Tag: Dragan Skočić

Skocic rep[laces the Esteghlal dropped players. Kananizadegan told to leave too.

the list of Team Melli changed after the expulsion of Hossein Hosseini, Mehdi Mehdipour, Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh, Aref Gholami and Saleh Hardani from the national team training camp.

y the decision of Dragan Skocic, Payam Niazmand, Soroush Rafiei, Armin Sohrabian, Saeed Sadeghi, and Mehdi Shiri are the players who have been invited to the Team Melli camp instead of the 5 dropped Esteghlal players. On the other hand, Mohammad Hossein Kananizadegan is another player who has left the national team camp. Kanaanizadegan, who went to the Olympic Hotel where the national team was staying yesterday, is apparently unable to accompany the national team in the upcoming friendly matches due to a disciplinary and ethics committee’s ban, and hence he was removed from the national team list. Instead of the Kananizadeghan, Seyed Mehdi Hosseini from Mes Rafsanjan was invited by Skocic.

According to the plan, the Team is scheduled to leave for Qatar today and hold several preparatory matches in Doha and most probably in Uruguay, if the terms for the friendly is agreed.

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Dragan Skočić, drops 5 Esteghlal players from Team Melli camp.

Team Melli head coach, Dragan Skočić, dropped 5 Esteghlal players from the national team training camp today. According to press reports, Skocic removed the names of 5 players after their “no show” for training. Hamid Estili, the manager of the national football team, told ISNA: “These players were supposed to introduce themselves to the national team camp at 5 pm yesterday (Monday) and then get a release to go to the Esteghlal’s camp with the permission of the head coach, but they did not do so. They neither turned up nor informed us. They went directly to their club’s camp.”

The Esteghlal players are : Aref Gholami, Seyed Hossein Hosseini, Mehdi Mehdipour, Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh and Saleh Hardani. It is not clear if this move by Skocic is a long term one, but it seems that these player’s chances of making it to the trip to Latin America are quite slim, but more importantly, it will be even a slimmer chance of anyone of them making the final list to the World Cup unless a strong reason is provided by Farhad Majidi, the team’s head coach and the Esteghlal management.

Esteghlal has won this seasons League title undefeated. They received the trophy yesterday after the match against Naft Masjed Soleiman.

UPDATE

In the latest development, Esteghlal club swiftly reacted to the dropping of the players by issuing an official apology!

The statement read: “Following the recent events which resulted in the expulsion of Esteghlal players selected for Team Melli training camps, we would like to inform the general public that the club has always acted in good faith in interacting with the national football team of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and considers itself obligatory to help the country’s representatives. In the recent case, unfortunately, despite the previous announcement of Team Melli’s head coach on the importance of the attendance of all players from the first day of the camp, there were discrepancies (..) in the planning of last week’s league matches, which caused negligence of our part. The team Melli leader issued a disciplinary action. Esteghlal Club is aware of its role in this incident and accepts its responsibility.

Therefore, while supporting and apologizing to Mr. Skocic for interrupting the national team training camp, we ask him to reinstate the 5 dropped  Esteghlal players to the camp. Attending the camp and wearing the national team’s sacred shirt is the pride of Esteghlal Club. The club management supports and wishes Mr. Skocic and the Iranian national team all the success in their quest for the World Cup in Qatar, emphasizing our backing for the national team.”

Dragan Skocic bemoans the surreal status of Team Melli

Dragan Skocic, finally reacted to the unsatisfactory state of the team’s preparation, as well as the cancellation of the Iran-Canada friendly match on FIFA day, by issuing a statement. In this message, Skocic criticized the federation and its officials, who these days are more concerned with lobbying and holding the federation assembly than with the national team and the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

in the message on social media, Skocic said: “It seems that the rift between the executive members of the federation,  and holding of the Football Federation Assembly has taken a priority over more important issues such as Team Melli readiness for the World Cup, the preparations, and meeting the technical and logistical needs of the team. Those are no more the first priority of the relevant authorities. In the current surreal situation, the professional and ethical duty of the coaching staff and players is to do whatever they can with all their might to maintain their greatest asset of the national team, which is the passion and the hopes of the Team Melli fans right across the world. It is the sacred right of every Iranian to know more about the national team, especially what has passed and will pass on this valuable time from the beginning of the World Cup qualifiers until today.
The Croat coach ended his message by saying “That is why I will talk about this in detail in the next few days at a press conference.”

Squad announced for June training camp

Dragan Skocic invited 25 players to the upcoming training camp starting next Monday.

Team Melli will start the training in Tehran and then move over to Istanbul before flying to Canada in preparation for the friendly international with the host country in Vancouver.  A second match was planned but never materialized.

With the injured players such as Ghoddos, Khalilzadeh, Amiri, and Pouraliganji not available for selection, Skocic added the name of two former members of Team Melli to the list, Omid Ebrahim and Ali Alipour. Notable absentees due to loss of form mean the exclusion of Mehdi Ghaedi and Kaveh Rezaei from the list.

 

Team Melli Captain Karim Ansarifard and the current AEK Athens player is the major absentee from this camp and will not accompany the national team for a long time. While the current situation requires players to secure their place in the World Cup final list by performing well with their clubs and attending training regularly, Karim was severely injured in a freak accident in the national team’s previous camp on Nowruz 1401, during a birthday party when a cake was pounded on his face, Due to that eyes injury, he also missed the game against Lebanon. As a result, he was away from training for a while and on his return, he had to conduct his training with goggles. Since his injury, Ansarifard has not played in any of his team’s matches and usually plays for a few minutes, and has now lost his place in Team Melli

Skocic has replaced  Ansarifard with Ali Alipour so that the forward who plays in the Portuguese league with Gil Vicente can finally recover after a three-year absence from the national team and may be able to improve the national team’s offensive line.

 

No. Pos. Player Date of birth  Age Caps Goals Club
GK Alireza Beiranvand 12-Sep-1992   29 50 0
 Royal Antwerp
GK Hossein Hosseini 30- May-1992   29 4 0
 Esteghlal
GK Amir Abedzadeh 26 -Apr-1993   29 9 0
 Ponferradina
DF Sadegh Moharrami 24 -Mar-1996   26 18 0
 Dinamo Zagreb
DF Aref Gholami 23-Apr-1997   25 1 0
 Esteghlal
DF Milad Mohammadi 29-Sep-1993   28 45 1
 AEK Athens
DF Hossein Kanaanizadegan 23-Mar-1994   28 32 2
 Al-Ahli
DF Saleh Hardani 14-Sep-1998   23 2 0
 Esteghlal
DF Majid Hosseini 20-Jun-1996   25 16 0
 Kayserispor
DF Omid Noorafkan 09-Apr-1997   25 12 0
 Sepahan
DF Aref Aghasi 02-Jan-1997   25 0 0
 Foolad
MF Ehsan Hajsafi (Captain) 25-Feb-1990   32 118 7
 AEK Athens
MF Saeid Ezatolahi 01-Oct-1996   25 44 1
 Vejle
MF Alireza Jahanbakhsh 11-Aug-1993   28 61 12
 Feyenoord
MF Ahmad Nourollahi 02-Jan-1993   29 23 3
 Shabab Al-Ahli
MF Milad Sarlak 26-Mar-1995   27 8 0
 Persepolis
MF Omid Ebrahimi 15-Sep-1987   34 52 0
 Al-Wakrah
MF Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh 30-Oct-2000   21 2 0
 Esteghlal
MF Mehdi Torabi 10-Sep-1994   27 34 6
 Persepolis
MF Ali Gholizadeh 10 -Mar-1996   26 23 6
 Charleroi
MF Mehdi Mehdipour 18-Feb-1994   28 2 0
 Esteghlal
FW Mehdi Taremi 18-Jul-1992   29 57 27
 Porto
FW Sardar Azmoun 01-Jan-1995   27 62 40
 Bayer Leverkusen
FW Ali Alipour 11-Nov-1995   26 3 0
 Gil Vicente
FW Allahyar Sayyadmanesh 29-Jun-2001   20 6 1
 Hull City

Team Melli news update.

Team Melli is preparing fror the friendly match against the Canadian national team on the morning of June 6. As per the announcement of the Canadian Federation, 50 people can be included in the list of Iran’s squad traveling to Vancouver for this match. FFIRI has also prepared a list of names of people who can accompany Team Melli on this trip. According to the list that will be soon submitted by head coach Dragan Skocic, the FFIRI will proceed with the administrative affairs related to issuing visas. Between 23 to 25 players will be selected plus the coaching staff and the support group, medical kits, and Culinary team are expected to be included in the list. It is also expected that security agents and undercover police be part of the group keeping an eye on the players.

Dragan Skočić

The Croatian head coach of Team Melli who has recently returned to Tehran from his holiday is just about to announce the final list of the Team Melli’s squad traveling to Canada. One major absentee will be Saman Ghoddos who is still on the injury list and not fully fit for competitive matches.

Skočić is still hoping that the federation could find a second opponent in Canada as it seems that the Ecuador match is in doubt.

Karim Bagheri.

The Football Federation of Iran FFIRI has crossed out Karim Bagheri’s name from the list that was submitted to the  Canadian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, for visa application. Karim Bagheri’ was given the choice to be either a part of the Team Melli coaching staff full time or maintain his post as assistant in the Persepolis team. Due to the requirement of Team Melli at this stage, the federation did not find it feasible for Krim to hold both posts simultaneously.

Dragan Skocic, the head coach of the Iranian national team, along with the executive officials of the Football Federation, have opposed the simultaneous presence of Karim Bagheri in Persepolis and the national team regarding the national team’s qualification to the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Therefore, the name of Karim Bagheri has been removed from the ranks of Skocic’s assistants, and he will definitely not accompany the national team on his trip to Canada.

Khodadad Azizi

On other hand, Mirshad Majedi, the acting head of the Football Federation, with the approval of the executive and technical committee of the Iranian national team, has agreed with the appointment of former Team Melli star Khodadad Azizi as part of the coaching staff during this trip to Canada. Azizi has been included in the list of visa applications. It seems like the possibility of his permanent presence as a replacement for Karim Bagheri is a serious possibility.

Mirshad Majedi

The acting head of the FFIRI is likely to head the delegation to Canada although it has not been confirmed yet. The Canadian Federation has requested in its contract the presence of the highest official of the federation on this trip for the possibility of negotiations of cooperation development, mutual agreement on future friendlies, and other areas of support between the two federations.  Therefore, Majidi is likely to accompany the national team on their trip to Canada.

Istanbul Camp.

The Football Federation has planned a mini-camp in Istanbul which allows  Skocic to train his player for at least three sessions in Istanbul. Apart from physically obtaining the visas, the squad will most probably have to travel to Vancouver through Istanbul anyway, so that created an opportunity for a mini-training camp that Skocic duly agreed uupon.

The Canadian connection.

the Football Federation of Iran and its Canadian counterpart expressed concern about some adverse comments regarding the match. The bad propaganda against Iran’s visit and the match in Vancouver are not sport-related and it is meant to negatively influence the potential attendees against the Iranian regime.  In this letter, the Football Federation of Iran, according to the clauses in the contract, has demanded stern action by the authorities against any kind of political protest and anti-regime slogans in the stadium.  It also demanded that the match be held in a complete sporting atmosphere and not spoiled by politics

. The Iranian Federation has stated that any political gathering during the presence of the Iranian convoy in Vancouver should be stopped and the necessary guarantees should be given in this regard. In the contract for this meeting, the host country has given a full commitment that it will not allow any formally and planned political protests. However, the Iranian Football Federation is waiting for an official response from its counterpart to ensure this. Canada responds explicitly The Canadian Federation, in response to a letter from the Iranian Football Federation, has announced that it has signed a contract with Iran as an independent body and will provide a full guarantee for the match without any political interference.

Letter of appreciation

 The second letter of tFFIRI to Canada includes thanks and appreciation for the response of Soccer Canada against political meddling and its rights to arrange friendly matches as it deems necessary for Team Canada.  The letter mentioned in part that Soccer Canada is an approved and independent body and that nothing could be expected but to maintain transparency and commitment to the contract signed by the country that will host the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Termination of this contract will only be possible under extreme conditions or unpredictable events and hence “force majeure” will be activated. If the game between the two teams is to be canceled under the “force majeure” conditions, no compensation will be awarded to either party.

Friendly with Albania

FFIRI  was negotiating with several federations for friendly games in Doha amongst them was Albania. This UEFA member is currently occupying 65 places in FIFA Ranking against Iran’s 21st. Albania never qualified for any world cup in its history and hardly has any famous name on its national team. Yet, this team demanded a large fee for the match plus all expenses paid by FFIRI for the Albanian squad.

FFIRI respectfully turned down the Albanian demands, however, the audacity of the Albanians seems to be laughable!!!

Dragan Skocic’s fears and hopes

The Croatian coach’s survival and leading Team Melli in FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is quite certain, but Skočić still has concerns.

Hamshahri newspaper, in an article about the current status of Team Melli, wrote: “The finalization of the friendly match against Canada on the morning of June 6th is a very good event; It is both technically useful for the national team and shows that the uncertainty of the football federation has not affected Team Melli after all. This game should be considered auspicious. Surely Dragan Skucic is happy too. The Croatian head coach of the national team felt the danger of being fired after the defeat against South Korea in the Nowruz ceremonial game, but now it seems that his position is steadfast and solid.

Even for some time after the World Cup draw, some saboteurs pushed the idea of a much higher profile world-class coach will is needed for Team Melli in Qatar instead of Skocic, but if there was a will to do so, it would seem futile and nothing more than feeble lobbying that found very little attention and consideration. . There are only six months left until the start of the World Cup, and the friendly matches of Team Melli are being fixed with Skocic. Therefore, the Croatian is relieved that he will lead the Iranian national team in Qatar and is focused on hard work.

However, that is not to say that Skočić is worry-Free at this stage, for the challenge is huge and far from simple. Is Canada enough? Many claimed that for various reasons, the game against Canada is a good and precious opportunity for the Iranian national team; Both their football is similar to USA’s and they are a good and strong team. Anyway, Canada managed to win four points from the United States in two games, and our game and theirs will surely benefit us. However,  just this one game to prepare for the biggest football show on the planet is not enough for Team Melli.

It is said that the rest of the package of friendly matches is supposed to be completed with the games against the likes of New Zealand and Albania, but these matches are not very useful. In fact, there is a concern that the federation will feel satisfied after arranging the game with Canada and will not leave much to be desired for the rest of the friendly matches. It is a pity if that is the case. Do not forget that we are playing against England, the most expensive national football team in the world at the moment. Wales or Scotland may be added to the Iran group and we need to play with a team that has such characteristics.

Which posts are missing?

Dragan Skocic, however, should also have concerns about some of the national team posts. For example, the right-back position is a very serious challenge. Skocic’s favorite choice for the post is Sadegh Moharrami who does not seem to be the fan’s favorite. Moharrami has long been lost in the club category. He has had a great performance at Dinamo Zagreb and even recently Branko Ivankovic criticized the club’s technical staff for benching the Iranian. The quality of Moharrami’s in Team Melli has been inconsistent. On the other hand, Ramin Rezaian returned to the Iranian league to show himself to Dragan Skoucic, but he was not very successful and failed to convince Team Meli selectors to include him in the squad. Rezaeian also has discipline issues. For Voria Ghafouri, his best years are behind him at this stage and almost done at the international level while Saleh Hardani lacks the experience that is required to help the Team in the World Cup.

If you have followed the Asian Champions League, you must have noticed the decline of Daniel Ismaili at that post.

Other positions of concern are defensive midfielders. Ahmed Noorullahi has not had an outstanding performance in the weaker team of Al-Ahly in the UAE League, while Saeed Ezzatullahi in the weaker team of Al-Gharafah in Qatar has only become in huge big margin defeats. Even recently, Milad Sarlak’s performance in Persepolis has had many critics. In general, Skocic should also be concerned about the decline of the Legionnaires. Alireza Biranvand, Ali Gholizadeh, Karim Ansarifard Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Ehsan Hajosafi, and some others have played very little these months.

Maybe the problem of some of these players will be solved by choosing a better team in the World Cup year. “In that case, we hope they will make an open-minded choice.” The reality is that Iranian Players do not easily integrate well n the western teams, the best problem being the language and work ethics. In the Iranian Domestic league, the way the players are developed and the relaxed and indisciplined attitude of the clubs, do not augur well for players to become legionnaires. Only a few percent of Iranians make it while most struggle and eventually return home.

Kamranifar “Team Melli will be playing in Canada”

Commenting on the latest developments in the Team Melli camp, Hassan Kamranifar said: “We are closely coordinating with the head coach of the national team, Dragan Skocic. Our contract was finalized on Monday and will be announced to the public in the next two days. We will have a good preparation for the first Fifa day break including playing some friendly international games. This Fifa day will start from 30 May to 14 June and we will have a period of 14 days for the Team Melli training camp. We hope to play at least two to three friendly games.”

In response to the question, in which country will the Team Melli camp will be held, He stated: “It will probably be in two different countries. First, we go to a country other than Qatar and then we go will camp in Qatar on the next available FIFA day in September 2022. Kamranifar continued: “First we will go to Canada and then we will travel to Qatar. The venues in Canada have also been finalized. If you allow me, it will be finalized tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and we will announce the two more games.” The Secretary-General of the Football Federation said that it is better for the national team to play at least two games in Canada, despite the distance : “Yes, we talked to two other countries for friendly matches to play in Canada.” There is also the issue of stadiums because the distances between Canadian cities are vast. If we are going to fly for 5-6 hours for the second game, we will return to Qatar. I cannot name the opposing team at this time. They themselves have said that the nominal contract should not be finalized.”

Kamranifar also announced the possibility of facing the Albanian team and said: “European teams are involved.” The Russia game has been canceled. Albania has played against Russia and we are trying to play against Albania as well”

Dragan Skocic undergoes successful operation

Team Melli head Coach has undergone a successful operation after suffering from a gastrointestinal complication. Dragan Skocic was already under treatment for his ailment before the surgery was mandated.

Skocic , was in his home country Croatia for a vacation, when he underwent the operation. He returned to Croatia after the draw of the national team matches in the World Cup.

Skocic’s recuperation period is only a few days and the head coach will have no problem returning back to his duty. At the moment, there is no indication at all if the FFIRI has managed to engage any team for the friendly matches.

FFIRI negotiates friendlies with Argentina or Brazil.

The Iranian football federation FFIRI Secretary-General Hassan Kamranifar has declared that his federation is actively planning friendly preparatory games for Team Melli ahead of its participation in the FIFA World Cup Qatar, 2022.

Kamranifar said: “As you know, Brazil and Argentina have a postponed match in the World Cup qualifiers which is scheduled to be held in Qatar. We are negotiating with one of these two teams to agree to play an international friendly against them.

The Secretary-General of the Football Federation added: “4 teams out of 6 possible opponents of Team Melli are among the best and are in the top ranks of the FIFA rankings. Both teams are in the middle ranks, we are going to choose teams whose games are close to our opponents. Therefore, we have negotiated with Peru, New Zealand, and several other countries, which we will announce immediately after it is finalized.”

He continued: “Holding friendly games is difficult due to financial issues. One or two teams have requested to play behind closed doors and without television broadcasting, which is still good ”
in discussing the readiness of  Team Melli,  Kamranifar emphasized: “Skocic is also trying on his side to use his contacts to arrange friendly games and we hope this will happen soon so that we can play a friendly match in the first FIFA Day,”

UPCOMING FIFA DAYS 2022

Dates Matches
30 May – 14 June 2022 4
19–27 September 2022 2

Payment fo the local coaches of Team Melli are still on hold!

Dragan Skočić has arranged the Training camp program in preparation for Team Melli games, but the task of his Iranian assistants and their involvement in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 is still unclear. Karim Bagheri and Vahid Hashemian were the assistant coaches of Iran on the way to the World Cup, along with Mehrdad Khanban who is the team analyst. Apparently, the Football Federation has not yet been able to pay the full salaries of the national team’s local coaches, which resulted in a protest by Bagheri and Hashemian.

After the draw for the World Cup in Qatar, Skocic’s Iranian assistants asked for their bonuses and payment as per the contract, but the Football Federation’s response to this legitimate request was even stranger than before. The FFIRI declared lack of money as the main reason for the non-payment of its obligation to the local technical staff of Team Melli and stated that it will not be able to pay these amounts until the funds awed to Iran are credited to the federation by FIFA .

The financial resources of FFIRI are limited and the bank account is just about empty as FIFA is still withholding Iran’s dues from the qualification matches, despite the fact that the team reached the Qatar World Cup early. The most concerning issue is also the failure of FFIRI has still failed to sign contracts for friendly games with the world’s most prestigious football teams. It seems that the priority for Mirshad Majedi, the acting head of FFIRI and members of the board of directors, is still to hold a general assembly of the federation to determine the fate of Shahabuddin Azizi Khadem, the deposed head while Team Melli is still not a top priority despite the promises.