Tag: Hazfi Cup

Chaos reigns supreme in Hazfi Cup Final

The final of the Hazfi cup between Persepolis and Damash Gilan had to be abandoned several times after chaotic scenes in Ahvaz threatening to turn into unrest. The match was eventually on after 2 hours and 15 minutes delay!!

This final was between David and Goliath of Iran’s football, Persepolis arguably the most popular team in Iran and Asia and the minnows from second division Damash Gilan from city of Rasht.  Damash was the unlikeliest finalist of the cup, however they had a good run and managed to display some heroics to reach the final ahead of the likes of Esteghlal, Zob Ahan and Sepahan.

Angry fans throwing objects

The full capacity newly built Foolad Arena in neutral city of Ahvaz, was full to capacity hours before the start of the match when it was announced that there will be a 30 minutes delay presumably to ensure the safety of the spectators.

However, despite the referee leading the teams for the start, Damash players refused to join the pre-match lineup and continued warming up. The apparent reason for refusal to play was an order from their Club chairman. About 300 Damash fans were not allowed entry by the match organizers and were stuck behind closed doors leading to strong protests and threats from Damash Chairman.

Despite efforts from players such as Biranvand and Jalal Hosseini pleading with their own fans to give up their seats for Damash fans, their pleas went to deaf ears as no one was interested to do so. Fans made an effort and bought tickets to watch a cup final and there was no reason anyone would want to give up the seat, especially the opposition team. It looked like a ridiculous solution and desperate attempt to start the match.

Damash team insisted that they will not play until they see their supporters in the stands.

There were no official announcements from the speakers on the progress and status of the match leading to unsettle the fans. Unrest started and the situation was becoming volatile.

After nearly two hours and 15 minutes of late kick off, the match was started but not before angry fans pelted Damash players with all sort of objects. Damash team ran for cover under barrage of objects being thrown at them, without any protection from the security forces or riot police!

The final of the cup that is supposed to be the showcase of any football federation’s season. In the last few finals, it has been chaotic, unruly and quite messy at the end of each match. However, this edition started (finally) quite messy and ended in shame nearly resulting in riots with high risk to the fans and the public.

The accountable party must be the FFIRI, who has a track record in incompetence, poor organization and poor management. This was a shameful day for Iran’s football and a warning for outsiders of the risk of playing important tournaments in Iran under the present Federation.

Later in the evening, the Disciplinary Committee of the FFIRI issued an communique regarding the events of the Hazfi Cup final in which it mentioned that “As the result of inadequacies and lack of control in the process of holding the Cup Final between the Persepolis Tehran and Damash Gilan, which lead To disorder, chaos, and damage to the national football credibility and reputation. Mr. Saeed Fattahi [Head of FFIRI League Organization committee] has been suspended from all football activities until further notice.”

It also added that Mr. Heydar Baharvand and Abdol Kazem Taleghani are required to provide explanations regarding the events that took place during the match.

Saeed Fattahi who is notorious in Iran for involving himself in every matter to do with the federation and issuing unsanctioned statements on behalf of the Federation, was supposed to be the chief organizer of the match who has forgotten to allocate tickets for the Damash Team fans.

Marc Wilmots leads first Team Melli practice session.

The first training session of Team Melli lead by Marc Wilmots was carried today with the presence of assistant coach Vahid Hashemian .

Prior to start of the session, the players and technical staff of Team Melli team handed flowers bouquets to the media personnel present at the training ground as a gesture of appreciation. . Persepolis players, who were scheduled to play the final of the Hazfi Cup in Ahvaz were absent today. Apart from Beiranvand, Torabi and Noorolahi, from Persepolis, the injured Rashid Mazaheri and  Sardar Azmoun were absent from the session.

Hossein Hosseini has replaced Mazaheri in the squad. The players started with a warm up run along the ground, then the group training consisted of practice with single-shot passes and stretching exercises. During the training, Ramin Rezaeian made errors in executing one or two moves, which forced Wilmots to give him a reminder.

The training continued in several routines under continuous instructions from Wilmots. Despite the various issues with the official sponsor of Team Melli kit, the team was wearing the Adidas kit, but it seems that the use of this kit is not expected to last for long. Media  were asked to leave after 25 minutes to allow Wilmots the freedom of continuing his work.

A Weak performance is turned into heroics, claims Ghalenoei.

Amir GhaleNoei, was interviewed in a Radio Talk show, spoke about the conditions of his team, Sepahan and the recent performance of Team Melli in the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018.

In response to a question on the status of the Team Melli and what he thought about the renewal of Carlos Queiroz’s contract Ghalenoei said “If we say any word or comment, they immediately accuse me of being negative and say that GhaleNoei, only criticizes. Given the little time  that we have, if  Queiroz is to stay , it better be on the basis of a proper defined framework, but must include everything (these words are half-finished), but what we have  right now is a group of promoters and a series of advertising teams who are the de facto decision-makers, not the minister, not the President of the football federation. Everything they want, they seem to get. Team  Melli in the FIFA World Cup, was in many ways , the fifth ranked team in Asia, but these gentlemen in the national media made such a racket it  and used superlatives . it confuse us  so much we thought they were taking about ,France, Noyt Iran’s Team Melli! As I said, the head of the federation or the minister is not influential or decision maker. It is those who hype , those gentlemen whom I do not want to mention their names (….)”

The Head coach of Sepahan, who hardly munches his words, was speaking to radio Javan,. Referring to his tenure as Team Melli head coach “They were prosecuting us for the slightest of things. While we were suspended for a year by FIFA with no the federation president at the helm, we still managed to  be high in the FIFA ranking . In this country, many people who are not competent are assigned responsibilities , but consider how this is weak performance (Iran’s national team performance in the FIFA World Cup 2018) was overturned to become a national victory and champions. So, do not ask these questions from me or the head of the federation or the sports minister, ask the gentlemen!”

At the end of the interview ,Amir Ghale Noei was asked about his opinion on the cancellation of the Super Cup match between Persian Gulf League Champions and Jam Hazfi winner, he said: “What is right in this country?” When our country is like that, and the dollar is around  8 thousand Tomans, such things will happen. We will no afford to hold the Super Cup. Well, that’s the law. In our country, the law is created by the whim of a certain person, and whatever they want to do, it becomes their law.  We must thank the efforts of the League organization and Mr. Fatahi, but we must find out who were culpable for this fiasco”

Ardeshir “Amir” Ghalenoei  is the most successful coach in the Iranian professional league . He managed several clubs, including Esteghlal, Mes Kerman, Sepahan and Tractor Sazi, with two of which he won a total of five championships titles and  lifted two Hazfi Cup. He was also the head coach  Team Melli from August 2006 to July 2007 where he managed the team for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. Team Melli was eliminated in the quarter-finals.

3 more players added to Team Melli squad

After the conclusion of the Hazfi Cup final match in which Zob Ahan managed to beat Naft Tehran 3-1 to lift the cup for the third time , Carlos Queiroz added 3 more players from the two teams to Team Melli squad.

Vahid Amiri , Alireza Birnavand from Naft Tehran and Ghassim Haddadifar from Zob Ahan are the additional players who will join the squad with immediate effect.

Vahid Amiri is arguably one of the best players in this season. A player full of class whose performance helped his team challenge for the title and qualified to the quarter finals of the AFC Champions League. His teammate Alireza Biranvand has not been his best after some shaky displays, however he remains one of the most promising young and upcoming goalkeeper in Iran with an exceptional hand throws the like of which is rarely seen in football.

Haddadifar is one of the veterans of Team Melli despite the fact that has not managed to impose himself as a starter. Haddadifar has been consistently playing well for his club.

 

Team Melli is practicing on daily basis until the flight to Tashkent for the friendly match versus Uzbekistan before proceeding to Turkmenistan.

 

Revised Team Melli Squad

Player's NameCapsGoalsTeam
AKHBARI, Mohammadreza0Saipa
AMIRI, Vahid51Naft Tehran
AZMOUN, Sardar84Rubin Kazan
BIRANVAND, Alireza10Naft Tehran
BEIGZADEH, Hashim201Esteghlal
EBRAHIMI, Omid90Esteghlal
EZZATOLAHEI , Saeed0Atletico Madrid
GHAFOORI, Vourya80Sepahan
GHOOCHANNEJAD, Reza2513Al Wakrah
HADDADIFAR, Ghassim180Zob Ahan
HAGHIGHI, Alireza160FC Penafiel
HAJSAFY, Ehsan674Sepahan
HEYDARI, Khosrow550Esteghlal
HOSSEINI, Jalal966Al Ahli
KNANI-ZADEGAN, Mohammad Hossein0Malavan
MAKANI, Sousha30Persepolis
MOHAMMADI, Milad0Rah Ahan
MONTAZERI, Pejman281Umm Salal
POURALIGANJI, Morteza61Tianjin Teda
POURGHAZ, Ezzatollah0Malavan
REZAEIAN, Ramin30Rah Ahan
SHARIFI, Mehdi20Sepahan
SHOJAEI, Masoud606Al Shahaniya
TAROMI , Mehdi0Persepolis
TEYMOURIAN, Andranik909Tractorsazi
TORABI, Mehdi0Saipa

 

 

Morteza Pouraligangi , the inspired young midfielder.

Naft Tehran midfielder in confident enough to believe that his team can win the Hazfi Cup, in addition to achieving a respectable high ranking in the Persian Gulf League. He also said that he aims to gain the full confidence of Team Melli coach in order to make the squad to the Asian cup. His long term ambition is to play in Europe.

Morteza Pouraligangi , the  22 years old footballer from Babol , in an interview with Mehr News Agency, after his team Naft Tehran defeated Padideh to qualify for the final of Hazfi Cup expressed his satisfaction with his team performance. “We were the better team throughout the match and if I and my other teammates dealt better with the final ball, the margin of victory would have been much better. I think we wasted at least 5 good goal scoring opportunities against Padideh.”

pouraliganji-2

“We could have easily won that match if we managed to score an early goal to draw the Padideh out of their defensive cocoon. They were just thinking of not conceding as their game plan was based upon solid defense while their attack was based on Route 1 (direct route) to the opposition goal “.

Pouraligangi , who was named in the last Team Melli squad and was an unused substitute in the match against South Korea, attributed his team sterling performance to long term vision of the club management and quality coaching.

“After Naft Tehran won promotion to the Persian Gulf League, the club recruited the best coach they can afford and one who had an excellent track in producing and developing talented young players. He was Hossein Faraki , who gave me my first chance to play in the league while I was only 18 years old. After Faraki left, Golmohammadi maintained the same policy as his predecessor of allowing talented players to be given playing time regardless to their name or family backgrounds. Now, Alireza Mansourian who is an expert in youth level football is taking over and doing a remarkable job with Naft which is one of the youngest teams in the league.”

“Most of the young players in our team have similar aspirations. To start with, we all want to gain success and win trophies with Naft Tehran. This is vital for our career success and future. Then we want to build upon that domestic success to reach our goal of playing in the European leagues.”

Morteza Pouraligangi joined Naft Tehran in 2010. The midfielder started his football career for his local club, Peykan Babol , before moving to Pas Tehran , and then Ehsan Shahr Rey before settling in Naft Tehran in 2010 and making his professional debut.

In 2009 , Morteza Pouraligangi was selected for Iran’s U 16 team where he played 4 matches while in 2010 he was a member of Iran’s U 18 playing 2 matches, then Iran U23 where he won 10 caps.

“My aspiration is to be a member of Team Melli. I am hoping that my performance in the league with Naft is good enough to get the approval of Carlos Queiroz.”

“Ultimately , my selection for Team Melli is based upon my own performance in my team. Carlos Queiroz has already expressed his satisfaction with my work in the U 23 team. My aim is to maintain his confidence and reinforce it further on and off the field. Queiroz is an experienced football coach who coached world class players such as Zidane, Beckham , Figo , Christian Ronaldo and others. He knows the strength and weakness of his players and always works to enhance their abilities. I hope that in the next training camp I work even better to enhance my chance for the AFC Asian Cup in Australia.”