Tag: Mohammadreza Akhbari

Alireza Haghighi at the wrong end of a thrashing.

Team Melli’s number one goalkeeper Alireza Haghighi was at the end of a real drubbing when Benfica strikers scored six goal in his net in the Portuguese Cup final.

Benfica thrashed CS Maritimo 6-2 in the Taca da Liga final in Coimbra to win the trophy for a third consecutive year.

Rui Vitoria’s men were crowned Portuguese champions last Sunday, edging Sporting CP to the title by two points and, following Friday’s convincing win, have now won two doubles and a treble in their last three seasons.

Benfica – who beat Maritimo 2-1 in last year’s final – have completely dominated the Taca da Liga since it was established in 2007-08, winning it seven times.

Haghighi played for the full 90 minutes of the match despite the large scoreline.

The much traveled Haghighi is still has signed for Ruben Kazan in 2012 player, however he only played 1 full game for the Russian club before being sent back to Persepolis on loan the next season where he only played 2 games only for the Tehrani club. In 2014 , Haghighi returned back to his club in Russia. Soon thereafter , Ruben Kazan loaned him again this time to the Portuguese club  Sporting Covilhã in 2014 where he made 14 appearances. In season 2014–2015 he was loaned to Penafiel where he played 24 league matches and this season 2015/16 to CS Marítimo.

Despite the less than ideal performance and some say poor figures, Carlos Queiroz maintains full faith in Haghighi as one of the untouchables of Team Melli in similar category of Masoud Shojaei.

The only serious competition for the goalkeeper’s jersey seems to come from Alirreza Biranvand , but that is hardly much of a competition as the Naft Tehran keeper has time and again showed vital all round weaknesses in goal at club level.Mazaheri of Zob Ahan and Akhbari of Tractorsazi are the two other keepers in the squad , however , the former has a much better record in the league and is much more experienced that Akhbari.

All hopes dashed, Iran out of Olympics football.

Doha: Extra-time goals from Yuta Toyokawa and Shoya Nakajima kept Japan’s hopes of a sixth consecutive appearance the Olympic Games alive with a 3-0 win over Iran that moved Makoto Teguramori’s side into the semi-finals of the AFC U23 Championship on Friday.

Toyokawa put Japan in front five minutes into the first additional period before Nakajima struck twice in two minutes to settle what had been a tight tussle and victory means the Japanese are one win away from guaranteeing themselves one of the continent’s three berths at the Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro in August.

Japan will meet either United Arab Emirates or Iraq in the next round, with the winner securing a place at the Olympics, while the loser will play-off against the other losing semi-finalist for the third and final spot in Brazil.

Only three of the Japan team that started in the 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia retained their places while Mohammad Khakpour kept faith with six of his line-up following Iran’s 3-2 victory over China in their final Group A clash on Monday.

It was the Iranians who started the brighter, with Arsalan Motahhari breaking through with just two minutes on the clock before firing off a shot that goalkeeper Masatoshi Kushibiki palmed away for a corner. From the resulting set piece, Ali Karimi should have done better, heading his effort off target.

Japan threatened soon after through Yuya Kubo, only to see his effort deflected to safety, and in the 26th minute the Switzerland-based forward went closer still, racing down the right side of the penalty area before hitting a low strike that flew just wide of the far post.

With eight minutes remaining in the half, Iran should have taken the lead. The chance fell, again, to Motahhari when the Japanese defence hesitated and, with Naomichi Ueda making a mess of his clearance, the ball fell to the Naft Tehran striker, but he rushed his shot and it flew far off target.

Watch the match highlights
Japan harbour Olympic hopes after win over Iran

Three minutes shy of the hour mark, the Iranians came within a whisker of taking the lead. Ali Abdollahzadeh sent in a fine curling cross from the right that Milad Mohammadi met with a header that looped over Kushibiki, only to fall back into play via the underside of the crossbar before being cleared.

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Iran had impressed for periods in normal time, but an inability to convincingly unlock the Japanese defence was to prove crucial as the game moved into extra time.

With only five minutes gone in the first period, Khakpour’s team were chasing the game as Toyokawa slipped between the Iranian centre backs to head home Sei Muroya’s cross from close range.

Kushibiki maintained Japan’s advantage soon after when he did well to block Seyed Mohsen Karimi’s effort as the Japanese went into the changeover holding a slender lead.

Four minutes into the second period of extra-time, however, Nakajima punished the tiring Iranians with a spectacular strike from the right that curled into the far top corner of Mohammadreza Akhbari’s goal and, a minute later, he struck again, beating the Iranian goalkeeper from a similar position, only this time to his right.

Iran almost salvaged a consolation four minutes from the end of the game, but Karimi’s attempt came back off the bar before eventually ending in the arms of Kushibiki.

Photo: AFC