Tag: Bengaluru

Team Melli lands in Bengaluru.

Team Melli landed in Bengaluru (Bangalore) this morning following a few hours transit in Dubai airport. This flight was one of the most trouble-free trips that Team Melli has enjoyed for a long time. From Queiroz being denied exit from Iran due to non-payment of income tax all the way to the last trip to Uzbekistan then Turkmenistan where the chartered flight was delayed creating a stressful condition on the squad, Team Melli has endured much difficulties in their travels recently. It is expected that Queiroz will gather the team for light training as soon as the squad checks into the hotel. The match against India as part of the qualifying rounds of the FIFA World Cup 2018 on the 8th will be the first time the two  countries have met in 23 years since May 1992 where Iran defeated India 3-0 in Calcutta in the Asian Cup Qualifiers. The rejuvenated Team Melli is in high spirit after routing Guam, the group leader , 6-0 in Azadi on Thursday. The Team line up against Guam had a good mix of senior players like Hosseini , Montazerri, Dejagah and Teymourian while the rest were young players or newly inducted players. This is far cry form the two squads in the World Cup 2014 and the Asian Cup 2015 which basically was the same team consisting of senior or aged players who have passed their best and their displays were found wanting by the fans and the media.  

Head2Head

Venue Matches W D L Goals + / -
Home 1 1 0 0 3 - 0 +3
Away 5 3 0 2 9 - 6 +3
Neutral 3 2 1 0 6 - 1 +5
Total 9 6 1 2 18 - 7 +11
 

List of matches

Date Comp. H / A / N Final score Stadium Attendance
13.May.1992 Asian Cup Qualifier / ACQ A 3 - 0 Calcutta 20000
07.Dec.1984 Asian Cup / Group B N 0 - 0 Singapore 10000
07.Mar.1980 Olympics Qualifier / OLQ N 2 - 0 Singapore 11000
13.Dec.1966 Asian Games N 4 - 1 Bangkok 10000
19.Jun.1964 Olympics Qualifier A 3 - 1 Rapindra Soria , Calcutta 25000
06.Jun.1964 Olympics Qualifier H 3 - 0 Amjadiah , Tehran 30000
15.Dec.1959 Asian Cup Qualifier A 2 - 1 Ernakulam, Kerela, India
08.Dec.1959 Asian Cup Qualifier A 1 - 3 Ernakulam, Kerela, India
10.Mar.1951 Asian Games / Final A 0 - 1 New Delhi , India 40000
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Stephen Constantine: Iran are the giants of Asia

With just more than a month left for the Indian National Team to play Iran, the ‘Giants of Asia’, in the 2018 FIFA World Cup and 2019 AFC Asian Cup Preliminary Joint Qualifier in Bengaluru, AIFF Media caught up with National Coach Stephen Constantine on a number of issues pertaining to Indian football.   INTERVIEW How much is the road ahead tough? The road for us is as tough as I had expected it to be. Many may have thought that this was going to be a quick transition given that we beat Nepal and qualified. Many may have also severely underestimated Guam, and possibly overestimated the level that we are at the moment, which I personally feel cannot change within a short time. Have there been changes to the squad? I have made many changes to the philosophy of the team to the type of training that we do including introducing many bright new prospects into the squad. But at the same time, they also need time to adjust to the pace and the level of international football. There is a huge difference between the standard of the domestic leagues to international football. How is our team shaping up prior to the Iran match? It’s Iran, the 41st ranked team in the world, the Giants of Asia. I feel that says it all. The International Friendly against Nepal is the sole competitive match that our boys would have played before taking on the Asian superpowers. You need to remember that prior to the match against Nepal, most of the National Team players have not played a competitive game since June 2015 (against Guam) while the others have not played since May 31, 2015, i.e., the completion of the Hero I-League. So for some players, its more than two months while for the rest, it’s almost or even more than three months. The National Team is at a huge disadvantage. We are playing Nepal on August 31st in an International Friendly? Is there any specific reason to play Nepal? There were options playing against higher ranked teams but seeing that we are playing a home game, we wanted to play at home while those teams wanted to play at their home. So it didn’t materialize. Under such circumstance, it’s good we played some close to our ranking. I know the sentiment of people wanting us to play more but none wants to play more than me. (Interview & Photo courtesy AIFF Media)

Indian announces squad for Iran match.

New Delhi: National coach Stephen Constantine on Thursday announced a list of 28 probables for India's forthcoming 2018 World Cup preliminary joint qualification match against Iran.

Iran, as per the July 2015 FIFA rankings, stay the highest Asian team on 38.

The match is slated to be played at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on September 8, 2015 and would be telecast live on Sony Six.

The 28 probables would be assembling for a preparatory camp in Pune on August 23.

The match against Iran will be preceded by an international friendly against Nepal on August 31, which will be played at the Balewadi Stadium in Pune.

Probables:

Goalkeepers: Subrata Paul, Karanjit Singh, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Arindam Bhattacharya, Sanjiban Ghosh.

Defenders: Arnab Mondal, Sandesh Jhingan, Aiborlang Khongjee, Dhanachandra Singh, Lalchhuanmawia, Narayan Das, Rino Anto, Pritam Kotal.

Midfielders: Dhanapal Ganesh, Eugenson Lyngdoh, Cavin Lobo, Sehnaj Singh, Jackichand Singh, Pronoy Halder, Brandon Fernandes, Francis Fernandes, CK Vineeth, Rowlin Borges, Romeo Fernandes.

Forwards: Holicharan Narzary, Jeje Lalpekhlua, Robin Singh, Sunil Chhetri.