Tag: Mohammad Reza Khanzadeh

Roozbeh Cheshmi out of the World Cup

FFIRI has announced that Roozbeh Cheshmi, Team Melli center-right defender, has suffered an injury during training yesterday and will no longer feature in the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia.

It is a real blow for the defender who has pivitol in the defence of Team Melli against Morocco.

With that injury, Carlos Queiroz equation changes for the second game against Spain. Iran edged Morocco 1-0 in the their first World Cup match at the St. Petersburg Stadium on Friday following a stoppage time own goal from Aziz Bouhaddouz.

“It was a great football match. Our strategy was exactly since the first minute to create a mental collapse in the Moroccan players. And now we tried to do that creating frustration and block all the playmakers, The players that can create something. The most open opportunities [to strike] in the first half belongs to Iran and since we were able to create panic in the defensive line of Morocco the game changed. Now it’s time to rest and think about the game against Spain,” Queiroz told at the press conference.

Roozbeh Cheshmi was in the heart of defence that frustrated the Moroccans.

In the game against Morocco, Cheshmi  alongside Morteza PouraliGanji in the middle of defense was able to protect and cover Alireza Beyranvand to keep a clean sheet. Now, with this injury, who should be seen as a substitute for a defender who has been labeled by Queiroz as “the most modern” defender of Iran in the past 10 years.

Queiroz , with all the criticisms that he sustained before the start of the Russian World Cup for playing from Roozbeh Cheshmi in the heart of the national defense, called him the most modern defender of the last 10 years in the national team. A strange claim since Queiroz has not been in Iran for 10 years. Now that Cheshmi is injured and can not play for the Team Melli, that piece of brief news has hit the team and considered as a great shock for some and certainly for the squad.

Majid Hosseini

However, it is not like a lost cause as Queiroz has three options for Cheshmi. Majid Hosseini, Pejman Montazeri and Mohammad Reza Khanzadeh.

Majid Hosseini, who was substituted in the final minutes of the game with Morocco, experienced his first appearance at the World Cup. The young defender of Esteghlal Tehran, who had developed quite rapidly from a youth team all the way to Team Melli senior team, was preferred to the much experienced of Mohammad Reza Khanzadeh, who has been playing for a long time at club and the national team.

Of course, Queiroz has proven that he has tricks up his sleeve and not shy from taking bold decisions such as using a player with one cap only, in an important match in the World Cup. That is what he did with Majid Hosseini. A surprise that no one guessed.

However, It’s unlikely that Queiroz will opt for young Majid Hosseini this time against Spain. Most likely he will use Khanzadeh and even Pejman Montazeri instead of his modern advocate.

Faraki  “ Team Melli U23 was shameful & catastrophic.”

Hossein Faraki, who has replaced the Croat Zlatko Kranjcar as head coach of Sepahan Esfahan , was officially introduced to the media by the club.

Faraki expressed his utmost satisfaction and gratification for being appointed as a head coach of Sepahan.” I must admit to you that the approach by Mr. Khalilain ( CEO of Sepahan) was unexpected. It did not take long for me to accept the offer to coach such a great club and organization. I am following on the footsteps of an honorable and a great coach in Zlatko Kranjcar. It is a hard act to follow however my aim is to reach his class technically and ethically. We met briefly and talked about various things.”

Faraki answered many questions about football and the league competition. The most interesting question was his comments on the embarrassing defeat against Vietnam in the Asian Games. Faraki said “That was a shameful & catastrophic result. Such shocking performance was the result of several factors and combination, The responsibilities are shared between the coaches and managers of the team and the players themselves. They all failed , and failed miserably to an extent that the reputation of our football has been tarnished.”

The contrast between the reaction of Faraki and Lai Kaffashian is quite interesting, T he former calls it a catastrophic , the latter attributes it to the strength of the Vietnamese opposition!

Faraki , normally a cool character , reserved his sharpest criticism for Mohammad Reza Khanzadeh.” This players dismissal was a shocking, dishonorable and appalling. Such act by a player is vile especially since he is representing this nation with such high Islamic values”

Faraki also criticized the U23 players’ looks and hair designs and wished if the rest of the World Did not see these players in action!