Tag: Mostafa Nazari

Controversy follows Iran’s Futsal team as it arrives in Kuwait for the AFC Asian Futsal Cup.

Iran’s national futsal team left for Kuwait, the venue of the 16th AFC Futsal Asian Cup Kuwait 2022™. The sending-off occurred after the end of the training camp on Friday but the event was not without contention in Tehran.

Mohammad Reza Sangsafidi’s and Mostafa Nazari, the goalkeepers’ coach were forced to drop out of the squad indicateing the existence of internal disparities before departure to Kuwait. The uncertainty of Sangsafidi’s exclusion from the squad is still not completely clear. There are conflicting views between the player and the coach. Mehr reporter’s follow-ups show that this player has been left out by Vahid Shamsaei based on medical reports and due to a long-term injury. Of course, the player claimed in an interview that he is not injured. The FFIRI has not provided an explanation for the exclusion of a key team player from the squad.

There was more controversy to follow after the omission of Mostafa Nazari, the former Team Melli Goalkeeper and current coach from the team. The Football Federation announced in a one liner that Nazari’s absence in Kuwait was a decision by Vahid Shamsai, but provided no further details on the circumstances and how is it that the defending champion will be playing without a Goalkeepers coach in the competition. Privately it is said that the reason for these decisions was the conflict between the two parties with Nazari accusing and Shamsaei of leaving him out of technical decisions and ignoring his views.

After being excluded from the national team, Nazari, who already has been issued a Kuwaiti visa, reacted to his exclusion by publishing a message on his Instagram and writing a sarcastic message aimed at Shamsaei.

Once again, the FFIRI finds itself in a turmoil and war of attritions. It is not expected that Taj will add quality or anything of value to this administration. After the drama of Team Melli, now it is the turn of the Futsal’s Team Melli. It not because there is a curse, nor it is bad lack or the enemies of the regieme at work, these are also self-inflicted and the end result of one fundementl issue in Iran. Poor management and inefficient leadership leading to the induction of shaky and dodgy characters in the Iranian football system.

Candelas admits possible error of judgment on missing players.

On the eve of Futsal Team Melli travel to Vietnam, Jesus Candelas talked to the press about his team, the championship and missing players.

In a very rare case for a coach in  Iran’s, and certainly by futsal/football coaches , Candelas admitted that not inviting Nazari and Keshavarz to Team Melli  could turn out to be an error of judgment from his side!

Candelas expressed his satisfaction with the training camp and the preparation matches played in Tashkent and Moscow which helped him to identify some weakness points, fill some gaps and rearrange the team in preparation for the AFC Futsal Championship in Vietnam. Candelas said that Keshavarz , the Team Captain was recovering from slight injury. “I made a decision to take him along with us to Uzbekistan to complete his recovery with the team. In hindsight, I should admit that this might not have been the best decision as far as Keshavarz was concerned, but I must commend him for his effort and perseverance during the trip.” Candelas said

On the reasons why the famous goalkeeper Mostafa Nazari was not invited to the team, Candelas said “I try to do my job within a specific framework and criteria. I have to say that the decision made on both Keshavarz and Nazari were difficult ones. I also do not want to say that it was definitely the right decision, but from the angles I was looking at , I came up with such decision which I thought it was right at the time based purely on technical issues. The question now is not about inviting them or not which was taken on technical merits. Of course, we could have had other consideration when taking the final decision, in any case I think we have a strong squad capable of challenging for the title.”

Asked about Keshavarz statement yesterday, where he said that he was disrespected and hence he will temporary announce his retirement from the team , Candelas preferred not to comment on the issue on the eve of his team’s departure. However , he emphasized that both Keshavarz and Nazari are quality players and while he is around, Team Melli’s doors will always be open for them. “I have no problem at all inviting them again for the next tournament or matches that we have to play. Right now , my focus is on the AFC Futsal Championship and I will leave it at that”

Futsal Team Melli will play Australia, Indonesia and China in Group C of the 2014 AFC Futsal Championship starting on 30t April in Ho Che Min City , Vietnam.

Futsal Team Melli held by Russian club.

Futsal Team Melli played its first friendly match against Norilsky Nickel club in Moscow,

The match ended 1-1 with Iran’s goal scored by Vahid Shafei.

The two teams then went onto penalties shoots to decide a winner. 9 penalties were played by each team with Iran scoring 6 of them , the Russian club scoring 7 and declared the winner of the contest.

The hero of the penalties was non other than the Iranian Mostafa Nazari playing for Norilsky Nickel who managed to save several penalties from his compatriots and former team mates.

Mostafa Nazari has been recently discarded by the Spanish coach of Team Melli Jesús Candelas, for the upcoming AFC Futsal Championship 2014. Nazari , a prominent player and arguably the best futsal keeper in Iran , has his differences with the federation and coaches of Team Melli.

The professional futsal club competing in the Russian Futsal Super League has 3 Iranian players on its roster. In addition to the goalkeeper Mostafa Nazari , Hossein Tayyebi and Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh also play for Norilsky Nickel.

Futsal Team Melli next game is against MFK Mytishchi, another Russian league club on Thursday.