Tag: Milad Mohammadi

Team Melli Falls to Nigeria in Antalya Friendly: Progress Evident, but Flaws Persist

In their first international friendly of 2026, Team Melli suffered a narrow 2-1 defeat to Nigeria at the Mardan Stadium in Antalya. Goals from Moses Simon (7’) and Akor Adams (51’) secured the win for the Super Eagles, while Mehdi Taremi scored the lone consolation for Iran in the 67th minute.

The match served as a crucial test for Iran as they resumed preparations for the upcoming World Cup, following a lengthy break from international action. While the final score favored the Africans, the performance offered a mixed bag for head coach Amir Ghalenoei. Despite playing the more cohesive brand of football for large stretches, familiar shortcomings ultimately undermined the result.

Defensive Lapses Prove Costly

The two goals conceded highlighted ongoing concerns at the back, stemming from individual errors rather than systemic breakdowns. Veteran defender Hossein Kanani and Ali Nemati were culpable on the day, with each making costly mistakes that Nigeria ruthlessly exploited.

Tactical Shift Shows Promise

In a bid to inject more attacking impetus, Ghalenoei shifted to a three-man defensive line, deploying a 3-5-2 formation. The tactical adjustment allowed wing-backs Milad Mohammadi and Arya Yousefi to operate as advanced wide midfielders, a change that yielded positive results. Mohammadi, in particular, was a livewire on the left flank; one surging dribble saw him carve through the Nigerian defense to the byline, only for his cut-back to miss , Mohebbi , its intended target by inches inside the six-yard box.

Midfield Control but Attacking Frustration

The midfield trio functioned effectively, with Saman Ghoddos pulling the strings as the deep-lying playmaker. His intelligent distribution provided the platform for the advanced movements of Ghorbani and Ali Gholizadeh.

However, the offensive duo of Mohammad Mohebbi and Mehdi Taremi struggled to find consistent chemistry. Taremi, despite converting Iran’s only goal, delivered a performance that raised concerns. The veteran striker appeared sluggish and was frequently seen appealing for fouls rather than maintaining possession. Whether the issue is a lack of match fitness or a tendency to over-dramatize contact, Taremi’s physical edge, a hallmark of his game, was notably absent.

The second half represented Iran’s best period of the match. They controlled the tempo and created the better chances, yet once again fell victim to a recurring problem: poor finishing. What could have been a winning half instead became a frustrating reminder of the team’s inability to capitalize on momentum.

Lingering Concerns Ahead of the World Cup

Despite the encouraging overall display against a strong African side, the friendly illuminated several critical areas requiring immediate attention. Chief among them is the lack of clinical execution in the final third. Whether it is the weight of the final pass, the composure in front of goal, or the accuracy of the shot, this essential skill set remains alarmingly deficient.

Furthermore, questions linger regarding squad composition. The team’s discipline, on-field body language, and the advanced age of the core squad cast doubt on their ability to withstand the physical demands and high-pressure environment of the World Cup. If Iran is to compete on the global stage, addressing these vulnerabilities will be as crucial as refining the tactical framework that showed flashes of promise against Nigeria.

Ghalenoei and Ghoddos on touchline

Taremi’s Unauthorized Penalty Decision Sparks crises in Team Melli dressing room.

A controversial incident involving captain Mehdi Taremi has overshadowed Iran’s penalty shoot-out defeat to Uzbekistan in the final of the Al-Ain International Cup. Contrary to the coaching staff’s explicit plans, Taremi unilaterally decided not to take the team’s fifth and crucial penalty, instead assigning it to defender Milad Mohammadi, who subsequently missed with an amateurish kick.

While a loss in a friendly match is often dismissed as inconsequential, Taremi’s act of insubordination—overriding the coach’s direct orders—has raised significant alarms within the national team. The financial implication of forfeiting the tournament’s prize money further compounds the seriousness of the defeat.

According to an ISNA report, the conflict erupted immediately after the match when a furious head coach, Amir Ghalenoei, confronted Taremi on the pitch. The confrontation escalated in the locker room, where Ghalenoei severely criticized his captain for what he deemed an arbitrary and costly decision.

In an attempt to justify his actions, Taremi stated to the media in the mixed zone that his reason for not taking the penalty was to “give other players a chance to gain experience.”

However, this justification has been met with widespread skepticism. Even if well-intentioned, it is widely viewed as a feeble, poor judgment and an unreasonable excuse for such a critical, game-deciding moment. Making a significant tactical change without the coordination and approval of the head coach is a clear breach of protocol. The established procedure in football grants the head coach and his staff the final say on penalty takers, a decision based on training data, player psychology, and in-game conditions. While a captain may offer input, the ultimate authority rests unequivocally with the coach.

Taremi’s actions constitute a direct challenge to the coach’s authority. This move not only undermines the credibility of the technical staff but also sets a dangerous precedent for player insubordination, creating a crisis of leadership that extends far beyond the result of a single friendly.

In light of this incident, Taremi’s captaincy is now seriously in question. His blatant insubordination against Uzbekistan, coupled with a perceived general lack of leadership on and off the field, has eroded his standing. With Taremi’s own form also a subject of widespread media criticism, the under-pressure and reportedly furious Ghalenoei may have no choice but to consider an alternative for the captain’s armband to reassert his authority and stabilize the squad.

A Lost Opportunity for Tactical Growth—And a Glaring Leadership Problem

Team Melli entered their match against Qatar with the luxury of already securing World Cup qualification, freeing them from the weight of immediate consequences. Qatar, on the other hand, fought desperately for three points at home to keep their fading hopes alive. The contrast in motivation was obvious—to fans, analysts, and, most importantly, to Amir Ghalenoei and his bloated technical staff. Yet, despite their numbers, Iran’s coaching team once again proved ineffective in navigating adversity.

Given the circumstances, this match should have been an ideal test of tactical discipline. A chance to refine defensive resilience against an aggressive opponent, to dictate tempo through possession, and to apply psychological pressure on a vulnerable Qatar side. Instead, Iran unraveled, culminating in Milad Mohammadi’s inexcusable 31st-minute dismissal.

Mohammadi’s red card was not just a momentary lapse; it was a damning indictment of Team Melli’s recurring mental frailties. A 31-year-old veteran with 70 caps and experience across European leagues (Russia, Belgium, Greece, Turkey) should know better than to earn a second yellow just two minutes after his first—especially for a needless foul near midfield. Petulance and lack of intelligence overshadowed professionalism, and once again, Iran’s lack of discipline cost them.

Ghalenoei, predictably, blamed the red card for derailing Iran’s plans on top of the two childish mistakes of Mohammadi and Beiranvand, conceding the goal. But such excuses ring hollow. Even before Mohammadi’s dismissal, Iran looked disjointed, unable to create chances or impose any coherent strategy. Taremi was disappointing, the rest were underwhelming. The truth is, this has been a persistent issue under Ghalenoei, regardless of personnel or match context.

After every setback, the head coach deflects. This time, he targeted the referee, claiming poor officiating “unsettled” his team. Yet the real issue isn’t a single official’s decisions, it’s Ghalenoei’s inability to elevate this squad beyond its flaws. Iran’s player pool is among Asia’s strongest, brimming with European-based veterans and emerging talents. But under his rigid, risk-averse leadership, the team stagnates, lacking creativity and adaptability.

The question isn’t whether Ghalenoei is out of his depth, as his struggles against Asian opponents have already answered that. The real issue is why decision-makers persist with him ahead of the World Cup. If he can’t outmaneuver regional rivals, how can he possibly compete with the world’s elite?

Blind faith won’t propel Iran past the group stage; a tactical overhaul might. But time is running out.

Azmoun doubtful for Korea match adding to the absentees list.

Team Melli will be with 4 key players for the top-of-the-table match versus South Korea in Seoul next month. “Sardar Azmoun’s ligament damage is still bothering him, he still needs treatment. I can’t say exactly when he will be able to play.” declared  the head coach of Bayer Gerardo Seoane “

Azmoun will need another 3-4 weeks to fully recover which will possibly mean he will miss the match in Seoul. Azmoun’s absence on the top of the 3 known absentees due to suspension and disciplinary issues. Moharrami is out for two matches due to his red card against the UAE, Ezatollahi is also suspended due to accumulations of yellow cards, and KananiZadegan is suspended by the FFIRI for misdemeanors he committed including endangering the health of his Team Melli colleagues by attempting to invite a girl while he was on COVID19 quarantine.

While the four players’ absence seems to be significant on paper, the pleasant surprise is that Team Melli has such a strength in depth that no dramatic action is needed to address these absentees.

Dragan Skocic has many options to replace Azmoun and Ezatollahi as he has a good number of replacements. In defense, with two absentees, it sounds more difficult but Siavaush Yazadni has performed well on his debut in the central defensive role, while Majid Hosseini, Milad Mohammadi, Saleh Hardani, and Aref Agasi are all capable to fill the roles in the defense.

 So, although Team Melli is not at 100% strength, it is hardly a crisis situation facing the Koreans and then Lebanon at Azadi in what is a formality matches as Team Melli already had qualified.

Milad Mohammadi signs for AEK Athens

The Team Melli left-back, who has been in Athens since Wednesday, successfully completed the medical and ergometric examinations on Thursday, and after the completion of formalities, he headed to AEK Headquarters and signed his contract with the club.

Milad Mohammadi leaves Gent and knockeing on AEK Athens doors.

Milad Mohammadi, the left-back of Team Melli, who was playing for the  Belgian team  Gent, unexpectedly terminated his contract with the club and is currently a free agent without a team.

According to Greek media, Mohammadi has reached an agreement with AEK Athens and is on the verge of joining the team. Greece’s “sdna” website reported that Mohammadi had even been issued a plane ticket to travel to Greece for medicals and that the player would travel to Athens today to sign a contract and finalize the details of his transfer. According to this site, a few months ago, during the summer transfers window, AEK offered Gent a net amount of 700,000 Euros for the transfer of Milad Mohammadi in addition to some significant rewards for the Belgian club, but the player’s agent claimed that he had more suitors and believed Mohammadi will have better offers before the transfer windows close. This, whoever, did not materialize. Gent pressured Mohammadi to extend his contract, which expires in 2022, but the player refused and the Belgian club recruited another player.

Eventually, Gant and Mohammadi mutually agreed to terminate the contract. It was after that that the president of AEK Athens started his efforts to attract Mohammadi and this transfer is on the verge of being finalized. SDNA predicted that with the presence of Milad Mohammadi on the left side of the AEK defense, Ehsan Haj Safi’s position will change and the captain of the Iranian national team, being such a versatile player will occupy other posts. Karim Ansarifard is another Iranian player of the AEK team who can help Mohammadi familiarize and incorporate into this team sooner and faster.

Iran to play a friendly against Syria

 As customary, Iran Football Federation has failed  to have more than one friendly match for Team Melli in preparation for the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers , and this time it will face Syria without the presence of the legionnaires.

Team Melli will play a friendly match against the Syrian national team in Tehran on 30th March ,  to fill the gap of the postponed qualifiers against Hong Kong and Cambodia.

Due to the late cancellation of the World Cup qualifiers, the Football Federation could not coordinate more than one match for the national team. As a result, Team Melli, as in previous months, instead of utilizing maximum time allowed and arranging at least two training matches, still misses part of the days called “FIFA Day” for arranging friendly and official matches.

* Iran plays without legionnaires

The match between the two teams Iran and Syria is to be held on the 29th of March, which occurs outside of the FIFA Day , a period which the international ruling body has earmarked from  18th to 26th March 2021. Most of the national teams arrange friendly international matches in this period.  Team Melli is not allowed to use its legionnaire players because the friendly arranged with Syria is outside of the FIFA Day !!

Although Iranian clubs are sacrificing their interests for the sake of the national team, there is no news of the presence of legionnaire players in this match, and Skocic will have to send his team to face Syria  without all his key players.

The absence of players such as Tarmi, Azmoun, Beiranvand, Milad Mohammadi, Saeed Ezatollahi, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Amir Abedzadeh, Sadegh Moharremi, Kaveh Rezaei, Ali Gholizadeh, Karim AnsariFard, etc. is in a situation which translates to what is a Team Melli without all of its key players, renders the friendly against the Syrians as a nothing more than a formality and hardly constructive for the Team and Skocic.

If the Iran-Syria match was held inside FIFA Day, it could be a special help to the Iranian national team. It remains to be seen whether Skocic can convince European and some Arab clubs to release their Iranian international  for  three to four days .

It is probable that he will generally restrict the presence of the legionnaires in the Nowruz 1400 camp, which begins on the 23rd of March, in order to participate in training only for three or four days.

Skocic monitors Team Melli players in Belgium

Dragan Skocic headed to Europe for a close look at the Iranian legionaries players. The recently appointed head coach of Team Melli will be attending several matches involving the Iranian players.

This trip to Belgium by Skocic follows his attending of matches of Esteghlal and Persepolis matches in Kuwait and the Emirates in the AFC Champions League last week. Belgium is one of the countries with the most Iranian players in its league. Omid Ebrahimi and Saeed Ezzatollahi play for Eupen, Ali Gholizadeh, Younes Delphi and Kaveh Rezaei for Royal Charleroi and Milad Mohammadi for Gent.

On his trip to Belgium, Skocic first met with Saeed Ezzatollahi and Omid Ebrahimi and spoke with Eupen’s technical staff about the two Iranian players’ performances. Ezzatollah has not played for Eupen for a long time while Ebrahim is a fixed starter for the squad.

The Iranian teams competing in the AFC Champions League had a torrid start with only Sepahan managing a win in a total of 8 matches played by all the 4 Iranian teams. Skocic must have been concerned with such a performance especially since some of the Team Melli players have been less than ideal in those matches.

Analysis of the loss to Bahrain.

Team Melli’s loss to Bahrain is far from destructive and it is too early to call on the success of the coach. However, there were many factors in the loss that needs to be highlighted. Those factors are thus discussed

  • Weather
  • Tactical error
  • Players Selections
  • Late substitutions
  • Lack of Discipline
  • Bahrain’s solid defensive game plan.

Weather

The unbearable weather condition culminated into a lethargic & energy-less performance by Team Melli players. Of course, the bad weather conditions, principally the high temperature and humidity is the biggest challenge for players. It is true that weather affected both teams, Bahrain players, however, are more adapt to such weather than the Iranians.

Tactical Error

If the coaching staff of Team Melli analyzed and studied the opposition, then their reading was faulty for one main reason. Playing 4-3-3 away from home against a fairly solid defence is a risk especially when the weather condition is a disadvantage. A line up to fulfil a balanced game-plan seems a better proposition than prioritizing offence. There was no need for 3 front players, none of whom are adapt to supporting the defence on transitions or retreat on counter-attacks against them. It would have been more prudent for Wilmots to secure the back four with a couple of competent holding midfield players and two offensive midfield players.

As time was passing, it would have been quite clear for the coaches of Team Melli that the opposition has a solid defensive game. At no time was there an obvious plan change to penetrate this defensive wall. The lack of variety in Iranian attacks only helped Bahrain coach read the Iranians well and counter it.

Players Selections

There were no issues with the defensive line up where Hosseini & Kanan-Zadegan occupied the centre of the defence while Milad Mohammadi and Ramin Rezaeian operated on the flanks. Pouraliganji’s absence was claimed to be due to a slight knock but Majid Hosseini should have easily covered him. Unfortunately, the young Trabzonspor defender was far from his best committing two vital errors one of which lead to conceded a penalty. Hosseini was slow and caught off position several times in the match.

 The two main players’ selection issues were in the Midfield and Forward lines.

It is difficult to understand what the coach wanted to achieve with the trio of Ebrahimi, Hajsafi & Mohebbi in the centre of the field. There was a clear lack of a solid holding midfielder, and if Hajsafi was supposed to be the man then he fell short of carrying out the task. Mohebbi selection left many scratching their heads. Just because he scored two goals in his debut against Cambodia does not make him fit for a match away from home in a totally different environment and priorities. He was lost and should have been substituted much earlier. Ebrahimi was excellent in the midfield. He was the schemer and played some delightful balls for his teammates, but he was a one man show in the midfield. He would have benefitted from having Noorullahi or Dejagah on his side.

In the forward line, lining up with 3 forwards, one of whom was completely out of sync and disconnected from the rest, was a tactical suicide.   In fact, the trio was not complimenting each other but also becoming an obstacle in the heavy traffic of Bahrain’s penalty box. An experienced coach should have picked that as early as the first 20 minutes of the match. Karim Ansarifard was a non-performer in this lineup.

Late substitutions

Sometimes the game does not go according to plans and the team might need a shake-up or a change in the assets. Wilmots should have recognized that much earlier than he did against Bahrain. The coaching team was reactive rather than being proactive. It was easily one of the main shortfalls of Wilmots and his assistants in this match.

Lack of Discipline

The Achilles heels of Iranian football. Whether at club level or international, the players seem to be always in a combative mode arguing with referees and easily being intimidated by tricky opponents. Acts of indiscipline normally lead to loss of concertation and errors. In two consecutive matches, Team Melli must consider itself lucky not to lose two players for offences that deserved red cards. Against Cambodia, it was Pouraliganji with his wild lunge on the goalkeeper and against Bahrain; it was Azmoun who was the culprit.  Sardar reacted angrily against the referee for not giving a penalty to  Iran. Despite being awarded a yellow card for his dissent, Azmoun did not stop arguing. It was as if he was daring the Uzbek referee to give him another card! Such a petulant act by a player who does not seem to learn from his failings and continues committing these irrational acts.

Bahrain’s solid defensive game plan.

The Portuguese coach of Bahrain Hélio Filipe de Sousa was much better prepared for the match against Iran and put a solid defensive strategy that did not allow the top guns of Team Melli penetrating his defences. Using two layers of the defensive system, he managed to neutralize Azmoun and Taremi quite easily without allowing any of them clear shots at the target. With Ansarifard, the job of covering him was easier as the Iranian forward was ineffective. Bahrain depended on counter-attacks in the hoping of grabbing a goal which they did in their limited number of attacks.

Wilmots failed to react to such a defensive plan and slow to address it. Essentially, he had little solutions to counter the Portuguese game plan.

Final words

In summary, failure in a match is part and parcel of football. It is surely not a tragic loss to Bahrain as Team Melli still looked solid. This defeat, although caused by an individual error of Majid Hosseini, is the collective result of many factors that have been addressed above. Individual errors and slip-ups can occur anytime, the team that is prepared and has learned from its mistakes, usually can storm the weather and come out winners. The repeated occurrence of similar mistakes spells doom.

Marc Wilmots has not had enough time to get familiar with the team. It is quite doubtful that he selected many players, if any, of his own choice leaving Hashemian and others to offer suggestions. A two to three days training session before the match is simply not adequate enough for a new coach to get familiar with the capabilities of his squad.

However, Wilmots must address some issues immediately. In order for him to succeed, he needs to read the games much better and do his homework on Iraq from now.

Ezzatollahi welcomed in KAS Eupen

Team Melli’s 22-year-old midfielder who has joined the Belgian side KAS Eupen on a one-year loan spell from Russian Premier League side Rostov, has been welcomed and praised by his coach.

“Saeid Ezzatollahi proved his talent and abilities in the Russian league. He also represented Iran national football team in the 2018 World Cup and played in group matches against Spain and Portugal. Although he is only 22, he has played 28 times for the Iran national team,” Henkel told lavenir.net.

“I am confident that Ezzatollahi will be a real reinforcement for our team and will help us in the current season. We welcome Saeid to KAS Eupen and wish him every success in our club,” he added.

Ezatolahi is the fifth Iranian player in Belgian First Division League.

Ali Gholizadeh, Kaveh Rezaei, Milad Mohammadi and Younes Delfi are also playing in Belgian teams.