Tag: Japan

Thrilling encounters in AFC Asian Cup Round 16

There were some major surprise results in the group stages of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023. Iraq defeated the favorites Japan, while Jordan was on the brink of victory against the mighty Koreans, but finally settled for a 2-2 draw.

Only Iran, Qatar, and Iraq managed to win all the group matches. Japan and Korea Rep were placed as runners-up in their respective groups. As expected Australia and Uzbekistan qualified from their groups while China was stunned and eliminated from Group A.

There were quite a few surprises too in this edition. Tajikistan and Palestine were both qualified for the first time in their history. Indonesia pipped Vietnam to the round 16 qualifiers in another major surprise.

Bahrain topped its group which had Korea Rep, Jordan, and Malaysia. Despite the defeat in the opening match against the Koreans, Bahrain recovered well by winning its remaining matches. Jordan placed third in the group and qualified as one of the best third-rank teams.

Team Melli, had a solitary hiccup against Hong Kong, nevertheless, it won all three matches without much effort. It will be meeting Syria in the Round of 16. Waiting for Team Melli after it defeats Syria is either Japan or Bahrain in what could be an early final.

There were a lot of lessons to be learned from the last time Iran and Japan met in the last edition of the AFC Asian Cup in Al Ain. In that semi-final, Japan destroyed Team Melli in style mainly due to the Iranian player’s pressing the self-destruct and lack of discipline.

It would be a good move for Ghalenoei to show his players the full match from 2019 and pinpoint where the Team Melli players possibly went wrong. Saying that, Bahrain could very well spring another surprise by beating Japan in this round. Bahrain has always been a difficult and stubborn opponent for the Persians,

AFC ASIAN CUP QATAR 2023

Last-16
Sunday, January 28

Australia vs Indonesia (Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, Doha 11.30am)
Tajikistan vs United Arab Emirates (Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan)

Monday, January 29

Iraq vs Jordan (Khalifa International Stadium, Al Rayyan)
Qatar vs Palestine (Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor)

Tuesday, January 30

Uzbekistan vs Thailand (Al Janoub Stadium, Al Wakrah)
Saudi Arabia vs South Korea (Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan)

Wednesday, January 31

Bahrain vs Japan (Al Thumama Stadium, Doha)
Iran vs Syria (Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha)

Roberto Mancini furious at some Saudi Players, expels six from the squad

The Italian Roberto Mancini, the head coach of the Saudi national football team, revealed the reasons for the expulsion of several players from the squad in Doha, indicating that whoever hesitates or refuses to stay has to leave without hesitation.
This came during the press conference held along with Saleh Al-Shehri, the Saudi striker, on Monday, before confronting the Oman team on Tuesday, in Doha in the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023. The Italian explained the events with each player and the reason for the expulsion, as the conference inaugurated, saying: “We have 3 players who do not want to participate, They are Salman Al-Faraj, Sultan Al-Ghannam, and Nawaf Al-Aqidi.” He explained: “Salman Al-Faraj does not want to play experimental matches. He said that when he first joined the squad. The other two wanted to start the games and would not be content to sit on the bench. Either start all matches or they are not going to stay with the team!!

The problems were not limited to the trio that Mancini mentioned in the press conference. He revealed the circumstances of other cases by saying: “Also, Mohammad Maran, Ali Hazazi, and Khaled Al-Ghannam all have expressed their unhappiness in the camp for various reasons, and were quite vocal about it. So, our response was quick: leave the camp now.”
On the future of the players who were excluded for non-technical reasons, he said: “There is no room to call them again. There are lots of players who want to represent the national team of their homeland and it is worth giving them the opportunity. What happened here is a strange matter. In my whole career as a player and a coach, I have never experienced such behavior before. This is alien to the sport of football”

About the chances of the Saudi national team, in the AFC Asian Cup, the former Italy and Manchester City coach said: “There are many strong teams here such as Japan, Australia, Iran, and South Korea, and we will do what we can in this tournament. We will deal with each stage as it comes. Right now. the focus is on our match with Oman. Certainly, it is a difficult match, which we will have to play with a greater focus in this meeting, especially as it is the opening match.”

AFC Asian Cup 2023: The contenders in action

On the third day of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023, two contenders for the title will start their campaign under different conditions.

Japan and Iran the two top-ranked teams in Asia will start against Vietnam and Palestine respectively.

For the Japanese, who are everyone’s favorite to lift the trophy, it is a difficult start against a stubborn team in Vietnam, however, the odds of losing even a point are quite low as Japan is in top form in years.

Palestine is another tough team to beat. The goalkeeper and the defense line of Team Melli will have a comfortable shift but the midfield and the forward line will have to do all the work to break the stubborn Palestine defense. The 99th-ranked team in the FIFA Ranking can frustrate the Iranians as they have already done to a few teams before.

With Sardar Azmoun being a late joiner to the squad in Doha, he may start the match on the bench while Taremi will have Asadi or Moghanlou partnering him in the attack. Jahanbakhsh will occupy the right wing and Mohebbi will be pushing from behind the trio. Saman Ghoddos will be the maestro of the midfield. His performance is the key to the success of the team. Gholizadeh has a good chance of partnering with Ghoddos, while Ezatollahi will operate as the holding midfielder.

the status of Ramin Rezaeian’s injury is not clear yet. He would have been ideal for a match like this where the opposition packs its defenses in two layers.

The slight injury to Beiranvand is still a worry, but with Hosseini and Nizmand, there should not be any alarms as both are capable of covering for Ali Beiranvand in case he is unable to start.

Earlier in the day UAE meets Hong Kong in the same group at Khalifa International stadium

Age factor in AFC Asian Cup 2023

It is hardly surprising that Team Melli, one of the contenders for lifting the AFC Asian Cup, has the highest average age among the teams who are also laying a claim for the prestigious continental title.

The AFC Asian Cup 2023, which was originally scheduled to be held in China, will instead start in Qatar in a fortnight after a year delay as Iran will take on Palestine in its first match.

Japan, Australia, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia in addition to Iran are traditionally among the strongest contenders for the championship in Asia, while Uzbekistan and host Qatar, can be included among the contenders. In the 27-man list that Amir Ghalenoei has published, there are a few names added, but it is doubtful if any one of them will feature in the upcoming matches.

Team Melli will only have a cosmetic change as the structure has remained quite exclusive since the 2018 World Cup until today. In fact, two aging players Omid Ebrahimi and Karim Ansarifard are part of the squad after being out for some time.

Much has been said about the aging Team Melli and the reluctance of Ghalenoei to introduce younger and promising players on the pretense of a shortage of time! however, it is interesting to compare the average age of other teams to find if younger age claims translate to success.

There is no doubt that Japan is the team to beat in this tournament. They have the strongest and most feared team that has beaten the likes of Germany amongst many other teams. Among these seven top contenders, the Japanese national football team is the youngest average age of 25.1 years. Uzbekistan is 25.68 years, Saudi Arabia is the third with 26 years and Australians follow at 26.15, while South Korea has an average age of 27.8 and Qatar with an average of 27.9 years (see table below)

The average age of the players of the Iranian national team is 28.6 years, which is the highest compared to the other five contenders.

Amir Ghalenoei once again has drawn the line on the names of young players, including Mohammad Amin Hizbavi, Abolfazl Jalali, Allahyar Sayadmanesh, Saeed Saharkhizan, and others, preferring experienced and seasoned players. Although the age of players is one factor for a victorious team, it is by no means the only factor.

It has been a tradition amongst the Iranian coaches to stick to a group of few players that they can rely on. That is painfully clear at club levels, however, at the international level within a short period where the teams play an average of a game every three or four days, that could become a liability, especially with older players who do not have the energy to be involved in intense competitions.

#TeamAverage Age23 & below30 & above
1Japan25.182
2Uzbekistan25.6885
3Saudi Arabia2694
4Australia26.1568
5Korea Rep.27.8410
6Qatar27.9312
7Iran28.6312
Players Average Age

Team Melli to set up camp in the Far East before the AFC Asian Cup 2023.

The first vice president of Iran’s football federation announced that Team Melli will partake in a tournament in the Far East before the start of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023.
According to a report, Mehdi Mohammadnabi, the first vice president of FFIRI, on the sidelines of the International Football Clinic Congress, said: “Before going to Qatar to participate in the AFC Asian Cup, Team Melli is supposed to arrange a training camp in the Far East.”

Emphasizing that the location of this camp has not yet been decided, he said: “We are working on the matter and hope that the national team will participate in a tournament in East Asia before the Asian Cup. Of course, this preparatory camp and tournament will be accomplished without the presence of the legionnaires.”

It has been previously announced that Iran will play a friendly match against the Japanese national team before participating in the Asian Cup, a match that will apparently be held without the presence of the legionnaires of the two countries. It is not clear if Mohammadnabi is referring to this match.

There is another two matches for Team Melli in the FIFA Day October break as Iran will be taking part in a 4 nations international tournament in Amman Jordan.

The Asian Cup will be held in Qatar from January 12, 2024, to February 10, 2024.

FIFA Ranking September 2023: Iran in 21st place.

Iran climbed one place in the latest FIFA World Ranking to 21st ahead of Peru, Sweden, and Ukraine while Japan’s impressive run continues with rank 19 just ahead of Senegal and Iran.

Japan is still maintaining the lead in AFC with Iran, South Korea, Australia, and Saudi Arabia following behind.

RKTeamTotal PointsPrevious Points+/-Positions
19JapanJapan1605.21595.969.24
21IR IranIran1561.261556.594.67
26Korea RepublicKorea Republic1533.011529.33.71
27AustraliaAustralia1531.721530.451.27
57Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia1412.821421.46-8.64
61QatarQatar1395.571395.570.00
69IraqIraq1347.381345.212.17
70United Arab EmiratesUnited Arab Emirates1342.431336.286.15
73OmanOman1334.371332.451.92
75UzbekistanUzbekistan1328.351327.580.77
80China PRChina PR1297.251304.78-7.53
84JordanJordan1286.361296.26-9.90

Poor grassroots football development, the reason for Omid’s Failure

After the disappointment of Iran’s U23 team’s failure to make it to the AFC Asian Cup U23 Qatar, where 16 top Asian teams will try to qualify for the Olympics, criticisms and theories on the failure have been in abundance.

One interesting theory comes from a long-time coach who has been operating at the youth level for many years in Iran’s football and looking beyond the classic narrative of failures and defeat.

Referring to the reasons for the Omid team failure, the Iranian football expert, Amin Rasti said: “Iran’s grassroots football structure is frail and unethical, and we will not get anywhere with such mentality and system.”

In an interview with Mehr reporter, Amin Rasti commented on the elimination of Iran’s Omid football team under head coach Reza Enayati: “The problem is in players’ development at the grassroots level, which causes unprofessional and misdemeanor in later stages of a player’s career such as in Omid and beyond.”

“It was unreasonable to expect a miracle from Enayati to qualify for the Olympics. He had just arrived (…) and perhaps he was not fully acquainted with many issues, or perhaps lacked some necessary skills. The issue that worries me is that we are ignoring the growth of our Asian neighbors, our competitors. This problem does not refer to one institution or a few managers. The basic football structure is quite weak. The foundation is fragile. Why don’t we have a grassroots tournament in Iran? The discussion of financial issues is on one side of the equation while paying attention to grassroots football development is on the other side.”

Rasti continued: ” There is a problem with grassroots football training at club level. I have warned against the neglect at this level, several times in the past few years. Grassroots football starts with toddlers and ends with the youth. It is a critical stage but also vital in developing a footballer. We have the problem of education in these categories. The dearth of quality trainers, mixed priorities, and general lack of planning. There are a thousand and one reasons why grassroots football is bad and going to worse.”

Referring to the low level of quality, and standards of the grassroots coaches, Rasti said: ” I don’t see the problem only in the thoughts of the head coach, but I want to say that our problem is the importance of infrastructure in grassroots football. This trend is seriously alarming for national football. Our coaches have fallen behind in the modern science of player training. Self-development and improvement are rare. If we don’t pay attention, we will have problems in the senior category as well. “

Rasti talked about his fear of facing the great rivals of the Asian continent in the upcoming AFC Asian Cup and stated: ” I am really worried about the Asian Cup. Playing against Saudi Arabia can be scary for this football. We are tired of mentioning Japan, which started about 25 years ago and now it is destroying giants like Germany. Japan has moved way up but aside from that, the rest of the Asian nations are also getting stronger and stronger.”

Rasti re-emphasized: “We are not proceeding on the systematic path in any way. Grassroots football is lost. We have a large pool of talent at the grassroots, but it is managed poorly. It is a pity for these talents. We must be much stronger than what we are now. We will not reach our potential because of mismanagement Believe me, this year is too late to return to the first level of Asian football, and we must formulate and adjust the basic structure from today to reap the benefits in the coming years”

Amin Rasti

AFC qualifiers for FIFA World Cup 2026

The seeding for FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers in Asia have been determined.

After winning the title of CAFA Nations Cup 2023, Team Melli would be busy preparing for the AFC Asian Cup and the next round of World Cup qualifiers. Iran will not be involved in Round 1 of the qualifiers but will start its games in Round 2.

The qualifiers starting in 2023 will be a marathon of matches in a similar pattern to the previous edition of the World Cup in Qatar.

The FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers will start in the Asian continent on Thursday, October 12. In the first round, 22 AFC teams from the lowest FIFA ranking will take part, with 11 of them will advance to the group round.

The second round of the qualifiers will see Iran’s presence. Team Melli is currently ranked second in Asia after Japan. The AFC second round of 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification, which also serves as the second round of 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification, is expected to be played from 16 November 2023 to 11 June 2024

A total of thirty-six teams will be drawn into nine groups of four to play home-and-away round-robin matches. They include the twenty-five teams (teams ranked 1–25 in the AFC entrant list) which received byes to this round and the eleven winners from the first round.

Eighteen group winners and runners-up advance to the third round and qualify for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. The third and fourth-place teams will advance to the third round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualification.

SEEDING

The 11 teams that advanced from Round 1, along with the top 25 teams in Asia, form a total of 36 teams that must be placed in 9 four-team groups. The classification of this round of competitions is as follows:

Seed 1: Japan – Iran – Australia – South Korea – Saudi Arabia – Qatar – Emirates – Iraq – Oman

Seed 2: Uzbekistan – China – Jordan – Bahrain – Syria – Vietnam – Palestine – Kyrgyzstan – India

Seed 3: Lebanon – Tajikistan – Thailand – North Korea – Philippines – Malaysia – Turkmenistan – Kuwait – Hong Kong

The top two teams from each group will advance to the third round of the World Cup qualifiers in the Asian continent and the third and fourth teams of the group are also eliminated.

Schedule

The schedule is expected to be as follows, according to the FIFA International Match Calendar.

MatchdayDate(s)
Matchday 116 November 2023
Matchday 221 November 2023
Matchday 321 March 2024
Matchday 426 March 2024
Matchday 56 June 2024
Matchday 611 June 2024

Iran routs Japan in the finals of AFC beach Soccer Asian Cup 2023

Pattaya: Iran were at their awesome best as they defeated Japan 6-0 in the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup™ Thailand 2023 final at the Jomtien Beach Arena on Sunday.
The win saw Iran draw level with Japan on three titles each, with both teams now casting their eyes on preparing for the FIFA Beach Soccer World UAE 2023 in November.
It was a tense start with neither team allowing the other space but it was Iran who had the first look on goal with Amir Akbari sending his overhead kick just above the bar.
Despite Japan’s man-marking, Iran scored the opening goal in spectacular fashion when Movahed Mohammadpour collected a long pass from keeper Seyedmahdi Mirjajili before finishing acrobatically in the fourth minute.
Japan struggled to find their footing and suffered another setback in the eighth minute with Mirjajili the orchestrator again when he set up Ali Mirshekari for another acrobatic finish leaving Shinya Shibamoto well beaten.
Three-time champions Japan came alive in the 11h minute with Takaaki Oba threatening with an overhead effort before Shibamoto’s long-range drive forced a fingertip save from Mirjajili.
Japan were missing the attacking play which had seen them breeze to the final and had no answer to Iran’s aggression when they conceded again in the 20th minute after Mirjajili’s throw was deflected by Movahed to an unmarked Moslem Mesigar to slam the ball home.
The East Asian side almost found a way through with Takuya Akaguma seeing his shot graze the bar before Ozu skied his free-kick in the closing stages, leaving them with a mountain to climb heading into the break.
Iran piled more misery on Japan in the 29th minute when Shibamoto was dispossessed in his own area by Mohammadali Mokhtari before slotting home the fourth into an empty goalmouth.
Iran furthered their advantage in the 35th minute following an own goal by Japan’s Kosuke Matsuda before Mirshekari added the sixth with seconds left on the clock to seal the win and clinch their third title.

2023 AFC Asian Cup to kick off in January 2024!

DOHA, March 1 ) —  AFC Asian Cup  2023 the 18th edition of the continent’s premier tournament will be held from January 12th to February 10th, 2024 in Qatar, the Qatar Football Association (QFA) announced on Tuesday. Qatar is the defending champion.

The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in China from 16 June to 16 July 2023. On 14 May 2022, the AFC announced that China would not host the tournament due to the circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and China’s Zero-COVID policy.

The QFA also announced the establishment of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of the AFC Asian Cup, and its president Ahmed Al-Thani was named as the chairman of the LOC.

In October 2022, Qatar was awarded by AFC to host the tournament, which has 24 participating teams.

The draw for the group stages will be announced by AFC based on the seeding of the teams according to the FIFA Ranking of December 2022. However, this seeding might change as the tournament comes closer. Two top teams of each group will qualify for the knock-out stages plus four best third-place teams from the six groups.

From the December 2022 FIFA World Rankings
Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4
 Qatar (60) (hosts)
 Japan (20)
 Iran (24)
Korea Rep. (25)
 Australia (27)
 Saudi Arabia (49)		  Iraq (68)
 UAE (70)
 Oman (75)
 China (80)
 Syria (90)
 Vietnam (96)		  Lebanon (100)
 Uzbekistan (77)
 Jordan (84)
 Bahrain (85)
 Palestine (93)
 Kyrgyzstan (94)		  India (106)
 Tajikistan (108)
 Thailand (111)
 Malaysia (145)
 Hong Kong (146)
 Indonesia (151)

 

Venues

Five host cities were submitted in the 2023 bid, including seven stadiums prepared for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The Lusail Stadium was proposed to host the final and a semi-final, with the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor to host the other semi-final. However, the official stadiums for the tournament have not been announced yet.

 

City/Area Stadium Capacity
Lusail Lusail Stadium 88,966
Al Khor Al Bayt Stadium 68,895
Al Rayyan Khalifa International Stadium 45,857
Ahmad bin Ali Stadium 45,032
Education City Stadium 44,667
Doha Al Thumama Stadium 44,400
Qatar University Stadium 20,600
Al Wakrah Al Janoub Stadium 44,325