Tag: Sousha Makani

15/11/2016

Weather , a serious concern for Team Melli vs. Syria

Selection of Malaysia as the venue for Home matches of Syria seems to be an act of haste or desperation. Malaysia , a country whose fan have consistently showed disregard for Asian football , in the region of 10 to 12 hours flying from the Middle East , and worst of all , in the height of the rainy season , is not exactly an ideal venue for a World Cup qualifier.

The Syrians could not have made a worst choice , but then again , it is not as many countries have volunteered to host the political outcasts with politics rather than anything other factors playing a major role in limiting the worn-torn country’s choice.

Iran has to endure a tough time in Tunku Abdelrahman stadium, where the pitch is also not too ideal. Chances of thunderstorm and torrential rain, similar to the one against Papua New Guinea’s match exists and threatens to spoil the match. In that last match played in Malaysia , the last 15 minutes should have been abandoned due to the water-logged pitch. But as the match was a friendly, all stakeholder decided to carry on with the job in nearly impossible conditions.

This weather pattern could repeat itself today against Syria adding to the concerns of Carlos Queiroz. One of the critical positions that is in the head coach top priorities is the goalkeeper. Sousha Makani , is the most experienced of the 3 keepers however, he is never been a reliable and competent custodian of goal. Many questioned his return to Team Melli , but Carlos Queiroz has his own unorthodox means in player’s selection.

Makani might well be the keeper for the match ahead of Akhbari in the absence of the excellent Biranvand who is not available.

Makani played against Papua New Guinea but it was far from a testing match. The Syrians , despite the dearth of goals scored, are a much more serious opponents and seem desperate to break the jinx against Team Melli.

24/05/2015

Solutions for the goalkeeping calamity in Iran.

It is no shame to admit that the recently concluded league season, was one of the worst for the goalkeepers in Iranian teams. Some, like Dariush Esfandiari, even call it a tragedy.

Every single team in the Persian Gulf League suffered goalkeeping headaches, some worse than others. Persepolis lowly rank in the table which is one of its worst in the history is attributed to several factors but it was on the field that the team performed poorly especially at the defense and goalkeepers’ end. Sousha Makani has proven that he is inconsistent, unreliable and a keeper who cannot be trusted when called upon to deliver. On top of those erratic performances Makani is also quite poor in discipline, a player who has created numbers of incidents at the club. He was sacked from the team only to return back after a few kisses. His last match in the league, the Tehran Derby , resulted in 3 match suspension for his role in skirmishes at the end of the game.

Whether it is fair or otherwise, many experts in Iran attribute Tractorsazi’s failure to win the league and poor performance in the AFC Asian Champions league to their goalkeeper Hamed Lak. Frankly, the keeper was dreadful in many crucial games and definitely cost his team some precious points. Putting all the blame on him is open to debate.

Alireza Biranvand, young, so promising and so confident when he came through the ranks, was as another huge disappointment for his side, Naft Tehran. Rahman Ahmadi was the no.1 Keeper for Team Melli after the dismissal of Seyed Mehdi Rahmati , but he soon flopped and lost his place in Team Melli while his repeated mistakes with his club Sepahan relegated him to reserve and the bench. Mohsen Frouzan had a torrid time in Esteghlal goal. Many hailed his arrival with the blues but he has shown little to raise the fans’ trust and confidence.

Dariush Esfandiari , the goalkeeping coach of Gostarish concurs to the fact that it was a “disastrous “ season for Iranian goalkeepers. His own team suffered quite badly like the rest. Esfandiari has some interesting thoughts on the reasons behind such failures by Iranian keepers.

“Much of the problem with goalkeepers stems from their demeanor, their personality and what is their mindset. Goalkeeper need to act professionally and be trained by dedicated experts because they are the last wall of defense. If Keepers concede easy goals, the chances of the team winning would be minimized. No team can challenge for honors without a competent keeper.” Dariush Esfandiari commented.

“There is obvious weakness at foundations level. Professional trainers need to be available for these keepers. Goalkeeper coaches must not be marginalized and not considered as peripherals in the team. I urge the federation to establish a program for the clubs to increase the level of competency and standards of Goalkeepers coaches in Iran. It is as important to do that at foundations levels, all the way to the seniors. I dare to say that it is even more important at foundations. This program has to be run with the aid of qualified professionals”

“We must utilize this opportunity to correct the situation else Iran will be facing a real disaster in this important post in the near future. This season was the alarm bell, it was loud and clear. The federation and clubs have to act to establish a competence program for goalkeepers. We can send Iranian coaches for specialized Goalkeepers coaching workshops. Turkey is a good place to start as they have some advance set ups there.”

06/04/2015

Makani is pardoned: Debility of Iran’s football.

Why is Carlos Queiroz so popular amongst the Iranian fans?

For many reasons, but one of them is that Queiroz is fundamentally a professional coach , brought up in a professional environment and applies the highest standards in his work of which conduct and discipline is top priority.

In a professional environment, disgruntled or disobedient players like Rahmati and Aghili have no place in Team Melli, regardless to how good they actually are. They have to pay the price for their indiscretions.

Only two days after Sousha Makani was sacked by Persepolis coach Hamid Derakhshan and his dismissal was confirmed later by team Manager Mahmoud Khordbin , a bunch of flowers and a kiss on the forehead ended all the commotion and everything is back to normal. Sousha Makani is pardoned by Derakhshan!!

Sousha Makani’s harsh words for his coach in front of his teammates subsequently followed by his refusal to sit on the bench and departure from the squad , lead to some unsavory scenes and a coach who was angry and humiliated. Derakhshan on his part announced in a news conference that Makani has no place in the team as long as he is the coach of Persepolis.

The reinstatement of Makani typifies how feeble this coach is and how Persepolis is suffering from lack of strong leadership. This act of fragility and instability by Derekhshan , whose days are numbered as Persepolis coach anyway, does not concern Persepolis team alone, but extends to Iran’s football image. It also concerns team Melli as Makani is was in the last squad.

Persepolis is a proud team with a legacy. It has been suffering from acute players’ indiscipline and even revolt against a weak management and coach. Derakhshan’s main interest was the title of Persepolis head coach. Neither his achievements nor his resume merits his appointment as the coach of the most popular team in Asia. However, it is the results and the behavior of the players such as Makani , Sadeghian and the rest that typifies the weakness of this man and reflects negatively on all Iranian national coaches. Being a coach of Persepolis, will inadvertently puts the person in the news and limelight in Iran.

Despite Derakhshan’s act of benevolence, Persepolis Disciplinary Committee has yet to rule on Makani.

Even if Queiroz did not lift any trophies for Iran, he has shown the way and succeeded in managing a team to the highest standards possible despite lack of resources. Will the Iranian coaches learn from him or at least follow his professionalism and high regard for discipline?

Derakhshan is certainly not a good learner.

05/04/201505/04/2015

Sousha Makani is kicked out of Persepolis

Team Melli and Persepolis goalkeeper , Sousha Makani has been kicked out of Persepolis team and told not to report back for training by his coach Hamid Derakhshan.

Before Persepolis’ yesterday’s match in the league ( Friday) , Makani indulged in a strong argument with the coach protesting the decision by Derakhshan to play Masoud Homami in goal. Makani , notorious for his indiscipline , left the team in protest after failing to win his case. The Match against Rah Ahan ended 2-2.

During the post match press conference, Derakhshan announced that Makani will never return to Persepolis while he (Derakhshan) is the coach. “Makani left the squad without permission because I have not picked him for the match. This is not the first time that I had to deal with such transgression by the player. It is exhausting me and increasing the stress level. There is far too much indisciplined around here, but let it be known to all. I will not allow Makani to come back to the team. If they insist on him , I will leave the team.”

Mahmoud Khordbin , Persepolis Team Manager , while expressing his anger and deep disappointment with Makani’s misbehavior, confirmed that the goalkeeper has no place in Persepolis anymore as far as he is concerned.

Makani has been performing quite poorly of late for Persepolis. He has conceded several easy goals in the league and the AFC Champions’ league which was contributory to his teams losses. However and shockingly for that, Carlos Queiroz has selected him for Team Melli squad that played two friendlies in Europe ahead of Rahman Ahmadi and others!

26/02/2015

The Goalkeeping dilemma.

Any Iranian fan watching the recent AFC Champions league matches would have been alarmed by the lackluster standard of Iranian goalkeepers. Added to the fact that the recent showing of Team Melli matches where goalkeepers performed poorly, such performances does not instill much confidence in the custodians who form the last frontier of any ambitious team challenging for championships and trophies.

The beautiful free flowing passing game of Naft Tehran deserved much better than the 2-1 defeat in Uzbekistan, as the Persian Gulf League leader fell victim to two horrible and amateurish errors by their goalkeeper Alireza Biranvand which cost them two goals and a defeat, after leading 1-0.

Nearly identical scenario was repeated a day later again in Uzbekistan as Tractorsazi was leading 1-0 before two blunders by their goalkeeper allowed the Uzbeks to win the match 2-1. The culprit goalkeeper was Hamed Lak. His edgy performance was a contributing factor in this defeat.

Persepolis , whose goalkeeper Sasha Makani is very well known for his calamitous performances was spared its blushes when they defeated Lekhwiya of Qatar 3-0 against all the odds. The Qatari league leader with some expensive star players were simply having a day off as Makani was hardly tested.

The common dominator of all these goalkeepers is that Carlos Queiroz has picked the above mentioned goalkeeper for Team Melli at different stages and competitions. Which , for all practical terms and purposes , means they are the best keepers in Iran. Biranvand is still in the list and was part of the last squad in the AFC Cup 2015 in Australia while Makani and Lak have only been recently replaced by Haghighi and Frouzan.

Haghighi , the surprise pick of the obstinate Portuguese coach , was the main goalkeeper for both the World Cup and Asian Cup. Not surprisingly, his performances have left a lot to be desired. The fans need to be thankful for the outright defensive game plan of Queiroz that has protected Haghighi in goal from being bombarded in both tournaments. However, when the team changed plans and needed to win by playing more offensively , Haghighi and his defense were truly exposed and conceded 6 goals in the last two matches of the two major competitions. 3 goals against Bosnia in the World Cup and three against Iraq in the quarter finals of Asian Cup. To make matters worse, Alireza Haghighi failed to save any penalty kick in the penalty shootout as Iran was knocked out from the Asian Cup.

All this was happening when two of the most experienced goalkeeper in Iran, Mehdi Rahmati and Rahman Ahmadi , were enjoying a holiday back home as Queiroz did not seem to believe in their abilities nor their skills.

Queiroz issue with Rahmati and some other players is a problem that is quite clearly undermining Team Melli. His personal antipathies against certain staff and players like Khalatbary , Mojtaba Jabbari, Hadi Aghili , Majid Saleh , Ali Karimi amongst many others are leaving the team handicapped and nothing is more evident than in between the three posts where the absence of the experienced Rahmati was felt.

Queiroz is only a part of the entire problem as Iran’s football system seems to have a distinct lack of ability to produce quality goalkeepers. It is also evident that the goalkeeping coaches are not of a high caliber at clubs and junior teams’ levels.

Iran’s goalkeeping problem is not new either. For more than a decade, Iran has been suffering from lack of quality goalkeepers. Ebrahim Mirzapour and his generation of keepers did not enhance the reputations of Iranian keepers, before Rahmati came into the scene. However, even Rahmati, arguably still the best keeper in Iran (not according to Queiroz, of course) , had difficulties like poor handling of aerial balls which marred his good records.

While goalkeeping is the least popular of posts amongst young players and good keepers are always in demand, the lack of production of quality keepers which requires a careful study and planning from the root level , could very well be a serious problem in the near future for Team Melli.

15/05/201415/05/2014

The dilemma of Iran goalkeeping selection.

The most taxing selection for Carlos Queiroz must be the goalkeeper. Even if Team Melli coach does not admit it in public, the 4 goalkeepers that have accompanied him to Austria training camp are far from optimum in experience, current form , dependability, and/or reliability.

Starting with Sousha Makani , with a grand total of two caps both in meaningless friendly games, Makani has an acute lack of experience at international level. However, Foolad Khuzestan keeper’s eccentric character and temperament can be a serious liability for the team. Only yesterday , Makani conceded two goals in the quarter finals of the AFC League Champion , both of which were due to elementary mistakes that has no place in a stage like the World Cup.

Daniel Davari , is another young goalkeeper who has just been relegated to the second division of the German Bundesliga. The young German/Iranian keeper has 3 caps so far which is paltry for any player to be given a major role in his team in the World Cup. Like Makani , Davari has yet to show a strong performance to ease the worries of the fans. His two soft goal conceded in Azadi against Guinea in Iran’s last friendly international. left the local Iranian fans awe struck as they were under impression that they were witnessing another legend in the class of Nasser Hejazi. Davari’s poor form was again witnessed in the match against Bayer Munich in the Bundesliga, a game which was televised in Iran for the fans to see yet another disappointing performance from the young promising keeper. So , neither the experience , nor his current form gives the fans the confidence in Daniel Davari’s ability to deliver. It will take anything between an insane person or a very brave coach to start with Davari in the goal comes June the 16^th.

Reza Haghighi , is another mysterious selection for Queiroz. A selection that defies the coaches text book.Hardly anyone in Iran can claim that they have seen Haghghi actually play competitive football match for a longtime. He was transferred to Rubin Kazan in the Russiain league in 2012 were he never managed to win a regular place and was a reserve goalkeeper for the whole season. Next season the Russian club loaned him to his original Club Persepolis. Yet again, Haghighi was second fiddle to the superb Brazilin keeper, Nelson. Alireza Haghighi’s frustration with being reserve created a few headaches in the team which forced Ali Daei , Persepolis coach to send him back to Russia. Rubin Kazan already had their quota of goalkeepers for the season so they searched around but could not find him anything better than a loan to a second division Portuguese club Sporting da Covilhã. And wallla, Alireza Haghghi is immediately picked for Team Melli by Queiroz to the astonishment of the critics and the media!.

Neither the form of Haghighi , (admittedly he did play 14 games for his club !) , the method of his selection or his experience at international level (4 caps) , can qualify him for being the regular starter for Team Melli.

That leaves the last one in Rahman Ahmadi. This goalkeeper was always in the fringes of team Melli for years. However, he was sparingly selected but his real break came with Mehdi Rahmati’s un-ceremonial farewell last year. When Queiroz called upon him at a crucial stage of World Cup qualifiers, the Sepahan goalkeeper did not disappoint. He has 10 caps, 8 of it won as recent as 2013-14 season, however he remains undoubtedly the best choice in experience and form. His age and demeanor of being a calm character can also play a vital role in commanding his defense line.

Nonetheless, the no 1 goalkeeper for Sepahan & Team Melli, suddenly found himself on the bench in the last few matches of the season for his club , giving way to the second fiddle an ex-Team Melli keeper Shehab Gordan !

With one experienced goalkeeper, even though he has 10 caps which is meagre at international level, this position is one major headache for Carlos Queiroz. The Portuguese coach has always been a guarded person and a staunch believer in solid defense. Between the woodwork, his options are limited at this stage. Queiroz might rue the fact that he overlooked the most experienced goalkeeper in Iran, Mehdi Rahmati at such crucial stage. Perhaps diplomacy and leniency added to a bit of tolerance and forgiveness would have gone a long way to ease some of the goalkeeping worries for the World Cup.

Only time will tell.

21/04/2014

Rahman Ahmadi on his way to South Africa.

Team Melli’s number one goalkeeper , Rahman Ahmadi is reported to be on his way to South Africa to join the Training Camp.

Ahmadi is the only Sepahan player to be released from his club duties although the Esfahani team has to play its final and crucial match this week against Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia which determines the team that qualifies for the next round of the AFC Champions League. Recently Ahmadi has lost his starting place to his rival in the team , Shehab Gordan. The other 5 Sepahan players named in the Team Melli list , will remain with their club, pending further developments.

The announcement that Rahman Ahmadi is joining the team is a good news for TEam Melli as the squad was missing an important player in the Sepahan goalkeeper. Despite his low counts of his international caps, being under-shadowed by Mehdi Rahmati, Ahmadi remains the most experienced and arguably the best choice for Team Melli against the other young and inexperienced candidates that Queiroz has picked for the team.

After the weekend match between Bayern Munich and Eintracht Braunschweig, were Davari let in two soft goals against the Bundesliga champions, one filtering between his legs, Queiroz was probably alarmed by lack of experience between the posts and despite his initial exclusion of all Sepahan players , he elected to recall the most vital of the 6 players.

3 goalkeepers in Hamed Lak , Alireza Biranvand and Sousha Makani are already included in the South Africa training camp while Davari and the rest of the European based players are not invited due to club commitments and ongoing league competitions.