Tag: Hamid Estili

Uzbekistan, a tough test for Omid in today’s match.

Iran Omid national team will be playing Uzbekistan in their first match in the Asian-Olympics Tokyo qualifying group stage group C.

The team which has been preparing for over two years and has made several coaching changes is a group that is possibly the toughest one of the 4 groups. China and Korea Rep make the other two teams of the group.
Hamid Estili announced the team line up for the first match.

Habib Abbasiifar, Mojtaba Najarian, Mehdi Mehdikhani, Allahyar Sayyadmanesh, Reza Shekari, Reza Dehghani, Mohammad Mohebbi, Ali Shojaei, Matin Karimzadeh, Omid Noorafkan, and Aref Aghasi

Omid will be in an excellent position if they can win all the 3 points against the tough Uzbek team. The defending champion Uzbekistan is one of the favorites to qualify for the Olympics.

The match will start 13:45 Iran time at Tinsulanon stadium in the south of Thailand.

Omid Team arrives in Thailand

Iran’s Omid Team arrived in Thailand to start preparing for the upcoming AFC U23 Championship 2020. The squad flew to Bangkok then transferred to a domestic flight to fly south to Songkhla near the border with Malaysia.

Hamid Estili has made sure that the players have enough time to acclimatize before the competition starts on the 9th Jan against Uzbekistan.

Iran is unquestionably in the most difficult group facing the powerful Koreans, the defending Champion Uzbekistan, and the aspiring Chinese team. In simple term, there is no easy matches for Omid team in Thailand. A win in the first match will be the perfect result but by no means an assurance to qualify for the next round.

This championship is also the qualifying rounds for the Tokyo Olympic Games. The top 3 teams from this tournament will make it to Tokyo.

Omid team ties Qatar with Gentleman Estili’s generosity!

In a friendly match held in Doha, Iran’s Omid Team (U23) tied with Qatar U23  2-2 today. The match played on Saturday evening at Al Arabi’s Hamad AlKabir Stadium behind closed doors.

Omid team led the first half 2-0 with goals scored by Reza Shekari from a penalty kick, and Mehdi Ghaedi.

Hamid Estili’s had the upper hand on Félix Sánchez Bas, the Spanish coach of Qatar and the Asian Cup Champions in the first half. Both teams are preparing for the upcoming AFC U23 Championship in Thailand, which is also the qualifiers for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 football tournament.

In the first half, Qatar player Mohammed Emad Aiash was sent off in the 35th minute for violent conduct, however, Hamid Estili suggested to his Qatari counterpart Felix Sanchez to replace the sent off player with another one. Qatar team obliged as they sent in Ahmed Suhail to replace the sent off player.

It was the sportsmanship act by Estili and a clever one too as he needed to see his team play against the strongest opposition possible regardless of the result.

The ensuing Free kick from the sending off was a beautifully executed goal by Mehdi Ghaedi.

The first half ended 2-0 for Iran’s Omid team.

At the beginning of the second half, the Qatari’s again lost another player Yusuf Abdulrazzaq with a red card. And again, Estili became the true gentleman and invited Sanchez to send a replacement! This time Qatar sent Amro AbduFattah to the field.

It is the first time in history at this level of football that one team is given two red cards, yet continue playing to the end with 11 players. Simply unheard of.

Abdul Rashid Ebrahim reduced the deficit on the 83rd minute for Qatar. The same player scored the equalizer in the dying seconds of the match om minute 96.  As customary with Iranian teams, there is always a lapse of concentration leading to conceding a goal.

In support of Hamid Estili’s demand for the league to be postponed, the FFIRI partially postponed some of the matches to enable the Omid team to set up a training camp in Doha and play this friendly match.

Teams Line up

Iran U23

Merag Esmaeili: Aref Aghasi, Mojtaba Najarian, Matin Karimzadeh, Reza Dehghani [76′ Sina Zamehran], MohammedMedi Mehdikhani, Mohammad Mohebi [66′ Mohammad Khodabandelo], Ali Shojaei [70′ Amir Roustaei], Omid Noorafkan, Mehdi Ghedi [70′ Reza Jabeira], Reza Shekari [66′ Jafar Salmani]

Coach : Hamid Estili

Qater U23

Mohammed AlBakri: Abdullah Ali Saei, Tarek Salman, Mohammad AlBayati, Yusuf Abdurazzaq , Abdulla Abdulslam, Khalifa Saad, Mohammed Emad Aiash , Hashim Ali, Abdulrahman Mohammed, Homam Elamain Ahmed.

Coach : Felix Sanchez Baz

Omid Team training is at full throttle.

Omid team is actively preparing for the crucial AFC U23 Championship 2020  by conducting constant practice sessions under the direction of Hamid Estili.

Today’s (Sunday) session which started at 9:30, Hamid Estili briefed the players on the objectives and details of today’s practice session. Then Mohammad Sharifi, Sina Zamiran and Mohammed Mohebbi left the group to conduct the fitness tests which all other players went undertook.

The training of the rest of the squad started with all members of the technical staff supervising the proceedings and giving the required tactical and technical advice.

This session which was carried out in the National Football Training Center included a light physical program. The next practice is scheduled for tonight at 9 pm.

Meanwhile, Omid Noorafkan and Mohammad Mohebbi (Sepahan) Reza Shekari and Mohammad Reza Azadi (Tractorsazi) Aref Aghasi and Mojtaba Najarian (Foolad Khuzestan) Ali Shojaei and Reza Dehghani (Nasiji Mazandaran) Ali Shahsavari and Mohammad KhodabandehLo (Peykan) and Sina Zamehran (Shar Khodro ) have joined the squad after their respective teams released them to Omid team.

Mohammad Mehdi Khani who plays for the Croatian side  NK Varaždin will also join the Omid (Olympic) squad on Monday.

“The initial list of Olympic team players, including 50 players, according to the AFC’s regulations. ” Hamid Estili said on the eve of the training camp’s inauguration. “After shortlisting the number to 30, the squad departs to  Qatar, where we will have an 8-day training camp and two friendly matches in Doha.”

“After returning to Tehran, we will announce the list of the final 23 players which form the Omid Team that will be competing in the AFC Asian Championship also the Olympic qualifiers scheduled to be held in Thailand. In some of the posts, we are still looking for the final option, such as the right-back, which was vacated due to the injury to  Aghajanpour and we are reviewing the names of 1 or 2 options to decide the final squad,” Estili added.

The coach of the Omid team once again called on the clubs to cooperate and assist with the team by saying: “Our plan during these 18 months of engagement was comprehensive. We tried to invite players for training or matches in FIFA days. We were aware of their special circumstances and situation, but at this juncture we expect the clubs to understand our situation too. Invited players will return to the clubs before the 16th week but after the end of the week it is necessary for the clubs to abandon their squads and allow our training to start. There are legal measures we can refer to, of course, but there should not be such issues among colleagues, and we need to all work in a friendly manner. I am sure my good colleagues at the clubs are on the side of the Omid team, preferring the national interest to everything else and helping us at this point.”

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.

Omid Team initial list for Indonesia Friendly announced

The head coach of the Omid Team announced the initial list of 17 players on list invited to the training camp starting on 6th November. According to the official website of the Iranian Football Federation, the head coach of the Olympic team, Hamid Estili, the invitees are required to attend the camp of the Iranian Olympic team in Olympic Academy Hotel.

The next list of invited players will be announced at the end of this week’s Persian Gulf Premier League. The names of the players invited in the first group are as follows:

 

Ali KiKhosravi, Omid Noorafkan and Mohammad Mohebbi (Sepahan Esfahan)

Aref Gholami, Mehdi Ghaedi and Hossein PourHamidi (Esteghlal Tehran)

Reza Jabeira and Jafar Salmani (Naft Abadan)

Reza Shekari and Mohammad Azadi (Tractorsazi Tabriz)

Aref Aghasi (Foolad Khuzestan)

Amir Roustaei (Persepolis)

Sina Shah Abbasi (Damash Gilan)

Amir Shabani (Fajr Shahid Sepasi)

Mohammad Papi (Gol Reyhan Alborz)

Alireza Arta (Mes Kerman) 

Mohammad Kazemi (Zob Ahan).

The camp of the Iranian Olympic football team is set in preparations for two friendly games against Indonesia. The squad will leave Tehran for Jakarta on November 10th.

Amir Hossein Peyrovani added to Omid coaching team.

Amir Hossein Peyrovani has been appointed as Omid team coach under Hamid Estili.

The 50 years old former Bargh Shiraz player who comes from a well-known footballing family has previously coached Iran’s U 20 for two years and Omid Team from 2017 to 2018 with limited success. He faced a lot of criticism while at the helm of Omid team with some describing him as being out of depth.

He was operating as Assistant Coach to Mustafa Denizli in Tractorsazi Tabriz before his appointment to Omid Team.

Omid team is competing in the AFC Asian U23 Championship in Thailand in January 2020. The 3 top teams of that tournament will also qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games football competition.  Iran is in the most difficult group of the championship and experts do not consider their chances of qualification from the group as high.

Hamid Estili appointment as Coach of Omid Team, will he be any good?

After the resignation of Farhad Majidi, it seems that FFIRI had no real choice but to appoint the Team manager, Hamid Estili as his replacement. The former Persepolis player also picked his former teammates Reza Shahroodi and Alireza Emamifar as his assistants.

During the short tenure of Farhad Majidi at the helm of Omid’s team, Omid Namazi and Farshad Majedi were appointed as his assistants. It is not clear if they are is still or will remain as part of the coaching staff as neither have any Persepolis affiliation that seems to be the level of requirement in Omid team coaching structure with Estili in charge.

As such, the Omid team has turned into The red of Perspolis after the departure of the Blues of Esteghlal to prove once again that Iran’s football will have an extreme affinity with the bipolar and partisan system.

At Omid team the status quo remains, meaning the same old chaos, with partisan, Favoritism, nepotism and partiality based upon being part of a favoured group, rather than job performance or competency being the essence.

Estili has more experience than Majidi but his coaching career has been full of failures and turmoil. In reality, he is not much of an improvement on Majidi.

 

Estili Coaching Career

Estili was appointed as an assistant by Ali Parvin in Persepolis in 2004. A few months after Arie Haan replaced Parvin, he sacked Estili. In August 2006, when Mustafa Denizli was signed as the head coach, Estili returned to his former post. On 13th January 2007, during the 2006–07 mid-season break, Estili was sacked again, this time by Denizli.

Denizli later stated that “It would be better for him (Estili) to take some professional trainings”

For the 3rd time, Estili returned to his beloved club as the assistant to Afshin Ghotbi, in the IPL 2007/08 season. However, with a lot of tension between the two coaches over team selection, players, and other decisions it was foreseen that one of them will have to leave Perspolis at the end of the season. Ghotbi left and Estili was touted as the new Perspolis Manager and Head Coach.
However, when Ghotbi’s returned back, Estili left Perspolis.

in summer of 2009 Steel Azin appointed out of work Estili as head coach. Despite having a star-studded team with players such as s Ali Karimi, Mahdavikia, Kaebi, Fereydoon Zandi, Shapourzadeh and Vahedi Nikbakht, Estili failed in the Hazfi Cup and was nowhere near the championship title.

He was sacked by Estil Azin on 19 April 2010

Next station was Shahin Bushehr where he was appointed on 1 June 2010. He lasted less than 10 months as he was fired on 4 April 2011 while Shahin was in 17th place out of 18, achieving 16 points in 18 matches

On 21 June 2011, Estili was back in Persepolis again as a Head coach but after a series of disappointing results and Persepolis fans disapproval of his appointment, he resigned his post on 9th Dec. 2011 after only 6 months at the helm.

From then on, Estili’s reputation as a Head Coach was tarnished.

Critics say that Estili relies more on influences, comradeship and nepotism to cover his technical weakness and poor tactics on the field. He was a divisive influence as an assistant coach bad-mouthing the head coach in the hope of taking their places.  He caused disagreement and hostility between players to serve his own interest. It was not a successful strategy as it leads to him being sacked by 3 different coaches. While as Head Coach, his poor delivery, suspect decision-making, poor technical ability, and lack of quality were exposed at the teams he managed.

Such as shame for the player who is famous for his goal against the United States in the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Farhad Majidi resigns as Omid Team coach.

Farhad Majidi, the Omid Team (Iran U-23) has resigned his post following a series of disputes with the FFIRI management that has led to moves to dismiss him from his post.

Majidi, whose appointment in place of the broadly experienced  Zlatko Kranjcar has raised more than a few eyebrows, has been promising that he will take Iran to the Olympics for the first time since 1976. However, a series of bad result, extensive media criticism, disapproval from senior coaches and former players, differences between him and the Omid Team Manager Hamid Estili and player’s discontent with his training methods, forced the rookie coach to resign before the federation shows him the door.

With no more than a few games as a caretaker coach of Esteghlal in his resume, the FFIRI in a moment of madness decided to give this mammoth task of qualifying for the Olympics Games to Majidi. While much more notable and experienced Iranian coaches turned down the job of coaching Omid Team, Farhad Majidi who was away from football after he hanged his boot, found it a golden opportunity to progress his own career in coaching without considering the complication and the difficulties of the task up ahead and without seriously addressing his own level of limited experience in coaching.

There were only two persons in the whole world that believed in Majidi’s ability to deliver, one of them is the person who approved his appointment and that would be Mehdi Taj and Farhad himself. The rest thought otherwise.

The mammoth task of qualifying to Tokyo 2020 Olympics became nearly impossible when Iran was grouped with defending Champions of the last two editions of the U-23 Asian championships, Uzbekistan and South Korea while China, a contender in their own rights, complete the group.

With Majidi gone, it is assumed that Omid Namazi will take the post on a temporary basis or continue all the way to the AFC Asian U23 Championship in Thailand in January 2020. That championship will also be the qualifier for the Tokyo Olympics Games 2020 football competition. The top three teams will qualify.

Namazi has good experience with age level teams and has been coaching United States U18 and U20 teams in addition to several other clubs in the states and Iran.

He was recently appointed to Omid Team as an assistant to Farhad Majidi in a face-saving exercise by the federation after soon realizing that their gamble with Rookie Majidi s not working.  Omid Namazi also worked as an assistant to Carlos Queiroz in Team Melli.

Estili “No restrictions on selection of dual nationality players for Omid Team”

The director of the Omid team Hamid Estili announced that there is no restriction whatsoever for using Iranians who are born abroad or have dual citizenship for  Team Omid

Estili said: “I think we have proven quite firmly that there is no difference for us. There are a lot of dual citizenship players who are introduced to us every now and then. first of all, we review their legitimacy and age-appropriate conditions. If the player has the necessary qualifications as per international standards and FIFA rules and their performances are approved by the coaching team, there is no restriction on selecting them for the team. In the previous camps, we invited some players e conditions, and this time we are witnessing the presence of two other players. If they are deemed to be fit for the Omid Team a

and their standards are good enough then they will be part of the team. We want the best players to be selected for the Omid team.

Hamid Estili commented on the recently concluded training camp for Iran U23 team and said: “Fortunately, we had a great camp and we monitored the performance of all the players for 3 days. The technical staff was happy with the camp’s conditions, especially since some of these players were not invited. We tried to invite many of the players in the First and Second Division leagues even lower age groups leagues in the camp and evaluate their performance, which I think was a success. In my opinion, some of the players we saw in the camp can definitely help us and are invited to meet the needs of the technical staff.”

Farhad Majidi has been selected as the head coach of Omid team with the goal of qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics games.