Tag: Karim Ansarifard

Ali Alipour, challenging for a place in Team Melli.

Ali Alipour, with sterling performances in the Persian Gulf League and the AFC Champions league has finally convinced Carlos Queiroz to pick him for Team Melli squad.

Iran is preparing for the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018, where they are grouped with Spain, Portugal and Morocco.

Born in Ghaem Shar on 11th November 1994, young Alipour grew up in the wrestling champions breeding province of Mazendran This northern province, where the tradition wrestling rules  supreme, has produced countless number of world class wrestling champions and Olympics medals winners, however, this young man was determined to be a champion in a different sport, his beloved football.

Alipour started playing football with with Nassaji Mazandaran in 2011 in the lower leagues before making his dream trip to Tehran and joining Rah Ahan in 2013. . He first made his professional debut in 2012 at the age of 16 with Azadegan League club Sang Ahan.

In his two years in Rah Ahan, Alipour hardly managed to set the stage alight scoring only 3 goals in 25 matches.

However, it was in Persepolis, where he started to make a name for himself. He started as a sub for the club but steadily went up the pecking order until he became a fixed player and a prolific scorer. On May 2015, Alipour became a cult hero .  

On May 15, 2015 Alipour scored in the Tehran derby against Esteghlal, making him the youngest ever player to score in the famous and iconic Derby, with only 19 years of age. 

It was only a matter of time for Queiroz to recognize the talented center forward who has a knack of scoring fancy goals. The AFC Champions League is a testament for this talented 22 years old. Under Branko Ivankovic , the Persepolis coach, Alipour has thrived and continues to develop to a classy forward.

His selection to Team Melli will not give him a guarantee of playing time as the competition is stiff up the front. With Sardar Azmoun, Reza Ghoochannejad who is playing his best season in Holland, Karim Ansarifard enjoying similar success in Greek league ,  Alireza Jahanbakhsh continuing his excellent form and finally Mehdi Taremi , now in Qatar Star League, Alipour is far from being assured a place in the World Cup squad, let alone playing in the world biggest football show.

Alipour, however, remains a potential winner and a hard worker with talent and pace and good enough to seriously challenge for a place in the Team Melli.

Team Melli on track for the Uzbekistan match

Team Melli is on course in preparation for the crucial match against Uzbekistan on Monday.

FIFA announced the name of the referees for the match. Ahmad Abu Baker Said Al Kaf from Oman will be assisted by Hamed Suleiman and Abu Baker Saleem. The fourth referee is Omar Mubarak all from the Sultanate of Oman.

The Omani referee was the fourth official in 4 matches in the recent FIFA World Cup U-20 championship 2017 in South Korea. He was not assigned any matches to referee. His last international match was in Sydney on 27th March 2017 refereeing the match between Australia and UAE which the host won 2-0.

Meanwhile, the FFIRI has encouraged the fans not to go to Azadi Stadium in matchday unless they carry a ticket on hand. The ticket sales for the match against Uzbekistan is all on-line through a dedicated website. No tickets will be sold on the match day from kiosks.

FIFA was given assurance by the FFIRI and the security authorities that strict measures and tight security will be implemented on match day following the terrorist attacks Parliament and the Ayatollah Khomeini mausoleum a few days back.

Carlos Queiroz is relying on his team’s solid defence with a perfect defensive record of not conceding a goal since the opening match, while he will be deploying  a powerful offensive line up front to unsettle the Uzbek defenses. Azmoun has been in top form , while both Ansarifard and Ghoochannejad had their best ever forms playing in Europe. domestically , Mehdi Taremi has been the best Iranian forward and the league’s top scorer.

To supplement the forwards, Jahanbakhsh and Vahid Amiri will be feeding the attackers with their runs and crosses on the flanks , leaving Dejagah and Ezzatollahie to cover the middle of the field.

There are no injuries worries to report in the squad , however , Ashkan Dejagah is short of match practise and made a short appearance for Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga following a long injury. Ramin Rezaeian is without a club after he was sacked from Persepolis , nevertheless the defender form was quite good against Montenegro in the recent 2-1 win.

 

Glorious days for Iranian strikers in Europe.

Team Melli strikers in Europe, are rewriting the history and reaching feats that their predecessors did not manage or was unthinkable. 

Reza Ghoochannejad, Sardar Azmoun , Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Karim Ansarifard the four players who happened to be all playing up front in their teams have done Iran’s football pride by consistently scoring goals in the most competitive of leagues.

Reza “Gucci” Ghoochannejad , who had a torrid couple of season in the lower English League and Persian Gulf countries, gradually found his form after transferring  to SC Heereneveen in the Eredivisie. Gucci scored his 14th goal of the season yesterday in a 3-0 win against Roda JC Kerkrade .

Sardar Azmoun, the golden boy of Iran has scored 7 goals for his team in various competitions, including 4 goals in one season of the UEFA Champions League. He is the only the second Iranian player to score in this competition after Ali Daei who scored 6 goals in two seasons for Hertha Berlin in the UEFA Champions League.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh who has been playing professional in the Eredivisie for 4 seasons now although he is only 23, has enjoyed a good run with his club AZ Alkaamar. He has already doubled his tally from last season scoring 6 goals so far for the Dutch club.

Karim Ansarifard whose football career was seriously being undermined while warming the bench at segunda Division Osasuna in Spain, made it good after transferring to the Greek league. With Panionios he scored 14 goals in one a half season before being grabbed by the league leader Olympiakos Piraeus in the winter transfer window. Karim already opened his account with Olympiakos by scoring a brace in UEFA Europa league against Turkish side Osmanlispor.

.It has never been so good for Iranian players in European leagues. Household names such as Ali  Daei, Mehdi Mahdavikia, Ali Karimi , Vahid Hashemian, Karim Bagheri and host of other Iranian players played in Europe especially after that famous FIFA 1998 World Cup. However, despite the relative success , it is definitely not comparable to the success that the current group is enjoying in Europe despite Team Melli lack of success or achievement.

 

Ansarifard Joins Olympiacos

Team Melli striker Karim Ansarifard has joined the Greek giants Olympiacos from Panionios on a three-and-a-half year contract and a reported fee of €400,000 on Friday.

The 26-year-old who made a name for himself in Greek Super league with Panionios after scoring 11 goals in 36 appearances in all competitions last season, had offers from AEK, PAOK FC, Feyenoord and Olympique de Marseille. This current season, Karim has scored 5 goals and provided 3 assists in 14 matches.


Olympiacos is currently leading the table in the Greek Super League with 37 points from 14 games under tutelage of Portuguese coach Paolo Bento who was appointed in August 2016.

Olympiacos has qualified for the round of 32 in UEFA Europa League and they will take Turkish side Osmanlispor in a two-leg clash.
Although it was initially reported that Ansarifard would remain at Panionios until the end of the 2016-17 season, the contract he eventually signed is effective from the January 2017 transfer window.


Karim started his professional career in 2007 with Saipa before moving to Iranian league giant Persepolis in 2012. After 2014 World Cup Ansarifard moved to Spanish Segunda division Osasuna where he was mostly used as a bench-warmer.
A move to Panionios in the summer of 2015 saved his career as his good performance caught the eye of big teams and finally Olympiacos signed him.

Syria ; Team Melli’s tough opponent.

Team Melli will meet Syria on Tuesday in the hope of extending its lead in the group ahead of Korea and Uzbekistan who will be meeting an hours earlier in Seoul World Cup Stadium.

The FIFA World Cup 2018 Qualifiers will reach the halfway line at the end of this round.

War-torn Syria has elected Malaysia as the home base,  which is indeed a poor choice in hindsight, according to coach Ayman Hakeem. However , the Syrian team has had a relative success in results and managed to draw with South Korea, win against Qatar and narrowly lose to Uzbekistan and Qatar.

On the other hand Team Melli is enjoying the view from the top after 3 wins and a draw. Despite the low number of goals tally of average of 1 goal per game, the defence has not been penetrated yet after 4 games. On paper , it is highly unlikely that Syrian forwards who only manged to score 1 goal in the competition so far, will test the solid  Iranian defence despite the fact that Iran is missing its number 1 goalkeeper Biranvand due to Injury.

 With 3 key outfield players missing , including the prolific forward Sardar Azmoun , Iran will not be enjoying the supremacy of the last few matches up front, but that is far from the team being handicapped. Both Reza Ghoochannejad and Karim Ansarifard , playing in European leagues, have been outstanding for their clubs and are in top form. The duo scored 5 of the 8 goals in Team Melli last match against Papua New guinea, with Gucci scoring his first ever hat trick at international level.

Historically , Iran rules supreme in the head to head matches.winning 13 of the 23 matches while losing only once and that was back in 1973.

Despite the impressive figures for Iran, Syria has never been the punching bag and always remains a tough competition at all levels. This current Syrian squad is no exception and could very well spring a surprise and against the form. The battle between the groups worst attackers (Syria) and the best defender (Iran) will hardly see a floodgate opening. Syria has a solid defense too  and coach Ayman Hakeem will be looking to some rapid counter attacks in the hoping of getting all the 3 points.

Ayman Hakeem, Syria
“This is a very difficult game. Iran is a strong team and in very good form at the moment. We can see that it is not easy to score goals against them, as they are well-organised.

“We need to keep to our game plan and then we can get a good result. We will have to be at our best and work hard for each other. All these games in this stage are very difficult but we have shown that we have our own strengths too and we have managed to produce some good results”

Carlos Queiroz,  Iran

“From a tactical aspect, it is not easy to come and play in Malaysia but in respect to Syria, we are here to win. So far we have collected ten points in four games and that is a good start. We have scored four goals in those games and while that is not ideal, it is because of the strength or our opponents.

“If we can keep scoring one or two goals in every match and not concede then I will be happy. All games at this stage are difficult and intense and this is a big responsibility for a coach. We have to play against good teams like Syria and always perform to our best but then on the other hand, we know that Iran are tough opponents for other teams in the group too.

 

 

 

HEAD2HEAD

H / A / N Matches Won Draw Lost Goals + / –
Home 10 4 5 1 19 – 8 +11
Away 7 5 2 0 10 – 3 +7
Neutral 6 4 2 0 7 – 2 +5
Total 23 13 9 1 36 – 13 +23

Team Melli trounces Papua New Guinea 8-1

Team Melli beat Papua New Guinea 8-1 in a friendly game in the Malaysian city of Selangor early today Thursday. The first half ended 2-0 for Iran with Dejagah opening the scoring followed by Mehdi Taremi late in the half. 

Papua New Guinea scored early in the second half to make it 2-1 before the floodgates opened literary in the second half, Reza Ghoochannejad scored a hat trick while Karim Ansarifard scored a brace , Ramin Rezaeian scored last goal.

Right after the last goal, heavy rain made the pitch quite heavy and the match unplayable, but both teams continued the next 10 minutes play to the end.

 

IRAN vs. PAPUA NEW GUINEA

8 – 1

Shah Alam Stadium , Selangor – Malaysia

Thursday 10th Nov. 2016

scorers:

Dejagah (14′),  Taremi (38′),  Ghoochannejad (47′ , 54′, 59),  Ansarifard (54′ , 59′), Rezaeian (80′)

A new game plan is needed!

Despite the 4 points in the bag , Team Melli has yet to produce a performance that eases the tension of its fans, nor did it satisfy the critics.
 
The well-organized Qatar team frustrated Team Melli for long spells and missed a couple of good opportunities to take the lead in the opener match of FIFA WC 2018 Qualifiers Round 3 played in Azadi.  Against China 5 days later in Shenyang, there wasn’t much to rave about, either. Team Melli is not functioning on all cylinders.
 
Despite having all the key players available, Team Melli and coach Carlos Queiroz struggled against both Qatar & China.
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It took a horrendous error by Qatar’s custodian  for Team Melli to break the deadlock. Even when Claude Amin gifted Karim Ansarifard the ball , the Panionios FC forward could not believe his luck however he was too slow to react allowing a Qatari defender to tackle him cleanly from behind and push the ball away. Lady luck was in favor of Iran however, as Gucci gladly accepted the loose ball and finished clinically and in style.
 
Jahanbakhsh’s second was the one to marvel about. His diagonal run and the one side step dribble past two Qatari markers with a accurate shot into the far corner of Qatar goal was the icing on the cake and the most valuable play of the two games.
There was no such luck for Team Melli against China, though.
Carlos Queiroz who led Team Melli to the FIFA 2014 World Cup, seems to struggle with his game plan against oppositions who seem to have analyzed Team Melli quite well. His players seems to run out of ideas against packed opposition defenses.
The majority of the balls fed to the forwards , were crosses to the isolated Sardar Azmoun in center forward position, which both Qatari and Chinese defenders handled quite easily. It seems that Queiroz had a wishful thinking that Ali Daei is spearheading Team Melli forward line, according to one newspaper article!
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The biggest shortfall of Queiroz game plan is lack of variations and alternative moves to unsettle opposing defenders. One or two players have the ability to shot from long range , but from what we have seen so far in the last two matches , no players seem to make it count. Some of the shots attempted were more suited for the fans to collect the ball as souvenirs.
One of the ways to unsettle defenders is dribbling into the box, or short swift passes between forwards inside, both techniques that Team Melli is quite capable of executing and have the skills for , were not attempted .
Team Melli had one method of attacking , that was to send crosses from flanks none of which yielded any result in 180 minutes of play. It will be even more futile against a strong , well organized and tall Uzbek defenders.
Queiroz needs to dig deep into his long years of coaching experience at top level to come up with  much better game plans if he is to challenge for one of possible 5 places for Russia. Qualification is certainly and definitely feasible on paper, however , it is not as easy as saying it. Instead of blaming the earth and sky , Queiroz needs to sit and alter his strategy utilizing the ability of his players , his own skills One and the weaknesses of the opposition. One Game-plan for all , simply does not work and is highly predictable and risky.
 
Queiroz ’s capacity to heap negative publicity on Team Melli needs to be curtailed too. Taj and FFIRI need to encourage him to adopt a less combative and anarchist profile. He is in perpetual conflict with League managers, ghost enemies , the media and, to some extent, fans. The man never tires from spreading negative vibes before , during and after the games. His lack of self control and temperament in matches, highlighted by his antics in the home game against Qatar, eventually spreads into the players , as a result 4 Iranian players received the yellow card in one home match!
 
 

Last minutes goals ensures a winning start for Team Melli

Team Melli defeated Qatar 2-0 in Azadi stadium in the opening match of the FIFA World Cup 2018 Qualification rounds. Two goals from Reza Ghoochannejad and Alireza Jahanbaksh in the added times of the match , ensured Iran grabs all the 3 points and heads the group on goal difference.

In a tightly balanced match , the players of both teams failed to break open each others defences and at the end of the match they seemed to be content with a draw. Qatar would have been the much happier side with one point.  However , a sudden turn of events, a momentary lack of concentration  turned things around.

When the referee announced a 6 minutes added time , it was ominous for the Qataris. Their usual or in fact,  classical time wasting and faking injury bounced back against them.

A serious blunder by Qatar goalkeeper Amine Lecomte-Addani in the 94th minute when he gifted Ansarifard with a ball which the Iranian Forward subsequently lost from a tackle by Qatar defender , the ball conveniently reached Reza Ghoochannejad lurking to the left and the sub forward finished  in style for the Azadi to explode in celebration.

The match was stopped for 5 minutes after the goal when the Qatari bench players entered the pitch followed by the Iranian bench. Following a pandemonium and eventually when sanity prevailed , the excellent Sri Lankan referee whistled for re-start and the goal stood. One minute after re-start of the game , Ando Teymourian sent a delightful ball to Alireza Jahanbaksh on the right flank. The winger dribbled past two defenders before sending his shot to the extreme right of the hapless Qatar keeper to score Iran’s second with this killer punch.

The match was never easy for Iran against a solid and highly organized defense. 

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Qatar proved to be a tough opponent for Team Melli as the Persian Gulf nation managed to frustrate the host from the first half.  It was balanced half with both teams having chances to score but the finishings left a lot to be desired

Team Melli midfield despite the good performance by Dejagah and Ezatollahie ,  could not influence the match nor properly feed the two forwards Azmoun and Taremi.  The few good balls sent by the duo were all wasted due to the poor finishing and some wayward shots into goal from. Jahanbakhsh was a shadow of himself on the right flank ,  which did not help the team while the left flank saw the better side of the team with Dejagah and supported by the excellent Hajsafy.

The defense of Team Melli was solid however the temperament Jalal Hosseini is worrying , while the slowness of Montazeri was telling.  Hosseini would easily get frustrated, and despite being the oldest and most senior players , he was far from exemplary in his actions. Ramin Rezaeian, who incidentally has not played a single league match this season and is club-less,  was awfully short of form and perhaps the worst player of the half along with Taremi

speaking of temperaments, the match threatened to boil over near the end of the half as Qatar frustrated team Mell, while the Iranian players took their frustration in form of protesting or committing uncalled for silly fouls.

Hassan Al Haydoos , the Qatari winger gave Iran defense some real test and was quite a handful. 

Not much changed in the second half except that Team Melli were getting more frustrated , playing in haste and in angry mood. Qatar players were content in wasting time, hitting Iran on the counter and closing their defense by packing the midfield and inside the box.

Perhaps it was a heartbreak for Qatar , but they only have themselves to blame for loss of concentration

This was the most precious three points that Team Melli has gained in many years. A real releif for Carlos Queiroz and 80,000 fans in Azadi.

Qatar heartbreak

 

Masoud Shojae to join Panionios FC

Team Melli’s winger and midfield player , Masoud Shojae (32 Years) have agreed a deal with the Greek Super League outfit, Panionios FC.

Shojaei , who was playing for the QSL Al Gharafa last season in Qatar, will be joining his compatriot , Karim Ansarifard in the same team in Greek league.  Shojaei has played in the Spanish La Liga side Osasuna (101 games & 8 goals) and Segunda Division , Las Palmas (29 games & 5 goals) before returning east to the Persian Gulf and joining Qatar league.

Panionios FC were performing quite strongly in last season and with the help of Ansarifard’s goals , as they climbed the table near the top , but their campaign faltered towards the end and were finally ranked 5th , which was a massive improvement from the season before when they just managed to avoid relegation.

Panionios management has been trying to strengthen the squad to mount a good run and yet another title challenge in the Super League Greece season 2016/17.  They play their home games in Nea Smyrni Stadium with a capacity of 11.700 seats. Panionios FC is one of the oldest and most historic Greek teams.

Iran’s golden boy scores a hat trick against Macedonia

Sardar Azmoun scored a hat trick, his first at international level to lead Team Melli 3-1 against Macedonia in the match played At Philip II stadium at Skopje.

Azmoun scored early in the 8th minute from an assist by Dejagah , however the host quickly replied back and scored the equalizer in the 10th minute by A. Trajkovski assisted by I. Tričkovski

The parity however did not last long as once again Sardar Azmoun pounced on an easy opportunity to beat S. Dimitrievski with an easy shoot from Hajsafy’s assist.  The half time finished 1-2 for Iran although Team Melli could have still added another goal.

In the second half Macedonia rested their star player Pandev and made a few changes but to no avail as The star of the Team was on a roll. Assisted by the fine pass of Saeed Ezatollahei , Azmoun found himself one on one from the through ball with only the keeper to beat. The FC Rostov top scorer finished immaculately to make it 3-1 for Team Melli. Azmoun was subbed in the 64th minute with Karimi Ansarifard who had a good season in the Greek League himself. Ansarifard managed to score a goal but it was disallowed for offside.

The result was never in doubt as Queiroz stuck to his game plan of building a solid defense and packing the midfield to feed the brilliant Azmoun. The result was a fine win for Team Melli against a European opponent , albeit not a very high ranked team. On the other hand South Korea was humiliated by Spain  6-1 in their international friendly in Switzerland.

Team Melli’s next friendly is against Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday.