Tag: Sadegh Moharrami

Marginal win for Team Melli vs Bolivia

Iran’s Team Melli defeated Bolivia 2-1 at Azadi this evening. The game was the second in a series of matches that Queiroz have arranged in preparation for the AFC Asian Cup 2019

The first half ended 1-0 to Iran from a goal scored by Alireza Jahanbakhsh in the 17th minute.  Bolivia tied the match from a fantastic volley by Rudy Cardoso on the 51st minute.  Mehdi Torabi then scored the winner on the 63rd minute. His second in as many games for Team Melli.

The starting line up of Team Melli was a pleasant surprise as Queiroz sent an offensive team with one recognized defensive midfielder in Omid Ebrahimi. At front, the full force of Team Melli in the shape of Azmoun, Taremi and Jahanbakhsh  while the midfield was orchestrated by Saman Ghoddos who rarely starts for Team Melli despite enjoying g a highly successful season in the French League.

Queiroz attempt at offensive game plan came in front of a relatively weak team from Latin America. Despite much better possession  percentage and more shots on goal , Team Melli players were going through the same old problems that has marred their game for many years, poor finish and poor last ball. Jahanbakhsh , Azmoun and Taremi wasted many chances due to weak control or inaccurate shots.

The two prominent players in this half were Saman Ghoddos and Sadegh Moharrami.

The defense line up was lacking the presence of injured Morteza Pouraliganji and was quite short of experience.  It is obvious that Queiroz needs a lot of work to mend this fragile defense line. Biranvand, once again showed his weak side and unreliable goaltending when his suspect positioning resulted in the Bolivia goal.

Despite the fatigue by Bolivian Team, they managed to contain the Iranian offensives easily. Team Melli players did not help themselves with their own poor finishing, inaccurate passes, and wasted final balls.

Overall, this match against a team that has no relation to the style and type of football that is going to be played in the Asian Cup, did not give confidence to the fans that Iran is really able to mount a serious challenge for the title. Queiroz, who is by now becoming so unpredictable in whatever he does, realizes more than  anyone what an uphill battle is ahead especially when the likes of Japan , Australia and Korea are preparing against stronger teams and achieving good results.

The two lines that have disappointed the most were the forwards and the defense. Taremi does not have the quality to perform at the highest level and there is very little that Queiroz can do about that. However, the better tactical and skilful duo , Jahanbakhsh and Azmoun were both lethargic like despite the former scoring the lucky goal.

With two remain matches before the Asian Cup, Queiroz will have more opportunity to experiment before opting to filed an offensive minded team in UAE or revert back to his comfort zone of defense.

 

Branko ignores Queiroz comments.

The Persepolis football coach says there is no information available to the Iranian National Football team, and every 11 of his players deserve to be invited to this team.

The Persepolis head coach commented on Queiroz and his return to Iran, as well as the statements he has made that there is a place for wither me (Queiroz) or him (Branko) in Iran “ I have no comment on his statement. I do not know at the moment who is the head coach of Team Melli. I do not know when the national team is continuing or assembling and the federation have not informed us about the details of the training camp. I also do not want to say anything until I get information. Ask him yourself, because he has said what he said. Of course, Iran has become larger since he said that !”.

Branko spoke on the presence of Biranvand in Team Melli said: “I trust Biranvand. He could tell me I am going to Team Melli camp and instead he goes to Shamal (north), I still trust him (laughter). But as far as I know, it is a practise everywhere in the world, and according to FIFA rules,  two weeks before the start of the training camp, the federation shall send a letter with details/duration of the training camp and formally invite the players. Of course, this is a preliminary list and a few days before the actual start of the camp, they send the original letter of invitation. Same as they did for Bashar-Rasan, it was done by his country’s federation who informed us how many days the player is wanted by his national team, because the player is obliged to introduce himself back to his club after 24 hours after the completion of the training camp. If the player comes from a different continent, that time is 48 hours to introduce himself back to the club. This is the FIFA rule.”

“I do not know which players have been invited because I do have not received anything.” he said about the Team Melli’s list and the invitation of a player from Persepolis. “So I cannot comment. I am very happy to be with my players and I cannot comment on this. I do not know if the players were invited from the federation or where they were invited by someone else. I do not think it’s logical to invite players by SMS and I therefore I would not comment on that.”

Commenting on a question in reference to Sadegh Moharrami and why he was not invited to the national team when he was in Persepolis, “I do not know if he was invited. I have not seen the list and I cannot comment. There is no doubt that Sadegh Moharrami is a very good player.”

“Every eleven of my players deserve to be in the national team squad,” Branko said, answering the question of whether some of Persepolis’s players were left out of the national team.

Persepolis coach continued: “I have no disagreement with anyone. Have you ever heard that I oppose someone and talk about someone? If I’m having trouble with me, I do not know. Have you heard me say something bad or give a comment on the players list?. It’s natural that all players want to be invited to the national team.”

AFC U-19 Championship MD3: Myanmar 0-2 Iran

Yangon: Host nation Myanmar edged into the AFC U-19 Championship quarter-finals as Group A runners-up despite losing 2-0 to already eliminated Iran at Thuwunna Youth Training Centre Stadium on Monday, qualifying courtesy of a better goal difference than Yemen who lost 3-2 to Thailand in the other Group A clash played in Nay Pyi Taw.

Iran rang the changes, making five alterations to the line-up that were eliminated in the 1-0 loss to Yemen on Saturday, and it was the introduction of two of these new faces, Yousef Seyyedi and Sadegh Moharrami, that were key as they netted the goals for the West Asians on the 55th and 82nd minutes.

And although the home side looking nervously northwards towards Nay Pyi Taw, they were able to scrape into the knockout stage by the narrowest of margins with a one goal superior goal difference over Yemen.

“We are happy for our qualification but an easier opponent than Iran will not come,” said Myanmar’s coach Gerd Zeise.

“Our goalkeeper was our man of the match, he was very safe, very good, without him we would have been in trouble.
“On the right hand side we had some problems but who should I substitute? There is no one this is our disease, we have 11 good front line players then it is difficult, very difficult.”

Myanmar attacked from the start and in a manner that was full of energy but occasionally lacked control as displayed when Than Paing took the ball from the sideline and beat two Iran defenders for pace but let the ball get away from him, making it easy for goalkeeper Payam Niazmand to collect.

Iran finished the half strong, though, with a number of opportunities to open the scoring, and on the 36th minute Hossein Mehraban was left alone, unmarked, just outside the penalty area but could only hit the ball high over the crossbar under pressure from Myanmar defenders.

Early in the second half Ali Gholizadeh forced a fine 53rd minute save at the near post from Myanmar’s Myo Min Latt and from the resulting corner the custodian once again intervened to give Nanda Kyaw a chance to clear the ball off the line.

But the danger was only momentarily abated as the ball was played back into the box and Seyyedi finished clinically to put Iran into the lead five minutes before the hour-mark.

The game picked up its tempo from then on, though, and a header from Than Paing from a corner forced Niazmand into sound stop but the next attempted set-piece resulted in an Iran counter that saw Mehraban force yet another accomplished save from Myo Min Latt.

But Myanmar’s hopes of a comeback were quashed eight mintues from time, when the ball bounced free from a melee in the box and towards Moharrami who hit the ball low and hard across Myo Min Latt. The keeper got a glove to the ball but was only able to force it on to the inside of the post to give Iran their second.

Myanmar were then forced to endure a nervy final ten minutes with the news of Thailand’s spectacular comeback against Yemen filtering in, with the significance of the scoreline in Nay Pyi Taw meaning that conceding a third would have resulted in the hosts facing the possibility of elimination from the tournament.

To the relief of the players and their massed ranks of fans, though, they were able to hold out and will now face the winners from Group B on Friday; that opponent to be determined in Tuesday’s matchups.

“I was sure we could qualify with nine points, but it wasn’t to be,” said Iran coach Ali Doustimehr.

“I believe Myanmar have the coach, the players and the tactics to reach the semi-finals.”