Tag: Iran

Dragan Skočić appointed as Head Coach of Team Melli

The Croat coach Dragan Skočić has been appointed as the new head coach of Team Melli on Thursday.

The 51 years old Croatian has just resigned from his post as head coach of Persian Gulf League club Sanat Naft after a long dispute with the Abadani club for their failure to respect the contract and failure to provide proper support for the team.

A day after Dragan Skočić announced his departure from Sanat Naft Abadan, he was appointed as Team Melli head coach.

Skočić first arrived in Iran in 2013 where he coached Malavan Anzali where he could not have much success with the team. Next season he was recruited by Foolad Khuzestan where he remained for two seasons and managed to improve the results of the team but still could not win them any trophies. He left Iran in 2016.

In 2018 Skočić turned up again in Iran where he took over the coached of Azadegan league side Khooneh be Khooneh. A season later 2019 he was coaching  Sanat Naft Abadan in July before he resigned his post on 4th February 2020.

Zlatko Kranjcar with Dragan Skocic in a league match encounter
Zlatko Kranjcar (left) with Dragan Skocic (Right) in a league match encounter

During his long managerial career, in Croatia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, Skočić managed only a single achievement with his home club Rijeka, winning the Croatian Cup for the 2005–06 season.

Team Melli is the first National Team coaching experience of Dragan Skočić

Bahrain Footballer banned by Fifa for ten games after racist gesture.

FIFA has banned a Bahrain international player for ten games after he aimed shocking racist abuse at Hong Kong fans.

Sayed Mehdi Baqer, 25, made a slanted-eye gesture towards supporters as he left the field after a World Cup qualifier on November 14.

Sayed Baqer has been banned for 10-matches - the minimum sanction for such an incident

Sayed Baqer has been banned for 10-matches – the minimum sanction for such an incident
After a tense week in, something to cheer for fans at Hong Kong Stadium. Hugely credible World Cup qualifying draw with Bahrain, marred slightly by an apparent racist gesture by Bahrain player at the end of the match.
The frustrated Bahrain team unable to beat the hosts, made several unsportmanship acts including their coach rant against Hong Kong coach while the latter extended his hand after the final whistle.

Embedded video

However, the Bahraini defender’s appalling actions were captured on video and the player was also hit with a £23,000 fine.

Bahrain, who are in the same FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying group as Iran is notorious for its transgression and important behavior during international matches. During the home game against Team Melli, the fans booed the national anthem.

 In July the minimum ban for such offenses was doubled from five matches.

After a separate qualifying incident, Fifa ordered Indonesia to play a game behind closed doors following a fiery clash with rivals Malaysia.

Both teams were fined by FIFA in the wake of crowd disturbances.

AFC Futsal Championship Turkmenistan 2020 draw.

Ashgabat: The path to Asian futsal glory has become clearer for the Continent’s top 16 teams after the AFC Futsal Championship Turkmenistan 2020 official draw was conducted at Ashgabat’s Olympia Hotel on Friday.

The ceremony separated the 16 qualified teams into four groups ahead of next year’s competition, where the best in Asian futsal will compete for the title of Continental champions.

Host nation Turkmenistan will begin the competition with what is sure to be a hotly anticipated clash against tournament debutants Oman on February 26, before rounding their Group A commitments with matches against Tajikistan and Vietnam. The final will be played on March 8.

The defending champions Iran were drawn in Group D alongside Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia and Southeast Asian champions Thailand.

Newly crowned AFC Futsal Player of the Year Tomoki Yoshikawa will lead Japan in an intriguing Group B, which also includes Lebanon, Kyrgyz Republic and Kuwait, while four-time runners-up Uzbekistan will begin their campaign against Indonesia after both sides were drawn in Group C, which also contains Bahrain and China PR.

The AFC Futsal Championship is Asia’s flagship international futsal competition, also serving as the final stage of FIFA Futsal World Cup qualifying, with the top five sides in Turkmenistan to represent the Continent at Lithuania 2020.

With 12 titles in the 15 previous editions of the competition, Iran is the most successful side in AFC Futsal Championship history, with three-time champions Japan the only other nation to have lifted the trophy.

The Futsal Team Melli will have to battle it out with Thailand for the lead in the group. Winners and runners up will then meet the Group C two top teams in the quarter-finals.

,

Match Schedule

27th February 2020 Iran Saudi Arabia Main Indoor Arena, Ashgabat.
29th February 2020 Korea Rep. Iran Main Indoor Arena, Ashgabat.
02nd March 2020 Iran Thailand Martial Arts Arena, Ashgabat.

Group A: Turkmenistan (host), Vietnam, Tajikistan, Oman

Group B: Japan, Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Kuwait

Group C: Uzbekistan, Bahrain, China .Indonesia

Group D: Iran, Thailand, Korea Rep. , Saudi Arabia

Wilmots “We at least deserved a draw, we were unlucky”

The head coach of Iran’s Team Melli says his team did not deserve the losses against Bahrain and Iraq!

Marc Wilmots, in the post-match press conference following the loss to Iraq, said  “We had a tough 15 minutes at the start of the game. Then we conceded a goal but soon recovered and took control. We made some mistakes in the second half and we ended up with 10 players. This defeat forces us to get maximum points out of the remaining matches in order to advance to the next round.”

Asked what plans he has to achieve this qualification, Wilmots responded:

 “We are doing our best for home games as well as the one away game against Cambodia,”. Commenting on his team’s two consecutive World Cup qualifying defeats, The Belgian coach said” We could have at least got two points in the two games against Bahrain and Iraq, but that didn’t happen. Perhaps it is better to say that we were unlucky and both matches could have ended in a draw”

Wilmots commenting on the playing conditions and whether the defeat was a consequence of the red card given to Team Melli’s Captain Masoud Shojaei “ I have been in football for 30 years. One should never blame any individual for a defeat. We are all to be blamed for the failure and not just one player. We had some mistakes in this game. We made some mistakes in defensive covering. On top of that, we were short in the last 10 minutes.” Wilmot’s claims that some the Iranian media is blaming the failure on the absence of Jahanbakhsh and Saeid Ezatollahei. “ It is not like what it sounds. Jahanbakhsh and Ezatollahei have not played for a while. In addition, we did not have Haji Safi due to injury in the match.”

FIFA warns against crowd misbehaviour.

In what is expected to be a politically inspired encounter by the Iraqi side, FIFA has issued a warning against any Iraqi fans expression of political opinions by any means.

The International Football governing body warning to the Iraqi fans after before Iraq’s sensitive it had mandated a venue change and a move out of Iraq because of protests and insecurity currently prevailing in Iraq, FIFA warning to the Iraqi side included the players, as well as several, have been reported taking active participation in the protests or by the means of social media.. Admission of banners and flags (except for Iraq’s flag) or banners expressing a political view or even sympathy to a party or persons are strictly forbidden, an Iraqi Sport website wrote.

It is also rumoured that the Iraqi team is awaiting clearance from FIFA to agree to a one minute silence in respect to over 280 people who lost their lives in Iraq recently in the clashes between demonstrators and security forces. FIFA also refused Iraqi players wearing a black armband. The Jordanians are taking no chances as they have prepared around 3,350 security personnel and anti-riot brigades to secure the match on Thursday.

Nervous Iraqi federation fear spell over of politics and unrest in the match.

On Thursday, Iraq will be hosting Iran in Amman after FIFA ordered the match to be played outside the country due to security concerns.

However, the match in the Qualifying Round 4 of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and the AFC Asian Cup in Amman, is far from a being a safe and secure event as predicted by the Iraqi officials.  The match has become politically sensitive because of the riots and protests in Iraq,  in addition to the traditional rivalry between the national teams of the two countries. Officials of the Iraqi Football Federation are seeking to prevent any political and racist issues from affecting the match to avoid further sanctions by FIFA.

Fresh clashes between Iraqi security forces and anti-government protesters broke out on Friday in Iraq killing at least three people, despite a call for calm by the country’s top Shi’ite cleric, as authorities grapple with the nation’s biggest crisis in years. More than 280 people have been killed since the protests started over what looks on the surface as protests against corruptions and unemployment but instigated and induced by foreign and Arab secret services to destabilize the country.

According to the Iraqi al-Ghad Press website, a trilateral meeting will be held today with officials from the Iraqi Football Federation, the Jordanian Federation and the Iraqi Embassy in Amman to assess the security conditions of the match as well as Iraq’s next match hosting Bahrain in the same qualifiers. In addition to monitoring the crowd entering the stadium and full security implementation like body searches, the meeting will examine Iraqi officials calls on social media networks for support by its people, including wearing masks during the match.  Banners that have political or racial slurs against one another will be prevented from entering into the stadium. All efforts to de-politicize the match have been taken.

“The Iraqi federation and the embassy in Jordan are trying very hard not to allow political slogans, dissent and sectarian chants to be demonstrated in the arena because FIFA has always been intolerant to politics and racism and anything that causes spreads and promotes hate,” the Al-Ghad website continued. The Iraqi Federation and its embassy are also trying to keep politics away from the stadium in fear of possible consequences on the Jordanian people and the sensitivity of Jordan itself which saw recent riots of its own.

“There has been a lot of effort over the past three days to ensure the fans to be in the stadium just to support the Iraqi team.” it added

Iran’s Futsal climbs to 4th in the World Ranking.

Iran’s futsal Team has climbed to the 4th place in World Ranking joined by Argentina.

In the latest figures published by the Futsal World Ranking website for the month of October 2019, Brazil maintained top ranking followed by Spain and Russia. Iran is also the top-ranking team in Asia.

Just like the football ranking, Japan is behind Iran as the second-best Asian team at 15th place in the world. Thailand is also in the top 20 teams of the world at 19th place behind Iran and Japan.

WORLD FUTSAL RANKING

Current ranking – 31 October 2019
Ranking Team Points rank
dec 18		 +/-
dec 18
1  Brazil 1839 1 0
2  Spain 1785 2 0
3  Russia 1670 3 0
4  Iran 1644 6 2
4  Argentina 1644 5 1
6  Portugal 1637 4 -2
7  Kazakhstan 1565 7 0
8  Italy 1494 8 0
9  Ukraine 1466 9 0
10  Colombia 1454 12 2
11  Croatia 1443 13 2
12  Paraguay 1437 10 -2
13  Serbia 1416 15 2
14  Azerbaijan 1409 11 -3
15  Japan 1380 14 -1
16  Czech Republic 1367 16 0
17  Slovenia 1359 17 0
18  France 1300 18 0
19  Thailand 1295 19 0
20  Belarus 1294 22 2

Rumors of an expanded tournament in Qatar involving Iran and Turkey.

There have been strong rumours from Doha that Qatar intends to invite Iran and Turkey for the upcoming Gulf Football tournament in Doha.

This tournament of Gulf Cup will be the 24th edition of the biennial football competition for the eight members of the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federations.

On 15 July 2019, the Gulf Cup Football Federation announced that it will be held in Qatar from 27 November to 9 December 2019.[1]

Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain have cut all ties with Qatar since 2017 and that included sporting contacts. The action of the three football federations is forced and dictated by their leaders which subsequently resulted in the 3 boycotting countries athletes missing many events in Qatar in defiance to the spirits of the Olympic spirits and the policy of FIFA in that mandates football to be free from governmental interference.

Sports federations in the Persian Gulf Countries have been indirectly managed, manipulated and bankrolled by their governments and ruling families and as such they strictly follow3s the whims of the rulers.

The Gulf Football Tournament, which was first commenced in Bahrain back in 1971 is the most popular footballing events in the sheikhdoms. It started with 4 countries Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and host Bahrain. The tournament, which is not recognized by FIFA as an official event, has changed format several times and expanded to 8 teams. As anticipated, politics played a major role in the running throughout the years from countries withdrawing during the tournaments or before it to strain relations as a result of football matches not to mentions scandals such as bribing referees to fan violence.

 This term, the 24th edition of the tournament is expected to be boycotted by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, leaving only Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Yemen and host Qatar taking part.

To save the tournament, Qatar has been secretly negotiating with Turkish and Iranian federations to gauge their interest in taking part in the competition. FFIRI has officially denied any such approaches from the Qatari counterpart while it is extremely unlikely that the Turkish National team will take part, considering Turkey is still involved in the European Cup and their clubs are not only involved in the local league but also European Clubs competitions. The is no space in the Turkish football calendar for a tournament such as this.

For Iran, similar difficulties apply however none of the challenges can be measured as the vehement objection to the naming of the tournament which is fakely called “Arabian Gulf Tournament”

Considering that Qatar will accept to change the only possible scenario for Iran is to send Omid Team to the tournament, provided the clubs accept releasing their important players. This possibility, although the best solution will be hard to come by in the midst of the league.

World Media in suspense for the Iran-Cambodia match, and it has little to do with game-plans!!

The Public Relations Manager of Ministry of Youth and Sports announced that 21 foreign media outlets from 21 countries have applied for media credentials to cover the match between Iran and Cambodia in Azadi Stadium on 10th October 2019.

The match will be observed by a FIFA delegation to ensure that women are allowed in the stadium as per FIFA regulations. According to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, journalists, photographers and cameramen  from various networks and news agencies are seeking coverage of the Iran-Cambodia World Cup qualifiers,

Iranian female spectators are supposed to be allowed in the stadium for the match which will be subject to FIFA oversight.

It is clear that international media care less about the result of the match and more concerned with the case of Iranian women entry into football stadiums. Although the government and FFIRI have assured FIFA and confirmed that the authorities will have no objections in controlled entry and segrations of women, a recent statement by Iranian Attorney General has put a question mark on the whole affair.

Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, Iran’s chief prosecutor, (Attorney General) spoke at a ceremony in Qom on the issue of women’s entry to the stadiums and criticized FIFA for forcing a country to allow women in the stadium. It is not clear if this person, Montazeri, has the authority to stop the implementation of the government decree.

However, the consequences of FIFA banning Iran and in the process, the elimination of the Team Melli from the World Cup will definitely be having serious conseqiuences in the country. Many fear mass riots and clashes which will be surely met by brute force from the security forces as always against any show of dissent or mass protests in Iran.

 

WC 2022 Qualifiers : Group C teams share the spoils

The four teams of Group C of the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers were in action on Thursday, while Iran took a day off in Matchday 1.

Both matches in Phnom Penh and Riffa ended in a 1-1 draw

Cambodia produced an impressive display despite being held to a 1-1 draw by Hong Kong at the Phnom Penh Olympic Stadium in their opening FIFA World Cup 2022 second-round qualifier.

Heading into the match arguably as slight favourites, it was Hong Kong who broke the deadlock in the 16th minute when Tan Chun Lok burst down the right and into the area before finishing into the back of the net.

But, three minutes after the half-hour mark, the hosts equalized after Sath Rosib caught the opposition defence napping a slipped a neat pass through to Keo Sokpheng, who made no mistake in coolly firing past Yapp Hung Fai.

As the game wore on, it was Cambodia who showed the greater endeavour and looked the likelier of the two sides to go on and win it. However, the winner eluded the Cambodians.

In Riffa, Host Bahrain took an early lead against Iraq with a blunder by Iraq goalkeeper.  On the 9th minute, Komeil Al Aswad sent cross from outside the box intended to the forwards, but his angle was way off as the ball went straight to Iraq’s keeper Mohammad Hassan Farhan’s lap for a safe catch, however the Iraqi keeper somehow managed to let the ball lose to slip underneath him into the goal.

Iraq young attacker Mohanad Ali rescued a point for his team five minutes from time with a fine half volley while Seyed Mohammad Jafar in Bahrain goal could have done much better.

Cambodia will continue their Group C campaign on Tuesday with another home game against Bahrain while Hong Kong entertains heavyweights Iran in Hong Kong.