As if the shambolic status of football is not bad enough, the disappointing news from Europe has cast a shadow on Team Melli with less than 100 days to go to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
Nine key Team Melli players are engaged in the European leagues plus a possible few more candidates for selection which Dragan Skocic has been keeping a close look at.
Jahanbakhsh, Azmoun, Taremi, Ansarifard, Hajsafy, Mohammadi, and Sayyadmanesh are the main squad players in addition to Alipour who is one of the strong contenders for selection.
Apart from Mehdi Taremi who has started the new league where he left off scoring a brace in the opening match, the news of the rest has been not encouraging and in many cases quite disappointing.
Alireza Jahanbakhsh, the Captain of Team Melli has been having a tough time since he moved to Feyenoord. His chances of continuing with the famous Dutch club are slim as he is turned from a promising start to a fringe player making cameo appearances for the club. It is safe to say that Jahanbakhsh has never fulfilled his potential with Brighton and now it seems that the story is repeating itself in the Dutch league with Feyenoord.
Sardar Azmoun is a similar story in the Bundesliga. Unlike his brilliant displays and goal-scoring traits in the Russian league, the leading forward of Team Melli is finding life tough in German football as he has been struggling with Leverkusen. It will not be long before Azmoun becomes a bench player with the way things are progressing unless he drastically improves.
Mehdi Taremi has no such problem as his country teammates and seems to be enjoying his time with FC Porto who are leading the Portuguese table with 2 wins out of 2. Despite the disappointment of not being sought by major European Clubs in the transfer market as some of his teammates have succeeded in, Taremi seems to be content with doing his job in Portugal and enhancing his reputation in the process.
Allahyar Sayadmanesh who plays for the second-tier English league club has shown enough promise for the club to buy him outright after a loan spell from Fenerbahce. Hull City is leading the Championship table with two wins out of two. Sayyadmanesh is hoping to make a real impression in order for Dragan Skocic to dislodge Ansarifard and pick the young forward for the World Cup.
Karim Ansarifard’s case is perhaps the most disappointing. The Greek club AEK Athens has been having difficulty finding a buyer for the unwanted Ansarifard. It seems that the much-traveled forward is on the move again after a disappointing in the 2021/22 season where he played 29 matches but scored 4 goals only.
Milad Mohammadi and Ehsan Hajsafy seem to have better fortune with AEK Athens. Although the new season has not started yet, it seems that the club intended to keep the two Iranians in their squad for 2022/23 season.
Amir Abedzadeh is experiencing his second season with the second-tier Spanish league club Ponferradina. Although the season has not started yet, Abedzadeh played well for the team and managed to make 35 appearances for the club.
Saman Ghoddos has been perhaps the most disappointing of the lot playing for Brentford, or at least trying to play. He was an unused substitute in his club’s brilliant performance in destroying Manchester United 4-0 on Saturday. All 5 Brentford were used in the demolishing of Man Utd but Ghoddos was nowhere to be seen. He was not even on the bench for the first match against Leicester City on the opening day of the English Premier League. It seems that his days in Brentford are numbered.
Ali Alipour is another forward lurking in the shadow of the big boys of Team Melli. The 26 years old forward has changed club this season moving to Gil Vicente in the Portuguese League. He started the new season well by scoring in the first match. Alipour is a real contender for a place on the plane to Doha comes the World Cup.