Jaffar Kashani , the manager of Omid Team ( Iran U23) announced that despite their request , Alireza Jahanbaksh and Sardar Azmoun will not be available to join Omid Team during the qualification rounds of the Olympic Games 2016 , instead they will be part of the Team Melli squad playing two international friendly matches in the holiday periods.
Omid Team will be playing the first stages of the qualifying matches in a round ribbon group along with Nepal , Palestine , Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia in the period from 23rd to 31st March in Azadi stadium. During the same period Team Melli will be taking full advantage of the FIFA day and have already arranged two important and momentous matches against Chile and Sweden.
Sardar Azmoun was one of the stars of the recent Asian Games 2015 where he scored two goals and desevedly has established himself in Team Melli. Alireza Jahanbaksh was less fortunate and was not able to produce the quality that was hoped from, yet this player remains an important part of Carlos Queiroz grand plan in rejuvenating the team.
Kashani criticized his employer FFIRI and claimed that the team is not getting the full support of the federation!. The reality is that Kaffashian has already declared for support for Omid Team in their quest to qualify for the nest year Olympics after 40 years of absence by Iran.
“Because we are not Carlos Queiroz , our request to change the league program has been refused. We have demanded that league to be stopped for one week in order to allow us to take part in the Kuwait camp where we could have played two friendly matches, but we don’t get the same attention as Team Melli gets.” Kashani moaned.
Kashani also bitterly complained about the lack of commitment by the league clubs by not releasing their players whenever they are required by Omid Team program. Kashani then repeated his usual drama by threatening to resign if his requests are not met by the federation or the clubs create difficulties for the team.
Jafar Kashani already resigned this same position and vowed never to return to work with this federation after his effort to recruit Zlatko Kranjcar was turned down. However , to the surprise of many observers, the man did a 180 degrees turn and announced that he is a soldier who will answer the call of duty for the country any time he is required !.
The manner that he resigned and then came back within a few days , leaves a lot to be desired in what many people consider the Achilles heel of Iranian football and that is poor quality , untrustworthy and erratic management.