Tag: Mohsen Mosalman

Vietnam, the tales of unknown quality.

Vietnam football team leaders, are quite confident and comfortable being singled out as unknown team in Group D of the Asian Cup. After some Iranian press articles wrote about Vietnam and the fact that all their players are domestic league based. with little international exposure hence a difficult group of players to assess, team leader Duong Vu Lam spoke up and welcomed the fact that Vietnam is of unknown quality.

Iranian newspaper Varzeshi had a commentary that, at first glance, everyone felt a sense of disregard for the ability of the Vietnamese team – Iran’s rival at table D.

The author has identified Vietnam as an unknown team because it does not have any famous players. Their players only play in domestic league and no one plays abroad, Varzeshi called the Vietnam team an unknown quality team. In an interview with Thanh Nien Newspaper, the leader of Duong Vu Lam expressed another opinion.

Head of the delegation Duong Vu Lam said that “the Iranian report expressed disdain, proving that they are afraid of Vietnam”

‘”admittedly, at the Asian Cup, we don’t have a name. But in my opinion, this is an article of encouragement, the Iranian newspaper said that they are very concerned and shy about us.” said Mr. Lam.

Besides, leader Duong Vu Lam also encourages young Vietnamese players to keep up their good spirits, compete while knowing that the Iranians know us well as they did in Asian Games 2014 at U23 level.

“The press in their country says so, we should not be so excited or frustrated. The answer is just to be calm. It is important that we prepare well, know people who know us, dare to set great goals. Doing so, the Vietnamese team will be stronger in will and fighting spirit and will have a chance to achieve the goal of knocking down the big teams.” said Duong Vu Lam

Iran’s coach Carlos Queiroz , has a different viewpoint : “Vietnam cannot be underestimated”
“

Before the news that some Iranian newspapers expressed disdain for Park’s team, Coach Carlos Queiroz of Iran has completely disagreed with what was written in the press “These are very misleading statements. And I am no stranger to the subjective statements of this kind for a long time. They (Iranian sports press) thought that we would win very easily in the Asian Cup and it would be easy to defeat all opponents to win the championship, ” Mr. Queiroz answered on the Asian Football Federation website (AFC).
‘People think Iran will win against Vietnam. It is very wrong. They just won an important tournament in Southeast Asia. Iranian newspapers may not be interested, but we are very interested in these developments of Vietnam team. We respect every opponent, and appreciate it all.”

Iran and Vietnam has never met at senior level, however, at youth level , Vietnam has been a strong opponent for Iran and even managed to humiliate Iran U23 in Asian Games 2014. In that match goals from, Vo Huy Toan . Mac Hong Quan, Tran Phi Son and Ngo Hoang Thinh ensured the match ended in a humiliating defeat for the Iranian side which scored a consolation penalty goal by Mohsen Mosalman. Team Melli will be glad that none of those players are in the Vietnamese squad in Abu Dhabi to repeat their goal scoring feat.

Midfielder Nguyễn Trọng Hoàng (30 years) is the most senior member of the squad with 57 caps  and 12 goals . He plays for FLC Thanh Hóa. 
The Captain of Vietnam is the 25 years old defender,  Quế Ngọc Hải  who plays for Sông Lam Nghệ An.

Vietnam Coach is the South Korean Park Hang-seo

The Sense of injustice. Mohsen Mosalman & Hossein Kaebi

The crocked FFIRI.

Mohsen Mosalman was considered as one of the brightest young footballers in Iran, destined to stardom in the European leagues in the footpath of Daei , Mahdavikia and Bagheri. Some even regarded him to be a much better talent than Ali Karimi in his senior years

He was the youngest professional players in Iran history at 16 years old in Zob Ahan.  By that time, he has already played for Team Melli U16 and in the following years , he represented his country in all the age group teams all the way to the Omid Team (U23).

Mosalman was and still is , a gifted player and naturally he was picked for Team Melli, but made limited appearances, and scored one goal in his 5 caps.

This player however, had issues on and off the field , enough to irritate the hierarchy and ruffle some feathers. The disciplinary actions against him and some self-inflicted problems, harmed his progress and relegated him from a star in the making to just about, better than average league player.

His misdemeanors varied from being filmed smoking in coffee shops, to attending parties or pictures in social media with girls..

Another wonderkid was Hossein Kaebi. The boy from Khuzestan was an absolute delight to watch as a youngster growing up to become a definite star. He made his debut for Team Melli at 18 years and unlike Mosalman, Hossein Kaebi played for an extended period of time including in the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006. He also played in the Asian Cup 2007.

There was nothing controversial about Kaebi, except for his passion to look good including having Tattoo all over his body or fixing his eyebrows, for which he faced disciplinary action by the ethics and behavior committee of FFIRI

Mosalman conduct is nothing close to controversial, so is Kaebi’s. If it was in Free World, those two would not attract much, if any attention. On field violations would have been dealt with professionally and objectively, as there is no malice, ill intent or violent conducts in their actions. But in a system controlled by religious fundamentalism with absolutely minimal respect to personal freedom and a big brother approach, these two are considered as villains.

A committee for virtue and righteous, has just suspended the two players from all football activities for reasons that are not published and only known to those who penalized the players. There is no appeal. No transparency no rights!.

Hossein kaebi

And if you think that is injustice, have a thought for Mohsen Mosalman who helped Persepolis win the League title last season. In the ceremony by the FFIRI to honor winners and the achievers, in the category of top assists , Mohsen Mosalman was the clear winner with 14 assists for the season. Shockingly, the FFIRI announced that Server Djabarov, the Uzbek player who had a total of 6 assists for Esteghlal, has won the title.!!!

The writing was on the wall to suspend and punish Mosalman.

It is testament to the resolve of the nation that football actually thrives under such injustice.

Mohsen Mosalman joins Esteghlal.

The much travelled young midfielder and former Captain of Omid Team , has joined Esteghlal Tehran. Mohsen Mosalman has been sent on loan to Esteghlal as part of a deal between Zob Ahan and the Tehrani club starting from immediate effect.

The 24 years old Mosalman, was considered one of the bright prospects of Iranian football with exceptional and creative skills in the midfield. He played for Iran at several age levels team including the Olympic team. Moslaman , has not reached his potential and some observers believe that he is a wasted talent because of many issues some of it which are off field. He was called to Team Melli several times but only played 3 matches as substitute. He has one goal for Team Melli to his credit.

It was rumored that Andranik Teymourian , Esteghlal and Team Melli midfield player, will be part of the exchange deal , but Ando has refused a transfer to Zob Ahan of Esfahan.

 

Another humiliation: Iran U23 on the brink of elimination from Asian Games

Iran U23 team once again disillusioned the fans and failed to win against modest Kyrgyzstan. The match in Group H of the Asian Games Incheon 2014 ended 1-1. Iran has 1 point from two games, Vietnam leading the group with 3 points after defeating Iran 4-1.

In today’s match , which Iran needed to win handsomely to increase its chances of qualifying , the team played like a group of misfits which was assembled in haste. The team was not able to mount any real threat against inferior opposition on paper and ranking let alone pedigree and history.

The match started quite well for Iran U23 . The first 10 minutes was completely dominated by Iran Olympic Team. The ball hardly crossed the half line into Iran side, however, Mosalman lovely strike from just inside the box was the only real threat of this period. That shot was parried by the Kyrgyz keeper. The remaining period was full of Iranian huff and puff but there was hardly any serious threat on Kyrgyzstan keeper. Most of the offensive moves by Iran was at best , quite toothless. With the match progressing , it did not take long for the coaches of Kyrgyzstan to realize how to defend well and mount counter attacks.

The first half ended 0-0.

In the second half, much of the first half scenario was repeating itself with the exception that Kyrgyzstan was getting bolder in attack and starting to threaten Iran’s goal . They could have stunned everyone when the Kyrgyz forward was one on one but failed to finish. 

Iranian offensive moves were mainly some shy attempts by Kaveh Rezaei whose shots were more like practice for the Kyrgyzstan keeper. The other poster boy, Mehdi Sharifi was incognito.!

With the match approaching the last 10 minutes and Iran desperate for a goal,  a corner was given which Mohsen Mosalman masterfully took and delivered on the top of Pouraliganji’s head. The tall midfielder headed to the far corner of the net and scored triggering an ecstatic Iranian celebration and deep sigh of relief on the bench. Pouraliganji’s goal came in the 77th minute.

Two minutes from the end , Kyrgyzstan struck and struck well. A long cross from a foul from the left found a Kyrgyzstan player with ample time to control the ball and head towards the goal. Despite the presence of 3 markers, the ball passed the goal line to register the equalizer for Kyrgyzstan. It was a deserving goal for this modest team, but well-organized and hardworking.

Iran’s football is on the brink of a real humiliation. The Continents most celebrated country in Asian Games football is virtually out of the tournament, unless you believe in miracle s and Saints rising to help this toothless team with clueless coaching staff.

Never in the history of Asian Games football, Iran faced such a degradation, but under the administration of Ali Kaffashian , such fiascoes and bitter defeats should not be too shocking.  It is certainly not too shocking for Kaffashian as he thought of Vietnam as a strong team and was perhaps was at loss at what all this fuss is about, we only lost 4-1 to Vietnam!

And now…….let the excuses begin….

Iran is given a lesson in football by Vietnam.

Iran’s U-23 team was humiliated by its Vietnamese counterpart in the opening group game of the 17th Asian games Incheon.

Vietnam defeated Iran 4-1 , the first half ended 2-0.

From the onset of the match , it was apparent that this team is a group of individual players who lacked teamwork was assembled for these Asian games. The team lacked cohesion and sometimes even the ABC of basic football.

It was not much of a shock when Vietnam took the lead early in the match, but the expectation was that Iran with so many quality names can quickly return into the game. That was not to be, because the Vietnamese stunned everyone by scoring the second in the 28th minute.

Both the Vietnamese goals scored in similar style, the first one was a diagonal ball sent from the winger after he skillfully dribbled the left back. While the ball was sent into the box , there was only one defender in the box and two Vietnamese players. The second player, the furthest,  slammed the ball into the net with keeper Sadeghi ball watching

The second goal a few minutes later was again from Iran’s left , but this time the Vietnamese player dribbled 3 Iranian defenders with embarrassing ease before he slotted from an angle passed Sadeghi.

The Japanese’s coach observed the weakness of Iran’s left side and directed most of the offenses on the right flank of his team.

 Vingada realized , perhaps a bit late , that his team is suffering and introduced Yaghoub Karimi instead of Ali Karimi,

Yaghoub Karimi turned out to be the best player of the team despite his late introduction.

The half ended 2-0 , however Iran really bounced back in the second half with a series of offensive moves but really awful finishing.

53′ Kaveh Rezaei wastes another golden opportunity when he receives the ball from right, dribbles past the keeper but could not control the ball int0 the empty net.

54′ Mehdi Sharifi dribbles past his last marker , had only the keeper in front of him to beat from just inside the penalty box , but he shoots skywards!

55′ Mehdi Sharifi  has forgotten his shooting boot, his final touch after some brilliant work on the right flank by Yaghoub Karimi was comical , to say the least. He completely miskicked the ball!

Iran could have easily been 4-2 ahead by minute 57

64′ a beautiful quality through pass from Mohsen Moslaman to Sharifi , was met by a wild tackle by the on rushing Vietnam keeper denying Sharifi a scoring chance. A classic red card offense. The referee called a Penalty for Iran but awarded the keeper a yellow card instead of red

65 Mosalman scores.

While Iran was on a good run despite missing so many scoring chances, Vietnam once again stunned the Iranians with the 3rd goal scored on the 69th minute.

Mojammedreza Khanzadeh , who was in the World Cup squad was quite poor in the central defense.

 

73′ Kaveh Rezaei bests the Viet goalkeeper but his shot is deflected out hitting the lower post. Even luck has abandoned Iran.

 

81′ Iran goalkeeper Sadeghi handles a back pass a few meters from his goal. A very strange act and a disastrous basic mistake, The ensuing free kick is scored by Vietnam again with quite poor Iranian defense! .

As to put the icing on the kick , Iran not only lost the match result but the sportsmanship as well. A visibilyy frustrated Mojammedreza Khanzadeh was shown the second yellow card after a foul on Vietnam keeper , shoves a Vitneamese player in the face in what looks like an unsportmanship behavior, and plunges him on the ground. Khanzadeh should expect a severe punishment and that might be his un ceremonial farewell to the Asian Games.

Players like him. Who cannot control their temper after a bitter loss,  should never represent Iran at any level. Their action affects the whole team.

Khanzadeh not only was poor as a player , he lost his manner and composure and will face a long suspension from AFC.

It was a bitter end for a sorry team. Even if the team recovers in the final group match , it will take a major work to make it tick for the rest of the competition.

Development of a new mentality in Iran’s football planning.

Nelo Vingada, the Portuguese coach has been hard at work preparing the team for the Asian Games 2014 which for Iran will start on the 15th September with an opening match against Vietnam.

The team’s preparation has been going well under the circumstances and the usual difficulties, however, the marked difference in the preparation this time is the tendency for the team to be mostly the U21 footballers. This policy has developed within the corridor of power of FFIRI based on the ultimate goals of Iran achieving qualification for the Olympic Games. However, when the final list of the squad for Incheon games was announced, almost a third of the players will not be eligible to participate in the 2016 Olympic Games from qualification stages.

Nelo Vingada - U-23 Head Coach
Nelo Vingada – U-23 Head Coach

That raised a few questions about how the federation is proceeding with this team considering the earlier plans for the 2016 Olympics and if there was a change of heart triggered by the recent events and the result of the friendly matches played by the team, which to the best of descriptions, were quite modest.

Iran has always been a contender for Asian Games medals. Historically and statically, Iran has been the most successful football team in Asian Games History with 4 Gold medals, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze followed closely by their nemesis South Korea. Incidentally both teams have met each other in the Bronze match play-off in the last two Asian Games and the honors were even.

Unlike their mentality towards marginalizing the Asian Cup, the Asian Games football tournament, is a different proposition all together. Iran’s patriciaption in the Asian Games and the Olympics falls under the responsibilities of the National Olympics Committee (NOC). All federations must strictly follow the NOC guidelines and send athletes whose records indicate that they can compete for one of the medals of the sports they are participating in. Therefore , Iran football team must abide by this charter and filed their strongest team.

Armenia U23 vs Iran U23

With that in mind, 7 quality players who have been making their names in top level of Iran’s league have been added to the list to strengthen the squad.  Kaveh Rezaei , Morteza Pouraliganji , Mohammadreza Khanzadeh, Shahriyar Shirvand , Mohsen Mosalman , Mehdi Sharifi, and Yaghoub Karimi  are the top guns.

 To explain this turnaround, a FFIRI spokesman confirmed that FFIR has been instructed by Iran’s Olympic Committee to field the best and full strength team for the Asian Games. “The NOC made it clear for us that Asian Games is no place for trials. Only the best must are allowed to compete and represent the country. If sending the best athletes or Teams are not possible, then there will be no participation..”  This firm policy of Iran’s NOC has seen some individual Iranian world class athletes lose their place due to loss of form or lack of practice hence possibilities of defeat.

So, it seems that this mentality of FFIRI , which is planning for 4 years ahead competitions like the next World Cup and the next Olympic games is being followed unabated. It is only the IOC that has stepped its authority and threatened to kick Team Melli U23 out if it cannot compete for one of the medals. FFIRI futuristic plans, incidentally, has no mention of competing for championships titles in it. Just qualifying for the World Cup or Olympic Games!

Suddenly, a top level continental and elite competition like the Asian Cup, has no place in FFIRI agenda! To add to the complexity of this twisted mentality , Iran is actually a leading candidate to host the 2019 Asian Cup!

Asian Games 2014 footballers list announced

Iranian football federation FFIRI has announced the name of 20 players for the upcoming Asian Games in Incheon. The squad will be coached by the Portuguese Nelo Vingada and shall start camp from Monday while players will be taking breaks to return to their clubs.

There are some prominent names missing from the list , including Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Sardar Azmoun, both of who are playing in European teams and their release seem to be too difficult for the federation to even attempt. However, Payam Sadeghian , suspended for three months, yet again misses a major tournament as he is excluded from the list.

 

Those missing , will be replaced by some young stars on the rise. Sepahan duo Mehdi Sharifi and Ali Karimi , head the list of names that have already impressed in the league with their clubs with Sharifi already opening his scoring this season against Esteghlal. Mohsen Mosalman, Mohammadreza Khanzadeh and Yaghoub Karimi all players of Team Melli will enhance the quality of the team , while Kaveh Rezaei is expected to shine again with his prolific scoring records in many Team Melli ages levels.

 Although , 23 players are allowed to be named for major football tournaments, it is not clear why the federation has 3 less players. Their official website did not provide any explanation. This will of course mean that the door could open up for 3 additional players.

 Iran , will be one of the contenders for the Asian Games 2014 football Gold Medal along with the favorites South Korea. While the team will be aiming for glory in Incheon , the priority by the federation remains to be the qualification to the Rio Olympics 2014 football tournament.

The squad has been quite active recently with practice matches in Jordan and Armenia. With the team having issues with clubs releasing players , so far the Portuguese coach has been unable to field the same line up for two consecutive matches. This period of training camp is expected to be much more stable and the majority of the players available for him to work with.

 

 

List of Asian Games 2014 squad players

 

Seq Player Name Club Birth date Post
1 Ali Karimi Sepahan 11-Feb-94 FW
2 Arash Rezavand Naft Tehran 5-Oct-93 MF
3 Ehsan Pahlavan Gostarish Foolad 25-Jun-93
4 Farshid Esmaeili Fajr Sepasi 23-Feb-94 MF
5 Hojat Sedghi Mes Kerman 7-Feb-93 GK
6 Kaveh Rezaei Saipa Alborz 5-Apr-92 FW
7 Mehdi Mehdipour Rah Ahan 21-Mar-89
8 Mehdi Sharifi Sepahan 16-Aug-92 FW
9 MohamadReza Akhbari Saipa Alborz 15-Feb-93
10 MohamadReza Khanzadeh  Persepolis 20-Jan-92 DF
11 Mohammad Daneshgar Fajr Sepasi 20-Jan-94 MF
12 Mohammad Naseri Gostarish Foolad 18-Apr-93 GK
13 MohammadHossein Kanan Zadegan Persepolis 23-Mar-94 DF
14 Mohsen Mosallman Zob Ahan 27-Jan-91 MF
15 Morteza Pouraliganji  Naft Tehran 19-Apr-92 MF
16 Roozbeh Chashmi Saba Qom 24-Jul-93 MF
17 Shahriyar Shirvand Tractorsazi Tabriz 21-Mar-91 DF
18 Vahid Haidariya Peykan 2-Jan-93 DF
19 Yaghoub Karimi Esteghlal 31-Aug-91 MF
20 Yusuf Vakya Foolad Khuzestan 30-Sep-91 DF

 

 

Vingada meets with Karim Bagheri during training break. Khodadad Azizia and Ando Teymourian also in the background

38 years wait for football to qualifying for the Olympic Games. Will it happen this time?

When the Colombian referee, Guilermo Velasquez whistled for the end of the match in the Municipal Stadium , Sherbrouke , on 25th of July 1976, he put to an end what would have been a true shock to the world football system. Iran was playing against the mighty Soviet Union with its full force of senior players, in the quarter finals of the Olympic games. Iran was one goal from reaching the semifinals and perhaps the gold medal match, but for that Colombian whistle. The Soviets where comfortably leading 2-0 until the 80th minute when a penalty was called for Iran. Ghleechkhani converted to make it 2-1. Following that goal, Team Melli went for an all-out assault. Heshmat Mohajerani urged his men to venture forward and attack, the Iranian players responded well while the Soviets were of the defensive. The equalizer seemed to be coming any minute and with it , the extra time. But , it was not meant to be as the gallant Persian warriors ran out of time. So near and yet so far.

Nelo Vingada - U-23 Head Coach
Nelo Vingada – U-23 Head Coach

 

2-1 for the Soviet Union. Iran lost the match but gained immense respect from the football community , after all losing to players in the class of the European player of the year Oleg Blokhin , was no disgrace. Middle East , was an emerging football region and Iran was proudly leading the way. But who would have predicted that it will take Iran 9 Olympic tournament and 38 years (40 years by the time the games start in Rio) to qualify once again for the football tournament ? assuming Iran will do it this time.

Olympic Games football changed quite a lot. FIFA and IOC decision to restrict the teams to U-23 players , opened the door for the emerging football nation to compete for glory , and compete they did , Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon , South Korea and Mexico all had won medals and titles in the Olympic games since the rule changes. In all of that, Iran’s name was conspicuously absent. Iran’s football was truly missing since that Canadian summer evening in July 1976.

The reason for Iranian failures at this level of football is so plentiful and diverse; it needs a whole book to give it the necessary justification. Suffice to state the obvious and that is the Iranian football community, in general, does not grant this age level and younger players the respect, recognition, care and the attention it needs to qualify at the highest level of World Football. In fact, it is even struggling at continental level at present.

In comes one Nelo Vingada. A compatriot and a close friend of Team Melli head coach, Carlos Queiroz to save the day for the Iranians and for the first time in 40 years , give Iranian fans the one thing they truly missed for decades . A smile and a wave by Iranian footballers in the opening ceremony of an Olympic games. Iran had plenty of success in Wrestling, Weightlifting and Martial arts, but football is not normally considered as an award or title wining sport of the country.

Vingada is quite gifted at this level of football with a track record that could be the envy of many coaches. On his trophy chest, there is two FIFA U-20 World Youth championship won for his country as an assistant beside no one other than Queiroz himself. Vingada went on to coach Portugal U20 as head coach , Saudi Arabia, Egypt U20 and Jordan amongst the many sides he coached and managed.

Now it is the turn of Iran’s Olympic team to get the benefit of the Portuguese coaching experience and success. Vingada, along with his Iranian assistant Human Afazeli , have been working hard for a few months now on preparing the U23 for their first real test , the Asian Games in Incheon. The signs are mixed so far but it has not been a smooth paved surface.

There have been many absentees form the original list of players announced by the coaching team due to the players club commitments. The likes of Payam Sadeghian , Mohsen Mosalman , Mehdi Sharifi , Alireza Jahanbakhsh , Sardar Azmoun and quite a few others , who are established players with their clubs now be it in Iran or abroad. Clubs will not release such players for the Olympic squad so easily while they are beginning the new season.sardar azmoun 2

There is no prefect scenario for Vingada, who at the end of the day, has to work with whatever resources that are available to him. But then again, Iran is definitely not the only nation that faces such a dilemma. Others worked out some kind of a system to ensure the parallel availability of the players for their clubs and Olympic team. The onus is on the Iranian football federation to produce an appropriate program that can be helpful for the Olympics squad.

The track records, unfortunately, indicates that the federation has been pathetic at programing and management at Olympics football level. Suffice to mention that the last effort for the London Olympics 2012 ended in true humiliation and a whole set of red faces after Iran U-23 were declared loser against Iraq for fielding an ineligible player who had two yellow cards and was suspended,

Needless to say that everyone did the usual finger pointing but no investigation to find where the fault was, no gap analysis, no accountability, no one was really identified as the culprit and life went on merrily at the FFIRI as it usually does under the all smiling Kaffashian!

To expect a major improvement in programming, support and the mentality to back the U23 system in general , is perhaps asking too much. There might be a slight improvement in some areas, and we hope that a man is assigned with a pencil and paper to record the number of players’ yellow cards, but Vingada should not count on a whole-hearted 100% backing for his work. The usual difficulties will still prevail. If Vingada has strong aspiration, he has to do many things on his own.

 

 

Team Melli needs a major overhaul for Asian Cup 2015,

Regardless to the outcome of the result by Team Melli in the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2014, Team Melli needs new blood, new mentality and a whole new idea to put Iran firmly on the Asian Football map for the AFC Asian Cup 2015 competition. This current generation of players of Team Melli is aging and Iran could very well be the oldest team in the World Cup. Apart from a few number of players in the current squad, Team Melli must look at the new generation.

Iran has never been short of young talents and potentials in football, what is lacking in this area , is management and utilization of these talents. The worst examples of misguiding and poor handling of young talented players are the league clubs. With the pressure to succeed or avoid relegation as the case might be, almost all the Iranian clubs are hesitant and reluctant to give opportunities to talented young players.  It is very obvious if these young players are not given playing times, their chances of progress are limited or slowed down, some never reaching the potential. Subsequently, if there is no playing time at the club level, it will be even more difficult to be selected for Team Melli

It is simply quite difficult for the coaches of Team Melli to select a young talents into the squad without him being able to make the first team in his club.

There are some exceptions though as seen in Foolad Khuzestan club. The club from the south has won the league years back with one of the youngest or least experience squads on records. This season with 3 matches to go , Foolad Khuzestan  might very well repeat that feat and win the title again by a young team. So, the myth that a team requires older and senior players to win league title is ,  not strictly true.

Currently , Iran is blessed with some wonderful talents in the right age brackets. Kaveh Rezaei , Payam Sadeghian, Alireza Jahanbaksh , Mohsen Mosalman , Sardar Azmoun, Bakhtiyar Rahmani , Arash Afshin , Milad Sarlak, Yaghoub Karimi , Ali Karimi (Sepahan), Amir Mohammad Mazloum, Mostafa Hashemi , Mehrdad Jamaati , Jallaledin  Alimohamadi , Omid  Allishah , Omid Ebrahimi , Shoja’a Khalilzadeh, Mehdi Sharifi, Milad Fakhreddini , Shahryar Shirvand  are amongst the best. Many of them have represented Iran at international and continental levels in age group levels , most suffer lack of regular playing time.

With Carlos Queiroz being unlikely to be the head coach of Team Melli in January 2015, it all depends on the future coach’s  vision and whether he will be influenced in using the same old players , or be courageous enough to go for the youth or a right balance of talented and seasoned players.

Nekounam , Shojaei , Khalatbary , Amir Hossein Sadeghi , Hosseini , Ahmadi ,  Jabbari and many others are on the twilight of their careers and have been less prominent in Team Melli outfits recently,  The replacements are already available, it only needs a firm , ambitious and aspiring mind set to make it happen.