Tag: Uzbekistan

Third test for Dragan Skocic

Team Melli and will face Syria in an international friendly today (Tuesday) at 17:30 in Azadi Stadium as part of the preparation for the upcoming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers.
In recent years, Iran and Syria have faced each other in various competitions. The matches between the two teams in the World Cup qualifier in Russia in both round-trip matches ended in a draw, but with the change of Iran’s training cadre and the arrival of Wilmots, Team Melli inflicted a heavy 5-0 defeat to the Syrians in a friendly match.
Since then, the coaches of both teams have changed and now Syria is in a much better position than Iran in the World Cup qualifiers.

Iranian national team
Dragan Skocic will have his third coaching experience with Team Melli against Syria. He has already managed to achieve a perfect record with two victories in two matches defeating Uzbekistan and Bosnia. The Croatian coach’s whole effort is to prepare a team of the best Iranian players to claim a place in the World Cup qualifiers next round and defeat both Iraq and Bahrain in order to clinch one of the places.
With the exception of a few players who were unable to accompany the national team due to injuries or travel restrictions during the spread of the Coronavirus, Skocic has invited most of the top players inside and outside Iran, although as always there have been criticisms in some posts.


However, the return of Taremi, Azmoun, Beiranvand, etc. to the national team in this camp compared to the earlier one is good news for the fans of Team Melli who always want to see a full-strength team in action. As in previous camps, the Croatian coach has invited several young and lesser-known players, and it remains to be seen what the consequences of their presence in the national team will be.

Given Bahrain hosting the third qualifying group for the World Cup in Asia, Skocic and his team are working very hard to advance to the next stage and must use the same friendly games to increase the quality and preparation of the national team.

Syrian national team
The Syrian national team recently played a friendly match against Bahrain, and lost 3-1, with some Syrian media and fans criticizing their coach. However, Nabil Maaloul, who has a track record of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup with the Tunisian national team, has achieved brilliant results in the first group of the World Cup together with Syria and is in first place above China.

Syria has almost reached the third round of the World Cup and is now preparing for the toughest stage of the tournament to complete the unfinished work of the previous round. They lost four years ago in their last World Cup qualifier against Uruguay and failed to qualify for the World Cup.
Omar Al-Suma (due to injury) and Omar Al-Kharbin (lifelong suspension from the national team) are not present in this match as two prominent strikers, but other main Syrian players have come to Tehran. This meeting is very important for Syria in terms of results and readiness.

Reza Ghoochannejhad scores a hat trick for PEC Zwolle in the Eredivisie.

The former Team Melli and current PEC Zwolle forward Reza Ghoochannejhad (33 years) scored a hat-trick in the match against Willem II to lead his team to a 3-1 victory in the Dutch Eredivisie League.

 Ghoochannejhad was substituted in at the start of the second half and scored his opener in the 58th minute to level the match after the first half ended with host Willem II leading by a goal to nil. He scored again four minutes later to put his team ahead 2-1.

On the 70th minute,  PEC Zwolle was awarded a penalty which Reza Ghoochannejhad took and score to complete his hat-trick.

It was a major performance for the Iranian forward whose appearance has been limited for his team. He has scored 5 goals so far and this hat trick should improve his chances for more minutes in the future. PEC Zwolle is ranked 11th in the table. Ghoochannejhad joined PEC Zwolle in September 2019 and has played 26 matches scoring 9 goals in two seasons.

Ghoochannejhad played his last game for Team Melli in a friendly international in Azadi against Uzbekistan. The match ended 1 – 0 for Iran.

Ghoochannejhad played a total of 43 games for Iran scoring 17 goals in a career from October 2012. 

Team Melli defeats Uzbekistan.

In the first match under the Croatian head coach Dragan Skocic, Team Melli defeated Uzbekistan in Tashkent 2-1.

The first half ended 1-0 for Iran with Sardar Azmoun (44′) scoring from just outside the box. Mehdi Taremi (51′) scored Iran’s second from a penalty spot after he was fouled in the box. E. Shomurodov scored Uzbekistan’s only goal two minutes after Taremi’s penalty.

Both teams have introduced new faces in their line ups with Iran using many of the Persepolis players that have just qualified for the final of AFC Champions League. Sardar Azmoun could have put Iran in the lead but his tame shot missed the target after a quick counter-attack. Iran had most of the possession and was dangerous on the counter.

In the second half, the pace of the match slowed down after the two goals. The various substitution meant that both teams had difficulty finding their rhythm with both sets of new players finding it hard to gel.

The new-look central defense of Khalilzadeh and Kanani-Zadegan was quite solid but a momentarily poor marking allowed  Shomurodov to score a soft goal against Team Melli. Payam Nazmand could have done much better though. The Sepahan debutant still needs much more experience with the team. His punching of the ball on crosses were less than satisfactory and allowed the Uzbek to counter again.

The midfield still lacks a creative schemet=r although Ali Gholizadeh provided some promise.

Upfront, Azmoun, and Taremi combined to create many chances but the finishing needs to improve.

Iran will p[lay Mali next in Antalya m Turkey.

Dragan Skočić, to announce the new Team Melli squad.

Team Melli’s Croatian Head coach will announce the players’ list for the upcoming international friendlies against Uzbekistan and Mali after months of inaction. It will be the first time that the team will meet with its new coaching team due to the suspension of football activities as the result;t of the Covid19 pandemic.

he wants to play in the national team after months, and he will end the wait for the football fans to unveil his team. According to ISNA,

Team Melli training which was supposed to start on October 3 in Tehran, will probably start with a day delay. Iranian League Champions, Persepolis is still involved in the AFC Champions League and will play the final match in Doha against Al-Nasr of Sadu Arabi on Saturday afternoon in Doha.  from tomorrow. Instead, the list of players invited to the national team will be published tonight by Dragan Skocic. After about 11 months break Team Melli will gather together to play two friendly matches against Uzbekistan and Mali on 17 and 22 October. However, the most important issue is the unveiling of Skocic team, which has been delayed for more than 8 months due to the corona outbreak.

* Skocic’s -style team

The Croatian coach does not consider himself a follower of Carlos Queiroz’s defensive style, nor is he going to follow the style of Belgian Marc Wilmots. That’s why watching Skocic’s team is so important in a situation where official World Cup qualifiers have been postponed. In the current situation, the presence of some players in this camp is in a state of ambiguity, and it is not yet clear whether Skocic will invite them to the national team or not.

On the other hand, due to the limitations caused by the prevalence of corona, some players in European countries will be facing problems and this issue may make it difficult for them to travel to Uzbekistan and Turkey. But with all these considerations, the most important issue is Skocic’s style and mentality. It remains to be seen what players he will invite to the national team and how he would employ certain players in his line-up.

* What is going on in the Croatian coach’s head?

The list of players invited to the national team always leads to critics; In this bi-polar football nation, not inviting a player from either Persepolis or Esteghlal or inviting a particular player to the team, as well as not inviting some players due to traffic on some lines, are among the things that face criticism from experts and, of course, fans.

The increase in the number of Iranian legionnaires and the shining of several players in one position, as well as the increase in the age of some experienced players, have raised speculation about the new national team roster. In fact, no one is yet familiar with Skocic’s tactical ideas in the national team, and on the other hand, due to the presence of many in-form players in several positions, few can read the mind of the Croatian national team coach before the list is published. For example, there were various ambiguities about the goalkeepers; Especially since Alireza Beiranvand is absent due to injury and several well-known defenders can be seen in this post who has put legitimate claims to wear the national team jersey.

The team’s defense is in the same situation. In fact, with the departure of Queiroz and the retirement of a few players, the defensive line that was desired by the former Portuguese coach will also change. To these must be added the absence of the team’s most consistent defender, Morteza Pouraliganji. The most complicated situation in the midfield and attack is that there is a traffic of in-form players inside and outside Iran waiting to join the team, and they still do not know whether they should pack their bags to attend Tehran and join the national team on Saturday night or stay put.

 

TEAM MELLI CANDIDATES LIST

 

  1. AMIRI, Vahid     
  2. ANSARIFARD, Karim
  3. AZMOUN, Sardar
  4. CHESHMI, Rouzbeh
  5. DEJAGAH, Ashkan
  6. EBRAHIMI, Omid
  7. GHODDOS, Saman
  8. HAJSAFY, Ehsan
  9. HOSSEINI, Majid
  10. JAHANBAKHSH, AliReza 
  11. KANANI-ZADEGAN, Hossein
  12. MOHAMMADI, Milad
  13. MOHEBI, Mohammad
  14. NOUROLLAHI, Ahmad
  15. REZAEI, Kaveh
  16. REZAEIAN, Ramin
  17. TAREMI, Mehdi 
  18. TORABI, Mehdi
  19. GHOLIZADEH, Ali
  20. NEMATI, Siamak
  21. AL KASIR, Isa
  22. LAK, Hamed
  23. GHAYEDI, Mehdi
  24. KARIMI, Ali
  25. HOSSEINI, Hosseini
  26. KHALILZADEH, Shojaa
  27. KAMYABINIA, Kamal
  28. NIAZMAND, Payam
  29. NOORAFKAN, Omid
  30. KHANZADEH, Mohammadreza
  31. SHIKARI, Reza

Team Melli friendlies with Uzbekistan & Tajikistan re-arranged.

On recommendation from FIFA and due to the postponement of the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers, Uzbekistan friendly match which was supposed to be played on 8th September has been put off for a month and will therefore be played in Bunyoudkar Stadium on 8th October.

Meanwhile, FFIRI has finalized arrangements for another friendly 4 days later after the Uzbekistan match when Team Melli will host Tajikstan in Azadi on the 12th of October. These will be the first Team Melli matches under the new coach  Dragan Skočić,

the Croat has yet to meet Team Melli as a group in any training session. However, he traveled to several places to meet individual players or observe them in action.

Team melli training camp in doubt as soon as it is announced.

Team Melli will hold its first training camp under the leadership of the Croatian head coach in mid-September.

The team faces three important challenges for holding camp with the availability of players, which can overshadow the camp objectives and Team Melli preparation.

Skocic has yet to have a single training session with Team Melli since Covid19 has upset football activities worldwide. The first schedule camp for Dragan Skocic will be overshadowed by more events as FIFA has just announced the postponement of the Qualifiers from October 2020 to yet unannounced dates in 2021.

The Croatian coach will have the opportunity to face the squad for the first time. Circumstances allowing, it will help the head coach to identify the players he needs for 4 crucial and decisive matches in the qualifying round of the FIFA World Cup 2022.

In this camp, the national team will have arranged two friendly matches, the first match against Uzbekistan will be held on September 9th. The national team will play another match before that, which, according to speculation and information in the Arabic-language media, will be played against either Syria or Palestine, but nothing is certain at this time.

However, two important issues have overshadowed the camp with all the player’s availabilities, which could be a problem for Skocic’s as he may not be able to hold his camp with all the players.

Corona and visa restrictions

Most of the Team Melli squad consists of professional players working outside Iran, mainly in Belgium, Portugal, Qatar, etc., and a few who are playing in Russia, England and Croatia. The hardship that faced Alireza Biranvand in his trip from Iran to Belgium is a bitter reminder, and this issue has raised concerns for most legionnaires that they may have difficulty returning back to their country of work.

Some countries, such as the United Kingdom, Belgium, etc., provide a two-week quarantine for travelers to countries such as Iran to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. For this reason, Iran, like the Iraqi national team, may restrict the participation of the legionnaires to prevent any problems and difficulties for those playing in foreign leagues. The availability of foreign-based players is of course overshadowed by their availability and release by their employers. With the Leagues scheduling in Europe in such a mess, it is highly unlikely if any player is released by their clubs unless they are of now value to their squad, like Alireza Jahanbakhsh.

The AFC Champions League commitment

The AFC Champions League league will start in Qatar with four Iranian representatives competing for the coveted prize. For this reason, these four clubs will keep their players and not release them for Team Melli. Iranian clubs have never won the AFC Champions League title since its new format and are not considered as title contenders this season either, but will be always trying to upset the rivals and be at full strength.

However, in recent days there have been reports that players’ passports have been submitted to the national team’s department for friendly matches with Uzbekistan in Tashkent. Given that the players will have to rest for a few days on their return from the camp in Uzbekistan, the possibility of the players’ absence from the four teams in the camp will be strengthened or at least they will remain with the national team for a shorter period.

Hazfi Cup.

The League Organization Committee announced that it is willing to postpone the final of the “Hazfi Cup” to a later date for the sake of  Team Melli Training Camp in Uzbekistan. However, the organizer’s condition is that there should be a firm decision on the dates and confirmation from Team Melli administrators before a conclusion is made. Hazfi Cup, which is becoming a real farce in Iran’s football with chaotic and ever-changing scheduling, was to be held mid-September.

With all these problems, Team Melli may not be able to hold the camp at all and with the recent postponement announcement by FIFA in regards to the qualifiers, the Team Melli camp might also be postponed, prolonging Skocic attempt to meet Team Melli players for another few months.

Iran’s U19 team grouped with host Uzbekistan for the AFC Finals.

Iran’s U19 national youth soccer team is grouped with Indonesia, Cambodia and host Uzbekistan in the AFC U19 Championship 2020.

The draw for the Asian Youth Championship was held and the Iranian national youth football team was grouped with the teams of Cambodia, Indonesia, and Uzbekistan in group A of the four groups competition. The Championship will be hosted by Uzbekistan with the participation of 16 teams from October 14 to November 1 of this year.

The top four teams will qualify for the FIFA U19 World Youth Cup in Indonesia.  Iran’s U19 football team, led by Sirus Pourmousavi, clinched qualification in the preliminary qualifying rounds held in Tehran, but Pourmousavi has recently resigned his post citing lack of support from the FFIRI management and marginalization by the leaders of the federation.  The FFIRI s technical committee is currently looking to select a replacement head coach.

Déjà vu. Omid Team eliminated!

Omid Team has been eliminated from the group stages of the AFC Asian U23 Championship and with it the eternal dream of qualification to the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

In the final do and die match against winless China, Omid Team struggled badly and wasted chance after chance to score goals until the 85th minute when a dubious penalty call by the referee allowed Noorafkan to score from the spot-kick. It was one goal too little and too late despite Uzbekistan losing their match against South Korea 2-1.

Uzbekistan qualified as the second of the group with 4 points, same as Iran but with a better goal difference of one goal.

In a match of wasted chances, especially the one that profligate Mehdi Ghaedi wasted while the goal and the net was at his mercy, wide open with the Chinese keeper stranded and nowhere near covering his goal. Ghaedi got the loose ball and with all the time and options available to him, he decides to head the ball into the empty net but he missed by a big margin!

How cruel and how heartbreaking!

This was the final nail in the coffin as the likes of Sayyadmanish, Shojaei, Mehdikhani kept shooting blanks and wasting chance after chance against a Chinese team that had nothing to play for but pride.

At the end of the day, this Omid Team did not deserve to qualify with these players and coaches.  The passive, back-foot approach, the helter-skelter style employed by Hamid Estili once again looked out of date against opponents who embody many of the principles associated with modern football. Estili, never an accomplished coach in the first place had a disadvantage with a bunch of individual players, who did not truly understand the concept teamwork and tactical (not that there was much of that in evidence) discipline, hence that combination turned into what the experts expected, failure of Team Omid.

It was Déjà vu.

That eerie feeling that the fans and media personnel have lived through the situation on numerous spells. The same lame excuses, the same justifications, the same “We were unlucky” and the same “We will do better next time, inshallah!”

44 years since the last Olympics, and by the next cycle, it will be 48 years wait. At this rate, we will be passing the half-century of years since Iran has made the Olympics Games football competition, a feat that nations who are supposedly below Iran in World Football Ranking have achieved many times.

Ultimately, in this current messy organizational structure and management deficiencies in Iran’s football at all levels, fans have to get used to failures after failures. You reap what you sow, nothing more nothing less. Deep-rooted changes have to be implemented and cleansing is done by competent professionals rather than devout loyalists. Success is achieved only by skillful, learned, experienced professional who base their work on systems and processes of modern football management.

Far too many gaps in Estili’s game plan.

There were no surprises in the performance of Omid Team under Hamid Estili against Uzbekistan yesterday.  Even with such a statement, many fans were hoping that the famous players with household names in Omid Team will make a big impact and cover at least part of the team’s weaknesses and gaps.

Players like Omid Noorafkan, Allahyar Sayyadmanish, Mohammad Mohebi are already full internationals who have played and scored for Team Melli while the likes of Mahdi Ghaedi and Reza Shekari are considered valuable players with considerable ability to improve. The former has already registered 8 goals in the Persian Gulf Pro League.

However, except for Omid Noorafkan who is being utilized in defense hence depriving the team of his wonderful vision and Pirlo-like passing, the rest of them were disappointing. Ghaedi huffed and puffed like always but his delivery and final touch remains suspect when his team really requires every effort.

The feeblest performance of the so-called stars was Shekari and Sayyadmanish up in the forward line. Not coordination, no proper communication, little or no significant passing, no awareness of each other position and individualist showmanship that was a big waste for Omid Team.

A smart seasoned coach would have immediately figured out that this combination upfront is not working and would have acted accordingly, but Estili for reasons beyond comprehension failed to notice that.

The Midfield lacked a strong leader such as Noorafkan, who was in the central defensive position. Mohebi was quite disappointing against the Uzbeks despite having a very good season with his team. He missed an open goal and a chance for his team to take the lead.

Omid team never looked like a coherent team with a strategy. Against Korea, we expect the same old tactics, or lack of it, and emphasis on individual performance rather than teamwork. Not that a victory is not possible, but with a year of disappointing performances by Omid Team, it is highly unlikely that Hamid Estili will find a magic wand to fix the things against the powerful and organized Koreans.

Realistically and no matter how high our hopes and expectations are, the chances of a tactically deficient Omid Team qualifying to the next round are on the balance. A win or even a draw against the Koreans will still keep the hopes alive. A defeat will almost mean the end of the road and those abundant and unceasing promises that this team is good enough to make it to Tokyo after 44 years of absence.

Omid Team Draws Uzbekistan 1-1

Omid Team managed to escape with a draw 1-1 in the opening match of Group C of the AFC U23 Championship 2020. The Iranian players wore black armbands in the memory of General Ghassim Soleimani who was assassinated by the Americans in Iraq a few days back.

The first half ended 1-0 to Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan’s goal came from a soft penalty in the 40th minute. Earlier, Ali Shojaei missed a glorious chance to put Iran ahead. Only a few meters away and the goal gaping wide, Shojaei miskicked the ball horribly wrong out of bound!.

In the second half, Iran scored the equalizer in the 58th minute through an individual effort by Reza Dehghani who forced his way into the box getting a lucky rebound ball off the Uzbek defender to slot home.

After the equalizing goal for Omid Team, it was the turn of Mohammed Mohebi to squander a golden chance over the bar!

While winning one point is quite precious in a group that is so tight and the competition so fierce, Omid’s team performance was hardly assuring especially in the middle of the field and upfront.

Despite having Allhayar Sayyadimanish and Reza Shekari, the duo hardly passed to each other as both focus on the selfish individuals; attempts, both shooting from any angle while passing to a teammate was a better option. In fact, passing was a problem for the Omid Team, not only suffering from lack of them and but also the accuracy of those passes. Omid team pass accuracy was 67% while Uzbekistan’s was a highly respectable 87%.!!

Teamwork was found wanting and all the experiences of Mohebi, Shekari, and Sayyadmanish were not enough to have a positive impact upfront.

The team lacked strategy and played seemed to depend on individual skills to penetrate the opponent’s defense. Everyone seemed to want to dribble the ball from anywhere.

In the 2nd half, Hamid Estili replaced Ali Shojaei with Mehdi Ghaedi whose impact was immediate. However, the Esteghlal player is notorious for his over dribbling in addition to play-acting which limits his value for the team.

Uzbekistan was a much more organized team playing modern football. They had several chances to add to their goal but could not finish. Despite having 64% of the ball possession, the Uzbek team could not seriously threaten Omid’s goal.

In the second match of the Group, South Korea defeated China 1-0 to lead the group

 

Group C

Standings
P W D L F A GD PTS
1
Korea Republic
 Korea Republic 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 3
2
Islamic Republic of Iran
 Iran 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1
3
Uzbekistan
 Uzbekistan 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1
4
China PR
 China PR 1 0 0 1 0 1 -1 0