Tag: Uruguay

The AFC releases part of FFIRI funds held.

Mehdi Taj, the new president of the Football Federation, announced the outstanding amount of funds due to its federation and Iranian clubs from FIFA and AFC in his press conference today. Taj said: “The funds due to us is about 20.6 million dollars from AFC and FIFA combined. A very small portion belongs to the clubs but the majority belongs to the federation (FFIRI). US$ 20 million is a considerable number that begs the question of how inept the FFIRI is in not doing its best to somehow release such a large amount for a federation that is virtually bankrupt and repeatedly begs from the government and public funds.

Stating that he is looking to get US$ 8 million from AFC,  Taj announced the support of the Asian Football Confederation to enable Iran to hold a friendly match against Uruguay in Austria. The match that is scheduled to be held on September 22 was on the verge of cancellation. Taj said: “We have expenses and needed the money for a friendly match in Austria by today. We cannot transfer this money through normal banking channels. We thank the AFC for transferring the money to Qatar’s FA account. Qatar has also made the necessary arrangement to pay for the contractors in order to hold the game in Vienna. The arrangement for this camp was taken by the previous FFIRI administration. Today was the deadline and If we didn’t pay today, we might have lost the game against Uruguay.”

 

The full state of Hull City’s injury curse revealed as Allahyar undergoes surgery

Shota Arveladze has revealed Iranian international Allahyar Sayyadmanesh is likely to miss the next month of action at least, after pulling up with a hamstring problem in Tuesday night’s 1-1 draw at Burnley.

The youngster has impressed in the early weeks of the Championship season, but his enforced absence will be a real blow to the Tigers, who are already without key performers like Jean Michael Seri, Ryan Longman, Brandon Fleming, and Greg Docherty.

The prognosis on Allahyar Sayyadmanesh’s torn hamstring is less positive, however, with the Iranian striker undergoing surgery in London earlier this week. Allahyar is likely to be sidelined for around three months putting his hopes of appearing at this winter’s World Cup in Qatar in serious jeopardy.

This bad news comes at the time that Allahyar was one of the certain candidates for inclusion in the squad for Qatar. Iran will be playing two friendly games against Uruguay and Senegal in Austria that Sayyadmanesh will definitely miss.

Skočić starts the squad preparation ahead of the trip to Austria.

Team Melli will be playing a practice match in September against one of the league teams while in its camp in September before the legionnaires join for FIFA daybreak.

According to reports, Dragan Skočić attended matches of the Iranian Premier League in the past few days and watched two matches in Tehran and Isfahan. After returning to Tehran, he had a meeting with the officials of the Football Federation and will leave for Qatar today for the training camp arrangements. During this trip, he will watch Qatar Star League QSL matches involving Iranian players. He will also meet with the Legionnaires to discuss plans. Skocic also intends to meet with the players’ club coaches.

In his recent meeting with the officials of the Football Federation, Skocic requested to hold a friendly meeting before the FIFA window for international games. According to the schedule, Team Melli team camp will start on the 12th of September with domestic players in Tehran. According to Osulli, the FFIRI spokesperson, Skocic, did not specifically name the opposition club and whether it is domestic or foreign for the practice match. but it is possible that an Iranian team that has not been selected yet, will face the national team. As a result, Team Melli will hold a friendly match between September 12th to 18th before the squad flies to Austria. Also, necessary measures are being taken to hold two friendly matches in Austria. According to Usoli, the contract with one of the rivals of the national team (Uruguay) has been signed by both sides, but the contract for the second game has been finalized. According to the officials of the Senegalese football federation and media, Iran’s second opponent will be Senegal, who will face Iran on 27th September 2022.

The match against Senegal has only been reported by Iranian media while the official Sengalese FF has not confirmed the meeting with Iran.

Iran vs Uruguay friendly match seems to be back!

After several failed attempts to arrange friendly matches in the much-expanded FIFA day in June, Iran’s national football team could not make the best use of the opportunity and could only manage one game against Algeria while setting up a few-week camp in Qatar. Team Melli finally played a game against the Algerian national team. Iran was supposed to play against Canada and also Ecuador, but these matches were canceled due to political pressure in Canada against Team Melli traveling to the North American country.

Iran’s Team Melli was offered to play against Uruguay in this country, but due to the long-distance, Iran’s head coach Dragan Skocic opposed that arrangement as it would have been a logistical nightmare for the squad. That match did not materialize either. Now, however, with only one more FIFA Day between September 19 and 27 before the World Cup, it seems that the Uruguay match is on again.

 According to “Baysan”, an Uruguayan reporter, Iran will meet Uruguay on September 23  in Austria

Uruguay will also play another match against the host of the World Cup, Qatar, on September 27 in Austria. It is not known whether the Iranian federation has arranged any other games in Austria besides the Uruguay match, which has yet to be confirmed by FFIRI.
With players such as Suarez, Darwin Núñez, Cavani Martín Cáceres ,and Lucas Torreira in the Uruguay squad, that match will be a tough test for Team Melli.

Uruguay is possibly the next match!

The Secretary-General of the Football Federation said that the friendly match between Iran and Uruguay is almost finalized.

After the one-sided cancellation of the friendly against Canada, the Football Federation FFIRI under immense pressure and criticism changed its plans for Team Melli as the squad will now travel to Doha, Qatar instead of the original plan in North America. From there The squad will most likely head to South America.

In an interview with Khabar, Hossein Kamranifar, the Secretary-General of tFFIRI announced the negotiation with the Uruguayan Football Federation for a friendly match in at an advanced stage: “We were negotiating until a few minutes ago and we are doing the necessary work to play against Uruguay. This team is 13th in the FIFA rankings, and God willing, we will move forward and play there. An Uruguay friendly has been canceled and will probably be in Uruguay and in Montevideo, the capital,” he said of the time and place.

“We are planning to hold this game around June 12th.” The secretary-general of the football federation added while also mentioned that they are actively seeking to arrange another friendly match, but did not name the team. Team Melli will leave for Qatar on June 10, and if their plans are finalized, they will probably fly to Uruguay to play with one of the teams that qualified for the World Cup. Uruguay is one of the strongest teams in the World Cup, having qualified for the knockout stages in the past, and is the champion of the first two tournaments of the World Cup. Their most famous players are Edison Cavani and Luis Suárez. The latter will not be available for the match as he is still injured. The current Uruguay squad mostly consists of aging players.

According to the schedule of Uruguay, the team had two matches arranged for FIFA Day, first against Mexico on 3rd June and then three days later against USA. Press reports in Uruguay have mentioned that its football federation is considering Iran, as a possible rival of Uruguay on June 11th. Jamaica, the original opponent withdrew from the match.

03/06/22 FRI Mexico 05 : 00 Uruguay
06/06/22 FRI United States 00 : 00 Uruguay

Jorge Fosati to replace Queiroz in Team Melli !!

An Colombian website  caracoltv claims that the next Team Melli coach will be coming from Uruguay. The site mentioned Jorge Fosati as the successor to Carlos Queiroz whose contract ends after the AFC Asian Cup 2019.

The website wrote that while Carlos Queiroz is expected to lead the Colombian national team, Jorge Fosati will take the helm at Iran’s national team. Day after day, the news that Carlos Queiroz’s will be taking over the head coach job of the Colombian national team are getting stronger , naturally a replacement coach should also be appointed to lead Iran in place of the Portuguese. In the meantime, Jorge Fosati of Uruguay is on the verge of being appointed to that post in Iran’s national football team. A few days ago, the Colombian Football Federation has denied any communication with Luis Felipe Scolari.

In Abu Dhabi, Carlos Queiroz has neither denied nor confirmed this news after he was asked by a reporter prior to the game against Vietnam. He asked the media to only ask questions about the match as any other question about his future is an insult to the team and the fans.

Carlos Queiroz is preparing Team Melli to play Iraq for a top of the table match in Dubai in the final match of Group D of AFC Asian Cup 2019

Portuguese from Man Utd enforcer to Mr. World Cup

 

Carlos Queiroz was once Alex Ferguson’s formidable number two at Manchester United, but he has now carved out a new reputation: the man who can take your team to the World Cup.

After Queiroz’s Iran became only the second team to qualify for Russia 2018, he is savouring the unique feat of reaching four World Cups with three different teams.

It’s a record that hasn’t gone unnoticed, with Asian champions Australia reportedly interested in Queiroz’s services once Ange Postecoglou departs next year.

“I feel very proud and honoured with that (World Cup) achievement,” the grizzled Portuguese told AFP by telephone. “Other coaches have qualified four times but not with different teams.”

The former Real Madrid boss has now qualified with South Africa in 2002, Portugal in 2010 — leading them to the last 16 — and now twice with Iran, after he also took them to Brazil 2014.

Carlos Queiroz has achieved the unique feat of reaching four World Cups with three different teams, including South Africa, Portugal and IranplayCarlos Queiroz has achieved the unique feat of reaching four World Cups with three different teams, including South Africa, Portugal and Iran

(AFP/File)

This month’s 2-0 win over Uzbekistan made Iran the first Asian team to qualify for Russia, clinching top spot in Group A with two games to spare — and without a single goal conceded in 720 minutes of football.

On top of that, Iran, who will now contest back-to-back World Cups for the first time, have been Asia’s number one team in the FIFA rankings for four years, helped by a growing number of players succeeding in Europe.

Walter Winterbottom took England to four successive World Cups starting from 1950, a record that was equalled by West Germany’s Helmut Schon from 1966 to 1978. Oscar Tabarez could also make it four with Uruguay if the South Americans reach Russia.

But nobody has done it with three different countries, apart from Mozambique-born Queiroz.

“To do it with these different countries, cultures and mentalities is at least, unique,” Queiroz said. “Each country has its own challenges, its own strengths and weaknesses.”

‘Football animal’

The 64-year-old became Iran coach in 2011 and has weathered cultural and logistical difficulties to find success with Team Melli, helped by the talent the country produces and the passion of the fans.

“The fans love the team and the excitement they provide is special,” said Queiroz. “When we play at home the atmosphere is great and there can be 100,000 fans. When we qualified, there were celebrations in Tehran all night.”

Among Queiroz’s players is Reza Ghoochannejhad, who was the second highest goalscorer in the Dutch league in the 2016-2017 season with 20 goals for Heerenveen.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh has also impressed in the Netherlands with AZ Alkmaar, and Karim Ansarifard is with Greek giant Olympiakos.

Then there are two highly-rated young stars in Russia: striker Sardar Azmoun and midfielder Saeid Ezatolahi, with both expected to head to one of the bigger European leagues this summer.

It all adds up to a formidable squad and coaching staff.

“Carlos Queiroz and his colleagues have done so much for Team Melli,” Ali Daei, a legend of Iranian football and former national team coach, told FIFA’s official homepage.

“One of the most important things he’s done is bringing in so many young players and changed the major players of the team.”

Although Queiroz is attracting interest from other federations, he says he hasn’t yet decided whether he will go for a fifth World Cup with a fourth national team.

“I have been coaching for a long time,” said Queiroz, who led Portugal’s U20 team to successive World Cup titles in 1989 and 1991. “I don’t really want to think what happens after the next World Cup.

“If this football animal is still biting me in the stomach then I can continue. I want to feel happy. If I can still make a contribution then maybe.”

First comes the challenge of taking Iran to Russia, and improving on their winless showing in Brazil.

“That is the ambition and starting from now, that is the objective we are working towards,” he said. “With the right preparation then we have the talent to make an impact.”