Tag: Yaghoub Karimi

Development of a new mentality in Iran’s football planning.

Nelo Vingada, the Portuguese coach has been hard at work preparing the team for the Asian Games 2014 which for Iran will start on the 15th September with an opening match against Vietnam.

The team’s preparation has been going well under the circumstances and the usual difficulties, however, the marked difference in the preparation this time is the tendency for the team to be mostly the U21 footballers. This policy has developed within the corridor of power of FFIRI based on the ultimate goals of Iran achieving qualification for the Olympic Games. However, when the final list of the squad for Incheon games was announced, almost a third of the players will not be eligible to participate in the 2016 Olympic Games from qualification stages.

Nelo Vingada - U-23 Head Coach
Nelo Vingada – U-23 Head Coach

That raised a few questions about how the federation is proceeding with this team considering the earlier plans for the 2016 Olympics and if there was a change of heart triggered by the recent events and the result of the friendly matches played by the team, which to the best of descriptions, were quite modest.

Iran has always been a contender for Asian Games medals. Historically and statically, Iran has been the most successful football team in Asian Games History with 4 Gold medals, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze followed closely by their nemesis South Korea. Incidentally both teams have met each other in the Bronze match play-off in the last two Asian Games and the honors were even.

Unlike their mentality towards marginalizing the Asian Cup, the Asian Games football tournament, is a different proposition all together. Iran’s patriciaption in the Asian Games and the Olympics falls under the responsibilities of the National Olympics Committee (NOC). All federations must strictly follow the NOC guidelines and send athletes whose records indicate that they can compete for one of the medals of the sports they are participating in. Therefore , Iran football team must abide by this charter and filed their strongest team.

Armenia U23 vs Iran U23

With that in mind, 7 quality players who have been making their names in top level of Iran’s league have been added to the list to strengthen the squad.  Kaveh Rezaei , Morteza Pouraliganji , Mohammadreza Khanzadeh, Shahriyar Shirvand , Mohsen Mosalman , Mehdi Sharifi, and Yaghoub Karimi  are the top guns.

 To explain this turnaround, a FFIRI spokesman confirmed that FFIR has been instructed by Iran’s Olympic Committee to field the best and full strength team for the Asian Games. “The NOC made it clear for us that Asian Games is no place for trials. Only the best must are allowed to compete and represent the country. If sending the best athletes or Teams are not possible, then there will be no participation..”  This firm policy of Iran’s NOC has seen some individual Iranian world class athletes lose their place due to loss of form or lack of practice hence possibilities of defeat.

So, it seems that this mentality of FFIRI , which is planning for 4 years ahead competitions like the next World Cup and the next Olympic games is being followed unabated. It is only the IOC that has stepped its authority and threatened to kick Team Melli U23 out if it cannot compete for one of the medals. FFIRI futuristic plans, incidentally, has no mention of competing for championships titles in it. Just qualifying for the World Cup or Olympic Games!

Suddenly, a top level continental and elite competition like the Asian Cup, has no place in FFIRI agenda! To add to the complexity of this twisted mentality , Iran is actually a leading candidate to host the 2019 Asian Cup!

Asian Games 2014 footballers list announced

Iranian football federation FFIRI has announced the name of 20 players for the upcoming Asian Games in Incheon. The squad will be coached by the Portuguese Nelo Vingada and shall start camp from Monday while players will be taking breaks to return to their clubs.

There are some prominent names missing from the list , including Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Sardar Azmoun, both of who are playing in European teams and their release seem to be too difficult for the federation to even attempt. However, Payam Sadeghian , suspended for three months, yet again misses a major tournament as he is excluded from the list.

 

Those missing , will be replaced by some young stars on the rise. Sepahan duo Mehdi Sharifi and Ali Karimi , head the list of names that have already impressed in the league with their clubs with Sharifi already opening his scoring this season against Esteghlal. Mohsen Mosalman, Mohammadreza Khanzadeh and Yaghoub Karimi all players of Team Melli will enhance the quality of the team , while Kaveh Rezaei is expected to shine again with his prolific scoring records in many Team Melli ages levels.

 Although , 23 players are allowed to be named for major football tournaments, it is not clear why the federation has 3 less players. Their official website did not provide any explanation. This will of course mean that the door could open up for 3 additional players.

 Iran , will be one of the contenders for the Asian Games 2014 football Gold Medal along with the favorites South Korea. While the team will be aiming for glory in Incheon , the priority by the federation remains to be the qualification to the Rio Olympics 2014 football tournament.

The squad has been quite active recently with practice matches in Jordan and Armenia. With the team having issues with clubs releasing players , so far the Portuguese coach has been unable to field the same line up for two consecutive matches. This period of training camp is expected to be much more stable and the majority of the players available for him to work with.

 

 

List of Asian Games 2014 squad players

 

Seq Player Name Club Birth date Post
1 Ali Karimi Sepahan 11-Feb-94 FW
2 Arash Rezavand Naft Tehran 5-Oct-93 MF
3 Ehsan Pahlavan Gostarish Foolad 25-Jun-93
4 Farshid Esmaeili Fajr Sepasi 23-Feb-94 MF
5 Hojat Sedghi Mes Kerman 7-Feb-93 GK
6 Kaveh Rezaei Saipa Alborz 5-Apr-92 FW
7 Mehdi Mehdipour Rah Ahan 21-Mar-89
8 Mehdi Sharifi Sepahan 16-Aug-92 FW
9 MohamadReza Akhbari Saipa Alborz 15-Feb-93
10 MohamadReza Khanzadeh  Persepolis 20-Jan-92 DF
11 Mohammad Daneshgar Fajr Sepasi 20-Jan-94 MF
12 Mohammad Naseri Gostarish Foolad 18-Apr-93 GK
13 MohammadHossein Kanan Zadegan Persepolis 23-Mar-94 DF
14 Mohsen Mosallman Zob Ahan 27-Jan-91 MF
15 Morteza Pouraliganji  Naft Tehran 19-Apr-92 MF
16 Roozbeh Chashmi Saba Qom 24-Jul-93 MF
17 Shahriyar Shirvand Tractorsazi Tabriz 21-Mar-91 DF
18 Vahid Haidariya Peykan 2-Jan-93 DF
19 Yaghoub Karimi Esteghlal 31-Aug-91 MF
20 Yusuf Vakya Foolad Khuzestan 30-Sep-91 DF

 

 

Vingada meets with Karim Bagheri during training break. Khodadad Azizia and Ando Teymourian also in the background

Zlatko Krancjar “Iran is as good as Bosnia and Nigeria”

The Croat coach of Sepahan believes that Team Melli is as good as Bosnia-Herzegovina and Nigeria.

 Zlatko who has just returned back to Esfahan to oversee players’ contracts negotiation and the opening of transfer window for the coming season, was in Austria during Team Melli’s training camp. Kranjcar attended some of the Friendly matches and commented ” I watched the friendly matches in person and despite the results all ending in a draw, I believe the team has improved and continues doing so. I don’t think either of Bosnia-Herzegovina or Nigeria are better than Iran. I do hope they play as good as they can in the World Cup.”

Kranjcar  a former coach of Croatia National Team, was speaking in a press conference arranged by the club. Kranjcar talked about several Team Melli players of his team. On Mojtaba jabbari and Arash Afshin, Kranjcar said that both of them were recruited while he was away, He was not consulted whether these players fit the teams plan and style. During the season , they did not deliver and their time with the club was not successful. That is why I am here early this season so that I make sure that we recruit the right players who suit the team requirement and fit with the other players”

“Omid Ebrahimi and Mohammad Gholami will not be with Sepahan next season.I did want Ebrahimi to stay but could not agree on the terms. The good news is that Hadi Aghili has re-signed a three years contract with Sepahan, We also managed to keep Shehab Gordan in the team,”

“Shojaa Khalilzadeh was disappointed because he did not make the final list of Team Melli , but he needs to focus more on his game, mitigate his mistakes and lower his risk taking during the games”

“Yaghoub Karimi will remain with Sepahan for next season”  Karimi , who was part of the initial 30 man squad of Queiroz , has threatened to leave Sepahan at the end of last season if Kranjcar remains the coach. Apparently he needs to eat his words now.

Niko Kranjcar, the son of Zlatko who plays for QPR and recently promoted to the premier division , has been ruled out of the Croatia team for the World Cup due to an injury he suffered in the last game of the season.

 

Sadeghian stars in Team Melli U22 win

Kish island , Persian Gulf

Team Melli U-22 scored a narrow win in a friendly match against South Korea in the warmth of the Persian Gulf Island of Kish this afternoon.

The friendly match was in preparation of both team for the upcoming AFC U-22 Cup which will be held in Oman in a fortnight.

The Iranians had a lightening start when they opened the scoring as early as the 7th minute through Yaghoub Karimi who  slotted the ball home to make it 1-0 for Iran. Two minutes later the Koreans were stunned when Payam Sadeghian made it 2-0 for  Alireza Mansourian’s men.

The two quick goals by Team Melli U-22 forced the Koreans to raise their game and go on to overdrive which yielded result when Lee JongHo scored for the Korean team and reduce the deficit to the minimum. 2-1 was indeed the result that the teams carried to the dressing room at half time.

In the second half, the Koreans started as the better team and played some neat football and eventually managed to score the equalizer. Lee Jong Ho scored his second and his teams second at 74th minute.

While both teams seemed to be content with the result , Sadeghian pounced on a ball and scored Iran’s winner right on the 90th minute.The match ended 3-2 for the hosts.

 The scorers Karimi , Sepahan midfielder , and Sadeghian of Perspolis are 2 of a few number of players in the U-22 squad who have been selected or played for the senior team Melli.

The two teams are supposed to meet again on Friday , but there is already some talk about postponing the match to some other time.

Iran is in a difficult group with Japan . Australia and Kuwait in the inaugural championship in Muscat Oman.