Tag: Muhammad Ahmadzadeh

Iran wins the 2022 Emirates Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup on a sad note.

Iran are the 2022 Emirates Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup champion!

In the tightest of finals, the Iranians hung on to a 2-1 lead right until the end against Brazil, who also had three titles ahead of this edition, to lift their fourth, equaling Russia’s record.

Amir Akbari was named the MVP, while fellow Iranian Hamid went home with the Best Goalkeeper award. After netting a double on the final day, Carlos Carballo, the Paraguay skipper, won the Top Scorer award.

Two previous champions, each with three titles, clashed on the sands of Dubai for the crown at the 11th edition of the Emirates Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup. Neither had lost so far, but in beach soccer, there are no draws, and an unbeaten streak had to come to an end on Sunday.

After a tense opening of ten minutes, Iranian beach soccer legend Ahmadzadeh finally broke the deadlock, and the mainly Iranian stadium, including those outside who couldn’t get a seat inside, exploded.

A spectacular strike from Saeed had the crowd on their feet once more in the second period, and Brazil, as they had in the semi-finals, looked to be running out of ideas, taking potshots in an attempt to get back into the game.

Eventually, Marco Octavio’s men found a way through, as Catarino slotted home a penalty to make it 2-1.

A stubborn Iran then hung on for dear life as the men in yellow shirts threw everything they had at them, but they cleverly held the Brazilian firepower at bay to clinch the win and a record-equalling fourth Intercontinental Cup!

In the award ceremony at the end of the match, the Iranian Beach Soccer national team players mutedly celebrated the cham[pionship in respect to the hundreds of compatriots who have lost their lives at the hand of the brutal regime as a result of protests across Iran.  Before the start of the match, the National Anthem was also booed by a large number of crowds in the arena in protest against the Iranian government. Those two events had the Iranian state TV scramble to cut the live trans,mission and substitute it with their own propaganda.

Kudos to Iran’s Beach Soccer players for taking a gallant stand for a just cause.

Candidates short-listed for Team Melli Youth team coach.

Tehran.

According to the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA), FFIRI has named six candidates for coaching of the youth team. The candidates were selected based on criteria established by the Technical Committee.

The coaches are as follows:

 

  1. Muhammad Ahmadzadeh
  2. Hamid Alidousti
  3. AmirHossein Peyrovani
  4. Akbar Mohammadi
  5. Khodadad Azizi
  6. Rasool Zafarian

 

These individuals were selected from an initial list of 40 football coaches.

The requirement for the job included, coaching degree level A, a minimum of 4 years’ experience as a coach at youth teams level , good character reference , good technical knowledge ,  technical reputation, ethics and management capabilities, etc..

The requirement set is ideally suited for one Akbar Mohammadi , a name that seems to be repeatedly mentioned in any coaching job at youth level. Incumbent Akbar Mohammadi has trained Iran’s youth team but not to a great success. He was severely criticized after several failures and his selection as a head coach for Team Melli youth teams was put under question due to his low experience.  

Mohammad Ahmadzadeh the most experienced candidates on the list was contacted by ISNA to comment about the job. The ex-Malavan Anzali coach, who also worked as an assistant coach at Team Melli Youth levels, said that about 20 days ago I was contacted by the Federation on the subject matter, but it was informal and not serious. They did not even ask me for a program or plan!.

On the contrary, Akbar Mohammadi who had the same call from FFIRI was asked to provide a long term plan for the youth team, as Mohammadi personally confirmed to ISNA.

AmirHossein Peyrovani could not be reached as he is presently abroad.

According to ISNA the candidates for the youth team coach, will most likely be given interviews this week, probably on Tuesday to explain and provide their plans to the Federation’s Technical Committee.

It is interesting how Khodadad Azizi, the outspoken critic of the hierarchy of football in Iran and a fiery character whose violence against a journalist was widely publicized a few years back, managed to pass the ethics & good character reference criteria set by the federation.