Year: 2014

Dejagah wins Fulham fans’ player of the season.

Fulham midfielder Ashkan Dejagah has narrowly been crowned as Fulham fans’ player of the season.

In our London 24 poll – the Iranian star pipped fellow midfield man Steve Sidwell to the gong in low rated contest after a poor season at Craven Cottage.

Dejagah has been one of very few Fulham stars to find their form this season, with crucial goals and assists keeping the west London club in with a chance of survival until the end.

Sidwell has been equally impressive, although with his contract expiring next month; it could be a farewell second place for the 31-year-old.

Goalkeeper David Stockdale claimed third spot after replacing big name summer signing Maarten Stekelenburg between the sticks and showing his best work in tough times.

Stekelenburg finished way down the poll, however above loanee Darren Bent who scored a record low 2.4/10.

Deserters Dimitar Berbatov, Adel Taarabt and Philippe Senderos were also all at the wrong end of the poll with fans clearly not appreciating their efforts.

Below are the results for Fulham’s player of the season poll.

Ashkan Dejagah – 7.6

Steve Sidwell – 7.5

David Stockdale – 7.4

Johnny Heitinga – 6.3

Lewis Holtby – 6.1

Kieran Richardson – 5.9

Team Melli news updates

Vienna

 

After the friendly international games on Sunday where Team Melli drew 0-0 with Belarus, there was a general consensuses  that the Iranian players were physically tired from the intense training. Most of the players interviewed referred to the physical stress on their bodies as one of the reasons that the team was unable to perform better.

Carlos Queiroz has decided to give the team an Off day. All the players went to a shopping spree or sightseeing the beautiful city of Vienna

Ashkan Dejagah finally joined the squad after arrival from London. The only player missing now is Masoud Shojaei whose team Las Palmas is still engaged in the second division of the Spanish league and one of the contenders for promotion. After the completion of the squad , the intense training will continue with two sessions a day. Morning and evening.

Team Melli squad will be moving to a new resident in Stegrsbach which is 140 km south of Vienna.  It is a scenic resort The match against Montenegro will be played in The TSV Hartberg Fußballstadion, at Hartberg (30 km from Stegrsbach ).

The Montenegro FA website has announced the time of the match at 18:30 CET (21:00 Tehran Time).

This is the first time Iran and Montenegro have met.  Montenegro will be the 112th international opponent of Iran since 1941 when Iran played its first international match against Afghanistan.

 

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Images from Belarus game

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Keshi dismisses Argentina, focused on Iran

Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi focusing on Iran first

Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi says his focus at the moment is his opening World Cup match against Iran.

Keshi’s team also play Bosnia-Herzegovina and Argentina, but most of the focus has been on the South American giants.

The Nigeria coach insists that the first game is the most important one of all. “The Argentina game is not important right now,” Keshi said.

“The most important game is against Iran and when I finish playing against Iran and Bosnia then I can have an answer to that.”

Keshi also dismissed injury concerns to his players, claiming he has spoken to them and received assurances.

“There are no injuries. I have called Austin Ejide and he made it clear that he was never injured.

“Ahmed Musa had a minor injury and l spoke to the club doctor who said in two or three weeks he would be fine.

“Musa played in the last minutes for his Russian club in a league game. I called Oduamadi and he dismissed the report of his injury. In fact he told that he had a match that same day, so I don’t know where all these rumours emanated from.

“But we will assess everyone very well when they come for the training camp.”

Teymourian “The problems at Team Melli can be resolved”

In a brief statement to FFIRI website, Andranik “Ando” Teymourian commenting on the Sunday match against Belarus, said “We had a few problems in the defense and forward lines in that match, but none of it is of any serious nature. They can be resolved. ”

The Esteghlal midfielder who is in camp in Austria with his teammates said “”From nearly 90 days, we have been doing intense physical training focused on improving the body, stamina and endurance. This is a demanding process that puts the body under pressure.”

“This is the second serious test since our qualification. I believe that the players have done their best in these two matches.” Added Teymourian , who is a key player for the team.

Iran played a goal-less draw against Belarus on Sunday May 18th .

Teymourian then commented on the attendance at the match “I feel so proud seeing all these Iranian fans at such venues. I like to sincerely thank the Iranian community in Austria that have given us so much support and encouragement. “

“Belarus is a good team and plays at the highest level of football in Europe (…) . Their physical condition was high. We are trying quite hard to reach an optimum physical level. In the match yesterday , we had a couple of good chances to score , but we wasted them.”

Meanwhile Mohammad Reza Khalatbary reflected on the match and basically repeated the same on the conditions of the players.

“We have tried our best , but we were tired after such long and demanding training”

Asked if he is satisfied with his own performance , Persepolis winger responded  “It is the coach that should be asked if I was good enough or not. I tried my best.”

With less than a month to the first match, the two players’ statements are slightly worrying. It seems that all this time spent in training, the focus was on physical conditions of the player and less emphasis on tactics. Despite what Teymourian claimed about Belarus, they are far from top European side with a FIFA ranking of 83 and that was evident in their match against Team Melli. Although , Team Melli was not playing at full strength, it could only create 2 or 3 serious scoring chances against Belarus.

Teymourian did not elaborate on the solutions at hand, and did not comment on the forthcoming match against Montenegro, which is currently the highest ranking Team that Iran will met in the preparation before the World Cup standing at # 54.  Iran next opponents for test matches will be Angola (FIFA Rank #94)  and finally Trinidad and Tobago. (FIFA Rank #74)

Iran - Belarus May 2014 [1]

Team Melli and Belarus draw blank

Team Melli played a goalless draw against Belarus in its first match in the Austrian training camp. A good number of Iranian supporters were at hand in Franz-Fekete-Stadion Kapfenberg, Austria to cheer the team compromising of mixed experience.

Mehdi Sharifi won his first cap as Queiroz started him against Belarus and the young Sepahan striker did not disappoint as he combined well with Karim Ansarifard up front.

Much of the play was limited in the middle of the field as neither of the goalkeepers had to sweat in the match until minute 28. Mohammadreza Khalatbary was in a position to put Iran ahead when he was in the 6 yard box ,  he dribbled his only marker to face the goalkeeper, but the pacy winger shot straight at the goalkeeper wasting a glorious chance.

The rest of the half was uneventful with Andranik Teymourian displaying a commanding role in the middle of the field.
haghighi-belarus
The second half went the same as the first showing very much that this is a warm up match. In the 65th minute , Queiroz decided to have 4 substitutions to enhance the offensive power of the team. The result was nearly instantaneous as 3 of the subbed players combined to put Alireza Jahanbakhsh  only a few feet from the Belarus Goalkeeper. The NEC forward , decided to lob the ball instead of shooting past him, a move that made the keeper job easier as he grabbed the ball.

Ansarifard--vs-Belarus

Minute later , Bakhtiyar Rahmani found himself in a scoring position from a perfect cross by Heydari , but this ball was also wasted because of the wrong option. Rahmani decided to head the ball rather than control it and shoot.

After those two chances, the match went into its earlier pace with neither of the teams creating any serious scoring chances.

 

BELARUS vs. IRAN

0 – 0

Franz-Fekete-Stadion Kapfenberg, Austria

IRAN

Alireza HAGHIGHI ; Pejman MONTAZERI , Mehrdad POOLADI, AmirHossein SADEGHI, Hossein MAHINI (65′ Mohammadreza KHANZADEH), Andranik TEYMOURIAN (75′ Javad NEKOUNAM), Ghassim HADDADIFAR (65′ AliReza JAHANBAKHSH), Reza HAGHIGHI , MohamadReza KHALATBARY (65′ Bakhtiyar RAHMANI,
Mehdi SHARIFI ( 65′ Khosrow HEYDARI) , Karim ANSARIFARD (80′  Ehsan HAJSAFY)

Kaffashian reveals “Rahmati did in fact write an apology letter!”

Shiraz.

Ali Kaffashian in a gathering at Shiraz university students, responding to demands and explanation of why Seyed Mehdi Rahmati was not selected for Team Melli, admitted that the goalkeeper has in fact written a letter of apology regretting his action.

“Mehdi Rahmati, has admitted his shortcoming and wrote a brief letter to us expressing his regret and apology. I , in the presence of Ayatollahei and Mansourian, gave this letter personally to Queiroz. However , he (Queiroz) did not accept the letter and insisted that Rahamti should have written the apology letter 3 times and in three separate sentences !!!” Kaffashian explained.

Rahmati , born in Shiraz , is quite a popular player in Fars province where he started his football career at the Shirazi club Fajr Sepasi. It was from there that he was first selected for Team Melli U-23 before his transfer to Sepahan and then Esteghlal. There has been reports that Ayatollahei , the vice-president of FFIRI who is himself from Shiraz , was severely criticized for his weak character and inability to protect Rahmati against what the local fans deem to be Queiroz vengeance.

Carlos Queiroz has recently indicated that he will consider Rahmati for selection right after the World Cup. It is not even certain that Queiroz will be the coach by then , but his rejection of the apology letter seemed to be nothing short of a draconian act.

Shehab Gordan, Mehdi Rahmati and Alireza Haghighi
Shehab Gordan, Mehdi Rahmati and Alireza Haghighi

In the same meeting , the head of FFIRI estimated that between 4000 to 5000 tickets will been sold for all Team Melli fans of which only 1500 were purchased by fans in Iran.

Responding to a question on Queiroz’s future with Team Melli , Kaffashian said that “currently , Queiroz and his coaching team cost the federation 8 billion Toman (USD 3,130,400  at official rate). For the new contract , Queiroz has demanded twice that value , which is beyond the capability of the FFIRI.”  Kaffashian said that out of contract value , Queiroz was personally receiving  USD 1.5. Queiroz new demand is 2 million Euros !”  It is not clear why Kaffashian is mentioning 3 different currencies in his statements , perhaps to confuse the audience!.

The expatriate Iranian footballers have the same right and we are proud of them.”

In a question about the insistence of Queiroz in using expatriate Iranians players ,  Kaffashian defended that by saying that “These players are as Iranians as the rest of  us. There are millions of Iranians in the world who are not necessarily residing in Iran. Our industries have used the expertise of many expatriate Iranian scientists to an excellent level , the result of which was a source of pride for the nation. The expatriate Iranian footballers have the same right and we are proud of them.”

 

On the question of maintenance cost of Team Melli , Kaffashian said “Approximately 15 to 20 billion Toman ( USD 7.8 million) was spent on the last 1 and half years on the team. We receive USD 3 to USD million from the AFC , while FIFA will be depositing USD 8 million after the World Cup.”

On the controversy associated with Team Melli kits, Kaffashian said “In the last six years , we had no official sponsorship from the world major sporting kit manufacturers. All of them feared the consequences of associating with us because of the economical sanctions.  We explored some Chinese and Italian companies, but they were not up to the standard, until we  struck a deal with UHLsport. The German company , is not willing to continue because the non-existence of patent and copyright laws in Iran and its inability to obtain permission to open a representative office in Iran.”

Team Melli to meet Belarus in Austria.

Team Melli’s will be meeting Belarus in its first friendly match of the Austrian camp conducted in preparation for the FIFA World Cup 2014. The match  will be held on Sunday Afternoon at 14:00 local time (16:30 Tehran times) in Franz Fekete Stadium .

This is the second international practice match of Team Melli since the first game against Guinea which Iran lost (1-2). That match was played 73 days ago in Azadi stadium.

Despite the low ranking of Belarus ( # 83 in the World), Iran players can expect a better and more appropriate experience as the result of the type of football that Belarus plays which is close enough to the Bosnian style of play. In general this type of football is played right across Eastern Europe.

The majority of Belarus national team players are home based playing in the domestic league with only a few making their living in Russia.
in Austria Team Melli will play two more games against Montenegro and Angola. The only international game in the South Africa camp was cancelled , however , Team Melli played against 4 club sides , which was far from ideal as the declared objective of Queiroz was to get familiarized with the way that Nigeria plays. Those South African Clubs offered nothing like the style of Nigeria national team.

Iran and Belarus have met twice before. In 2003, in Minsk Belarus won 2-1  while in 2007 the teams drew 2-2 in Tehran

Rahman Ahmadi

The dilemma of Iran goalkeeping selection.

The most taxing selection for Carlos Queiroz must be the goalkeeper. Even if Team Melli coach does not admit it in public, the 4 goalkeepers that have accompanied him to Austria training camp are far from optimum in experience, current form , dependability, and/or reliability.

Starting with Sousha Makani , with a grand total of two caps both in meaningless friendly games, Makani has an acute lack of experience at international level. However, Foolad Khuzestan keeper’s eccentric character and temperament can be a serious liability for the team. Only yesterday , Makani conceded two goals in the quarter finals of the AFC League Champion , both of which were due to elementary mistakes that has no place in a stage like the World Cup.

Sousha Makani

Daniel Davari , is another young goalkeeper who has just been relegated to the second division of the German Bundesliga. The young German/Iranian keeper has 3 caps so far which is paltry for any player to be given a major role in his team in the World Cup. Like Makani , Davari has yet to show a strong performance to ease the worries of the fans. His two soft goal conceded in Azadi against Guinea in Iran’s last friendly international. left the local Iranian fans awe struck as they were under impression that they were witnessing another legend in the class of Nasser Hejazi. Davari’s poor form was again witnessed in the match against Bayer Munich in the Bundesliga, a game which was televised in Iran for the fans to see yet another disappointing performance from the young promising keeper. So , neither the experience , nor his current form gives the fans the confidence in Daniel Davari’s ability to deliver. It will take anything between an insane person or a very brave coach to start with Davari in the goal comes June the 16th.

sqd-Davari2013

Reza Haghighi , is another mysterious selection for Queiroz. A selection that defies the coaches text book.Hardly anyone in Iran can claim that they have seen Haghghi actually play competitive football match for a longtime. He was transferred to Rubin Kazan in the Russiain league in 2012 were he never managed to win a regular place and was a reserve goalkeeper for the whole season. Next season the Russian club loaned him to his original Club Persepolis. Yet again, Haghighi was second fiddle to the superb Brazilin keeper, Nelson.  Alireza Haghighi’s frustration with being reserve created a few headaches in the team which forced Ali Daei , Persepolis coach to send him back to Russia. Rubin Kazan already had their quota of goalkeepers for the season so they searched around but could not find him anything better than a loan to a second division Portuguese club  Sporting da Covilhã. And wallla, Alireza Haghghi is immediately picked for Team Melli by Queiroz to the astonishment of the critics and the media!.

Neither the form of Haghighi , (admittedly he did play 14 games for his club !) ,  the method of his selection or his experience at international level (4 caps) , can qualify him for being the regular starter for Team Melli.

sqd-HaghighiARi2013

That leaves the last one in Rahman Ahmadi. This goalkeeper was always in the fringes of team Melli for years. However, he was sparingly selected but his real break came with Mehdi Rahmati’s un-ceremonial farewell last year. When Queiroz called upon him at a crucial stage  of World Cup qualifiers, the Sepahan goalkeeper did not disappoint. He has 10 caps, 8 of it won as recent as 2013-14 season, however he remains undoubtedly the best choice in experience and form. His age and demeanor of being a calm character can also play a vital role in commanding his defense line.

Nonetheless, the no 1 goalkeeper for Sepahan & Team Melli, suddenly found himself on the bench in the last few matches of the season for his club , giving way to the second fiddle an ex-Team Melli keeper Shehab Gordan !

With one experienced goalkeeper, even though he has 10 caps which is meagre at international level, this position is one major headache for Carlos Queiroz.  The Portuguese coach has always been a guarded person and a staunch believer in solid defense. Between the woodwork, his options are limited at this stage. Queiroz might rue the fact that he overlooked the most experienced goalkeeper in Iran, Mehdi Rahmati at such crucial stage. Perhaps diplomacy and leniency added to a bit of tolerance and forgiveness would have gone a long way to ease some of the goalkeeping worries for the World Cup.

Only time will tell.

goalkeeprs training in Austria

Iran head coach Carlos Queiroz fumes as infighting leaves his squad woefully underprepared

Former Real Madrid manager, whose side face Argentina, Bosnia and Nigeria in Group F, admits: “We will not make it to the next round.”

World Cup 2014: Iran head coach Carlos Queiroz fumes as infighting leaves his squad woefully underprepared

Caught in the middle: Carlos Queiroz looks on as Iranian players are put through their paces, belatedly Photo: AFP
James Montague

By James Montague, World Cup Nation, Iran

The Telegraph

12:00PM BST 14 May 2014

There were no fans, no penalty areas painted on to the grass and no referee but on Apr 22 the Iran national team’s 5-0 success over South African club Moroka Swallows in Johannesburg was still a victory. And they have come at a premium this year.

Carlos Queiroz’s Iran team are currently on a warm-weather training camp in South Africa to prepare Team Melli for arguably the toughest pool of the tournament: Group F which includes Lionel Messi’s Argentina, African champions Nigeria and dark horses Bosnia. But little has gone right so far.

Only 11 home-based players arrived in South Africa after a club-versus-country row erupted between Iran’s top clubs and the federation. The camp coincided with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League, the region’s premier club competition. Esteghlal and Sepahan Isfahan both refused to release their players called up to squad, forcing Queiroz to release the players from Foolad and Tractor Sazi who were also in the Champions League but had let their players go.

The first test for the patched-up team was Moroka Swallows who are currently 12th in the South African Premier League. “Our main goal was not to get a good result in this friendly match,” Queiroz said after the game. “We wanted to identify the weak and strong links of our team. We will continue fitness training to get players in good shape.”

The lack of support from Iran’s top clubs has added to a sense that Iran won’t be going in to the finals with anywhere near the quality of preparation to equip Team Melli to play against three of the stronger teams at the tournament. Friendlies have been hard to come by. Iran lost to Guinea back in early March and their next match was planned against Mozambique – the modern-day country of Queiroz’s birth – which had been brought forward five days to May 2 after the Iranian Federation decided to leave South Africa early.

Iranian fans – certainly those who have replied to my previous posts – point to the federation’s lack of money (and ineptitude) for the paucity of top-level opponents, rather than the country’s pariah status. Yet there is a danger that Iran will be heading to Brazil the least prepared of all the finalists.

“With such arrangement and program failures, don’t expect much from Team Melli in Brazil. We will not make it to the next round because of the failure of the South Africa Camp,” Queiroz said in a TV interview, according to Teammelli.com (an outstanding resource for Iranian football news in English) after a 3-3 draw with the Orlando Pirates.

Queiroz was not happy with the chaos surrounding the team and the lack of support from Iran’s top domestic teams. He continued: “It was a decision made by the Minister of Youth and Sport and the head of the football federation to go ahead with the camp. I am only a coach here. So all those who disregarded the instructions and refused to release the players have actually disrespected the minister.

“Even up to our departure time, we did not know if those players will be joining us or not. This training camp was vital for the team’s prospect. We came here to prepare the players to play against African teams. I did not come here for leisure.”

Such are the travails of international football far away from mega sponsorship deals and star-filled Nike adverts that even getting the right kit and paying the excess baggage has been an issue for Iran.Teammelli.com also reported that Queiroz went on to complain about Iran’s official kit provider UHLSport for issuing only one set of tracksuits for players for three weeks. “We paid $30,000 for our excess baggage, we could have bought more kits for our players’ training instead,” Queiroz said.

The full team won’t be assembled until after Europe’s seasons have ended. Queiroz’s reign has been characterised by the number of foreign-born or foreign-raised players being drafted in, the likes of Ashkan Dejagah and Reza Ghoochannejhad in particular being notable success stories. But Iran’s disastrous training camp has highlighted not just the problems Iran has getting a game but also the worsening relationship between Queiroz and the Iranian federation.

Without explanation, the Mozambique friendly was abruptly cancelled too. The head of the Iranian federation later explained that Queiroz had himself taken the decision. The cancellation means that Iran will have played one friendly this year before the end of the season. “I am sorry if I sound negative and despondent,” Queiroz said. “But if I do not say these things, then we will not get any support.” Nigeria and Bosnia, the two teams likely to battle it out for second place in the group, must be rubbing their hands with glee.

Ex-Team Melli coach Branko Ivankovic on demand by Tractorsazi

Issue 450 million USD;
Tractorsazi football club officials are planning a meet with the former head coach of Iranian national football team and negotiate a contract bringing the Croat coach back to Iran to coach the club from Tabriz.
 

Mehr news agency reported, from the Tractorsazi Club website: The club officials had a positive and constructive conversation with the ex Team Melli coach and based on his background and experience in Iran with 2 succesful stints , the first priority for TRACTORSAZI eill be Mr. Branko IVANKOVIC.

The Croat coach has already expressed his interest towards the tractor coaching position and is ready to come to Tabriz, however there is an outstanding problem in the way of this recruitment. Ivankovic has a tax debt of 450 million toman outstanding since the days he was working in Iran. The money had to be paid by the Football Federation but after 2006 World Cup , and the removal of Dadkan , the new administration did not fulfil the contractual obligation and the tax remained unpaid.

 

Jamshid Nazmi , Managing Director of Tractorsazi Club has proposed a plan to solve this problem. He has stated that this amount would be paid by the club’ to the Ministry of Finance on the condition that the footfall federation repays the amount in several payment during the season. If the FFIRI refused , then Tractorsazi has to look elswher for a coach.

Branko Ivankovic served as Assistance coach during Blazevic coaching era, then as head coach before  from April 2002 to September 2002, his second time round as a head coach started 12-Oct-2003 21-Jun-2006 when he qualified Iran to the World Cup 2006 Germany.