Tag: AFC U23 Championship 2020

Prayers and hope for Omid Team!

With the 2-1 loss against South Korea, Iran’s Omid team chances of qualifying for the next round of the AFC U23 Championship 2020 looks difficult, if not improbable. Iran’s U23 team still has a chance on paper.

Omid Team started with a draw against Uzbekistan, while South Korea defeated China 1-0. In the second matchday, Uzbekistan’s 2-0 win over China, not only eliminated the Chinese from the competition but also made them strong favorites to qualify needing only a draw in the final group match against the already qualified Koreans on Wednesday.

On the final group matchday, Omid team will play China and the only results that count is a comprehensive win. While South Korea will most probably field an under-strength team for their final group match, Uzbekistan will most probably achieve qualification with a draw against the Koreans.

The only scenario where Omid team will stand a chance is if  Uzbekistan loses against Korea and Omid team beats China by at least 2 goals or more.

Reza Shekari against South Korea

While football is a sport that is no stranger to surprises and sometimes the most unexpected results can occur, Omid team is counting on one such chance comes Wednesday. Winners like South Korea who are synonymous with success due to their hard work, progress, and planning, do not need to worry about such possibilities. Unlike the Iranian team which is now counting on hope and prayers, the Koreans even win matches while not at their best.

The big difference between football in Iran and Korea or Japan is one of strict discipline, planning, free from politics and lobbying, selection of most suitable coaches on merit and providing the infrastructure. The Football federations of these countries study the requirements for their teams, plan ahead, support and most importantly select the right players and coaches using the strait-laced methodology in the process. No issues or complexes of the Estghlal-Persepolis axis out there.

Omid Team has changed three coaches in a year, while the current one Hamid Estili is not really a functioning regular coach and hence clearly out of touch with modern coaching and match practice. In another word, he was an emergency coach. His last assignment was the Administrative Manager of this very same Omid Team before he was appointed under mysterious circumstances as the head coach replacing Farhad Majidi.

So, due to the perennial lack of insight, non-existent long-term planning, lack of vision, and extremely poor quality management, the passionate Iranian fans have to resort to prayers to experience the success of this team  hoping for a comprehensive win in order to make it to the next round and stand a chance of qualifying for Tokyo Olympics 2020

Iran’s Volleyball and Basketball teams have already qualified for Tokyo Olympics and made the nation proud in days that there are very few things to make an Iranian happy, will Omid complete the hat-trick?

We will continue hoping and praying.

Omid team loses against Qatar

Iran’s U-23 (Omid Team) played against its Qatari counterpart on Thursday afternoon in the Luceil training grounds and lost 2-1.

The team under Hamid Estili has been having disappointing results of late in their preparations for the AFC Asian U23 championships in Thailand on January 2020

Qatar went ahead from the start of the match with Khaled Munir taking advantage of a real blunder in Iranian back four and scoring for Qatar. In the 8th minute, the Qatari forward Mohammed Wa’ad scored the second goal for his team with a good header.  Two goals in quick succession disturbed all of Estili’s plans.

To their credit, the Omid players did not crumble and with some fine work by Omid Noorafkan, and a powerful strike, the Sepahan midfielder scored to narrow the deficit for Iran.  Omid Team continued to press forward searching for the equalizer, but the Qatari defence and their goalkeeper gave the Iranians very little breathing space.

In the second half. Omid Team was more organized with a change in the line up that introduced  Hosseinzadeh, Ghaedi, Azadi and Sharifi coming in as substitutes in the second half. In the dying minute of the match, Mehdi Ghaedi skillfully dribbled past the Qatari goalkeeper leaving their last defender no option but to foul Ghaedi to prevent the equalizer

The defender Mohammed Al-Bakri, who committed the deliberate foul in a scoring opportunity was immediately given the red card, but the referee did not award a penalty as it was outside the box.

The game ended in a disappointing 2-1 loss for Omid. This defeat comes after the disappointing results of Omid Team in Jakarta playing friendly games against the Indonesian Olympics team. (a draw and a loss). Omid Team has not tasted victory for some time now.