Tag: Alireza Jahanbakhsh

Iraq, Iran set for titanic clash

the-afc.com

Doha: Iraq and Iran are looking to continue their unbeaten start to the AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to Qatar Group A when they lock horns in Doha on Tuesday.

On head coach Dick Advocaat’s competitive debut at the helm, Iraq held Korea Republic to a goalless draw in Seoul with the Dutchman content with ceding possession and looking to hit on the counter.

Meanwhile, their neighbors Iran produced the only win of the group on the opening day when captain Alireza Jahanbakhsh’s deflected shot settled in the Syrians’ net, with Team Melli going into Matchday Two leading Group A with three points, two ahead of the four sides that drew in the previous round of matches.

The two teams have a lot of history between them, that being most recently the doubleheader in the previous round of the Asian Qualifiers: The Lions of Mesopotamia recorded a 2-1 home win, with the return leg settled by Sardar Azmoun at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran.

Azmoun will be welcomed back into the fold, having missed out on his side’s opening match through suspension, while head coach Dragan Skočić continues his recovery from COVID-19, having left assistant Marijo Tot to lead the team in the previous game.

“We saw how Japan was defeated at home by Oman and Korea Republic and Iraq drew in Seoul,” said Tot.

“This shows that the teams are close and winning requires hard work. All of our players did well against Syria, and I would also like to thank all our technical and support staff at the national team.”

Iraq’s Advocaat vowed to take a different approach against Iran, after being content with defending for large swathes of their previous game and only bringing on offensive support in the form of Justin Meram and Mohanad Ali later in the game.

“We played really well defensively in the last game,” said Advocaat

“We will play a lot more offensively in the next game, which will be an extremely important one for us. We only started preparing for the games two weeks ago and half of our squad consists of new players.”

Tuesday’s fixture will be the sixth between the two sides in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, with Iran having won three to Iraq’s two.

It will also be the second time they face off in Doha in the Qualifiers, with the late Ahmed Radhi and Alaa Kadhim having led Iraq to a 2-1 win in the Road to USA 1994.

Iraq v Iran
Venue: Khalifa International Stadium (Doha)
Kickoff: Tuesday, 21:00 (UTC+3)

IRAN IRAQ
W W W W W X W W L X
02. Sep.21 : Iran 1 – 0  Syria 02.Sep.21 : Korea R. 0 – 0 Iraq
15. Jun.21 : Iran 1 – 0  Iraq 15. Jun.21 : Iran 1 – 0  Iraq
11. Jun.21 : Cambodia 10 – 0  Iran 11. Jun.21 : Hong Kong 0 – 1  Iraq
07. Jun.21 : Iran 3 – 0  Bahrain 07. Jun.21 : Iraq 4 – 1  Cambodia
03. Jun.21 : Iran 3 – 1  Hong Kong 24.May.21 : Iraq 0 0 Tajikistan
09/02 • Home
Iran
10
Syrian Arab Republic
06/15 • Home
Iran
10
Iraq
06/11 • Away
Cambodia
010
Iran
06/07 • Home
Iran
30
Bahrain
06/03 • Home
Iran
31
Hong Kong, China
09/02 • Away
Republic Of Korea
00
Iraq
06/15 • Away
Iran
10
Iraq
06/11 • Away
Hong Kong, China
01
Iraq
06/07 • Home
Iraq
41
Cambodia
05/24 • Home
Iraq
00
Tajikistan

Jahanbakhsh scores a brace for Feyenoord.

Team Melli winger Alireza Jahanbakhsh scored twice in the opening 34 minutes on his third appearance for Feyenoord at home to Lucern in the Europa Conference League against Swiss club Luzern.

The match ended 3-0 for Feyenoord for an aggregate of 6-0 win and qualification to the next round. The second goal by Jahanbakhsh was rather spectacular and was a reminder of Alireza during his heydays in AZ Alkmaar where he scored at will and managed to win the Golden Boot award of the Eredivisie.

The bad news is that Jahanbakhsh left the field limping.  The Iranian winger was on fire but just before the break he hobbled off injured and had to be replaced by Robert Bozenik.

Jahanbakhsh joined Brighton for a record club fee and endured two miserable seasons under Graham Potter management before moving on to Feyenoord this summer for a reported fee of less than 1 million Euro.

The attacking midfielder and winger will be playing under a completely different environment in Feyenoord a club that is usually at the top of the leagues and compete for trophies and honors, while in Brighton he was playing for a club whose highest success and ceiling of ambition are to remain in the premiership and avoid relegation, year in years out.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh - Feyenoord

Alireza Jahanbakhsh reveals why he was adamant to join Feyenoord.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh has ended his three-year spell at Brighton and returned to the Netherlands to join Feyenoord on a three-year deal for an undisclosed fee.

The 27-year-old joined the Seagulls in July 2018 and made 61 appearances, scoring four goals.

He now returns to the Netherlands, to link up with the Rotterdam outfit, who will be hoping he can rediscover the form which saw Brighton bring him over to England for a record club transfer fee.

In his first spell in Eredivisie with NEC and AZ Alkmaar, Jahanbakhsh made 112 appearances, scoring 39 goals and picking 31 assists in the process.

Brighton head coach Graham Potter said: “Ali has been a very good professional and great to work with, but this move is a good one and gives him the chance of more regular game time, which is not something we are able to guarantee.

“I’d like to thank Ali for his hard work during my time here and wish him all the best for the future.”

Jahanbakhsh will wear the number nine shirt for Feyenoord, which has previously been sported by club legends such as Henrik Larsson, Julio Cruz, Graziano Pelle, Roy Makaay, and Pierre van Hooijdonk to name just some.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh has revealed the key role Feyenoord manager Arne Slot played in him returning to the Netherlands.

Arne Slot during a training session

Slot was assistant manager at AZ Alkmaar to John van den Brom during Jahanbakhsh’s time at the club.

But the Iranian international revealed that when Slot expressed his interest in signing him for Feyenoord, he was determined to make the move happen.

He told the club’s official website: “During my time at AZ as an assistant coach, Arne Slot was one of the people who helped me to become a better player. So when he called and asked if I wanted to come to Feyenoord, I told him I was going to do everything I could to make this transfer. I had no doubts.”

Feyenoord’s sporting director Frank Arnesen believes Jahanbakhsh could become a valuable player for them.

He said: ‘With Alireza we add the desired offensive reinforcement to the selection. A player who has proven to achieve a high return for several seasons. Moreover, he is now in the phase of his career where he can quickly be of enormous added value to us.”

Feyenoord is after Jahanbakhsh. 

Team Melli  attacker Alireza Jahanbakhsh is a target for Feyenoord.

Rotterdam media sources state Jahanbakhsh is a target for Feyenoord as they face selling Steven Berghuis this summer.

Ajax are offering a fee rising to €6.5m for Berghuis, formerly of Watford, and an agreement is close.

As such, Feyenoord have moved quickly and identified Jahanbakhsh as the successor of Berghuis.

It is as yet unclear whether it will be a loan deal or whether Jahanbakhsh will make an outright switch to Rotterdam.

Jahanbakhsha has been having a torrid time since Graham Potter took over as Brighton coach. Unlike his predecessor, Potter has little confidence in Jahanbakhsh and has given him very little playing time.  As such, Brighton’s most expensive signing turned into a benchwarmer but worst than that, it has broken the self-confidence of the talented Iranian winger.

Although Jahanbakhsh has insisted that he wants to prove himself at Brighton, the writing on the wall says that Potter is in no hurry to make Jahanbakhsh as a starter, preferring to occasionally use him in less important competitions.

In the 2017–18 Eredivisie season, Jahanbakhsh scored 21 league goals, making him the first Asian player to become the top scorer in a major European league. Like many talented players before him, the intensity of English Football is once again threatening to ruin the career.

Monetary Value of Top Asian Teams

 

Between the ِAFC Asian Cup 2019 finals that took place in the UAE, and the current combined qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2022 and AFC Asian Cup 2023 in China, a significant change of players’ market value has occurred despite the Corona pandemic that struck the world.  This change in player’s value significantly changed the ranking of the teams of the Asian continent. There are 39 teams participating in the current qualifiers after the withdrawal of North Korea, and they were divided into 8 groups, each of which includes 5 teams. 12 teams have qualified for the third round.

These variables that occur in the market value are an indication of the strength or weakness of the teams. In the 2019 Asian Cup, South Korea was at the forefront of the table with a market value of 84 million and 300,000 euros, but it fell to second place, despite its value rising to 126 million and 380 thousand euros, compared to Japan’s rise to the top now with 144 million euros. It is noteworthy that the Australian team fell to fourth place after its market value fell from 50 million and 600 thousand euros to 36 million and 500 thousand euros, while Iran climbed to third place from the value of 45 million and 350 thousand euros up to 79 million and 330 thousand euros.

The Saudi team leads the market value of the Arab Asian teams participating in the current qualifiers with 25 million 780 thousand, and occupies seventh place in the general ranking of the Asian continent, with an increase of more than 5 million euros from 2019. The UAE team ranked second among the Arabs of Asia With a value of 22 million 380 thousand euros, a double value of 2019, which was 8 million and 580 thousand, to rise from the tenth in 2019 to the eighth continental, then Qatar with 16 million and 430 thousand, and Iraq, which rose from 5 million and 380 thousand to 10 million and 280 thousand.

Asian Players Valuations

# Player Age Nationality Market value
1 Heung-min Son 28 Korea Rep €85.00m
Left Winger
2 Sardar Azmoun 26 Iran €40.00m
Centre-Forward
3 Daichi Kamada 24 Japan €25.00m
Attacking Midfield
4 Takehiro Tomiyasu 22 Japan €20.00m
Centre-Back
5 Mehdi Taremi 28 Iran €16.00m
Centre-Forward
6 Takefusa Kubo 20 Japan €15.00m
Right Winger
7 Takumi Minamino 26 Japan €12.00m
Left Winger
8 Hee-chan Hwang 25 Korea Rep €11.00m
Centre-Forward
9 Wataru Endo 28 Japan €10.00m
Defensive Midfield
10 Kang-in Lee 20 Korea Rep €10.00m
Attacking Midfield
11 Aaron Mooy 30 Australia €8.50m
Central Midfield
12 Junya Ito 28 Japan €8.00m
Right Winger
13 Ritsu Doan 23 Japan €7.00m
Right Winger
14 Eldor Shomurodov 25 Uzbekistan €7.00m
Centre-Forward
15 Mathew Ryan 29 Australia €6.00m
Goalkeeper
16 Alireza Jahanbakhsh 27 Iran €5.00m
Right Winger
17 Ui-jo Hwang 28 Korea Rep €5.00m
Centre-Forward
18 Omar Al-Somah 32 Syria €5.00m
Centre-Forward
19 Harry Souttar 22 Australia €4.00m
Centre-Back
20 Elkeson 31 China €4.00m
Centre-Forward
21 Lei Wu 29 China €4.00m
Left Winger
22 Hiroki Sakai 31 Japan €4.00m
Right-Back
23 Ali Mabkhout 30 UAE €4.00m
Centre-Forward
24 Ali Gholizadeh 25 Iran €3.70m
Right Winger
25 Shoya Nakajima 26 Japan €3.50m
Left Midfield

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As far as the teams are concerned, Japan is the undisputed top team in Asia. A country that has planned its progress for over four decades ago, is now repeating the benefit of its hard work in every department. Not only they administer and manage their football to perfection in Japan. Unlike some other nations such as Saudi Arabia and China which opted to spend a huge amount of money to gain success, the Japanese program embodied a culture, sense of responsibility, education, strong infrastructure, and emphasis on grass-root football to develop and progress. As such this Japanese model is exemplary and produced quality players that are now working in the best leagues of Europe. Soon, Japan will also produce quality coaches from the generation that has retired. It is only a matter of time.

 

As a team, Japan is the most expensive in Asia.

AFC National Teams Valuations

RNK TEAM Team Value In US$
1 Japan € 144,000,000.00  $  171,086,400.00
2 Korea Republic € 126,380,000.00  $  150,152,078.00
3 IR Iran € 79,330,000.00  $    94,251,973.00
4 Australia € 36,500,000.00  $    43,365,650.00
5 Uzbekistan € 27,650,000.00  $    32,850,965.00
6 Saudi Arabia € 25,780,000.00  $    30,629,218.00
7 China PR € 23,850,000.00  $    28,336,185.00
8 United Arab Emirates € 22,380,000.00  $    26,589,678.00
9 Qatar € 16,430,000.00  $    19,520,483.00
10 Iraq € 10,280,000.00  $    12,213,668.00
11 Jordan € 6,700,000.00  $       7,960,270.00
12 Vietnam € 5,650,000.00  $       6,712,765.00
13 Syria € 5,151,000.00  $       6,119,903.10
14 Oman € 3,580,000.00  $       4,253,398.00
15 Palestine € 3,380,000.00  $       4,015,778.00
16 Lebanon € 2,980,000.00  $       3,540,538.00

 

 

 

Team Melli is on the march : Iran 10 – 0 Cambodia

Iran defeated Cambodia 10-0 in Group C of the Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 on Friday to ensure their qualification hopes are very much in their own hands.

The win took Iran to 15 points and with Iraq – who defeated Hong Kong later on Friday to stay two points ahead at the top – up next on the final day of the Asian Qualifiers, a win for Team Melli will mean finishing as group winners.

Cambodia, meanwhile, ended their campaign with just one point to their name from eight matches.

Iran head coach Dragan Skocic made six changes to the starting line-up that had defeated Bahrain 3-0 in their previous match, but there was no disruption to service as the Central Asians took a firm grip on the match.

Cambodia, however, showed early determination but suffered a setback in the 15th minute when Iran were awarded a penalty after defender Sor Rotana’s foul on Alireza Jahanbaksh (pictured below, right), with the Iran skipper converting the spot-kick.

Group C: Cambodia v IR Iran

Iran continued to press and were rewarded again with Shojae Khalizadeh rising highest to head home a corner kick in the 22nd minute before Mehdi Taremi (pictured below, left) got into the goalscoring action with a half-volley to make it 3-0 five minutes later.

Iran’s fourth goal came through Rotana deflecting Milad Mohammadi’s cross past custodian Keo Soksela in the 32nd minute, with the inside of the crossbar denying the Central Asians a fifth before the break as Saeid Ezatolahi’s penalty rebounded off the woodwork.

Cambodia v IR Iran (2)

Iran maintained a high tempo in the second half with Mohammadi etching his name on the scoresheet in the 57th minute, courtesy of Mehdi Ghayedi’s superb through pass, before Morteza Pouraliganji headed home a corner six minutes later.

Cambodia’s desperate defending led to another Iran penalty in the 77th minute, with Karim Ansarifard slotting home to make it 7-0.

Saeid Ezatolahi - Cambodia v IR Iran

There was no stopping Iran’s quest for goals, with Kaveh Rezaei becoming the seventh Team Melli player to find the back of the net after heading in Sadegh Moharammi’s cross in the 80th minute before Ghayedi displayed his dribbling talent in the box to beat Soksela from close range.

Rezaei bagged his second of the night in the 87th minute as Iran completed an emphatic win and set its sights on Iraq.

The rich boys of Team Melli

Becoming a legionnaire is perhaps the dream of many young footballers all over the world.

Football has passed the stage of being a sport for fun and competition, it is now a business and a money-generating activity filled with fortunes. Not all the sources are clean money though as the sport is still suffering blatant money laundering schemes, however, at players’ level these sinister plots are invisible.

Iranian players have played in Europe from the onset. After the 1998 Fifa World Cup, the biggest number of Iranian players transferred to European leagues, specifically the Bundesliga. With the failure to qualify for the World Cup there were fewer suitors for Iranian players,  but the migration never completely stopped.

There are around 50 Iranian players exercising their profession outside of Iran. Europe, Persian Gulf states, and to a lesser extent the Far East have been the favorite destination.

The top earners are those who are successful and play in the European leagues. The Premier League is the richest league in the world and hence it is not a surprise that the top Iranian money earner comes from that league. Alireza Jahanbakhsh, who has been mostly a bench warmer in Brighton & Hove Albion, is the Top Earner of all Iranian footballers with a salary of nearly 4 million dollars per annum.

Iran’s best player of the season 2020/21 by far is Sardar Azmoun, yet he earns less than Jahanbakhsh. Taremi comes third in the table, despite his brilliant season with Porto, he earns half what Jahanbaksh earns with Brighton. Note that Brighton just avoided relegation in England while Porto defeated Chelsea, the current titleholder of the Champions League by the brilliant overhead kick by Taremi, ended the season in second place in Portugal.

In 4th position in the table is Saman Ghoddos who plays his football in the second tier club Brantford. The team from West London has won promotion to the premier league now,

 

 

Weekly Annual
Rank Player Club Wages US$ Wages US$
1 Alireza Jahanbakhsh Brighton  $ 75,260.00  $3,913,520.00
2 Sardar Azmoun Zenit  $ 62,480.00  $3,248,960.00
3 Mehdi Taremi FC Porto  $ 32,660.00  $1,698,320.00
4 Saman Ghoddos Brentford  $ 19,880.00  $1,033,760.00
5 Kaveh Rezai Charleroi  $ 17,040.00  $   886,080.00
6 Milad Mohammadi Gent  $ 12,638.00  $   656,040.00
7 Ali Alipour Maritimo  $   4,970.00  $   258,440.00
8 Ali Gholizadeh Charleroi  $   4,970.00  $   258,440.00
9 Reza Ghoochannejhad PEC Zwolle  $   3,834.00  $   169,832.00
10 Amir Abedzadeh Maritimo  $   2,130.00  $   102,240.00

3 Team Melli players leave camp after positive corona test results!

Team Melli’s first training session was held today in preparation for the friendly match against Syria.

The team is camping at at the National Football Center and the session started from 11:30 am today (Wednesday).

After the start of training, Dragan Skocic briefed the players for a few minutes, then followed by various exercises..

Team Melli is missing a few regulars this time mostly due to travel restriction due to covid19. Amir Abedzadeh was not invited to the camp due to quarantine laws on Madeira Island in Portugal , Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Saman Ghoddos due to flight restrictions from England, Morteza PouraliGanji and Sadegh Moharrami are both on the injury list while and Kaveh Rezaei has tested positive for coronavirus. Meanwhile, Mehdi Ghaedi, Aref Gholami and Mohammad Rashid Mazaheri, all three players from Esteghlal, left the camp due to  positive corona test.

This training session lasted for 70 minutes with a focus on light physical work.

The second training session will be conducted tomorrow (Thursday).

 

 

Iran to play a friendly against Syria

 As customary, Iran Football Federation has failed  to have more than one friendly match for Team Melli in preparation for the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers , and this time it will face Syria without the presence of the legionnaires.

Team Melli will play a friendly match against the Syrian national team in Tehran on 30th March ,  to fill the gap of the postponed qualifiers against Hong Kong and Cambodia.

Due to the late cancellation of the World Cup qualifiers, the Football Federation could not coordinate more than one match for the national team. As a result, Team Melli, as in previous months, instead of utilizing maximum time allowed and arranging at least two training matches, still misses part of the days called “FIFA Day” for arranging friendly and official matches.

* Iran plays without legionnaires

The match between the two teams Iran and Syria is to be held on the 29th of March, which occurs outside of the FIFA Day , a period which the international ruling body has earmarked from  18th to 26th March 2021. Most of the national teams arrange friendly international matches in this period.  Team Melli is not allowed to use its legionnaire players because the friendly arranged with Syria is outside of the FIFA Day !!

Although Iranian clubs are sacrificing their interests for the sake of the national team, there is no news of the presence of legionnaire players in this match, and Skocic will have to send his team to face Syria  without all his key players.

The absence of players such as Tarmi, Azmoun, Beiranvand, Milad Mohammadi, Saeed Ezatollahi, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Amir Abedzadeh, Sadegh Moharremi, Kaveh Rezaei, Ali Gholizadeh, Karim AnsariFard, etc. is in a situation which translates to what is a Team Melli without all of its key players, renders the friendly against the Syrians as a nothing more than a formality and hardly constructive for the Team and Skocic.

If the Iran-Syria match was held inside FIFA Day, it could be a special help to the Iranian national team. It remains to be seen whether Skocic can convince European and some Arab clubs to release their Iranian international  for  three to four days .

It is probable that he will generally restrict the presence of the legionnaires in the Nowruz 1400 camp, which begins on the 23rd of March, in order to participate in training only for three or four days.

AZ Alkamaar turns down Jahanbakhsh

Brighton has offered Alireza Jahanbakhsh to his former Dutch Club AZ Alkmaar, says technical director Max Huiberts. The English club wants to get rid of the Iranian attacker and recently called his old club with the request to move him there.

Jahanbakhsh (27) made the switch from AZ to Brighton two seasons ago for nineteen million euros, but his English adventure was not a success. He can leave and has already been associated with Ajax and PSV, but Brighton has offered him to AZ.

“I’ve been in contact with Brighton,” Huiberts told FOX Sports. “In fact, the initiative came more from them. They asked if it would be an option for us. His perspective has diminished a lot. We talked about it a while ago, but at the moment it is not. an option.”

Jahanbakhsh played 19 matches in his first season at Brighton but barely appeared for any game since the new coach took over last season. He made 10 appearances and scored two goals, one of which was a spectacular scissors kick, however that was a temporary cameo appearance as he was relegated to the bench for the rest of the season.  Jahanbakhsh has a contract with Brighton until 2023.

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