The Iraqi team loses further players for the matches in the qualifiers.

The Iraqi Football Federation announced that the results of PCR tests of Bashar Rasan and Ayman Hussein in Tehran were negative, but the key player of the team, Amjad Atwan, lost the chance of playing a game versus Iran because of the Positive result.

 The Iraqi national football team will face Iran on Thursday in one of the most crucial qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup for both teams, As soon as the Iraqi convoy arrived in Tehran, they were tested for corona, which resulted in 5 positive results, but the Iraqi convoy objected to this result. The Iraqi Football Federation announced that the results of the second PCR test taken from the team’s squad in Tehran were different, so that in the second test, only the goalkeepers’ coach, doctor, and accountant tested positive.

The Iraqi Football Federation hopes that the third test will be taken from the team’s convoy today (Tuesday). According to the Iraqi Football Federation, the results of the PCR test of Bashar Rasan and Ayman Hussein, who recently arrived in Tehran from Qatar, were negative, but Amjad Atwan was positive. Bashar Rasan received a warm and special welcome when he landed in Imam Airport with many fans waiting for him for signatures and selfies. Basha was a Perspolis player and a popular one amomh=gst the fans before he transferred to Qatar Star League.

Iraq has lost several players to injuries where some players invited late, refused to join the camp.

Iraq has undergone extensive changes in the format of the team since the last meeting with Iran with the newly-recruited coach.   Montenegro’s coach Zeljko Petrovicه, who previously served as Dick Advocaat’s assistant in the Iraqi coaching staff, has left the Montenegrin coach took over the Iraqi national team.

 

Petrovic, who has recently been involved in the FIFA Arab Cup, has set new goals for the match, and there are generally a number of inexperienced but European footballers who have joined the national team due to their Iraqi citizenship.

They have come. This Montenegrin coach has invited 21 players to play against Iran and in the absence of many famous players of his team, as follows: Ahmad Farhan, Hassan Abdolkarim, Hossein Ali, Mohammad Ali Abboud, Yasser Qasim, Hassan Raed, Shirko Karim, Manaf Younes, Mustafa Nazem, Ahmad Ibrahim, Saad Abdul Amir, Hossein Jabbar, Bashar Rasan, Amjad Atwan, Ali Faez, Mohannad Jaz, Amir Al-Amari, Frans Zia, Ali Al-Hamadi, Zidan Iqbal and Ayman Hussein.

The 13 legionnaires in the Iraqi national team are Mustafa Nazem (Al-Najma Bahrain), France Putres (Weiburg, Denmark), Zidane Iqbal (Manchester United), Ali Al-Hamdi (Wycombe Wanderers England), Ali Faiz (Al-Qadisiyah Kuwait), Amjad Atwan Al-Shamal, Qatar), Bashar Rasan (Qatar Qatar), Ayman Hussein (Umm Salal Qatar), Mohannad Jaaz (Hammarby Sweden), Elmir Al-Amari (Gothenburg Sweden) and Hussein Ali (Safaqi Tunisia) are employed. 13 players with less than 8 national games As mentioned, the process of generational change in the Iraqi national team has been keyed with Petrovich, and this coach, by selecting Iraqi football talents from all over the world, seeks to rejuvenate and prepare his team for future seasons.

As a result, 13 players with less than 8 national games can be seen in the current line of this team, which has reduced the experience level of the Iraqi national team on the eve of the match against Iran. Dick Advocaat and then Zeliko Petrovic’s missions and the absence of two players from the Iraqi squad from the last match of the Iraqi national team against Iran, which was held on September  Qatar and was accompanied by a 3-0 victory of Iran against this team. The team of this team was invited and at present Iraq is not available for various reasons in the recent meeting with Iran. Mohammad Daud, Alaa al-Mahawi, Safa Hadi, Hammam Tariq, Alaa Abdul Zahra, Jalal Hassan, Saad Nategh, Justin Maram, Mohannad Ali, Zargham Ismail, Rabin Solaka, and Ahmad Basil are among the well-known people.

Positive cases 3 and more bad news for Team Melli ahead of the crucial qualifiers.

A number of legionnaires invited to Team Melli training camp and the subsequent matches versus Iraq and UAE have not yet been able to join their teammates at the team’s camp in Tehran.

Mojtaba Khorshidi said “the latest situation of the legionnaires is as follows: Mehdi Taremi is still stuck in that small town in Turkey due to snowfall and poor flight conditions, and it is not yet clear what time he will leave for Iran. Karim Ansarifard has also recently arrived in Dubai after changing his flight route from Turkey to the UAE.  Sardar Azmoun has not yet traveled from Paris to Dubai.”

The Manager of Team Melli in response to the fact that these legionnaires will not arrive in time at the national team camp said: “Even if they leave now as we speak, they will be absent from training because they need to follow the health protocols process as they will have to quarantine first until the corona test result is proved negative. After the negative tests can join the squad and start training. As a result, they will be absent from today’s (Wednesday) practice. Regarding Azmoun, Nourollahi and Hajsafi, they can join the team’s camp after their corona test is negative: ‌ You know that the course of contracting Omicron is 3 to 7 days. We have to see what happens in the coming days.”

Khorshidi also mentioned the situation of 13 players who have joined the national team yesterday: “The PCR test results of these players has not arrived yet. This will probably happen in the next two hours, and after the tests are negative, they can start training. :

The Manager of the national team commented on the addition of new players to the national team camp from the waiting list: “The coaching staff has not decided yet.”

According to ISNA, since yesterday, the PCR test of three key players of Team Melli has been positive. Nourollahi, Azmoun, and Hajsafi are the players who will be absent from this camp.

Only Kamal Kamiabinia has been added to the squad from the waiting list as a replacement for Nourollahi.

Team Melli will face Iraq in two days’ time in a match that could be the qualification prize for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Iran needs three points from the next two games to book its place to Doha, Qatar

Ahmad Nourollahi is out of the camp and Mehdi Ghaedi to be PCR tested again.

On the first day of the training camp of Team Melli, the PCR test returned a positive result for Shabab Al-Ahli player, Ahmad Nourollahi which also prompted the medical team of Team Melli to retest his club teammate Mehdi Ghaedi.

Nourollahi was immediately replaced with Kamal Kamiabinia.

Meanwhile, Sardar Azmoun’s PCR test has not arrived from St. Petersburg, which has alarmed the Team Melli coaches. This means he will miss one day of training until his PCR test in Iran is conducted.

In a statement to Mehrnews, Mahmoud Reza Rezaei, the media director of the Iranian national team, confirmed the news about the Covid19 issues of the Iranian national team camp.

There are 5 players on the standby list for Team Melli.

 

Team Melli commences the training camp.

Team Melli started training camp as of today in preparation for the matches against Iraq and the UAE at the Olympic Hotel.

 On the first day of the camp, the players from the domestic league, along with Ahmad Nourollahi and Mehdi Ghaedi both members of Shabab Al-Ahli of Dubai, began with initially going through the strict health protocols and underwent PCR testing with the technical staff of the national team. The whole camp will be quarantined until the negative results them being part of the squad.  After the test results are confirmed, the teamwork will start and the rest of the players and legionnaires, according to the schedules, will introduce themselves to the technical staff this morning and will go to quarantine to find out the results of the tests.

The Squad will be holding two sessions of training on daily basis in two groups from 15:00 to 17:00. After the legionnaires’ tests are out and assumed to be negative, the first training of the national team will be held tomorrow with the presence of all the players. According to the rules and requirements of the Asian Football Confederation, in compliance with health protocols, the national team will train behind closed doors.

Dragan Skocic has named a list of 27  players for these two matches, although the regulation allows a squad of 23 players for the match. It is announced that no players will be sent home but a list of 23 players as required by the regulation will be announced for each of the two matches.

Shahab Zahedi, who plays for Zorya in  Ukraine has finally been selected for the first time. His recently departed teammate Allhtae Sayyadmanesh is also named in the squad. The list includes one legionnaire player who is under suspension by the Federation’s disciplinary committee the case of Hossein Kanani-Zadegan was charged with offenses not related to a match but to derogatory remarks he made,  which has gone viral on social media. When quizzed about this, a spokesperson for Team Melli said that “unless we receive specific instruction from the concerned department of the federation, any player can be selected for Team Melli.”

The squad welcomes back Mehdi Taremi, another player who was in trouble after he created unnecessary problems for himself and hence left out of Team Melli’s last two matches both of which Iran has won.

Squad for Iraq and UAE games announced.

Team Melli which is on the verge of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, will play against Iraq and the UAE on January 27th and 2nd February. Iran needs one win only to qualify. The coaching staff has announced the list of players invited to the national team camp.

The names of the invited players and the waiting list of players for the team :

    • Goalkeepers:
  1. Alireza Biranvand
  2. Amir Abedzadeh
  3. Payam Niazmand
    • Defenders:
  4. Sadegh Moharremi
  5. Mohammad Hossein Kananizadegan
  6. Shoja’a Khalilzadeh
  7. Majid Hosseini
  8. Omid Nourafkan
  9. Milad Mohammadi
  10. Siavash Yazdani
  11. Saleh Hardani
    • Midfielders:
  12. Saeed Ezatollahi
  13. Milad Sarlak
  14. Ehsan Haj Safi
  15. Vahid Amiri
  16. Mehdi Torabi
  17. Ahmad Noorollahi
  18. Saman Ghoddos
  19. Alireza Jahanbakhsh
  20. Ali Gholizadeh
  21. Allahyar Sayadmanesh
    • Forwards:
  22. Mehdi Taremi
  23. Sardar Azmoun
  24. Karim Ansarifard
  25. Kaveh Rezaei
  26. Mehdi Ghaedi
  27. Shahab Zahedi

 

the Standby List: Mohammadreza Akhbari, Danial Ismailifard, Aref Aghasi, Kamal Kamyabi Nia, Zubair Nikonfs, Soroush Rafiei

The following players have been excluded due to positive results of the Coronavirus test:  Mehdi Mehdipour & Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh

Burnley dealt transfer blow as striker target joins Bayer Leverkusen

Burnley’s hopes of landing striker Sardar Azmoun are over after the 27-year-old agreed to a deal with German side Bayer Leverkusen.

The Zenit St Petersburg star is out of contract in the summer and Burnley’were keen on the hotshot and made a bid, believed to be around £8million. While the Russian club were prepared to deal at that price other suitors, including Juventus and Lyon, meant the player was prepared to weigh up his options.

And he has now signed for Leverkusen, penning a contract until 2027.

Iranian international Azmoun has scored 10 times in 21 games this season.

Burnley is struggling at the foot of the Premier League table this season with many games in hand due to Covid. They have also sold their best striker to Newcastle. The chances of surviving relegation is quite thin. On the other hand, Bayer Leverkusen is enjoying a successful season in the German top flight. With 20 games played, the club is ranked 3rd in the table behind Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, and a place in the next season UEFA Champions League seems to be well within reach of the club.

 

Sardar Azmoun signed by Bayern Leverkusen in the summer

Bayer Leverkusen have confirmed the signing of Sardar Azmoun from the summer of 2022, with the Iranian international joining from Zenit St. Petersburg on a five-year contract.

Azmoun, a 27-year-old forward with an eye for goals and assists, will compete for a place in Leverkusen’s starting attack with Patrik Schick and Lucas Alario when he makes his move to Bundesliga football in the summer.

“[It is] a step from the best club in Russia to one of the best leagues in Europe,” he told the Bundesliga club’s website.

“Bayer Leverkusen have a really great squad. I’ve been keeping an eye on the club for a long time and am impressed by the team’s style of play. It’s incredibly exciting for me soon to be able to play in the Bundesliga. And I’m convinced I’ll make the team even better with my footballing ability.”

Capped 60 times by Iran, an impressive 39 goals for his country compliments his selection for the World Cup in 2018 and two Asian Cup squads in 2015 and 2019.

As well as being the youngest Iranian to score in a UEFA Champions League game, he is also the Iranian record-holder for the most goals scored in the competition with six goals.

He has spent his professional career entirely in the Russian top flight with two spells each at Rubin Kazan and Rostov preceding his transfer to Zenit in 2019.

In St. Petersburg, he has found the net 62 times in 104 appearances across all competitions. He was named Russia’s Footballer of the Year for 2021 and his impressive goal stats have continued into this season, in which he has scored 10 goals in 21 games – including two strikes in the Champions League.

“We’re delighted to have completed this transfer,” said Leverkusen’s sporting director Simon Rolfes.

“Sardar Azmoun has been one of Russian football’s top goalscorers for several years. He’s been champion three years in a row there with Zenit, regularly played in the Champions League, and shown himself to be of international class at the highest level. Our attack gains extra quality with him. Sardar will make our attack even more unpredictable and powerful.”

Managing director for sport, Rudi Völler added: “He’s very quick, good in the air and has a good sense for space. But he’s not just a goalscorer. Sardar Azmoun also sets up a lot of goals and is an outstanding fit for the Werkself as a player who combines well with others.”

Miguel Rodrigo turns down Futsal Team Melli assistant coach post.

Vahid Shamsaii after being appointed as the head coach of the Iranian national futsal team said they will have a Spanish coach on the technical staff cadre. In this regard, negotiations were held with several Spanish coaches, but some of them refused the offer to join the technical staff of the Iranian national futsal team. One of them is Miguel Rodrigo, a 51-year-old experienced Spanish coach. Miguel, who has worked for the national futsal teams of Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam and has comprehensive knowledge of Asian futsal, refused to work as an assistant in the technical staff of the Iranian national futsal team. In a conversation with Mehr reporter, while confirming the negotiations has been held between him and the FFIRI, this coach explained the reason for rejecting Vahid Shamsai’s offer by saying  ” I am a head coach and not an assistant. I thanked him for this offer, but I am not interested in being Shamsaii’s assistant.”

The news increases the pressure on the futsal team as many critics have questioned Shamsaei’s appointment. While none deny his legendary status as a player with world-class quality, very few believe he is ready to coach Iran’s futsal team into continental and world competitions. The appointment of a quality coach to cover his coaching skills and lack of experience seemed to be the proposed solution.

Skočić : Team Melli list will be announced on Sunday (tomorrow)

 Skočić said that the list of Iran’s national team will be published on Sunday after the conclusion of the latest League matches.

in response to the question of whether new players will be invited? He said: “Yes, but our core list does not change much. Individuals who were not in the previous camp may be invited. Our list is not very different. My idea is to give more space to young players. I expect more from young players. “

League quality

“The quality of the league has declined. Perhaps due to Corona and the lack of fans in the stadium. I realize that Iranian players have a strong emotional aspect and the absence of fans’ place in the stadium affects their performance, but I expect more from the young players. ” The head coach of Team Melli added “stating that Iranian football has problems in some positions such as last defense, winger, and midfield, said: “It seems that Iranian football is lacking in these positions. I am not afraid of giving young players a chance. The young player should not start cautiously or conservatively whenever he is given the chance, instead, he must have enough energy and drive to break down the door and impose himself. I want to see more young players. I am always receptive. We must also create a spirit of change in the national team. The player is not supposed to think that because he has been in the national team for 10 years, he has the right to a place unless he has been proven and maintains the required standard.”

Quality players and the Seniors

“Respect for an experienced player is obligatory, but they must be the most prepared and best players on the list. We have lower-quality defenders and midfielders than a good striker” Skocic continued: “Sometimes it is not just a matter of choosing the best player, but also the players who make up the best team. I have to imagine how the communication between the players on the field goes. To build a good team, we must maintain team balance. I can not put seven strikers in the national team. Now there is this imbalance. We have fewer quality players in defense and midfield than in attack. We have high traffic on the offensive line. The place of some players in several positions is still empty to leave my hand open.”

He was asked if this problem would be solved? “We are trying to solve the problem,” he said.” It is not a matter of us being separate from the clubs. With my background working in Iranian clubs, I know the importance of what coaches do. My request to the coaches is to have a two-way relationship with us so that we can figure out the best things for the football of this country. I am grateful to Majid Hosseini” the head coach of the Iranian national football team said regarding the way he treats the players in the team “

“In a team, there are quality players and lower quality players, but I do not differentiate between them. Our priority is the team and everyone must serve the team. A superstar may decide a game, but in the end, it is the team that advances to the World Cup, not the player. We need to understand this difference. Even for me, the players on the bench are often are important because they make you feel comfortable. For example, Majid Hosseini, whose work I really appreciate. He did not play for us in the national team for two years, but he was on the bench with all his energy. I want this mentality. I understand the players whose vision is individual. The coach must always see the big picture. We have a very good team now and I am satisfied with this group.

Support Staff

“Yes, without any of these people, our work would be lame,” Skocic said of the team’s support group. “Doctors have more responsibilities in coronary conditions. Each member of the cadre has his share. My assistants and everyone on the staff contribute to this success. I can not name those who are behind the scenes of the national team. We are all there to provide the ideal conditions for the players. The players are waiting to receive a reward.”

Hashemian

About his Iranian assistant, Vahid Hashemian, Skocic said  “There is nothing but this expectation in the national team and everyone should move forward with humility. Vahid Hashemian works hard. The same is true for the rest. We could not have reached this position if our focus was on the margins. We do our job with full concentration, which is due to the quality of the people who are with the national team. “

Rewards

The head coach of the national team reminded us: the president of the federation has meetings with the minister of sports to solve the problems. “I want the best conditions for the players. We have problems, but they are being addressed. We understand the situation in the country, but the players are waiting to receive their rewards. This is what happens when national team players compare themselves to other countries. For example in Croatia; 60% of the World Cup prize goes to the federation and 40% to the players and coaches. I want the players to have peace of mind. I am not from Iran, but I understand that the players have expectations.”

FFIRI planning early qualification ceremony

While the Football fans in Iran are still awaiting the approval of the National Headquarters against Corona to attend Team Melli’s upcoming matches against Iraq and the UAE, The football federation is planning early qualification to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

the Iranian Football Federation has prepared so that it can hold the best possible ceremony with the presence of special guests. Shahabuddin Azizi Khadem, President of the FFIRI, who had two meetings with FIFA President Gianni Infantino, invited him to watch one of the matches of the Iranian national team on 27th January or 2nd February, which, according to the federation’s website, was agreed by FIFA President. Infantino has moved his headquarters to Doha to oversee the progress and preparation for the World Cup 2022.

The reduction in the number of deaths in the country due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus also raised the hopes of the Football Federation to get approval from the health authorities in the country allowing the attendance of fans in Azadi Stadium, even with limited numbers. It is alleged that the National Headquarters against Corona has verbally agreed to a 30% attendance at all football stadiums, but such instructions have not yet been transmitted t to the Ministry of Sports and then to the Football Federation. On the other hand, the coronavirus mutation called “omicron” has become a serious challenge for the presence of special guests. With 5 days left to play Iraq and 10 days to meet the UAE, Infantino has not yet officially responded to the Iranian Federation’s request to be in Tehran.

 

However, the public relations department of the Football Federation will continue monitoring developments in this issue until 24 hours before each game. Considering the possibility of Infantino’s imminent trip and the possibility of announcing his readiness, the possibility of the presence of male and female fans in the upcoming matches of the Iranian national team is not certain. Ali Azari Jahromi, the government spokesman, announced last Tuesday that a special meeting had been held between the president of the football federation, the Minister of Sports to prepare for the matches, however, with four days left, there is no sign of online sales of the tickets for the Iraq and UAE matches.

The Iranian national football team will host Iraq on the 27th of January at Azadi Stadium. The victory for Dragan Skucic’s team in each of these matches will result in the early Qualifications of Team Melli to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.