Tag: Match

Team Melli records vs. Bahrain

Bahrain is one of the few Asian and Arab opponents that have given Team Melli a run for their money throughout the years. Although Iran has double the wins vs their tiny Persian Gulf nations in their 17 matches, Bahrain has always been a stubborn opponent for the big teams of Asia.

Here is the dashboard of the games played between the two teams.

 

 

 

 

all matches

Date Competition H / A / N Result Venue Attendance
11-Jan-15 Asian Cup H 2 – 0 Melbourne Rectangular Stadium 17,712
12-Dec-12 WAFF N 0 – 0 Kazma SC Stadium, Kuwait City 1,200
11-Nov-11 World Cup Qualifier A 1 – 1 National Stadium, Riffa 18,000
11-Oct-11 World Cup Qualifier H 6 – 0 Azadi Stadium, Tehran 83,000
24-Sep-10 WAFF / Group A N 3 – 0 King Abdullah Stadium – Amman 12,000
31-Aug-09 Friendly A 2 – 4 National Stadium, Riffa 1,500
21-Mar-08 Friendly A 0 – 1 National Stadium, Riffa 3,000
08-Jun-05 World Cup Qualifier H 1 – 0 Azadi Stadium, Tehran 90,000
09-Feb-05 World Cup Qualifier A 0 – 0 Manama 30,000
06-Aug-04 Asian Cup / 3rd Place N 4 – 2 Workers Stadium, Beijing 10,000
19-Oct-01 World Cup Qualifier A 1 – 3 National Stadium, Riffa 8,000
14-Sep-01 World Cup Qualifier H 0 – 0 Azadi Stadium, Tehran 50,000
07-Apr-00 Asian Cup Qualifier H 3 – 0 Azadi Stadium, Tehran 40,000
04-Apr-00 Asian Cup Qualifier N 0 – 1 Al Hamdaniya Stadium, Aleppo 30,000
03-Oct-94 Asian Games N 0 – 0 Hiroshima Stadium, Hiroshima 5,000
20-Aug-75 Olympics Games Qualifiers H 3 – 0 Amjadieh Stadium, Tehran 25,000
07-Sep-74 Asian Games H 6 – 0 Ekbatan Stadium, Tehran 10,000

 

Top Scorers 

 

 

Hamid Estili appointment as Coach of Omid Team, will he be any good?

After the resignation of Farhad Majidi, it seems that FFIRI had no real choice but to appoint the Team manager, Hamid Estili as his replacement. The former Persepolis player also picked his former teammates Reza Shahroodi and Alireza Emamifar as his assistants.

During the short tenure of Farhad Majidi at the helm of Omid’s team, Omid Namazi and Farshad Majedi were appointed as his assistants. It is not clear if they are is still or will remain as part of the coaching staff as neither have any Persepolis affiliation that seems to be the level of requirement in Omid team coaching structure with Estili in charge.

As such, the Omid team has turned into The red of Perspolis after the departure of the Blues of Esteghlal to prove once again that Iran’s football will have an extreme affinity with the bipolar and partisan system.

At Omid team the status quo remains, meaning the same old chaos, with partisan, Favoritism, nepotism and partiality based upon being part of a favoured group, rather than job performance or competency being the essence.

Estili has more experience than Majidi but his coaching career has been full of failures and turmoil. In reality, he is not much of an improvement on Majidi.

 

Estili Coaching Career

Estili was appointed as an assistant by Ali Parvin in Persepolis in 2004. A few months after Arie Haan replaced Parvin, he sacked Estili. In August 2006, when Mustafa Denizli was signed as the head coach, Estili returned to his former post. On 13th January 2007, during the 2006–07 mid-season break, Estili was sacked again, this time by Denizli.

Denizli later stated that “It would be better for him (Estili) to take some professional trainings”

For the 3rd time, Estili returned to his beloved club as the assistant to Afshin Ghotbi, in the IPL 2007/08 season. However, with a lot of tension between the two coaches over team selection, players, and other decisions it was foreseen that one of them will have to leave Perspolis at the end of the season. Ghotbi left and Estili was touted as the new Perspolis Manager and Head Coach.
However, when Ghotbi’s returned back, Estili left Perspolis.

in summer of 2009 Steel Azin appointed out of work Estili as head coach. Despite having a star-studded team with players such as s Ali Karimi, Mahdavikia, Kaebi, Fereydoon Zandi, Shapourzadeh and Vahedi Nikbakht, Estili failed in the Hazfi Cup and was nowhere near the championship title.

He was sacked by Estil Azin on 19 April 2010

Next station was Shahin Bushehr where he was appointed on 1 June 2010. He lasted less than 10 months as he was fired on 4 April 2011 while Shahin was in 17th place out of 18, achieving 16 points in 18 matches

On 21 June 2011, Estili was back in Persepolis again as a Head coach but after a series of disappointing results and Persepolis fans disapproval of his appointment, he resigned his post on 9th Dec. 2011 after only 6 months at the helm.

From then on, Estili’s reputation as a Head Coach was tarnished.

Critics say that Estili relies more on influences, comradeship and nepotism to cover his technical weakness and poor tactics on the field. He was a divisive influence as an assistant coach bad-mouthing the head coach in the hope of taking their places.  He caused disagreement and hostility between players to serve his own interest. It was not a successful strategy as it leads to him being sacked by 3 different coaches. While as Head Coach, his poor delivery, suspect decision-making, poor technical ability, and lack of quality were exposed at the teams he managed.

Such as shame for the player who is famous for his goal against the United States in the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Team Melli players promote charity work.

A group of Iranian footballers including Team Melli players visited a children’s charity organization that cares for cancer and Leukemia patients.

According to ISNA, Javad Nekounam, Fereydoon Zandi, Karim Ansarifard, Pejman Montazeri, Hashem Beigzadeh and Kazem Borjlou visited the charity on Saturday 11th July 2015 and concluded the visit with the signing of the most valuable football agreement in the history of Iran’s football.

 Javad Nekounam, Fereydoon Zandi and Karim Ansarifard are regular visitors to the charity

 In this agreement , a group of Iranian footballers, including Team Melli past and present players, joined the big family of the Mahak Charity and pledged to the children who suffer from cancer that they will not forget them and shall establish a permanent friendship bond with the children.

The footballers promised that regular visits will be established to cheer the children and play with them at least once every three months. The footballers also pledged to introduce MAHAK Charity to their friends and colleagues and encourage them to join this charity.

The agreement was signed in the presence of the founder and CEO of MAHAK Charity organization Saideh Ghods , a group of reporters and children and along with their families. The agreement contains 4 clauses. The provisions of this contract are all based love and compassion for their fellow human beings.

The importance of this agreement is the introduction of charity work as part of the commitment of football professionals in Iran and the need of the footballers to pay back to the society that has backed and supported them.

 

Saideh Ghod is an Iranian born social Entrepreneur and Philanthropist, started MAHAK to help indigent children suffering from cancer and their families. As a result, MAHAK, Society to Support Children Suffering from Cancer was registered in Iran in 1991 as a non-profit, non-governmental organization and it continues its work 16 years later solely with the help of charitable people. It was built on and for love and it thrives on hope.

At the start of its activities her small group met in a basement room but today with the persistence of Mrs. Ghods and the help of its supporters and volunteers MAHAK has grown into a respected, transparent, internationally recognized entity operating a hospital of its own. MAHAK is truly a dream that came true.

In addition to work done through MAHAK, Mrs. Ghods has gone on to help develop other NGOs such as ISCC, BCSI, and the GFI to promote Iran’s cancer treatment as well as help the environment. Today she continues to travel throughout Iran and the world organizing, meeting, fund raising, and developing way to foster and grow these organizations.

Jalal Hosseini Joins Al Ahli of Qatar

Team Melli central defender , Seyed Jalal Hosseini has joined Al Ahli of Qatar on a one year deal and expected to be in Doha for his medical soon.

After the breakdown of negotiation with his current club , Persepolis , Hosseini , who was out of contract , decided to seek his fortune abroad and join another Iranian player , Mojtaba Jabbari in al Ahli.It seems that the current Persepolis CEO was not willing to honor the promises given to Hosseini by the ex CEO Mohammad Rouyanian in terms of financial settlements and  arrears in wages payments. The current CEO , Rahimi also refused to accept Hosseini’s latest wage demands which he deemed to be unreasonable.

sqd-Hosseinii2013

Al Ahli of Qatar had Fereydoon Zandi on its roster , before the German Born Iranian suffered a horrendous career threatening injury.  Al Ahli  just announced recently that their ex-Iranian midfielder has retired from football after will be leaving the club. There are talks that Zandi might rejoin the club as a coach.

Last season , was one of the best in a decade of this once top Qatari club. After suffering relegation and languishing in the lower leagues for years, Al Ahli gained promotion the season before last under the shrewd coaching of Milan Macala. Al Ahli reached the semi-finals of the cup last season and finished the league  in a comfortable 6th position in the 14 teams professional league.

Several other Qatari clubs are seeking to recruit Iranian players. Most of the Team Melli players who are available for transfer have been contacted by Qatari clubs agents. So, far , Hosseini is the only deal that has been announced 

 

Um Salal intends to keep Pezman Montazeri

The Qatar Stars League (QSL) club , Um Salal intends to re-sign their Iranian defender Pejman Montazeri while dispensing of the services of all their other foreigners. 

sqd-montazeri2013

The Qatari TV channel Al Kas website , in an exclusive announced the intention of the club after the board reviewed the performance of the players and coach. The Turkish head coach Bulent will continue with the club and it is reported that he was instrumental in the decision of cancelling the contracts of the Brazilian forwards  Cabori and Victor Simoes and the Moroccan Othman Al Assas while keeping on the services of Montazeri.

Ex- Esteghlal player Montazeri has joined Um Salal in the January transfer window when the team was lingering in the bottom of the league table struggling for survival. Um Salal , managed to stay up and keep its place in the league while the famous and Marquee club Al Rayyan , which was playing in the AFC Champions League , was relegated for the first time in its history.

With Montazeri Joining Um Salal , it was a continuation of Iranian players’ strange trend of joining struggling clubs outside Iran. Jahanbakhsh  with NEC , Dejagah with Fulham , Davari with Eintracht Braunschweig  and Ghoochannejad Charlton Athletic !

Although the news of Montazeri remaining with Um Salal is not officially confirmed, the Qatari League will be a buzzing with agents looking at Iranian players in the aftermath of the public outcry of their wages in Iran. Many Iranian would be looking elsewhere to make a living and Qatar seems the ideal league due to its riches of the country and proximity to Iran. There are already some strong rumors that several Qatari clubs are looking at Teymourian. Of the other Iranian players in the QSL , Mojtaba Jabbari is still contracted to Al Arabi with no news of his future at the middle of the table club, while Fereydoon Zandi, the player he replaced when Zandi suffered a horrific broken leg, is still recovering from his injury.

zandi-ferry(1)

Career threatening injury for Fereydoon Zandi.

The ex-Esteghlal and Team Melli player, Fereydoon Zandi was rushed to hospital after a horrible tackle that broke his leg and threatened his career as a footballer.

The incident happened during the match between Al Ahli and the newly promoted club Al Muaither. In the 80th minute a wild tackle by Georgi Gikalov hit the worst possible area of Zandi Leg who fell on the ground in severe pain and was immediately taken off the field. Zandi was taken to Espitar sport hospital and went immediately under operation.

The irony of that match which was stopped for 5 minutes while attending to Zandi, was that the player who broke Zandi’s leg was awarded the Most Valuable Player title to the utter disgust of Al Ahlii club and its supporters. The Manager of Al Ahlii said that this selection is a blatant disregard for for play.

The surgery took 4 hours under the supervision of Dr. Philip Landro one of the top sport surgeon in the world.

After the long surgery , with many well wishers, Zandi supporters and his family at attendance in the hospital, Dr. Landro informed the crowd that the operations was completely successful , and Zandi will be playing football in 6 months from now, if he wishes to do so.

Al Ahli won promotion last season under Milan Macala with Zandi playing a prominent part in the campaign after leaving Esteghlal to play in the Qatar Soccer League QSL.

 

Fereydoon Zandi hospitalized

 

 

Queiroz quest for World Cup qualification

Ando Teymourian

Team Melli is embarking on its ultimate stage in qualification for FIFA World Cup 2014 by playing Uzbekistan in Tashkent on June 3rd and then Qatar within a few days in Azadi. Carlos Queiroz has selected the best available players but as a matter of routine, he always has a surprise or two in his selection.

The Portuguese coach selection of a much unknown player playing in the Swedish League by the name of Omid Nazari (21 years) has risen more than a few eyebrows.  The young Malmo born midfield player is eligible to play for Sweden, Iran and Philippines, is of unknown quality as hardly anyone has seen him in action in Iran.  What has impressed Queiroz so much in Nazari remains a mystery but the fans and the experts hope that Nazari ‘s debut , if he manages some playing time , would be similar to the German-Iranian Ashkan Dejagah who scored a brace against Qatar in his debut.  However, Dejagah was a known quality playing in one of the best leagues in Europe while such cannot be said of Omid Nazari’s case.

Due to injuries, Queiroz has lost 3 key players including Dejagah who will not be available for the first two matches. Hadadifar who has been on and off the injury list, could not make the list. A late addition to the injury list was striker Mohammad Ghazi who was unfortunate to suffer an injury during a practice match against Iran’s U23 team a few days back.

The list however, has some very welcome additions. Teymourian and Jabbari who have fully recovered from their injuries are once again included in the squad, but perhaps the most interesting and refreshing addition is Fereydoon Zandi. The German born Iranian has been out of Team Melli squad for nearly two years. His stint with the Cypriot Club Omnia Nicosia and then his unsuccessful time in the doomed club Steel  Azin , discouraged Team Melli selectors from including in the previous squads. Zandi joined Esteghlal after the relegation of Steel Azin and quickly found his true form and imposed his class becoming one of the best Esteghlal players in this current season and convincing Carlos Queiroz to add his to the team.

There are also some fresh names like Shojaa Khalilzadeh , a young Mes Kerman defender who has played in many age levels for Iran , Dehnavi also from Mes Kerman and Ebrahimi of Tractorzasi. Although it is hardly unlikely that anyone of these players will make the starting 11 or even in the subs bench, Queiroz is smart enough to realize that some of the current players have already reached their peaks and alternatives should be looked at from the onset of the final qualifying round in order to build a strong team comes July 2014.

TM vs. Mozambique
Team Melli line up vs. Mozambique

The easily agitated and sometimes impulsive coach once again displayed his frustration with the football federation by complaining bitterly about the inability of Sepahan , Esteghlal and Perspolis Players from flying to Istanbul with the squad due to the commitments of these clubs in the Round 16 of the AFC Champions league. The 3 qualified Iranian clubs will be playing their knock out stage matches on the 22nd and 23rd May.

Iran will play Uzbekistan on 3rd of June, and Qatar at Azadi on 12th June. The squad flew to Istanbul on Monday 21st May and will be meeting Albania for a friendly international on the 27th May before flying directly to Tashkent 2 days before the match.