Tag: Kashima Antlers

Jalal Hosseini to quit Team Melli.

Persepolis football team Captain intends to announce his retirement from Team Melli.

 Seyyed Jalal Hosseini, who was one of the key players in the Iranian national football team before the 2018 World Cup, was left out of the squad announced by Carlos Queiroz  and hence did not make the roster for the finals of FIFA World Cup 2018 Russia.

After some deliberation Persepolis , captain decided to officially say goodbye to the national football team. Seyyed Jalal Hosseini is scheduled to announce  his retirement from international football in a press conference on Sunday (tomorrow). Hosseini was born on February 3rd, 1982 in Bandar Anzali. He started his senior football with the local team, Malavan Bandar Anzali, in 2005 he moved on to Saipa 4 years later he joined Sepahan where he played for 3 season before moving back to Tehran to Join Persepolis, his current club.

Hosseini also played for Al Ahli of Qatar in 2014/15 season the back to Tehran to play from Naft Tehran until 2016. He re-joined Persepolis in 2016 until now.

the 36 years old central defender made his debut for Team Melli in February 2007 in a friendly against Belarus. Seyed Jalal is one of the handful players who made a century or more appearances for Iran. He has played a total of 114 matches between 2007 and 20168 and scored eight goals in the process.  Those eight goals puts him on the top of Iranian defenders goal scorers.

Seyyed Jalal Hosseini is the most decorated player in the Persian Gulf League history with six championships  titles  He is the only player in the history of the League who has won three championships with 3 different clubs. He was also a finalist in the AFC Champions League 2018 where Persepolis lost to Kashima Antlers.

A lesson learned from Persepolis.

The Japanese club Kashima Antlers have one hand on the 2018 AFC Champions League title after defeating Persepolis 2-0 in Saturday’s final first leg.

Following a goalless first half at the Kashima Soccer Stadium, Leo Silva opened the scoring for the hosts two minutes before the hour mark, before Serginho made it 2-0 12 minutes later to seal a potentially-pivotal victory.

Both teams meet again next Saturday at the Azadi Stadium where the Antlers can expect a hostile atmosphere, although they will take heart in not only being in possession of a two-goal cushion but having not conceded an away goal.

Despite many expecting them to adopt a conservative approach as the away side, Persepolis began the game showing plenty of adventure and created the better openings early on.

However , with the games progressing, it was clear that there is a fundamental difference between the two teams. One playing with as a calm and collected unit following the game plan, while the other playing with emotion and grit needless to say that the juvenile attitude of some players have cost the team. As expected the former. Kashima Antlers won the day, and Persepolis despite the good show especially early in the game, have shot themselves in the foot.

There are lots of lessons to be learned from this match that will serve Team Melli mostly is what to avoid or how not to play like Persepolis in the coming AFC Asian Cup 2019.

The indiscipline of Persepolis players was monumental. Despite his character and reputation, Branko Ivankovic has not been able to control the temper or the attitude of Iranian players, even during his days with Team Melli. Thanks God that there was a certain player by the name of Ali Daei at the time of Branko tenure with Team Melli who did that job in the squad.

Regardless to how good a team plays, the indcipline will render all the efforts useless in case of sending off or suspensions. Persepolis has lost Siamak Nemati for the return leg as he sent off for a second yellow card for unprofessional and highly uncalled for act. Persepolis were lucky not to lose another player, Shojaa Khalizadeh who could have been easily sent off too. The rowdy attitude of players , that is so common in the Persian Gulf League, must not reach Team Melli at any cost

Luckily, with his strong character and disciplinarian attitude, Carlos Queiroz has a good grip on the affairs and will not tolerate transgression or indiscipline. We hope the rest of players have learned from this defeat.

Biranvand flying high.

He might not be every fan’s cup of tea, but Biarnvand is certainly flying high these days and was the man of the match in Persepolis AFC Champions League semifinal victory against Al Sadd of Qatar.

Persepolis has secured a 0-1 away win against Al Sadd in Doha. A draw in the jammed packed Azadi would have taken the most popular club in Iran to the finals of the AFC Champions League for the first time in its illustrious history.

Al Sadd star-studded team included two famous Spanish midfielders. The legendary ex-Barcelona star Xavier Hernández Creus or better known to the world as “Xavi“, and ex Ateltico Madrid Gabriel Fernández Arenas or “Gabi”in addition to the competition top scorer the Algerian Baghdad Bounedjah and South Korean national team midfielder Jung Woo-Young

The crowd, estimated to be over 120,000 fans in Azadi , despite the official viewpoint of 78,000 , were stunned when the Algerian Bounedjah scored passed Biranvand in the 17th minute.

Persepolis scored the equalizer early in the second half when Siamak Nemati scored in the similar fashion to Al Sadd goal.

Minutes from the final whistle with the match finally in balance and the 1-1 draw result taking Persepolis to the final of the AFC Champions League. Xavi, with his immense wealth of experience in World football and Barcelona, escaped all the Persepolis defense to be on the receiving end of a fine cross which he headed powerfully towards the far end of Persepolis goal. The trajectory of the header seemed to be certain to end up in the goal and a definite winner for Al Sadd.

Alireza Biranvand , stunned by the freedom given to Xavi to freely head the ball was off guard. However, Team Melli guardian flew like an eagle and brilliantly deflected the ball over the bar to save his team from certain elimination.

This type of saves are written in the records book for its brilliance but more for its significance on the result and the fate of the teams. It was a huge and spectacular save that needs to be written in the records book which Alireza Biranvand has a claim on another one, which was his World Cup Penalty save against no other than Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal.

Biranvand has saved a Xavi header and a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty. Not many keepers can claim such feat.

Saying that, Birnavand remains an enigma. He can be world-class one day, and a villain the next. He concedes goals that even the weakest keepers can save. He is also a bit of nuisance cum showman in the matches with his running and shouting at his defenders act. Add this to his time-wasting tactics that are far from clever and has brought him several yellow cards.

The Team Melli fans across the world would be much gladder to see the positive side of Biranvand in the UAE. He is undoubtedly flying high now and we all hope to see that continues for the next 3 months.

Esteghlal and Pas Tehran are the only Iranian clubs who have won the Asian Clubs top prize before.

Sepahan, Zob Ahan and Esteghlal have also been finalists.

Persepolis will play Kashima Antlers of Japan in the final of AFC Champions League 2017/18 season.