Tag: Ramin Rezaeian

10/11/2016

Team Melli trounces Papua New Guinea 8-1

Team Melli beat Papua New Guinea 8-1 in a friendly game in the Malaysian city of Selangor early today Thursday. The first half ended 2-0 for Iran with Dejagah opening the scoring followed by Mehdi Taremi late in the half.

Papua New Guinea scored early in the second half to make it 2-1 before the floodgates opened literary in the second half, Reza Ghoochannejad scored a hat trick while Karim Ansarifard scored a brace , Ramin Rezaeian scored last goal.

Right after the last goal, heavy rain made the pitch quite heavy and the match unplayable, but both teams continued the next 10 minutes play to the end.

IRAN vs. PAPUA NEW GUINEA

8 - 1

Shah Alam Stadium , Selangor - Malaysia

Thursday 10th Nov. 2016

scorers: Dejagah (14'), Taremi (38'), Ghoochannejad (47' , 54', 59), Ansarifard (54' , 59'), Rezaeian (80')

06/10/2016

UZBEKISTAN 0-1 IR IRAN

Tashkent

/ Oct 06 2016 /

Tashkent: A Jalal Hosseini header ended Uzbekistan’s 100% record in third round qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup as Islamic Republic of Iran defeated the Central Asians 1-0 in Tashkent on Thursday.

Uzbekistan came into the tie on the back of 1-0 wins over Syria and Qatar, but Hosseini’s goal on 27 minutes proved the difference maker as Carlos Queiroz’s team picked up their seventh point in three games to remain unbeaten so far.

Samvel Babayan’s side tried to respond in the second half but having lost playmaker Server Djeparov to injury just before the break, the White Wolves failed to breakdown a stout Iranian defence and suffered their first defeat of the qualifying campaign.

“I think we deserved this victory,” said Queiroz. “Uzbekistan also played well, but they controlled the ball in their area. We tried to go on the counterattack when we took ball.

“We didn’t give many chances to Uzbekistan. They didn’t show their usual performance, and that was to our advantage. We blocked them every time they had dangerous shots and I congratulate my team on this positive result.

“I think the battle for the World Cup will continue. We took three points today, but we need more victories and points. It is just one more step towards our target. If any team makes any mistake in Tashkent they will lose.”

Uzbekistan went into the game without captain Odil Akhmedov due to his inability to recover from injury, while Queiroz made a raft of changes to his midfield and attack with an eye on the crunch match with Korea Republic on Tuesday.

One of those changes, Reza Goochannejhad, could have opened the scoring inside 10 minutes but he sliced his volley high and wide after he was picked out inside the area by full-back Ramin Rezaeian’s fine cross.

Iran did go in front before the half hour mark, though, as centre-back Hosseini connected with a smart header from Masoud Shojaei’s inswinging free-kick from the right that left goalkeeper Aleksandr Lobanov helpless.

The hosts suffered a further blow five minutes before half-time as two-time AFC Player of the Year and captain on the night Djeparov was withdrawn from the field in a great deal of discomfort to be replaced by Alexander Geynrikh.

Uzbekistan begun the second period strongly and pushed forward in search of the leveller but struggled to penetrate the Iran backline.

Inside the final 20 minutes, substitute Jaloliddin Masharipov was brought down on the edge of the area in a hugely promising position but Geynrikh’s free-kick summed up Uzbekistan’s night as it hit the wall and rebounded away harmlessly.

And Iran could have ended the match even more comfortably as Sardor Azmoun, a second half replacement for Ghoochannejhad, played in Vahid Amiri but Lobanov was quick off his line to deny the midfielder, but Queiroz’s team still managed to see out the remaining minutes unscathed.

“Unfortunately we lost the game,” said Babayan. “The players tried to battle until the end of the match, but we couldn’t create chances without Akhmedov. We created some moments, but the team didn’t realise them. Now we have the next game and we need to pay attention to it.

“We lost the fight in the first 30 minutes tonight. Besides that, we couldn’t create any chances through the middle and those were the main reasons for our defeat tonight. We can’t play well in midfield without Akhmedov. Our defenders played well, but we lost many battles in the centre.”

Photos: Lagardère Sports.

17/07/2016

Mehdi Taremi back in Persepolis !

The central forward and Team Melli player Mehdi Taremi , did a quick U turn returning to his previous club Persepolis after announcement that he has signed for Turkish Club Mehdi Taremi along with Ramin Rezaeian have signed with Turkish Super League club Çaykur Rizespor, but the former changed his mind and came back with giving any solid reasons. Both players left under a cloud of controversy and criticism for leaving unceremoniously. It seems that Persepolis is seeking legal advise on Rezaeian.

10/07/2015

Team Melli players transfer market 2015/16.

The transfer window has opened in most of the leagues round the world and our focus , as usual has been the Team Melli players past and present.

It is safe to say that the movement of the Team Melli players was not exactly an earth shattering activity. Domestically, there has been very few transfers to talk about with most of the Team Melli players renewing their contracts with their current clubs.

In essence, Team Melli players fall in three categories, The Young promising including rising stars, the established players, the twilight zone players.

Young prospects: Most clubs hunt for bargains while pursuing young players. Iran is a big country and find the right talent in the right place is not something that can be considered a routine or easy task. Competition amongst the clubs can be become rough and messy at times each side pulling all the tricks up their sleeves. Players also take full advantage when faced with situation where there are multiple suitors. It is not uncommon to hear that a player has signed for two clubs or more in Iran!

The favorite destination of most of the young players is Esteghlal or Persepolis. The popularity of these two teams and the bi-partisan nature of football in Iran, puts these two teams at an unfair advantage. The two most popular clubs in Iran contribute very little if any in developing or producing young players themselves. However, they are at a vantage point when players, particularly young ones, come to them and consider it an honor to don the jerseys of the big two clubs.

However , now that Persepolis and Esteghlal have been facing dire cash shortage and are technically bankrupt , the attraction of these two teams is dwindling. Young aspiring players are more careful and vigilant although the appeal of these two names is still there.

Unfortunately, this season the number of players in this category is not too pleasing. Most would be staying put in their club like Mehdi Sharifi and Ali Karimi of Sepahan and Mehdi Torabi of Saipa. Ramin Rezaeian is the only one who has joined Persepolis from Rah Ahan , otherwise the lack of promising players is becoming of some concern amongst the coaches and experts.

Established players: most of the Team Melli players in this category have opted to stay with their clubs despite some of the clubs not honoring timely wage payments. The odd ones who made the change include the Captain Ando Teymourian (Tractosazi to Umm Salal (QAT)) , Pejman Montazeri (Umm Salal (QAT) to Al Ahli (QAT)) , Daniel Davari (Grasshoppers to Arminia Bielefeld) , Mohammad Nouri (Persepolis to Al Mesaimer (QAT).

This category is also lacks exciting transfers or prospects of major changes.

The Twilight zone : Unfortunately , a number of current Team Melli squad fall in this category including Teymourian (32 years) whom we gave the benefit of the doubt as he is the Captain of the team. Jalal Hosseini (33 years), the Solid and always present central defender , did not renew his contract with Al Ahali of Qatar but surprisingly he was rejected by his first choice and favorite destination , Persepolis. Eventually he was recruited by Naft Tehran, but there were not many suitors chasing him either.

Masoud Shojaei (31 years), the perennial ever-present midfielder who has been struggling for many seasons with clubs of lower divisions, once again flopped but this time in Qatar not Spain. His team Al Shahaniya was relegated last season and as expected the Qatari’s found him to be a surplus to their requirement this coming season. Shojaei is currently negotiating with Persepolis. It is rumored that he will accept a huge pay cut in order to join the reds with no sign on fees demanded by the player.

So, it looks like 2015/2016 season will start with relative calm in the Team Melli squad, which could be a hidden advantage for Carlos Queiroz if not for the fans or the transfer market.

There are tough roads ahead. Guam , Oman and India will be ready to challenge Iran in the qualifying rounds of the FIFA World Cup 2018. As Team Melli players found out against Turkmenistan , it is not a forgone conclusion to win against such oppositions. Guam , in particular has made a tremendous progress and will be testing Iran, while Oman will always remain a tough nut to crack for Team Melli.

Minimum disturbance of the players may be just what the doctored ordered for Team Melli squad.