Tag: Kaveh Rezaei

Team Melli players news & transfers.

Omid Noorafkan, who is a member of the Belgian football club Sporting Charleroi has agreed terms with Foolad Sepahan on a one-year deal. Noorafkan was on a loan deal with Esteghlal but his contract with Sepahan is a permanent one, according to ISNA. Noorafkan has already joined Sepahan squad and has been training at the club training ground from today (Tuesday). Massoud Tabash, managing director of Sepahan Club, confirmed this in an interview with ISNA.

Saman Ghoddos transfer to the English Championship club Brentford has fallen apart at the last minute with the Iranian not agreeing personal terms.  Ghoddos returned back to his club Amiens SC in France and joined the squad for training.  Ghoddos already played two matches for his club in League 1. The Iranian midfielder is one of the very few successful Iranian legionnaires’ in Europe. Last season he played 27 times for Amiens and scored 4 goals.

Meanwhile, in Qatar, Omid Ebrahimi‘s contract with his club Al Ahli is about to run out. According to one source, Ebrahimi who had a very good season with Al Ahli is sought by several QSL clubs. Al Duhail seems to be the favourite to sign him. No official announcement has been out from either side.

In Belgium, Kaveh Rezaei is still registered with Club Brugge however, he has not featured in any matches yet. He was in the 18 man squad on one match but was an unused substitute. Club Brugge seems to be looking for options to sell the Iranian forward by the 2nd of September were the European transfer windows will close. The Iranian forward is surplus to requirements at Belgian team Club Brugge according to coach Philippe Clement who has made it clear that Rezaei no longer figures in his plans.

One of the options for Rezaei is to return to Charleroi. The 27-year-old striker has played 11 times for Club Brugge and scored just one goal. Rezaei joined Club Brugge for a reported club-record fee of €5 million in August 2018.

Ali Gholizadeh, another Team Melli player in Belgium has made a cameo appearance for his club, Sporting Charleroi coming in at the 88th minute of a league game. His status seems to be a bench warmer with Charleroi however there are no indications that the club is going to release him.

A Milestone for Younis Delphi

The young footballer from Khuzestan set a new record in Iranian Football. Younis Delphi, born in Shush, was a member of the Esteghlal Khuzestan Club and has featured in the 2016/17 season by playing five matches for the Full team.

During two and a half years, Delphi was considered by many as one of the greatest talents in the League, whose brilliant performance has also led to his invitation to Omid Team (Iran U23) despite his young age. The fledgling and upcoming striker scored 7 goals in the previous season in 24 Premier League matches and added the FIFA U17 World Cup, held in India to his resume.

That tournament attracted many European scouts looking for young talented players to recruit. A few months back there were discussion about Delphi transferring to the Dutch club, Eindhoven, but the opposition by his club Esteghlal Khuzestan put an end to that transfer as the club would not release him at the start of the new season.

Younis Delphi, however, eventually became a legionnaire in the winter transfer window when he signed a contract to join Sporting Charleroi of Belgium. This club which is owned by an Iranian has attracted several Iranian players in the last couple of seasons such as Kaveh Rezaei, Ali Gholizadeh and Omid Noorafkan

Last Sunday evening Sporting Charleroi hosted Fourth placed KV Oostende at Stade du Pays de Charleroi. Younis Delphi, was included in the squad for the first time since his transfer. In the absence of the other Iranian player, Ali Gholizadeh who is suffering from a leg injury, Delphi made his debut. With the presence of Younis Delphi in the Charleroi team, he becomes the youngest legionnaire in Iranian football history with 18 years and 129 days. It is a good age to start gaining experience of European football. The match between Charleroi and Oostende ended 1 -1. Delphi played for 64 minutes and was substituted midway through the second half.

KArim Ansarifard

Narrow win for Team Melli against Trinidad & Tobago.

Team Melli defeated Trinidad & Tobago 1 – 0 in the match which was played in Azadi Stadium. Karim Ansarifard scored Iran’s goal five minutes into the second half.

T&T were a good  opponent for Team Melli despite their ultra physical game that threatened to spoil this friendly match which started on a good note. In particular, the midfielder Kaleem Hyland seemed to be in a mission to destroy the match and the opponents with his rough tackles, which earned him  a yellow card as early as the 18th minute, his acting, grass-rolling and constant argument with the weak referee. A sad excuse for a Captain, luckily not many T&T players followed the footstep and behaviour of their leader! It seems that playing in Saudi Arabia has had its effect on the attitude and mental status of T&T No. 8 Hyland .

Team  Melli started with a team which was mostly second string with a debut for Ahmad Noorullahei, the Persepolis midfield player. The central defense, was probably the most vulnerable and least experienced with Cheshmi and Kanan-Zadegan, however, there was plenty of experience at the half backs in Hajsafy and Ghafoori

Up front, Ansarifard and Kaveh  Rezaei, manged one solid shot each to test the T&T keeper.Philip, both were saved. On the half hour, T&T conceded a soft penalty, which Ansarifard was assigned to take. His feeble shot was easily saved by  Philip extended legs, the rebound dropped kindly in front of Ansarifard’s . All he had to do was calmly slot it anywhere between the posts,  instead he Nottingham Forest forward, ballooned it over the bar.

Despite Iran’s control of the game, there was no goals and few dangerous chances to take the lead.

It was in the 50th minute however, the Karim Ansarifard redeemed himself, and in style too. Received a diagonal pass from Vouriya Ghafoori, Ansarifard easily dribbled past his marker and left him for dead, before he aimed at the right hand side of Philip from 25 meters. The ball went through Hyland legs before beating the keeper.

  Iran continued strongly after that and mass substitution by both side, that ensued which usually spoils a match, was surprisingly not the case here. After the changes, the match turned in to real competition. Both teams tried hard but in reality, it was unforeseeable to see T&T score. Hossein Hososein in goal, had not had even one shot to save but picked a few loose balls to his liking.

Although Team Melli had a satisfactory match and winning one too, there are still quite a bit of work to be done on players coordination, still the biggest problem. Particular area of weakness is the final ball around the box of the opponents. Team Melli seem to freeze or run out of idea when they get there. Queiroz , will be definitely busy thinking of solution for that.

Ivan Leko supports Kaveh Rezaie, to return to his form after injury setback.

FC Brugge will be playing against According Sporting Charleroi in the fifteenth week of the Jupiler Pro League on Saturday night. This encounter is a special match for Brugge and Team Melli center forward Kaveh Rezaei, as he will be facing his former team

“It’s true that Rezaei is not in an ideal form right now, but he’s already working quite hard after his injury and adjusting to playing in the bigger team, at the price the media places on him,” said the Croatian coach Ivan Leko, “ I’m sure that the time will make when Rezaei will return to his ideal conditions. He is a good player with a good mindset and quality that will definitely play a more important role for us in the coming weeks. Rezaei uses every minute of the team’s training, and I’m impressed by his progress and commitment in recent weeks.”

Kaveh Rezaei , (26 years) who was transferred from Sporting Charleroi for 5 million Euros , at the beginning of the 2018/19 season , was injured and sidelined for a few weeks. He has already made 6 appearances with his new club including games in the UEFA Champions League and scored 1 goal.

Ali Gholizadeh joins the belgian club Sporting de Charleroi

The Iran international winger has joined the Belgium football team Sporting de Charleroi from Saipa Alborz

Ali Gholizadeh, 22, who scored six goals and registered six assists this season in the Persian Gulf Professional League, signed a two-year contract with the Zebras.

Gholizadeh, who is in the team Melli squad for the World Cup in Russia, was followed by several European clubs but chose Sporting de Charleroi, where he will be playing alongside his compatriot Kaveh Rezaei.

SC Charleroi is also considering another Team Melli player , Omid Noorafkan of Esteghlal Tehran. The young Noorafkan is in negotiations with the club.

Narrow loss to Tunisia

TUNIS – A fortunate own goal handed Tunisia a 1-0 victory over Iran in their friendly clash on a waterlogged pitch in Tunis on Friday, in what was a morale boosting result for the World Cup-bound north Africans.

Wahbi Khazri proved the talisman for the home side and it was his dribbling run that led to the 71st minute winner. Khazri’s shot was parried by Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand into the path of defender Milad Mohammadi, who could only turn the ball into his own net.

Carlos Queiroz started the match with 7 regular plays missing but welcoming back the veteran Captain Masoud Shojaei who played in the first half.

Despite the water-logged pitch , Team Melli played a fluent game with many passing moves into the host box. In fact , if it was not for that perennial problem that Iran seem to always have with Arab referees, Team Melli would have been awarded a penalty in what looked a like a very obvious foul in the penalty box on Karim Ansarifard. To the horror of the Olympiakos forward, the Egyptian referee played on. Several replays by the Tunisian referee only made the case of a penalty that much stronger.

The new defensive line up at the back stood well against the quick and agile Tunisian ,however , there was very few serious attempt at Biranvand goal.

The first half ended goal less.

In the second half and with many substitution, the game lost a bit of its excitement. Team Melli was the more organized in the middle of the field , but the problem was in the forward line. Absence of Taremi and Azmoun was quite noticeable up front ad neither Ansarifard nor Ghoocannejad managed to seriously threaten the Tunisia goal. Both forwards struggled to convince as an attacking force. Kaveh Rezaei did not fare much better either.
A glorious chance for Team Melli to score was wasted by substitute Mehdi Torabi when he hit the sky with the Tunisia keeper stranded.

Tunisia, who share the same World Cup group with Belgium, England and Panama, might have had a second soon after but Khazri’s powerful close range effort was well saved.

Iran were using the match to approximate the playing style of Morocco, who share their group in Russia with Portugal and Spain.

A dipping free kick from captain Ehsan Hajsafi in the 67th minute, saved by Tunisia’s Farouk Ben Mustapha, was the closest Iran came to scoring.

Vahid Amiri , so reliable on the flanks during the World Cup qualifiers lacked his normal agility and pace. Alireza Jahanbakhsh was introduced too late to make an impact.

Overall, the loss to Tunisia , gave Queiroz some good insight inb the capabilties of the second string team.

Team Melli’s take another north African country, Algeria, in Graz, Austria on Tuesday.

4-0 victory for Team Melli vs. Sierra Leone

The Iranian national team defeated Sierra Leone 4-0 win in an international friendly match held in nearly empty Azadi Stadium on Saturday.

Queiroz had a mix of players in the initial line up giving debuts to 3 players, Omid Noorafkan, Goalkeeper Hossein Hosseini and midfielder from Saipa Alborz Ali Gholizadeh. All 3 enjoyed a good game and performed well in their first international. 

This was the first preparation match for Team Melli in a series of matches which will continue into March after Nowrooz including the matches against Tunisia and Algeria in Europe.

Iran’s goals were scored by Mohammad Reza Khanzadeh (14), Ali Gholizadeh (16 and 46) and Kaveh Rezaei (35). The 100,000 capacity stadium was virtually empty as no more than 3000 fans turned up. The period of Eid Nowrooz shopping season plus the very humble opponents (Ranked 94 in FIFA Ranking list) prevented many fans from attending the match. less than a week ago, the same stadium was full to the capacity for an AFC champions League match between Esteghlal and Al Ain from UAE.

Team Melli very quickly dictated the game proceedings. It was just a matter of time before the first goal would be scored and it was on a corner that Khanzadeh , returning to the team after a 3 year break, scored from a corner on the 14th minute. The African team had very little to offer as it took 40 minutes for the Iranian keeper Hamed Lak to actually handle a ball from live play.

First half

Min 14: On a free kick, Omid Noorafkan sent a nicely weighted ball to the crowded penalty area of ​​Sierra Leone, which Mohammad Reza KhanZadeh slid into the net for the first goal

Min 16: Ali Golizadeh long-range kick from a solo move from outside the penalty box , wrong footed  Sierra Leone keeper after the ball was deflected by his own defenders. First goal for the debutant. 

Minutes 35: Ramin Rezaeian crossed from the right into Sierra Leone penalty box , where Kaveh Rezaei headed the ball into the ground and in the goal. the goalkeeper was helpless.

Second half

46 min. Omid Noorafkan on  left wing on a solo run  hit a strong shot which  Sierra Leone goalkeeper  could only parry, the return ball, was  met by Ali Gholizadeh who scored his second goal. 

71 minutes: Sierra Leone’s players created a dangerous move on a stroke on the goal, which ​​Sierra Leone’s Abu Sauna turned into a strong shot , substitute keeper  Hossein Hosseini  saved it and sent to the corner.

Team Melli starting Line up

 Hamed Lak, Ramin Rezaeian , MR Khanzadeh, Rozbeh Cheshmi, Saeed Aghaei,  Omid Ebrahimi, Ali Karimi, Ahmad Abdollahzadeh,  Omid Noorafkan, Ali Gholizadeh Moghadam and Kaveh Rezaei

Good start for WC preparation: Iran 2-0 Togo

Team Melli defeated the African Side Togo 2-0  on Thursday in front a disappointing number of fans in Azadi Stadium

Both goals were scored by Karim Ansarifard in the second half within 10 minutes of each other. The first half ended goalless.

Carlos Queiroz gave several players their debut including Saman Ghoddos who was instrumental in the first goal, Ahmad Abdollahzadeh ,   Hossein Kanani-Zadegan, and substitute Akbar Emani. The new look team look solid in defense in the first half despite some gallant efforts from the Togolese team coached by the veteran French coach Claude Le Roy. The front line consisting of Kaveh Rezaei and Karim Ansarifard was disappointing however. Very little chances were created and the African side easily controlled their defense area with ease. Ansarifard in particular was guilty of wasting many easy balls and inability to dribble past his markers.

The second half started with 2 changed in the midfield for Team Melli.. A ferocious shot in the 51 minute by the Swedish born debutant, Saman Ghoddos was only partially parried by the Togolese keeper Sabirou, Ansarifard cleverly slotted the rebound into the net. The Olympiakos Piraeus, forward once again was on the score sheet after an easy slot in after some good work by Omid Ebrahimi on the right flank.

The match was a good start for Queiroz and his selection was successful with some sterling displays at the back lead by Rouzbeh Cheshmi who hardly put a foot wrong. Saman Ghoddos best contribution was his assist , but it is clear than he needs more work with the team. The match saw Hamed Lak in goal after many years of absence.

Russia will be a tougher test in 45 days, but the signs are there that Team Melli under Queiroz can be a tough opponent for any team.

 

EHSAN PAHLAVAN ; a future star in the making.

One of the real revelation of the league season is the 22 years old Ehsan Pahlavan a left midfiled player who plays for Zob Ahan in the Persian Gulf League.

Born in Khorassan in the city of Bojnord, Pahlavan has been spotted playing for a small club in Mashhad. He was selected for Iran’s youth team and by 2012 he was a wanted player from several big clubs. It was Zob Ahan who finally won him over as Pahlavan finally selected Esfahan as his platform for fame,

The midfielder has shown maturity well beyond his age with some terrific performances at the highest club level competition in the AFC Champions league this season, he has truly announced his arrival at the international football scene.

pahlavan Ehsan

Pahlavan is not new to Team Melli jersey. He has already represented his country at several age levels in international and continental competitions. He has shown skills from early age and has been on Zob Ahan radar for a long time before signing him ahead of  other interested big clubs.

This season , Pahlavan was facing a stiff competition to break into the team where Kaveh Rezaei , Masoud Hassanzadeh , Morteza Tabrizi and veteran Mehdi Rajabzadeh  were all ahead of him in pecking order. However, not only did Ehsan show some real grit and skills beyond expectation, he forced himself upon coach Yahya Golmohammadi in all competitions by excellent commitments and performances.

Ehsan Pahlavan did not disappoint in all club competitions as he delivered some terrific games for Zob Ahan and some brilliant goals in the AFC Champions league to help his team qualify for the next round of the competition.

Carlos Queiroz, always with an eye for young talented players, has named him in the 32 list for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers.

Ehsan Pahlavan remains one of the best talents in Iranian football alongside names like Mehdi Torabi and Milad Mohammadi. His mature attitude and level headed approach to professional football would ensure that he will be one real prospect to look forward to.

Another humiliation: Iran U23 on the brink of elimination from Asian Games

Iran U23 team once again disillusioned the fans and failed to win against modest Kyrgyzstan. The match in Group H of the Asian Games Incheon 2014 ended 1-1. Iran has 1 point from two games, Vietnam leading the group with 3 points after defeating Iran 4-1.

In today’s match , which Iran needed to win handsomely to increase its chances of qualifying , the team played like a group of misfits which was assembled in haste. The team was not able to mount any real threat against inferior opposition on paper and ranking let alone pedigree and history.

The match started quite well for Iran U23 . The first 10 minutes was completely dominated by Iran Olympic Team. The ball hardly crossed the half line into Iran side, however, Mosalman lovely strike from just inside the box was the only real threat of this period. That shot was parried by the Kyrgyz keeper. The remaining period was full of Iranian huff and puff but there was hardly any serious threat on Kyrgyzstan keeper. Most of the offensive moves by Iran was at best , quite toothless. With the match progressing , it did not take long for the coaches of Kyrgyzstan to realize how to defend well and mount counter attacks.

The first half ended 0-0.

In the second half, much of the first half scenario was repeating itself with the exception that Kyrgyzstan was getting bolder in attack and starting to threaten Iran’s goal . They could have stunned everyone when the Kyrgyz forward was one on one but failed to finish. 

Iranian offensive moves were mainly some shy attempts by Kaveh Rezaei whose shots were more like practice for the Kyrgyzstan keeper. The other poster boy, Mehdi Sharifi was incognito.!

With the match approaching the last 10 minutes and Iran desperate for a goal,  a corner was given which Mohsen Mosalman masterfully took and delivered on the top of Pouraliganji’s head. The tall midfielder headed to the far corner of the net and scored triggering an ecstatic Iranian celebration and deep sigh of relief on the bench. Pouraliganji’s goal came in the 77th minute.

Two minutes from the end , Kyrgyzstan struck and struck well. A long cross from a foul from the left found a Kyrgyzstan player with ample time to control the ball and head towards the goal. Despite the presence of 3 markers, the ball passed the goal line to register the equalizer for Kyrgyzstan. It was a deserving goal for this modest team, but well-organized and hardworking.

Iran’s football is on the brink of a real humiliation. The Continents most celebrated country in Asian Games football is virtually out of the tournament, unless you believe in miracle s and Saints rising to help this toothless team with clueless coaching staff.

Never in the history of Asian Games football, Iran faced such a degradation, but under the administration of Ali Kaffashian , such fiascoes and bitter defeats should not be too shocking.  It is certainly not too shocking for Kaffashian as he thought of Vietnam as a strong team and was perhaps was at loss at what all this fuss is about, we only lost 4-1 to Vietnam!

And now…….let the excuses begin….