debutants will battle for Continental supremacy from June 1 to 19.
Iran’s Omid team will be led by former star Mehdi Mahdavikia. Although at this level of football, there are no weak teams, Iran’s Omid is in one of the more difficult groups, especially in the presence of the host and the strong Qatari team. Mhadavikia is handling the difficult task of leading Iran for the Olympics with this team, which has eluded Iran for more than four decades.
Group A
Uzbekistan (UZB) – Iran (IRN)- Qatar (QAT) -Turkmenistan (TKM)
Date Time Teams Venue
Wednesday, 1st June 2022 18:00  Iran v. Qatar    Bunyodkor Stadium, Tashkent
20:00  Uzbekistan v. Turkmenistan Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent
Saturday 4th June 2022  18:00  Turkmenistan v.  Iran    Bunyodkor Stadium, Tashkent
20:00   Qatar v. Uzbekistan  Pakhtakor Stadium, Tashkent
Tuesday 7th June 2022 22:00  Qatar v. Turkmenistan    Bunyodkor Stadium, Tashkent
22:00  Uzbekistan v. Iran    Markaziy Stadium, Qarshi

Match against Lebanon might be held away from Azadi.

Mojtaba Khorshidi, the Manager of Team Melli said “the last game of our national team against Lebanon might be held in a city other than Tehran”:

“According to the president of the federation in regards to the development of football in the provinces, there is an inclination for the last game of the group against Lebanon to be played in one of the following cities; Mashad, Isfahan, Tabriz or Ahvaz. provided they get the approval from FIFA and are up to the standards required” Khorshidi added.

” I think it could be a good and pleasant event for Iranian football. The national football team is doing its best to win both games and maintain its lead. We do need our fans elsewhere to witness the success of the team also”

Asghar Sharafi bemoans the lack of discipline and competent managers in Iran’s football.

Asghar Sharafi, the former Team Melli player and assistant coach to Heshmat Mohajerani when Iran qualified for the 1978 World Cup for the first time, is a unique outspoken character. His military background has taught him strict discipline and throughout his career, he abided by these principles. Sharafi’s values on discipline have endeared him to many but it seems that the days of such mentality of the pre-revolution era have lost their color, according to the former coach.

In an interview with Kayhan, Asghar Sharafi said  “The big clubs of the world are part of their society. Any society that abides by the law will flourish. In one European country, the prime minister was questioned for attending a party. These are the products of respect for the law, where the laws and regulations are institutional. It starts at the grassroots. In our society regretfully we think otherwise as lawlessness and revolt are admired. As such calamities befall us.”

Sharafi is referring to several breaks of discipline in various clubs and Team Melli some of which made big headlines.

“We must look at who is running our major clubs and then measure our expectation in dealing with wrongdoings and indiscipline accordingly. “Sharafi added: “Unfortunately, diminutive people manage our football here and these people do not have the guts nor the resolve to deal with immorality, insubordination, and disorderly acts. In the big and prestigious clubs of the world, the people in charge, react to such matters of transgression because of the respect the clubs has for its fan and society, even more than the sole interest of the club itself.”

“In the distant past, in Iranian football, there were people at the head of clubs who dealt with indiscipline and did not allow those irregularities to spread. In the days when I was the head coach of Shiraz, we had a player who was indisciplined. I dealt with him as severely as possible. Once, a young player on our team punched the referee in the chest during the match. I was interviewed that day and I said that this player did not hit the referee, but in fact, he hit his own coach because, with such an act, he questioned his coach’s credibility. In the big clubs of the world, ethical issues are important, but in Iran, the only thing that matters is to win points.”

“One of the biggest problems of football in Iran is managers’ fear of dealing with indiscipline; That could be the manager of the club or the director of the football federation. He says to himself that if I deal with an undisciplined player and suspend him, my team may not succeed. So, they pass a light sentence, and on many occasions on appeal, that suspension is dropped! This is a big problem. In a club like Manchester United, a young player who has committed an offense is dealt with severely, and that is not a personal treatment but to protect the interests of the whole organization, these interests include the credibility of the club and the fans. Unfortunately, the biggest problem in our football is the lack of competent and specialized managers at the top. If Iranian football had been run by people who were competent, sympathetic, and moral but most importantly, familiar with the fundamentals of the sport, we would never have witnessed recent unruly events.”

Taremi saves Porto from Home defeat

The top of the Portuguese League clash between the leaders Porto and second-placed Sporting Club was played at Dragao Stadium in Porto.

That important match for the Portuguese fans was also the center of interest for the Iranian as the Team Melli central forward Mehdi Taremi was starting and the stage was open for him to prove his worth especially after the rumored interest by Arsenal to sign him in the summer. Taremi did not disaaponit. Not only he was the man of the match, but he also scored a brilliant header to save his team from defeat from their fiercest rival.

In this ill-tempered match, Porto was stunned early in the game when the host Sporting scored the opener with a nice close-range header by Paulinho in the 8th minute. As that was not bad enough, the guests Sporting, managed to score the second goal of the game in the 34th minute by Nono Santos from an error committed by Porto Captain Pepe. Sergio Conceiço’s team was able to score their first goal on Mehdi Taremi’s assist to Vieira in the 38th minute.

The first half ended 1-2 to Sporting.

The physical play of both teams caused the referee to brandish many yellow cards, and by the 49th minute, the color of this card turned red for Sporting player Sebastian Coates, with Sporting having to play most of the second half with 10 players. Porto’s pressure was immense in the second half until finally, Mehdi Taremi raised majestically to head a cross into the far corner of Sporting keeper, scoring the equalizer in the 78th minute with his exceptional header.

After the goal, there were many clashes between the players and some also involved the bench. Some ugly scenes were witnessed with the Referee unable to control the match. Not only there were individual pockets of fights everywhere on the pitch which saw an invasion from everyone including the whole bench of both teams. The melee continued until the match was prematurely ended.

It was pandemonium and ugly. Pepe and another player sporting player were dismissed.

The bright side of these ugly scenes is that, for once, Mehdi Taremi took a distance from all these trouble spots. He hardly got himself involved with the opposition players and did not go to the referee and blab his mouth like he usually does. Is this a sign of maturity? We hope that Taremei, a star on his own right now at the world level, maintains this attitude and calm. Indeed it was a truly admirable act by rational Mehdi.

With this draw, Porto reached  60 points to remain at the top of the standings of the Portuguese Premier League.

Azmoun doubtful for Korea match adding to the absentees list.

Team Melli will be with 4 key players for the top-of-the-table match versus South Korea in Seoul next month. “Sardar Azmoun’s ligament damage is still bothering him, he still needs treatment. I can’t say exactly when he will be able to play.” declared  the head coach of Bayer Gerardo Seoane “

Azmoun will need another 3-4 weeks to fully recover which will possibly mean he will miss the match in Seoul. Azmoun’s absence on the top of the 3 known absentees due to suspension and disciplinary issues. Moharrami is out for two matches due to his red card against the UAE, Ezatollahi is also suspended due to accumulations of yellow cards, and KananiZadegan is suspended by the FFIRI for misdemeanors he committed including endangering the health of his Team Melli colleagues by attempting to invite a girl while he was on COVID19 quarantine.

While the four players’ absence seems to be significant on paper, the pleasant surprise is that Team Melli has such a strength in depth that no dramatic action is needed to address these absentees.

Dragan Skocic has many options to replace Azmoun and Ezatollahi as he has a good number of replacements. In defense, with two absentees, it sounds more difficult but Siavaush Yazadni has performed well on his debut in the central defensive role, while Majid Hosseini, Milad Mohammadi, Saleh Hardani, and Aref Agasi are all capable to fill the roles in the defense.

 So, although Team Melli is not at 100% strength, it is hardly a crisis situation facing the Koreans and then Lebanon at Azadi in what is a formality matches as Team Melli already had qualified.