Tag: Valery Karpin

Mohebbi joins FC Rostov

Mohammad Mohebbi, is seeking a new adventure in Russia.

The Team Melli forward who played last season on loan from Portugal’s Santa Clara team in Iran’s Esteghlal, has signed a three-year contract with Russian side FC Rostov club. The club is based in Rostov-on-Don, Rostov Oblast, and is coached by Valery Karpin.

After signing Mohebi’s contract, his agent made a bold statement and claimed that Mohebbi could be the next Cristiano Ronaldo of world football! In this regard, Saadati told the Russian RB Sport website: I can write a book about Mohammad. First, he is the complete professional player and a person with an incredible character.

He added: “Mohebi was one of the best young talents that Iranian football has produced in recent years, and with all his football and physical characteristics, he can play in the top European clubs.”

Saadati emphasized: ” I am sure that if this player is used wisely, Mohebbi can be the next Cristiano Ronaldo! He added: “If the coach gives Mohebbi enough time to adapt to the Russian league, the club can get incredible benefits.”

Notwithstanding the promotion and the hype that the agent is creating, Mohebbi will find life quite tough in the Russian league that is dominated by Zenit St. Petersburg for many years. Of course, Sardar Azmoun also played in Rostov and contributed to the success of the club and his eventual transfer to Zenit.

Rostov was 2nd in the 2022–23 Russian Premier League with 5 games left, but lost 4 out of 5 games and dropped to 4th place at the final table. Russian clubs are suspended from European competitions.

Russia withdraws from CAFA tournament

Earlier this week it was announced that the Russian national football team has accepted CAFA’s invitation to participate in the first Central Asian Football Associations tournament in June of this year as a guest, with the presence of Central Asian teams, including Iran, but the Russians suddenly changed their minds.

The Russian Football Federation announced that this country will not participate in CAFFA. Today, “Valery Karpin”, the head coach of the Russian national football team, in an interview with the TASS news agency, explained the reason behind the withdrawal of this country’s team from CAFA after initially agreeing to attend. Karpin said that “the playing surface, the timing, and the weather conditions were the reasons for this decision.

Karpin said: There are several reasons. The first is the time of holding competitions. On June 11, the final of the National Cup will be held, and the decision to participate in the tournament should have been made in advance. The head coach of Russia added: You also have to consider the conditions of the competition. The tournament is in Tashkent or Bishkek. It is clear that the air temperature is above 30 degrees Celsius. I want to remind you that in Bishkek there is an artificial grass pitch where the risk of injury increases significantly. For example, after the game in Bishkek last fall, five players of the Russian national team could not participate in the next game.

In response to critics saying that the decision to withdraw from CAFA was wrong because Russia does not have many choices to play the preparation game on FIFA Day, he said: “Yes, our choices are not really great, but this does not mean that we sacrifice the health of the players and the opportunity to spend vacations. be completely deprived of them. Moreover, this is not an official tournament, but a friendly tournament. If participating in competitions is part of the preparation for official competitions, it may be worth the risk.”

The head coach of the Russian national team emphasized the future plans of the team: “The officials of our federation will do their best to hold friendly games in the next windows of the International Football Federation (FIFA) calendar, including in June. We hope that the negotiations will bear fruit and we will be able to hold a full preparation camp with a couple of matches. Ideally in Russia and with our fans.” According to Mehr’s reporter, Iran’s national football team hoped to be in this competition with the presence of Russia and experience some serious tests. Now, with the withdrawal of the Russians, it is not clear whether Team Melli will go to Kyrgyzstan or not. In his latest interview, the head coach of Iran’s national team, Amir Ghalenoei, said that participation in CAFA is conditional on holding a meeting with Mehdi Taj, the president of the Football Federation.

Meanwhile, some Russian football experts are already critical of the Russian decision to withdraw, with some sarcastic remarks about Karpin’s reasoning. especially about the temperature of 30 degrees C. It seems that Karpin’s players are built for arctic weather football only and will melt in the temperatures of 30 degrees.”

Valery Ovchinikov, a former Russian player and coach, was also critical of the decision and commented by accusing the Russian team of being afraid of possible defeat against Asian teams. Ovchinikov said: “The weather is a good excuse not to participate inCAFA. We don’t play in the summer. We are used to the cold! He continued sarcastically: The Russian Football Federation probably thinks that our football is played by the Chukchi people (indigenous people of Russia who are close to Siberia). We mustn’t go to the racetrack in the summer or we’ll melt!”

Iran draws with Russia in a friendly.

Team Melli tied Russia 1-1 on Thursday at the Azadi Stadium. Both goals came from penalties scored by Anton Miranchuk ( 28′) for the Russians, while Mehdi Taremi leveled with his penalty at the beginning of the second half.

It was quite a decent start for Amir Ghalenoei in his return to the Team Melli bench after 15 years from his first stint. Iran was the better team in both halves and dominated the games for a long time. It was Mehdi Taremi and his teammates who deprived Iran of a deserved win with wastefulness and some erratic final shooting. Moghanlou, Mohebbi were also guilty of missing golden opportunities.

Russia was neither short of practice nor individual skills and the sanction imposed against the Russian athletes does not seem to have affected their performance. Valery Karpin seems to have a good job with the domestic league players. There were some delightful moves from the guests in Azadi and some quick counters, however, Iran was solid at the back, and the combination of central defenders, Khaikzadeh and Kananizadegan, who were the key defenders in qualifying Iran for the World Cup, were forming a formidable front to protect Beiranvand goal.

It was a clumsy challenge by Ezzatollahi that cost Iran a penalty.

With Azmoun absent, Mohammad Mohebbi and the debutant Shariyar Moghanlou filled in to support Taremi. However, despite the support from the flanks especially from Ramin Rezaeian, the forwards failed to turn those chances to goals. Moghanlou had a debut to forget.

Overall, it was quite a good challenge for Ghalenoei as he becomes more familiar with the players and the roles they can fill in.

Next will be Kenya, a lighter opponent but a physically strong team.