Tag: Mohammad Reza Azadi

Squad announced for Turkmenistan matches.

Iran’s national football team will face Turkmenistan in the preliminary stage of the World Cup on 21st March in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium. This match will be held at 19:30. Iran’s national football team will play the first leg against Turkmenistan on the 21st and then will travel to play away in Turkmenistan on March 26th

Iran is in Group E of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers along with Uzbekistan, Hong Kong, and Turkmenistan. The names of the players invited to the squad for this match were announced by head coach Amir Ghalenoei as follows:

Goalkeepers:

Alireza Beiranvand, Payam Niazmand, Seyed Hossein Hosseini, Aria Shakouri

Defenders:

Shoja Khalilzadeh, Hossein Kanaanizadegan, Amin Hizbavi, Saman Fallah, Ramin Rezaeian, Saleh Hardani, Milad Mohammadi, Abolfazl Jalali, Hossein Goudarzi

Midfielders:

Omid Nourafkan, Saman Ghoddos Saeed Ezzatollahi, Mohammad Ghorbani, Ali Gholizadeh, Allhayar Sayyadmanesh, Mehdi Limuchi, Mehdi Torabi, Alireza Jahanbakhsh

Forwards:

Mehdi Taremi, Javad Aghaeipour, Sardar Azmoun, Mohammad Reza Azadi , Saeed Saharkhizan , Mohammad Mohebi, Mehdi Ghaeydi,

Omid Team training is at full throttle.

Omid team is actively preparing for the crucial AFC U23 Championship 2020  by conducting constant practice sessions under the direction of Hamid Estili.

Today’s (Sunday) session which started at 9:30, Hamid Estili briefed the players on the objectives and details of today’s practice session. Then Mohammad Sharifi, Sina Zamiran and Mohammed Mohebbi left the group to conduct the fitness tests which all other players went undertook.

The training of the rest of the squad started with all members of the technical staff supervising the proceedings and giving the required tactical and technical advice.

This session which was carried out in the National Football Training Center included a light physical program. The next practice is scheduled for tonight at 9 pm.

Meanwhile, Omid Noorafkan and Mohammad Mohebbi (Sepahan) Reza Shekari and Mohammad Reza Azadi (Tractorsazi) Aref Aghasi and Mojtaba Najarian (Foolad Khuzestan) Ali Shojaei and Reza Dehghani (Nasiji Mazandaran) Ali Shahsavari and Mohammad KhodabandehLo (Peykan) and Sina Zamehran (Shar Khodro ) have joined the squad after their respective teams released them to Omid team.

Mohammad Mehdi Khani who plays for the Croatian side  NK Varaždin will also join the Omid (Olympic) squad on Monday.

“The initial list of Olympic team players, including 50 players, according to the AFC’s regulations. ” Hamid Estili said on the eve of the training camp’s inauguration. “After shortlisting the number to 30, the squad departs to  Qatar, where we will have an 8-day training camp and two friendly matches in Doha.”

“After returning to Tehran, we will announce the list of the final 23 players which form the Omid Team that will be competing in the AFC Asian Championship also the Olympic qualifiers scheduled to be held in Thailand. In some of the posts, we are still looking for the final option, such as the right-back, which was vacated due to the injury to  Aghajanpour and we are reviewing the names of 1 or 2 options to decide the final squad,” Estili added.

The coach of the Omid team once again called on the clubs to cooperate and assist with the team by saying: “Our plan during these 18 months of engagement was comprehensive. We tried to invite players for training or matches in FIFA days. We were aware of their special circumstances and situation, but at this juncture we expect the clubs to understand our situation too. Invited players will return to the clubs before the 16th week but after the end of the week it is necessary for the clubs to abandon their squads and allow our training to start. There are legal measures we can refer to, of course, but there should not be such issues among colleagues, and we need to all work in a friendly manner. I am sure my good colleagues at the clubs are on the side of the Omid team, preferring the national interest to everything else and helping us at this point.”

Omid team draws with Iraq, qualification is still on hold!

Iran Omid Team drew its final group C game against Iraq, which means that the Iraqi team has qualified as top of the group with 7 points, same as Iran , but better goal difference. The match ended goal-less.

The Iranian needed to win to be assured of a place in the Final rounds of AFC Asian U23 Championship in Thailand. Iran must wait for the results of other matches in the qualifiers. The four best 2nd placed teams will also qualify from the 11 groups to  the finals.

Iran’s supremacy in the first half was quite evident against a well-organized Iraq, especially in the first 10 minutes when Iran had two goal scoring opportunities. Although in the remaining time of the first half , the match was more balanced, but in the final minutes, Omid team intensified its pressure to score. However, the Iraqi goalkeeper Ali Kadhim was at his best and prevented Iranian players from threatening the goal. The Iraqi players, were satisfied with a draw which assured them qualification, started wasting time, but the referee from Singapore was not very alert to such tactics and failed to warn them

 Iran’s coach Zlatko Kranchar introduced Vahid Namdari and Mohammad Reza Azadi in the second half to give fresh force to the forward line. Like the first half, Iran only managed a few real scoring chances in this half. As the final minutes of the game approached, the pressure on Iran’s forwards to score also increased. Perhaps the best chance for Iran to score was wasted by Vahid Namdari on the 87th minute, from Muslimpour’s cross which missed the cross by inches.

At the final whistle , Iraqi players celebrated their qualification while the Iranian were left to drift and ask questions where it all went wrong.

The standard and style of Iran Omid Team does not induce much confidence. Direct football with aerial balls was the name of the game for Omid Team in all the 3 matches. Zlatko Kranjcar has not introduced anything of value in this team. It is certainly no eye candy. The way this Omid Team is playing truly does not require a coach. If by miracle, Iran does qualify, the first question that must be addressed is the coaching and leadership of this team. There is a long road and plenty of work for this Omid team to succeed as the way this team is playing is no where near championship pedigree..

Iran Omid Team Line up vs Iraq

Meraj Esmaili ; Omid Noorafkan, Alireza Artah, Mohammad Moslemipour, Hossein Saki, Sina Zamehran, Mehdi Mehdi Khani (Abolfazl Razzaghpour), Reza Shekari (Vahid Namdari ), Mehdi Ghaedi, Reza Jabereih and Amir Roustai (Mohammad Reza Azadi).