Tag: AFC Asian Cup 2015

Team Melli stuck in Melbourne !

Emirates Airlines flight carrying Team Melli to Sydney , Australia was stuck in Melbourne airport for as long as three hours. The flight originating from Dubai airport departed nearly two hours behind schedule enroute to Melbourne, then Sydney. This late arrival of the aircraft meant that the next flight could not depart to its final destination due to the local noise abatement regulations. The flight had to remain in Melbourne until morning, 6 AM for it to continue to fly to Sydney which was some 3 hours later. Many Iranian fans in Sydney (Kingsford Smith) airport waiting to receive Team Melli were disappointed and returned back home. Team Melli is in Group C of the AFC Asian Cup 2015 Australia along with the UAE , Qatar and Bahrain.

FIFA Refuses to allow Zimbabwe vs Iran match.

FFIRI’s desperate attempt to find an opponent for Team Melli practice match in Tehran, hit another snag.  Zimbabwe was selected to play against Team Melli in Azadi on the 12th Nov. However, this same country has already arranged a friendly match against Morocco on the 16th and hence FIFA refused to allow this match to proceed. According to FIFA Rules regulating international matches and to avoid excessive fatigue on players on their return to club duties after their international break or FIFA day , a team cannot play two consecutive matches in two different continents , unless 3 days minimum has elapsed and a maximum of not more than 5 hours flying between the two venues is flown. Based on Zimbabwe schedule, the request by FFIRI for the issue of clearance for international match was denied. FFIRI are known to have arbitrary, knee-jerk reaction in arranging international matches. After all these years in office, the personnel there have yet to master the mechanism of arranging friendly matches.  They also seem to have less regards to long term planning and scheduling preferring to deal with international friendly matches in an auction style. This would be in form of finding the cheapest and first available teams to play with in the quickest time possible. Failure to arrange matches, like most frequently , they blame the lack of time for such let down.    Team Melli is arranging a training camp for the upcoming AFC Asian Cup 2015.

AFC Asian Cup 2015 Matches Schedule

 

Group A
Australia, Korea Republic, Kuwait, Oman
09 Jan 2015 
Australia       Kuwait
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
10 Jan 2015
Korea Republic     Oman
Canberra Stadium
13 Jan 2015
 Kuwait     Korea Republic
Canberra Stadium
13 Jan 2015
 Oman    Australia
Stadium Australia
17 Jan 2015
Australia     Korea Republic
Brisbane Stadium
17 Jan 2015
 Oman     Kuwait
Newcastle Stadium
[divider]
Group B
Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Korea DPR, China PR
10 Jan 2015
Uzbekistan    Korea DPR
Stadium Australia
10 Jan 2015
  Saudi Arabia     China PR
Brisbane Stadium
14 Jan 2015
 Korea DPR     Saudi Arabia
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
14 Jan 2015
 China PR    Uzbekistan
Brisbane Stadium
18 Jan 2015
 Uzbekistan     Saudi Arabia
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
18 Jan 2015
 China PR    Korea DPR
Canberra Stadium
[divider]
Group C
Iran, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar
11 Jan 2015
 Iran     Bahrain
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
11 Jan 2015
 UAE     Qatar
Canberra Stadium
15 Jan 2015
 Bahrain     UAE
Canberra Stadium
15 Jan 2015
 Qatar    Iran
Stadium Australia
19 Jan 2015
 Iran    
UAE
Brisbane Stadium
19 Jan 2015
Qatar     Bahrain
Stadium Australia
[divider]
Group D
Japan, Jordan, Qualifier, Iraq
12 Jan 2015
 Japan   V 
Qualifier
Newcastle Stadium
12 Jan 2015
 Jordan     
Iraq
Brisbane Stadium
16 Jan 2015
 Qualifier    
Jordan
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
 
16 Jan 2015
 Iraq     
Japan
Brisbane Stadium
20 Jan 2015
 Japan     
Jordan 
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
 
20 Jan 2015
 Iraq     
Qualifier 
Canberra Stadium

AFC Asian Cup 2015 Groups

Team Melli was drawn in group C alongside 3 ot it Persian Gulf neighbors, Bahrain , Qatar and UAE.  Iran has never lost an AFC Asian Cup match against the 3 teams before. In the draw held at the Sydney Opera House, it was mixed fortunes for the host team Australia (Socceroos), who were drawn to meet the Kuwaitis, Oman and the highly credentialed South Korea in Group A. Following their clash against Kuwait at AAMI Park, the Socceroos meet Oman at Sydney’s Stadium Australia on January 13. The Socceroos then face the toughest test of their Group A campaign when they host the South Koreans at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on January 17. The Defending Asian Cup champions Japan are in Group D with Jordan, Iraq and the winner of this year’s AFC Challenge Cup, being held in May in the Maldives. Joining the Maldives in the tournament are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Palestine, Laos, Kyrgyzstan, the Philippines and Turkmenistan. AFC Asian Cup 2015 groups Group A: Kuwait, Oman, South Korea and Australia. Group B: North Korea, China, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan. Group C: Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Iran. Group D: 2014 AFC Challenge Cup winner, Iraq, Jordan and Japan. [divider]       Coaches reaction Group C - Iraq, UAE, Qatar & Bahrain
Iran Coach Carlos Queiroz: Football is all about pressure, and pressure to win the next game.I’m sure that after the World Cup the team can have a lift with the preparation and the experience, they will be more strong when they start the Asian competition.
UAE Coach Mahdi Ali: I did not wish to have three [Gulf Cup] nations in the same group to give more chances for them to qualify. A small competition reflecting the big one in Asia. We have already announced we want to be in the best four teams in Asia and I hope we achieve our goal. We wish to qualify to the semi final. I think that the UAE have spent a lot of planning for this generation, I think we have a good generation who have played many tournaments.
Qatar Coach Djamel Belmadi: We don’t have any limits; we are here to win the tournament simple as that.I hope we will be strong enough and good enough and believe in ourselves to go as far as possible.
Bahrain Coach Anthony Hudson: We're going to quietly do what we're doing. We're building our team. We're going to be optimistic and [try] to cause an upset and do something special.We're not going to scream and shout too loud but we're going to work hard and prepare. We've certainly come here to go very far. I think it's a good group and I think we've missed two or three of the big teams were familiar with. We're happy.
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Team Melli is nominated for AFC Team of the Year 2013.

  After 6 continuous official matches victory in 2013 including FIFA World Cup 2014 qualifiers and AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 qualifying matches, Team Melli is nominated as the AFC Team of the Year 2013 in the AFC annual  Award nominations. Competing with Team Melli is Japan National team and Iraq Youth team (U-29). Iran has several nominees in this year's list including Team Melli Captain Javad Nekounam who is nominated as AFC Player of the Years. Team Melli played 8 official matches in 2013 winning 7 and drawing one. In the same period Team Melli played one friendly match only and that ended in a 3-1 loss to Oman. In the process , Team Melli qualified for the finals of the two most prestigious competitions, the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and the AFC Asian Cup in Australia i2015.    

Annual Awards 2013 Nominees

AFC ANNUAL AWARDS 2013 NOMINEES (in alphabetical order; list as of today)          

AFC DIAMOND OF ASIA Dr. Chung Mong-Joon

AFC DREAM ASIA AWARD

AFC FAIR PLAY ASSOCIATION OF THE YEAR

China Football Association

Japan Football Association

Korea Football Association

AFC FUTSAL TEAM OF THE YEAR

Chonburi Bluewave (Thailand)

Sanaye Giti Pasand (Iran)

Nagoya Oceans (Japan)

AFC FUTSAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Hossein Tayebibidgoli (Sanaye Giti Pasand: Iran)

Kaoru Morioka (Nagoya Oceans: Japan)

Suphawut Thueanklang (Chonburi Bluewave: Thailand)

AFC FOREIGN PLAYER OF THE YEAR            

Dario Leonardo Conca (Guangzhou Evergrande; Argentina)

Dejan Damjanovic (FC Seoul; Montenegro)

Luiz Guilherme Da Conceicao Silva (Guangzhou Evergrande; Brazil)

AFC ASIAN INTERNATIONAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Keisuke Honda (Japan; CSKA Moscow)

Son Heung-Min (Korea Republic; Bayer Leverkusen)

Yuto Nagatomo (Japan; Inter Milan)

AFC ASSISTANT REFEREE OF THE YEAR

WOMEN

Flynn Allyson Clare (Australia)

Sarah Ho (Australia)

Teshirogi Naomi (Japan)

MEN

Kamranifar Hassan  (Iran)

Nagi Toshiyuki (Japan) Sagara Toru (Japan)

AFC REFEREE OF THE YEAR WOMEN

Kamnueng Pannipar (Thailand)

Rita binti Ghani (Malaysia)

Yamagishi Sachiko (Japan)

MEN

Benjamin Williams (Australia)

Nawaf Abdulla  (Bahrain)

Yuichi Nishimura (Japan)

AFC CLUB OF THE YEAR

FC Seoul (Korea Republic)

Guangzhou Evergrande (China)

Kuwait SC (Kuwait)

AFC MEMBER ASSOCIATION OF THE YEAR

 

AFC MA OF THE YEAR FOR GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL

All India Football Federation

Japan Football Association

Vietnam Football Federation

AFC NATIONAL TEAM OF THE YEAR

WOMEN

DPR Korea U-19 National Team

Japan U-16 National Team

Korea Republic U-19 National Team

MEN

Iraq U-20 National Team

IR Iran National Team

Japan National Team

AFC COACH OF THE YEAR

WOMEN

Asako Takemoto (Japan)

Nuengrutai Srathongvian (Thailand)

Hwang In-Sun (Korea Republic)

MEN

Choi Yong-Soo (Korea Republic)

Hakeem Shakir (Iraq)

Jong Song-Chon (Korea Republic)

AFC YOUTH PLAYER OF THE YEAR

WOMEN

Jang Sel-Gi (Korea Republic)

Wang Shuang (China)

Hina Sugita (Japan)

MEN Abbosbek Makhstaliev (Uzbekistan) Ali Adnan Kadhim (Iraq) Kwon Chang-Hoon (Korea Republic)  

AFC PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Ha Dae-Sung (FC Seoul: Korea Republic)

Javad Nekonam (Esteghlal: Iran)

Zheng Zhi (Guangzhou Evergrande: China)