Tag: Doha

Team Melli defeated in its only preparation game.

Algeria’s National football team defeated Iran 2-1 in a friendly match held at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar Sunday night.

Riad Benayad opened the scoring for Algeria two minutes before the halftime.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh equalized the match in the 64th minute but Algerian winger Mohamed El Amine Amoura scored the winner in the 82nd minute. Both the Algerian goals were gifts from Iranian defenders.

The match started more than 20 minutes late due to the late arrival of the Algerian bus to the Qatar FC stadium. There was also a minute of silence before the match for the tragic accidents in Iran and the death of the Algerian National team player, Billel Benhammouda who was killed in a car accident after returning home from a match in which he scored a goal.

The first half saw action from both teams but a horrible back pass lead to the first goal for Algeria just before the half times.

In the second half, Jahabakh found the back of the net and the Iran equalizer from an assist by Omid Nourafkan.

Another wayward defending due to the pressure that Algerians were exerting on the Iranian ball carrier resulted in the Algerian winner.

Despite the defeat, Team Melli plays some neat football, but the players are obviously in need of much more than this match in order to perform well to their true ability at the world cup. Algeria was virtually playing with the U23 team while Team Melli was at full strength minus the two central defenders, Khalilzadeh and Kananizadegan.

Team Melli will be meeting the former African Champions Algeria Sunday evening in its only preparatory international friendly, in Doha Qatar.

Although Team Melli and all other national team age groups for this matter have historically been one of the weakest teams in terms of preparation and readiness, in FIFA World Cup and other tournaments such as AFC Asian Cup, this time, it must be the worst in its history and puts Iran football reputation to shame.

After what looked like a cesarean operation, the Algeria match was finally confirmed, following a series of cancellations against Canada, Uruguay, New Zealand, South Africa, and Oman.

The match against Algeria this evening is quite a good test despite the African team missing their star player and Manchester City winger Riyadh Mehrez. The coach Djamel Belmadhi, a familiar character against Iranian teams, is under great scrutiny for failing to lead his team to qualify for the World Cup 2022.

Djamel Belmadi is determined to revive the mighty Algerian team and has announced before that he will not leave his post with the national team and instead will remain in charge of their qualifying campaign for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which will be held in Ivory Coast.

Belmadi had come under mounting criticism following a disastrous defense of their 2019 AFCON title.

At the 2021 edition of the tournament in Cameroon earlier this year, Algeria finished bottom of Group E having taken just one point from three matches.

‘The Desert Warriors’ also failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar after they lost to Cameroon on away goals in their play-off tie.

Belmadhi urged players who wanted to join the team to come up with a fighting spirit as former Algerians did years ago.

Djamel Belmadi showed himself determined to end this second Greens training camp in Doha in the best possible way, “we were keen to play a third match during this international window.

The game against Iran is a good opportunity to gauge our team. he said at the microphone of the FAF. Coach Belmadi revealed the direct line that the Algerian team will follow for the friendly against Iran, “we will approach this match in the most rigorous way. We will not ignore the culture of winning, if only for a friendly match. he adds.

Aware of the work that awaits his men for his second term at the head of the Algerian selection, the 2019 African champion kept the pressure on his players away, “it is a team in reconstruction. We are going to face a selection that has its automatisms in place, while we are working to find them. It’s a great test for the Algerian team. he explains.

As far as Skocic is concerned, this match remains the only confirmed opportunity for him to watch his player play against a strong opponent. Of course, it is far from adequate preparation and this could be an excuse too for failing in the finals. Skocic remains culpable for this failure to prepare the team for the greatest tournament in the world.

It is hardly unlikely that Skocic will touch the lineup as he will use this match to check on his main players. The many new faces will only play second string while Algeria is re-building.

“Training preparations not ideal” says Jahanbakhsh

Alireza Jahanbakhsh, currently in training camp with the rest of his Team Melli teammates in Doha, Qatar, “was critical of the chaotic preparations for the Training camp and the uncertainties which have upset the players and staff of the team.  “After some confusion about the camp, the location of the camp, and the friendly games, the decision to hold the camp in Doha was quite good,” Jahanbakhsh said

“Of course, due to the weather conditions and humid climate, practice and training are held in the evenings when the temperature is much lower and the weather is bearable.”

Team Melli Captain added:” The physical conditions of the players are not bad. After canceling a few friendly matches, at least the game with Algeria is on. We are training well to face this good team and hope we can make a match out of it. I, the other players, and the coaching staff wanted to play more preparation games, but unfortunately, that did not happen.”

He stressed that “these are the difficult conditions in preparing the national team. The groundwork, programming, and arrangement of Training Camps must be ideal and should leave no one in doubt about what is happening, where, and when. Instead, we were living in suspense as the plans for the camp kept changing every day from one place to another and one match to another. Such uncertainty does not help the players or the coaching staff.”

“We should not let the events of this training camp happen ever again, We should plan from now on so that we can go through a good preparation for the World Cup. Wales became another team that has made the tough group even tougher now. I do not see the situation as positive.”

Jahanbakhsh was upset with the situation in the national team and also said: “Let’s go to the World Cup without preparation and preparation games! Honestly, we do not see any positive conditions, but we must also look at the positive part of the story. The players are determined to make fans happy with good games.”

In what sounded like a tongue-in-cheek remark, the Feyenoord winger said “Fans and people of the country, should pray for us to have proper training schedule and camps ahead so that we play well against the tough opponents and make them happy and proud in the World Cup.”

Team Melli to meet Algeria in Doha

Team Melli, currently in a training camp in Qatar, Qatar is scheduled to meet with Algeria as announced by the Football Federation of Algeria.

Iran has previously held talks with several African football federations, including Congo, Cameroon, and Algeria, to play a preparatory game on FIFA Day in June. South Africa was also the latest possible opponent of Iran, which, with the announcement of its head coach, planned to play against our national team on June 14 in Doha.

However, it seems that the meeting with Algeria in Qatar has been decided for the Team Melli and Iran can have at least one friendly international game. This is the news announced by “Salah Bi-Abboud”, the director of communications and public relations of the Algerian Football Federation. “What is certain is that Algeria will play against Iran in Doha on June 12,” he told Algerian National Radio. There is an agreement between the two teams. We are waiting for the formalization of affairs at the level of organization and logistics.” The director of communications of the Algerian federation announced that after the official announcement, this news will be published on the website of the Algerian federation.

Tow previous games vs Canada in Vancouver and Ecuador were scheduled in Canada, but political interference lead to the unilateral cancellation of the match by pressure from the Canadian government. Next, Iran planned to travel to Uruguay and play with the national team of this country; This did not materialize due to the difficult logistics and objection of Iran’s head coach Dragan Skočić.

FFIRI has not confirmed the news of Algeria match.

Uruguay is possibly the next match!

The Secretary-General of the Football Federation said that the friendly match between Iran and Uruguay is almost finalized.

After the one-sided cancellation of the friendly against Canada, the Football Federation FFIRI under immense pressure and criticism changed its plans for Team Melli as the squad will now travel to Doha, Qatar instead of the original plan in North America. From there The squad will most likely head to South America.

In an interview with Khabar, Hossein Kamranifar, the Secretary-General of tFFIRI announced the negotiation with the Uruguayan Football Federation for a friendly match in at an advanced stage: “We were negotiating until a few minutes ago and we are doing the necessary work to play against Uruguay. This team is 13th in the FIFA rankings, and God willing, we will move forward and play there. An Uruguay friendly has been canceled and will probably be in Uruguay and in Montevideo, the capital,” he said of the time and place.

“We are planning to hold this game around June 12th.” The secretary-general of the football federation added while also mentioned that they are actively seeking to arrange another friendly match, but did not name the team. Team Melli will leave for Qatar on June 10, and if their plans are finalized, they will probably fly to Uruguay to play with one of the teams that qualified for the World Cup. Uruguay is one of the strongest teams in the World Cup, having qualified for the knockout stages in the past, and is the champion of the first two tournaments of the World Cup. Their most famous players are Edison Cavani and Luis Suárez. The latter will not be available for the match as he is still injured. The current Uruguay squad mostly consists of aging players.

According to the schedule of Uruguay, the team had two matches arranged for FIFA Day, first against Mexico on 3rd June and then three days later against USA. Press reports in Uruguay have mentioned that its football federation is considering Iran, as a possible rival of Uruguay on June 11th. Jamaica, the original opponent withdrew from the match.

03/06/22 FRI Mexico 05 : 00 Uruguay
06/06/22 FRI United States 00 : 00 Uruguay

Hamid Estili “4 friendly matches are being finalized for Team Melli”

Hamid Estili, the Manager of Team Melli, talked about the latest plans of the Team and the preparation programs before participating in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar: “Our most important training camp will be held in June for two weeks. We have planned with Mr. Skocic to play four friendly matches in Qatar. Fortunately, we have a good relationship with Qataris and they have been quite helpful and responsive with us.”

Estili continued: “Mirshad Majedi (acting head of the Football Federation) is fluent in English and communicated well with Mr. Infantino, President of FIFA and the Qatar Federation. The manager of the national football team also referred to negotiations with other countries to play a friendly match on the sidelines of the World Cup draw and added: “We had fruitful talks with several FIFA memeber associations regarding playing friendly matches, unfortunately, we will not be able to play against the European countries in June because they are still involved in their domestic league and cup competition themselves,”

Estili also mentioned that talks for a friendly game against the USA were in advanced stages, but due to the draw which put Iran and USA in the same group, a friendly match is now out of question.put

Iran in the third seed of World Cup draw.

The Iranian national football team was placed in the third round of the FIFA  World Cup 2022 in Qatar.

With nearly all matches except a few played in the World Cup qualifiers, the ranking of the teams present in this period of competition was also determined. Based on this, the Iranian national team will be in Seed 3 as in the previous period. The draw for the World Cup will be held on Friday in Doha, and Team Melli will know its opponents.

* What does it mean to be in Seed 3?

The placement of Iran in Seed 3 is a good thing, because a team from Seed 4, which is lower than Iran in terms of points in the FIFA rankings, will be in our group.

* Which teams will we not be in the same group with Iran?

Also, considering the ranking of Iran in the World Cup, Team Melli will definitely not be in the same group with the teams in seed 3. Iran will not be drawn in the same group with the other Asian teams such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and South Korea. Also, if Australia or UAE qualify for the World Cup through the playoffs, this team will not be drawn with Iran. Thus, the Iranian national team will definitely not be grouped with the teams of Senegal, Serbia, Poland, Morocco, Tunisia, South Korea, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and “UAE or Australia” (in case of reaching the World Cup).

World Cup qualifiers are as follows:

Seed 1  Belgium (1), Brazil (2), France (3), Argentina (4), England (5), Spain (7), Portugal (8), Qatar (52)

Seed 2: Denmark (9), Netherlands (10), Germany (11),  Mexico (12) , USA (13), Switzerland (14),  Croatia (15), Uruguay (16)

Seed 3: Senegal (18), Iran (21), Japan (23), Morocco (24), Serbia (25), Poland (28), South Korea (29), Tunisia (36)

Seed 4: Canada (33),  Cameroon (38),  Ecuador (46), Saudi Arabia (53), Ghana (61), , 3 playoff teams

* Mexico and USA are still on the face, No, for all intents and purposes, we should consider these two teams among the teams that have qualified for the 2022 World Cup.

Note: In the World Cup draw, teams from different continents, except Europe, will not be grouped with a team from their own continent, and from Europe, a maximum of two teams can be in the same group.

 

Ali Daei will participate in the draw ceremony.

Iran’s legend and former Team Melli coach will be one of the 7 selected football personalities who will be drawing the names out of the pot.

Another Semi-Final heartbreak for Queiroz!

Carlos Quieroz experienced yet another heartbreak in the semi-finals of the FIFA Arab Cup when his team, Egypt conceded an injury-time goal to lose 1-0 to Tunisia.

Queiroz lead Team Melli to two World Cups in Brazil in 2014 and Russia in 2018. He was also the head coach in the two editions of AFC Asian Cups 2015 & 2019 and was on the brink of making the final of the AFC Asian Cup 2019 in UAE before losing heavily to Japan in his last match as the head coach of Team Melli. Queiroz and Iran were denied the trophy that eluded team Melli for over 40 years. On the other hand, this loss to Tunisia in Doha was yet another setback for the veteran coach who does not seem to make it to the finals nor win trophies.

The match which was refereed by Iranian Alireza Faghani was a sell-out.

Faghani whistled for a penalty in the second half for Tunisia, however, after he reviewed the VAR, he changed his decision and canceled the penalty.

Faghani, who was given the tough task of refereeing this highly sensitive and volatile match, succeeded in controlling the match while awarding a yellow card for Carlos Queiroz for continuous encroachments. The Portuguese coach of Egypt continued his bickering even after the yellow card which saw the no-nonsense Faghani return back to Queiroz to give him the last warning pointing to the stand, a place that Queiroz would have ended up if he did not shut his mouth.

Carlos Queiroz will now have the tough task of taking Egypt to the World Cup 2022.

Memorandum of collaboration signed between Iran and Qatar

Iran and Qatar have signed a four-year football Memorandum of collaboration commencing before the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

The presidents of FFIRI Shehab Azizi Khadem and Sheikh Hamad bin Ahmed Al Thani, President of the Qatar Football Association, attended the signing ceremony earlier today (Thursday) in Doha.  According to the memorandum, the two federations will collaborate in holding friendly matches, exchange of training facilities as well as training camps at all levels of different age categories of their respective national football teams, including men and women. The long-term collaboration between the two sides, which will soon be implemented in various fields, is important due to the good relations between the two countries, ease of logistics and transportation, proximity, and cultural commonalities of the two countries.

With Qatar hosting the 2022 World Cup, its state-of-the-art facilities and modern infrastructure will be available to National Iranian football teams in Qatar. In this meeting, Hamidreza Mehr Ali (acting vice president of the FFIRI), Rafiei (legal advisor to the president of FFIRI) and Dragan Skocic (head coach of the national team) accompanied Azizi Khadem. Also present at the meeting was FIFA’S Deputy Secretary-General Football, Mattias Grafström.   Last night on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the FIFA Arab Cup, Azizi Khadem had a meeting with Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, who is scheduled to travel to Iran in February 2022.

Azizi Khadem has traveled to Qatar at the official invitation of the President of the Qatar Football Federation. Qatar will host the Qatar FIFA World Cup in November 2022, and the Iranian national team is just one step away from qualifying for the tournament. With this contract, it can be hoped that the national team will take advantage of Qatar’s sports facilities to hold camps and friendly matches within a year of the tournament.

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