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Team Melli news

Burkina Faso National football team has arrived in Kish Island last night from their Base training in Dubai to face host Iran in a friendly international match as both teams are preparing for their respective challenge in their top continental championship, AFCON and AFC Asian Cup.

Team Melli has been training for the two days in the resort island under the the supervision of the coaching staff headed by Amir Ghalenoei. All the selected players are available while Javad Hosseinnejad, the young Sepahan player has been dropped from the list of the 27 nominated playas due to the competition rules limiting each squad to 26 players.

Both Iran and Burkina Faso are among the top contenders for the title of their respective tournaments.

Meanwhile, it is reported that Ramin Rezaeian, who is suffering a slight knock and currently under physiotherapy, has agreed terms with Al-Wasl Club of Dubai to play in the UAE league. According to the agreement, Rezaeian will join Al Wasl in the winter transfer window and thus he will start as soon as the AFC Asian Cup is over, depending how far will Team Melli go in the premiere competition.

There are no injuries reported at the Team Melli camp. Apart from Rezaeian, there no medical cases that might hinder the participation of any players. Ramin Rezaeian injury is minor. He might even make the match with Burkina Faso if Ghalenoei feels confident enough to involve him.

The fans and Kish island community has embraced Team Melli squad quite passionately. Although the squad is under strict curfew, there are always large group of fans around the Camp hoping to have a glimpse of their heroes.

Age factor in AFC Asian Cup 2023

It is hardly surprising that Team Melli, one of the contenders for lifting the AFC Asian Cup, has the highest average age among the teams who are also laying a claim for the prestigious continental title.

The AFC Asian Cup 2023, which was originally scheduled to be held in China, will instead start in Qatar in a fortnight after a year delay as Iran will take on Palestine in its first match.

Japan, Australia, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia in addition to Iran are traditionally among the strongest contenders for the championship in Asia, while Uzbekistan and host Qatar, can be included among the contenders. In the 27-man list that Amir Ghalenoei has published, there are a few names added, but it is doubtful if any one of them will feature in the upcoming matches.

Team Melli will only have a cosmetic change as the structure has remained quite exclusive since the 2018 World Cup until today. In fact, two aging players Omid Ebrahimi and Karim Ansarifard are part of the squad after being out for some time.

Much has been said about the aging Team Melli and the reluctance of Ghalenoei to introduce younger and promising players on the pretense of a shortage of time! however, it is interesting to compare the average age of other teams to find if younger age claims translate to success.

There is no doubt that Japan is the team to beat in this tournament. They have the strongest and most feared team that has beaten the likes of Germany amongst many other teams. Among these seven top contenders, the Japanese national football team is the youngest average age of 25.1 years. Uzbekistan is 25.68 years, Saudi Arabia is the third with 26 years and Australians follow at 26.15, while South Korea has an average age of 27.8 and Qatar with an average of 27.9 years (see table below)

The average age of the players of the Iranian national team is 28.6 years, which is the highest compared to the other five contenders.

Amir Ghalenoei once again has drawn the line on the names of young players, including Mohammad Amin Hizbavi, Abolfazl Jalali, Allahyar Sayadmanesh, Saeed Saharkhizan, and others, preferring experienced and seasoned players. Although the age of players is one factor for a victorious team, it is by no means the only factor.

It has been a tradition amongst the Iranian coaches to stick to a group of few players that they can rely on. That is painfully clear at club levels, however, at the international level within a short period where the teams play an average of a game every three or four days, that could become a liability, especially with older players who do not have the energy to be involved in intense competitions.

#TeamAverage Age23 & below30 & above
1Japan25.182
2Uzbekistan25.6885
3Saudi Arabia2694
4Australia26.1568
5Korea Rep.27.8410
6Qatar27.9312
7Iran28.6312
Players Average Age

Team Melli will be facing a tough test vs. Burkina Faso.

The land-locked West African team, the 125th team facing Iran in a few days in Kish Island. The team is preparing for the AFCON 2023 is just a few days away. A competition that brings together the best African nations in Côte d’Ivoire. For this 34th edition, Burkina Faso could pull out all the stops. Having finished fourth at the last edition, the Etalons have a strong case for claiming the title in Côte d’Ivoire.

What if the AFCON 2023 was for Burkina Faso? In 12 participations, the Etalons have never managed to lift the continental trophy. Bertrand Traoré’s team-mates could be in for a 13th appearance. Lodged in Group D with Mauritania, Algeria, and Angola, the Etalons could well come out on top.

One final and three semi-finals at AFCON

Burkina Faso can dream of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. Semi-finalists on their first appearance in 1998, the Etalons were so close to this goal in 2013 when they reached the final. Unfortunately, they came up against the Nigeria of the late Stephen Keshi. The Super Eagles won by the slimmest of margins (1-0). Since then, Burkina Faso has been doing their best to make it onto the list of winners of this prestigious competition. They reached the semi-finals twice, in 2017 and 2021. Although they have yet to win the competition, the Etalons have gained experience that will stand them in good stead in Côte d’Ivoire.

Bertrand Traoré with his lieutenant Dango Ouatara

If Burkina Faso are to win the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, they will need formidable strikers capable of making the difference. Bertrand Traoré remains the number 1 attacking weapon in the Burkina Faso squad. For his 4th  AFCON, the Etalons captain is hoping to finally win the trophy. African U17 champion and 5th all-time top scorer with 17 goals, the man with 74 caps will be the spearhead of the Burkinabe attack. Bertrand Traoré will not be alone in this quest. He will be supported by young strikers such as Dango Ouatara. A mute performer for his club this season, Dango Ouattara remains decisive for his country. The Bournemouth striker contributed to his side’s qualification for the competition by scoring four goals, including a brace against Eswatini (3-1).

Impressive in Cameroon, Kaboré and Touré to confirm?

Issa Kaboré and Blati Touré made their mark at the 2021 edition. Kaboré rode his right flank for miles. Stunning and unstoppable, Issa Kaboré was impressive defensively and offensively. Best decisive passer of the tournament with four goals, and he was awarded the trophy for the best young talent of the competition. And what about Blati Touré, who was undoubtedly one of the best relay midfielders at the AFCON 2021? Thanks to his touch and passing ability, he delighted Cameroon. The Etalons midfielder was also unstoppable in duels. It’s not for nothing that he was voted “Man of the Match” three times at the AFCON 2021. Like Bertrand Traoré and Dango Ouattara, these two players are hoping to take Burkina Faso to the top in Côte d’Ivoire.

Reinforcements in the Defensive Sector

For this  AFCON 2023, Hubert Velud has called up 27 players. And 11 Etalons will be making their AFCON debut. In particular, the French coach has reinforced his defensive line with a number of nuggets who will back up Edmond Tapsoba. Promising novices who could contribute to Burkina Faso’s final victory.

The player to watch: Edmond Tapsoba

Edmond Tapsoba is a right-footed defender known for his sense of anticipation, maturity, heading and recovery. He is also very rarely booked – a very key quality.  

His ‘clean’ play on the pitch brings a certain serenity to his defense posture. His good game reading, effective positioning, and excellent heading allow him to intercept numerous balls and cut off most of the opposing offensive plays. 

Thanks to his technical quality, he makes good restarts. He is very fast which is rare for a central defender, and he is blessed with a powerful shot. Tapsoba has no difficulty projecting himself forward when the game requires it.

Ghalenoei “We will build a younger team for the World Cup”

Amir Ghalenoei, Team Melli head coach, briefly commented on the status of the squad preparing for the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023, saying: “Fortunately, the team’s conditions are very good. Those players who were worthy, in our opinion, were invited to the national team with different tactical thoughts. Let’s talk in a more detailed program. Considering the short time until the Asian Cup, a short-term plan was drawn up for this purpose but the longer-term plan is to prepare the team for the World Cup with younger players. Other players deserved to be in the squad, but due to the limitation on the number of players we could select, we decided on this list.”

“We went through the list meticulously to finalize these 26 players,” Ghalenoei said.

on the friendly match versus Burkina Faso, he said “Burkina Faso is ranked 57th in FIFA ranking and sitting close to Saudi Arabia. It is a very good team. I noticed some people criticized the selection of that team. Of course, every team we play with will be criticized. We can test our two tactics against them and it will be a serious test. I thank the officials of Kish for paying for this game. I ask all my loved ones to put aside all love and hatred in this month. One day is Amir Ghalenoei, one day is Mr. Queiroz and one day is Mr. Ghotbi. It is important to support the national team at this time. We do everything we can.”

Ghalenoei then went on a rant about patriotism and how everyone should be quiet and just support the team without any criticism.

Like his predecessors, Ghalenoei as a Head Coach is no exception when it comes to being criticized and loathing towards those media that point out his shortfalls. It seems that he is mostly affected by the severe criticism of his aging squad both in the online media and the social media. His claim about building a younger team after the Asian Cup is perhaps a small token of admission that with such an aging team that he picked up for the Asian Cup, the oldest amongst the main contenders for the Asian Cup, it will be that much more difficult to achieve success.

Asian Cup squad announced

After the latest round of the Persian Gulf League matches, Amir Ghalemoei announced the squad for the upcoming AFC Asian Cup 2024 that will be gathering in Kish for the initial training and a friendly international match versus Burkina Faso.

some significant names that did not make the list are: Ahmad Nourollahi, Ali Karimi, Morteza Pouraligangi, and Mehrdad Mohammadi

the squad

Alireza Beiranvand (Persepolis), Payam Niazmand (Sepahan), Hossein Hosseini (Esteghlal)

Defenders:
Milad Mohammadi (AEK Athens), Ehsan Hajisafi (AEK Athens), Ramin Rezaeian (Sepahan), Sadegh Moharrami (Dinamo Zagreb), Saman Fallah (Peykan), Rouzbeh Cheshmi (Esteghlal), Arya Yousefi (Sepahan), Shojaa Khalilzadeh (Tractor), Hossein Kananizadegan (Persepolis) , Majid Hosseini (Kayserispor)

Midfielders:
Javad Hosseinejad (Sepahan), Rozbeh Cheshmi (Esteghlal), Saeid Ezatolahi (Vejle Boldklub), Omid Ebrahimi (Al Shamal), Saman Ghoddos (Brentford), Ali Gholizadeh (Lech Poznan), Mohammad Mohebbi (Rostov), Mehdi Torabi (Persepolis), Alireza Jahanbakhsh (Feyenoord)

Forwards:
Shahriar Moghanlou (Sepahan), Mehdi Taremi (Porto), Sardar Azmoun (Roma), Mehdi Ghayedi (Ittihad Kalbaa), Reza Asadi (Sepahan) , Karim Ansarifard (Apollon)

Team Melli announces the preparation plan.

  • A training camp is arranged in Kish Island
  • A friendly match against Burklina Faso is arranged in Kish.

According to the plans made public by the Football Federation, Team Melli team will hold its camp in Kish on January 4th. During the camp, the Iran team will play its last match before traveling to Qatar to take part in the AFC Asian Cup. The match will be held on Friday, January 5th at the Kish Olympics stadium against Burkina Faso national team.
This team is currently training in Dubai. The game at Kish Island will be held at 18:00 Iran time. After this match, the squad will continue training in Kish until January 8th when they will fly to Doha well ahead of the first match against Palestine.

Team Melli will be gathering in Kish without the legionnaire players unless some of these clubs release the players early.

Burkina Faso national football team

This African Team has never played against Team Melli. The FIFA Ranking of Burkina Faso national football team ranks 57th in the world according to the latest FIFA rankings, higher than teams like Qatar, Finland, and Ireland. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is 56th in this ranking and Iran is 21st.

Almost all the players of the national team play abroad with European and African clubs to a lesser extent. Perhaps the most famous player is the 28-year-old Bertrand Traoré who plays for the English Premier League side, Aston Villa. Two other players are also playing in the EPL, Dango Ouattara at Bournemouth and Issa Kaboré at Luton Town.

Burkina Faso has never qualified for the FIFA World but the country’s football took a significant stride in the new millennium with the team reaching the African Nations Cup several times and ending the tournament in Senegal in 2021 in the fourth rank. Their best-ever position was the runner-up in 2013 in South Africa.

Last 5 results

12/09/23FRIMorocco1 – 0Burkina FasoL
13/10/23FRIEquatorial Guinea0 – 0Burkina FasoD
17/10/23FRIMauritania1 – 2Burkina FasoW
17/11/23CWCBurkina Faso1 – 1Guinea-BissauD
21/11/23CWCEthiopia0 – 3Burkina FasoW

Awaiting Team Melli’s squad list.

With just a few days to the new year and a fortnight to go for the AFC Asian Cup 2023 Qatar, Team Melli is experiencing an eerie silence. The players are carrying out their club duties with mixed fortune in Iran and abroad, while the coaching staff is busy analyzing the performance of the same players over and over again, in a vain attempt to find something encouraging.

Although Ghalenoei claimed that Team Melli is open to all suitable Iranian players, the truth remains that he is not looking anywhere beyond the 30-odd players that he inherited from Carlos Queiroz despite being short of a year now in charge of Team Melli.

A certain unreliable, Mohammad Nabi has claimed that Team Melli will have a couple or more preparatory friendly matches before the team departs to Doha, including a friendly with Japan and Indonesia, but apart from his claim we could not see anything to substantiate that.

There has been no statement or progress report from the Team Melli camp about the immediate plan with two weeks left. The domestic league is being played as normal and the competition is heating up, which is a good omen for Team Melli members playing in Iran.

In Europe,  the progress of the Iranians is mixed. Taremi is back on the scoring trail, Azmun is still a bench player coming in the latter stages of matches with AS Roma and managing to score a solitary goal so far, and Alireza Jahanbakhsh’s days with Feyenoord is coming to an end as the club is not willing to renew his contract and is still a benchwarmer in the Eredivisie. Saman Ghoddos has found himself in a new role at Brentford and he is not doing a bad job either. He is proving to be a versatile footballer now that he has played in all three outfield posts in competitions.

Ali Gholizadeh is not doing too great in the Polish league with Lech Poznan playing a total of 4 matches since the start of the league and now he has been relegated to the second ties team of the Polish league. Saeid Ezatolahi is in Denmark, and his form has been fluctuating and that is evident in his club Vejle BK sitting at the bottom of the league and facing relegation.

The two players in Turkey, Ali Karimi, and Majid Hosseini are in a much better situation as both seem to be regular starters and their team is ranked 4th in the Turkish Super League.

One significant player who will probably miss selection for the Team Melli squad for the Asian Cup is Allahyar Sayyadmanesh, a player who was beaming with confidence and was a star in the Ukraine league, but his transfer to England with Hull has been going from bad to worse. Similar to Sayyadmanesh, it seems that Mehdi Ghaeydi another young Iranian player with so much promise, is not going to make it either despite showing a reasonable standard in the UAE league.

The squad name should be published soon, but no one should be under any illusion that new names will added to the 30-year-old players that have played together and dominated Team Melli since FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia.

Jahanbakhsh to leave Feyenoord

Alireza Jahanbakhsh, the Feyenoord and Team Melli winger, who has been suffering a form dip recently in his club is being put on the list of unwanted players. Jahanbakhsh also suffered a short-term injury followed by FIFA Day which put him away from the club commitments

The Feyenoord head coach Arne Slot has not been impressed by Janhanbksh this season, despite a promising start after his transfer from Brighton & Hove Albion of the English Premier League.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh is one of very few Iranians who play professional football in Europe, he is considered the third-best-rated Iranian legionnaire player after Taremi (Porto) and Azmoun (AS Roma). However, this player has failed to show any encouraging form both at the club and national levels for some time now. He has been disappointing at Team Melli games, and even more so regularly at Feyenoord. Lately, he has been a bench player for the Ervivisie club.

According to “MSN” the player has no place in the “Arne Slot” plans and will leave this team soon, most probably during the winter break in January. The article states: The contract of this Iranian player with Feyenoord is about to expire, and the managers and technical staff of this team are not willing to renew the contract with Jahanbakhsh, and soon this game will be close to the exit doors of Feyenoord. Jahanbakhsh’s contract was such that he could extend his contract for another season with the consent of the Ervivisie club managers, but they were not willing to do so. Jahanbakhsh arrived at Feyenoord in 2021 with a contract worth one million euros from Brighton, England, and last summer he received several offers from other teams, but he preferred to stay loyal to his contract with Feyenoord and had the dream of playing in the European Champions League. Now the adventure of this 30-year-old player in the Netherlands is about to end.

TOP IRANIAN LEGIONNAIRES IN EUROPE

Mehdi Taremi
Sardar Azmoun
Alireza Jahanbkhsh
Saman Ghoddos
Ehsan Hajsafy
Milad Mohammadi

Failure of Persepolis typifies poor standards in Iran

The Iranian league champions Persepolis, failed to qualify to the last 8 /round of 16 of the AFC Asian Champions League 2023/24 after a home defeat to Al-Duhail of Qatar by a score of 2-1. Stopping its point tally at 8, was not good enough to be amongst the best 3 second placed teams of the Weste Asia zone of the Champions League.

Sepahan, however, qualified despite the defeat in the final round against Ittihad to be the only Iranian team in the round of 16 joining all 4 Saudi teams, 2 from Uzbekistan, and 1 from UAE. Persepolis under Yahya Golmohammadi and Nassaji Mazendran under Mehdi Rahmati, Iran’s two other representatives, did not make it.

This qualification pretty much sums up the poor and controversial local league of Iran. Lifeless and boring matches filled with time-wasting, faking injuries, and the customary players protest against referees, poor officiating, lousy coaching typically from the Iranian coaches who excel in creative excuses for their low standards, and chaotic management at the club level all cumulated to producing a poor league that is nowhere near the standards displayed by other Persian Gulf clubs. The only positive of Iran’s league is the passionate fans who still flock to the stadiums to watch their beloved teams.

Football has deteriorated in standard for many years in Iran. It is not a shock that only one team out of three qualified and even then, not at the top of the group but by being one of the best second-placed teams. This poor league standard will surely be reflected in Team Melli which is currently the oldest team in Asia, perhaps even the world, with the same names bar slight changes, being recalled to the Team time and time again. There is a lack of exciting players, even the new players called to Team Melli are near their thirties!

No single reason can be pinpointed for this downfall with opinions differing on which factors are the worst. In our view, the prime and the most vital reason for Iran’s football decline is the worsening standard of management as more and more ex-generals of Sepah, Pasdaran, and other military establishments are rewarded on their retirement and loyalty to the regime by being appointed to run football clubs and federations. On the other side, those in the know and capable of doing the job are sidelined or neglected.

There is another element that is seldom mentioned in the media and that is corruption. It has reached an alarming and dangerous levels. It is a pandemic that the mainstream Iranian-controlled media is actively and purposely trying to disguise and cover-up.

Due to political and economic reasons, the Iranian coaches are unable to learn from the best in the world. They do not attend international seminars or workshops. There is no strategy to train the trainers by the FFIRI or the clubs. The coaches are self-taught, lacking many basic skills of modern football coaching that prepares the fundamental of a good coach. Many have a terrible attitude as well, which makes it even worse coaching a club and setting bad examples for the players. Only a very few like Hashemian and Mahdavikia have been trained professionally to be coaches, however, none of them are active in Iran’s football as we speak.

In Team Melli right now, the coaching staff are mostly selected based on nepotism rather than competency, knowledge, and skills. This is also repeated at most club’s levels, except for Sepahan and Tractor. It is a no-brainer to pick the best coach in Iran’s domestic league and he is not Iranian. The Portuguese. Jose Morais has an impressive CV, and skills, in addition to excellent attitude, and competency to lead Sepahan into the round of 16 of the AFC Asian Championship. Perhaps the other Iranian coaches should learn from him, notably how he gives playing time to young and talented players to perform at the highest levels of competitions, something Iranian coaches barely dare to do.

Queiroz out of a job after Qatar sacking.

Former head coach of Team Melli, Carlos Queiroz has parted company with Qatar’s national team less than a year after signing a four-year contract to coach the Asian champions and with little more than a month until the nation hosts the Asian Cup, with Marquez Lopez named as his replacement.

The former Real Madrid and Portugal head coach took over as the long-term replacement for Felix Sanchez in February after the Qataris hosted last year’s World Cup finals and was charged with qualifying the Gulf state for the 2026 tournament.

The Qatar Football Association has announced that Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz’s tenure as head coach of the Qatar national team has ended amicably by mutual agreement between the two parties,” the QFA said in a statement.

“The QFA expresses its sincere gratitude to coach Queiroz for his unwavering dedication, leadership, and contributions during his tenure as the head coach of the national team. We wish him success in his future endeavors.”

The QFA has announced Marquez Lopez as his successor. The Spaniard is currently in charge of Qatari club side Al-Wakrah.

“The coach will be in charge of the Qatar national team at the 2023 Asian Cup, which will be hosted in Qatar next year,” the QFA said.

“The QFA expresses gratitude and appreciation to Al-Wakrah Sports Club for their cooperation and consent in facilitating Coach Marquez Lopez’s appointment as the national team head coach for the upcoming period.”
Queiroz oversaw wins over Afghanistan and India in November in the second round of Asia’s preliminaries for the next World Cup, with the Qataris chasing one of eight berths available for teams from the continent at the expanded 48-team finals.

Qatar won their first Asian Cup title under Sanchez in 2019 and the country is due to defend the trophy on home soil next month when they have been drawn to face China, Tajikistan, and Lebanon in the group phase.

The Gulf nation is hosting the continental championship after the original host China relinquished the rights due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Carlos Queiroz left Team Melli after being brought in a coup against Dragan Skocis, to lead Iran in the FIFA World Cup 2002. The Portuguese, not only failed to qualify from the group but also was responsible for one of the heaviest defeats by Iran at the International level. At the helm of Qatar, Team Melli defeated the former boss by 4-0 margin in Amman.