Year: 2014

Hossein Faraki reacts angrily to FFIRI suggestions.

The prime candidate for Team Melli head coach , Hossein Faraki has reacted angrily to reports of his name being included in the list of the assistant coaches to Carlos Queiroz.

Meanwhile , in another interesting development , the Vice-President of FFIR Ayatollahei , has revealed that Ali Kaffashian has had talks with Hossein Faraki regarding Team Melli coaching job.

Hossein Faraki, guided Foolad Khuzestan to its second league title last season. However, the ex-Team Melli player surprisingly tendered his resignation citing health issues and requirement to have a knee operation. Many related this sudden departure from the League Champions Foolad Khuzestan , to prospect of a better job offer,  coaching of Team Melli in the post Queiroz era.

Today , Faraki reacted quite sharply and out of his calm character to the news that he is included in the list of the assistant coaches that has been leaked to the press , as possible assistant coach to Queiroz.

“With all due respect to the President of FFIRI , I announce my deep displeasure and anger towards the federations which is using my good name without my consent,  to serve their purposes. I totally condemn such an act and ask the good people there in FFIRI to respect people’s honor and refrain from misusing my name and reputation by fallacy “

Explaining further , Faraki said “I have worked alongside great coaches in Team Melli for 7 to 8 years. I have learned a lot from them and picked up valuable experience to help my career. My success last year was not a fly by the night thing, I have worked hard for it to become what I am.”

“Now that they are in a peril, because of their failures to secure the services of the coach they wanted, they are using our names as assistant coaches  to cover their shortfalls. None of them had the decency to talk to me about it. Who told them that I want to be an assistant to anybody?”

Faraki , who must have been quite disappointed after Kaffashian pursued Querioz said “They are in such a mess out there , their acts are closer to a comedy theater rather than professional management of football.”

FFIRI issued an official  denial yesterday.

FFIRI denies appointment of Team Melli assistant coaches.

News of internal disagreement in FFIRI has surfaced in the open in regards to the current situation of Team Melli.

After the failure of the Kaffashian to conclude the contract with Queiroz, number of members of the FFIRI “Technical and Football Development Committee” expressed their concern and discontent with the current Team Melli situation and believe that time is at premium for Iran’s honorable and respectable representation in the Asian Cup. Those who were concerned , suggested that Kaffashian/FFIIRI should appoint temporary coaches for Team Melli at the assistant-coach level , to start the ball rolling for Team Melli training program.  This arrangement would address the situation until the head coach is appointed and commences his work.

Essential part of the duty of these coaches ( 2 or 3 Iranian coaches)  will be to set up training camp and commence training with the current Team Melli squad including playing friendly matches. That would minimize the impact of wasting precious time up to the commencing of the AFC Asian Cup 2015.  

However, FFIRI has issued an official statement denying the suggestion of appointment of any Iranian assistant coaches or any intention to do so in the near future.

As such the FFIRI has put an end to any ambitious plans of action by the Technical and Football Development Committee to counteract the effects of the frozen activities of Team Melli.

Another FIFA day , another miss by Team Melli!

While most of the world teams will be engaged in friendly or official competitions in the designated FIFA Day, Team Melli as usual is still fast asleep ready for the Messiah to sign the contract , and hence will miss another FIFA day.

The Asian teams competing in the AFC Asian Cup 2015, are well on their in preparation programs. Teams in Iran group has played several friendlies already and set training camps in the elite Asian completion starting mid in January. This week Teams such as Qatar , UAE , Oman , Saudi Arabia and even Palestine will be playing friendly internationals. Team Melli is not even formed yet!

Thanks to Ali Kaffashian and Carlos Queiroz , Team Melli is an orphan and for all practical purposes has not even been named , let alone commencing its long due preparation for the Asian Cup. 

The expectation is that those responsible for Team Melli , and after getting yet another disappointing result in AFC Asian Cup , due to the proverbial late and inadequate preparation, will be offering the same old excuses, and the same old promises of preparing for the World Cup 2018 , 2022 and 2026!

It is such a shame for Iranian football. The nation that has abundant talents in all major sports as the heroes of Iran Volleyball team is proving for the World right now. Yet football is managed and run by a group of incompetent lot who has not managed to gratify the passionate fans for ages.

Karim Ansarifard joins Osasuna 

The famous Spanish Marca newspaper reported on Karim Ansarifard transfer to Osasuna.

  • Iranian Forward s committed to the navarro club for the next two seasons

EFE.PAMPLONA 08/30/14 –00:34.
Osasuna have signed Iranian striker Karim Ansarifard, who has committed to the navarro club for the next two seasons.

This is the sixth signing of Osasuna this season, a deal announced three days to the end of the transfer market in a late-night frenzy today ‘pinko’ following the announcement of transfer of Chilean international Francisco ‘Gato’ Silva Brugge.

Precisely Silva output allows Osasuna incorporate Ansarifard, since in the League just two non-EU players tokens allowed.The other player is also Non EU , Iranian international Javad Nekounam, who is waiting to receive the pass from his former international team in Kuwait in order to be enrolled.

Ansarifard who played in 2014 World Cup in Brazil,  is already in Pamplona and will be presented in the coming days, said Osasuna.

The updated list of Iranian legionnaires

Qatar Star League

  • Mojtaba Jabbari (Al Ahli)
  • Jalal Hosseini (Al Ahli)
  • Ashkan Dejagah (Al Arabi)
  • Pejman Montazeri (Umm Salal)

 Kuwait First Division 

  • Reza Ghoochannejad (Al Kuwait)

 

Major League Soccer

  • Steven Beitashour (Vancouver Whitecaps)

 

Swiss Super League

  • Daniel Davari (Grasshopper Club Zürich)

 Russia Premier League

  • Sardar Azmoun (Rubin Kazan)
  • AliReza Haghighi (Rubin Kazan)

 

Spain Segunda Division

  • Javad Nekounam (Osasuna)
  • Karim Ansarifard (Osasuna)

 

Nedtherlands Eerste Divisie

  • Alireza Jahanbaksh (NEC)

Saeid Ezzatollahi signs for Atletico Madrid ‘B’

The 17 years old Malavan midfielder Saeid Ezzatollahi has signed  a one season long contract for Atletico Madrid to join their “B” team.
Club Atlético de Madrid B , founded in 1966, is the reserve team of Atlético Madrid and currently plays in Segunda División B, holding home games at Nuevo Cerro del Espino. It is referred to by the club as the Academy.
Segunda División B, is the third tier league of Spain following La Liga and Segunda División. Atlético Madrid II , playing in the Group 2 consisting of  has already started the season with a win Competing in the same group is the famous reserve team Real Madrid II , the two Basques teams reserves , Athletic (Bilbao) Club II , Real Sociedad II along with other names such as Rayo Vallecano II and Las Palmas II.

PLAYER DATA

#7 SAEID EZZATOLLAHI
Name in Farsi: سعید عزت اللهی
Current club: Atlético de Madrid B
Date of birth: Oct 1, 1996
Place of birth: Bandar Anzali Iran
Age: 17
Height: 1,90 m
Nationality: Iran
Position: Midfield – Defensive Midfield
Foot: right
In the team since: Aug 27, 2014
Contract until: 30.06.2015
Transfer value:  £ 220,000 (EURO 276,420.58 )

DailyMail : Fulham are in talks to sign Hajsafi

“Fulham are in talks to sign Iranian defender Ehsan Hajsafi and have agreed terms with former Crystal Palace goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly. Hajsafi, 24, represented his country at the World Cup and has more than 60 caps. 

He can play at left-back or in midfield and will cost around £250,000. Kiraly, now 38, is joining from 1860 Munich for a similar fee.”

 – DailyMail Online

Other Team Melli players Mehrdad Pooladi , Masoud Shojaei ,  Reza Haghighi and Ansarifard are still looking for a deal outside Iran

It seems that the elite of Team Melli players have an exceptional ability in selecting relegated, downhill  and struggling teams all across the World as their choice!

 

The List of the Iranian legionnaires so far is follows:

 

Qatar Star League

Mojtaba Jabbari (Al Ahli)

Jalal Hosseini (Al Ahli)

Ashkan Dejagah (Al Arabi)

Pejman Montazeri (Umm Salal)

 

Kuwait First Division 

Reza Ghoochannejad (Al Kuwait)

 

Major League Soccer

Steven Beitashour (Vancouver Whitecaps)

 

Swiss Super League

Daniel Davari (Grasshopper Club Zürich)

 

Russia Premier League

Sardar Azmoun (Rubin Kazan)

AliReza Haghighi (Rubin Kazan) 

 

Spain Segunda Division

Javad Nekounam (Osasuna)

 

Nedtherlands Eerste Divisie

Alireza Jahanbaksh (NEC)

 

 

 

 

Editorial Note.

TeamMelli.com would like to thank all those members who have sent us feedback on the World Cup 2014 coverage. Special thanks and appreciation goes for all those who sent us kind words of support. We appreciate it and as such, this encourages and aspires us to give it our best.

One piece of not so good news is that with the increased popularity of the site, or any site for that matter, it attracts hackers and spammers who are intent to penetrate and inflict damage. That is why we have raised the security level of the site, including registration process, to the maximum. All the security checks are automatically initiated and goes through several levels. There is no manual  process except the log that briefs the administrator on what actions was taken.

Unfortunately, we believe that some genuine cases of registration might have not been accepted or rejected because of this tight security.

For all those genuine people whose registrations were not accepted , especially our compatriots , please try once again. If the registration is denied , you  may send us a feedback so that the staff can manually register the genuine cases.

 

Once again , thank you all for your support, and we hope you enjoy teammelli.com for a long time to come.

Ghoochannejad finally scores in a humiliating defeat.

Reza Ghoochannejad , finally score a goal for his club Al Kuwait  nonetheless in one quite humiliating defeat for his team.

Persipura Jayapura recorded a sensational 6-1 win over defending champions Kuwait Sports Club to become the first Indonesian club to reach the AFC Cup semi-finals. Al Kuwait FC , the defending champion won the first leg 3-2

Ghoochannejhad who played in both legs , had an effort ruled out for offside in the 57th minute but the Iranian would give his side a glimmer of hope when he headed in a cross by Al Enezi eight minutes later.  

Two days after this heavy defeat, Al Kuwait FC sacked their coach. Abdulaziz Hamadah , who was a fervent supporter of Ghoochannejad and with the help of Javad Nekounam , helped secure Ghoochannjed service for Al Kuwait FC.

 

Reza Ghoochannjed has yet to score for his team in the league.

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 football draw

The draws for the men’s and women’s football tournaments at the 2014 Asian Games, to be held in Incheon, South Korea, were made on Thursday . Iran’s U23 team was drawn with Vietnam and Kyrgyzstan in Group H . Iran is coached by Nelo Vingada .

In the men’s tournament all countries will be playing their U-23 sides with 3 over age players allowed for each team.

29 nations were divided into eight groups in the men’s event with five groups of four and three groups of three teams.

The women’s event has 11 teams with two groups of four and one group of three countries and unlike the men, every nation would be fielding their senior national team.

Men’s draw

Group A: Laos, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Korea Republic

Group B: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Uzbekistan

Group C: Tajikistan, Singapore, Palestine, Oman

Group D: Nepal, Iraq, Kuwait, Japan

Group E: Indonesia, Timor Leste, Maldives, Thailand

Group F: Pakistan, China PR, DPR Korea

Group G: UAE, India, Jordan

Group H: Iran, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan

Women’s draw

Group A: South Korea, Thailand, India, Maldives

Group B: Japan, China, Jordan, Chinese Taipei

Group C: North Korea, Vietnam, Hong Kong