Tag: Sweden

21/02/2015

Chile confirms a friendly match vs. Iran

Jorge Sampaoli’s team will head to Austria for penultimate friendly before Copa América squad is announced

Chile have announced that they are to take on Iran in a friendly at the end of March. The match was supposed to be played in Sweden but the host nation’s FA objected to the venue as it claimed it will clash with the later match between Sweden and Iran on 31st of March.

Jorge Sampaoli’s men will travel to Austria for the match which will take place at the NV Arena in St Pölten on Thursday, March 26.

La Roja have played Iran twice previously in friendlies; winning a 1972 meeting 2-1, before drawing 1-1 in a match played in Hong Kong in 1998.

The forthcoming encounter forms part of a double-header of fixtures – the final international dates before Sampaoli names his squad for the Copa América.

Three days after facing Iran, La Roja will play South American rivals Brazil at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium in London.

Chile will host this summer’s Copa América and have been drawn in Group A alongside Mexico, Ecuador and Bolivia.

11/02/2015

Chile friendly in doubt after Swedish FA objection!

Team Melli’s match against Chile has been put in doubt after the Swedish FA opposed the proposed match on Swedish territory.

Iran was schedule to play two football friendly internationals with Chile on 25th of March and Sweden on the 31st. Both matches would have been in Sweden. However , the Swedish FA thinks that the earlier arranged match between Iran and Chile might adversely effect the attendance of the Sweden vs. Iran match especially if Team Melli is handsomely beaten by the Latin Americans! Such result will diminish the interest in the match , according to Swedish FA.

So , for commercial reasons and in order to maximize the sales of match tickets , Swedish FA prefers to have full and exclusive attention on the match between Sweden and Iran and not divert focus on other Iranian football activities.

With this dilemma, the Iranian side is actively seeking an alternative venue against Chile. Austria is one of the proposed countries and a place where security clearance for the match can be issued without much hassle. The negotiations are still going on with the Austrian side for the Iran vs. Chile match to be switched to Vienna or other Austrian venues.

31/01/2015

Team Melli to face Chile & Sweden in friendly matches.

Team Melli will be playing against Chile in Sweden as part of a European tour which will see the team play two strong matches against quality opponents. On 25th March , Team Melli will face Chile , then on the 31 March against Sweden.

This is a great chance for Iranian solid defense to test it strength against two of the world’s best forwards , Chile’s Alexis Alejandro Sánchez, the hottest property in thew English Football league who has transformed Arsenal attack, and in Sweden , one of the most world’s most lethal and artistic goalscorers, Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Paris St. Germain.

Chile and Brazil will meet in an international friendly at the Emirates Stadium on 29 March.

The Swedish FA website has confirmed the match to be played in Swedbank Arena, Solna in Stockholm , while other sources are mentioning the Sweden v. Iran match to be held in ya Ullevi Stadion , Gothenburg (SkySports)

21/12/201321/12/2013

William Atashkadeh aiming for the World Cup with Iran.

Back in April 2012 , Carlos Queiroz was in Sweden hunting down yet another European player with Iranian ancestry. Queiroz was eyeing the Swedish William Atashkadeh. The 21 years old Gothenburg, Sweden born player currently plays for Örebro SK in the Allsvenskan.

Queiroz was present when the striker played one of his best games and scored two goals. That made an impression, and Queiroz extended his invitation for the half Iranian player.. However , William Atashkadeh was quoted by the media after the game that he prefers to play for Sweden and that he’s looking forward to first be invited to Sweden U21. The call has never arrived , nevertheless, even if he does play for a Swedish Youth team , he is still eligible to play for Team Melli according to international and FIFA regulations.

Between the players lack of interest or enthusiasm to play for Iran, his long term injuries and the discovery of one Reza Ghoochannejad, the attention of Queiroz towards the Swede faded and his track went cold. A few days ago , Atashkadeh re-surfaced in the media and was interviewed by a Swedish website, Fotbollskanalen.se

William Atashkadeh was featured on a national team with Iran.
Then he injured himself.
The question is whether a good spring can take him to the World Cup.
– The national coach has eye on me, he says.

AIKs Celso Borges will play the World Cup with Costa Rica but the question is whether he will be the only premier league player in Brazil. In March, William Atashkadeh invited to a squad with Iran, but shortly thereafter he injured himself and has been absent until now. Örebro striker is back in full training and the question is whether a good spring in the headlines can take him to the summer’s World Cup, where Iran is in the same group as Argentina, Bosnia and Nigeria.

“I’ve been injured in the hip all year so my physical shape is not that good yet. I need to find the right form and get into it now. You can slowly but surely. Now I have been training on this and it feels good” he says to fotbollskanalen.se.

– I aim not at the World Cup because I’ve been injured so much. I’ll see here now what happens. I will do everything I can to see how far I can get. It can go fast. Nothing is impossible.

During the 2012 season Iran’s coach Carlos Quieroz – former coach of Portugal and the assistant manager to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United – traveled to Örebro and checked when William Atashkadeh played match. When Quieroz was watching the striker, Atashkadeh scored two goals against Atvidaberg and hailed by Quieroz.

– Carlos had a good look at me and he had contacted me several times. They have a good group of players in Europe with Persian ancestry and there is a contact in Skåne who usually watch these games. They heard about me and Carlos came to Sweden. I scored twice and we talked after the game. Then I said that I wanted to wait because I wanted to come up with the Swedish U21 national team, but I was not in it even though it went very well. In December, he asked again if I wanted to come and then I said certainly and went in March.

How did it go?

– I was just back from a foot injury so I was in the fitting exercises and so. It felt good and I know what I’m going for.

How did it feel to Carlos Quieroz when he went to Örebro to see you?

– It was really awesome of course. He has held global player and World Team so it was really cool. They were proud and it was impressive that a great man was in Örebro and watching me play.

How do you see the chances of being in a World Cup squad?

– Like I said: I was with a squad in Dubai in March. But then I played almost the entire year. Now I’m on the way back and there might not be games until April so it’s nothing I’m aiming for.

– But I do not know. I actually have no track of the team’s second forwards, I just know that one is in Standard Liege and he has started in almost all internationals and he took the team to the World Cup. But the rest of the squad’s strikers I do not know much about, so I do not really know how I can measure myself.

How do you see the Iranian group with Argentina, Bosnia and Nigeria?

– It’s a damn tough group but anything can happen. These are not easy teams and all have very good players.