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Iran U23 4-0 Afghanistan U23

Iran’s Omid team clinched a second victory in the AFC Asian Cup U23 qualifiers with a 4-0 defeat of Afghanistan in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Iran is temporarily at the top of the group, but the host Uzbekistan. playing Hong Kong at the time of writing this report, will most probably clinch the top spot with a win as their goal difference is superior to Iran’s.

It took a long time before Omid Team opened the scoring against the stubborn Afghan team which was defeated 8-1 in their last match. In the 29th minute, Mohammad Ghorbani scored Iran’s first goal with a header. In the 38th minute, Hosseinnejad’s cross and Hossein Goudarzi’s header registered the second goal of the match with a powerful header. The first half ended 1-1.

In the 59th minute, Iran’s third goal was scored with a header again, by Allahyar Sayadmanesh. In the 74th minute, Mohammad Javad Hosseinnejad’s shot from behind the penalty area and beautifully placed the ball in the far corner of Afghanistan’s goal to make it 4-0. It was the goal of the match.

Despite the easy win, Omid team looked far from comfortable as there were lots of chaotic moves, miscoordination, erroneous passes, and some selfish play, notably from the Captain of the team. Allahyar Sayyadmanesh.

Facing Uzbekistan in its third match will be far from easy. A defeat might very well knock the Omid team out of the competition and with it the hope of qualifying for the Olympics for the first time in 44 years. Only a win can ensure the U23 qualify for the finals in Qatar next year and a chance for the Olympics. A draw might also be good enough depending on the results of the other groups.

Enayati, needs to motivate his players and do much-needed hard-talking encouraging them to refrain from the showmanship and much better teamwork.

Changes in Team Melli squad

Following the injuries of Alireza Biranvand and Ramin Rezaian, in the match against Bulgaria, the two players were given time off and referred to the medical staff of the national team for treatment and recovery.

Accordingly, the coaching staff of Team Melli invited Hossein Pourhamidi, Tractor Tabriz goalkeeper and Saleh Hardani, Esteghlal’s defender, to the national team camp to complete the list of players for the friendly match against Angola.

Both players have already appeared for Team Melli with Pourhamidi making his debut recently in the CAFA Nations cup.

These two players will be joining the squad tomorrow (Saturday). Iran will host Angola in its second friendly match on Tuesday September 12th.

Players rating: Bulgaria vs Iran

Overall, it was both a good match and an excellent result for Team Melli under Amir Ghalenoei who remains undefeated so far. The win could have been by a bigger margin if it was not for profligacy of players and some poor finishing. It was delightful to watch team Melli play silky smooth football and the defensive setup was excellent.

Player’s rating:

1Alireza Beiranvand : Was hardly tested by the Bulgarians, mainly due to the solid defense but when it came to action, he was right there dominating his area. Importunely injured himself while throwing one of his renowned long balls to Taremi. [7]
3Ehsan Hajisafi : Played cautiously and without over doing the basics. Had good control of the ball and good vision to distribute to teammates. Could have been more productive on the left flanks though. [7.5]
8Morteza Pouraliganji : Showed some uncertainty, nevertheless it was solid defensive performance. He did not commit any major errors to affect the team. He was lucky to have his old partner in the middle of defense. [7.0] 79′
23Ramin Rezaeian: On the right flank, he operated efficiently and was flawless in defensive duties. Like Hajsafi, he could have been more productive in attack by providing crosses to the forward line. [7.0]
4Shojaa Khalilzadeh: One of the stars of the match. His selection was doubtful, but once again this veteran has surprised observers by performing to the highest standards. Dominated the Bulgarians, sturdy in defense with timely tackles. Beaming in confidence and his timings was perfect. A delight to watch him play to such a high standard. [8.5]
17Ahmad Noorollahi : Nothing out of the ordinary for this midfield player. Does his basic duties but nothing above or beyond that. Lacks the creativirty to make him a star palyer or influnce a match, neverthe less agood reliable workhorse [7].
6Saeid Ezzatolahi : In defensive role, like Noorollahi, he is just about acceptable. His physique could be handy but there is little to single him out in the team. He drifted on and off . His early promises to indicate that he will be an outstanding player has just about faded.[6]
10Mohammad Mohebbi: This promising forward has potential to become a household name in Iran’s football. Has the right skills to be one of the stars and today he must have proven his values to Team Melli coaching staff and the observers. Took the goal very well and could have scored another. Needs more discipline tactically and emotionally to get to the higher height of stardom. He was excellent against Bulgaria troubling the defenders whenever he had the ball. [8.5] 14′
9Mehdi Taremi : It is both a strange and poor performance by arguably one of the stars of Team Melli. One of his worst matches since joining Team Melli. Uncertain, hesitant, profligate and totally out of depth in this match. Even simple passing eluded him. It was a match that Taremi should wipe from his memory, because by his high standards, this was just a horrible act. Hopefully this is one odd match although the records show that Taremi is not doing well in Porto either. All these talks and rumors about his transfer to Milan and other European teams must have affected his concentration on the field. [3.5]
14Saman Ghoddos : This was a grand performance from a player who you would think will struggle because he has not played a competitive match for a long time but also is without a club! Yet, Saman stood up to the challenge and performed like a true professional. His assist to Mohebbi was indeed a majestic move. That was not the only positive about Ghoddos either as his running and vision was delightful to watch, Unfortunately he is not physically ready for 90 minutes. Finding a club which will play him regularly, wil be a great asset for Team Melli. [8.75]
7Alireza Jahanbakhsh : There is always a lot of expectations from Jahanbakhsh however, he is one of a few  inconsistebt players in the squad. There is no doubt about his abilties and skills, the problem is when and how he deploys this for the benefit of the team. Wanders all over the pitch without being productive. Perhaps his lack of playing time in Feyenoord has affected his confidence. He was well below his high standards and just average in this match [5]

 SUBSTITUTES:

12 Payam Niazmand: Substituted early in the match after Beiranvand mishap but proved himself as good and kept a clean sheet. There is little to fault this towering keeper and seems to be full of confidence [7.5]

20 Shariyar Moghanlou: introduced in 57th minute and quickly became a bull in a China shop, getting his first yellow card 11 minutes later.  He was quite lucky not to be sent off and escaped being awarded a second yellow card soon after with his wild high tackle. His rough play could be due to a certain lack of skill. This is his third Team Melli match, and his performance is deteriorating with each match. There is little value evident in his game, no real skills just physicality.  However, even in heading duels, he lost to the defenders. [2.5]

18 Ali Karimi: It was nice to see him back in Team Melli and performed well after being subbed in on the hour. He is still capable of providing those accurate passes as witnessed in this match. His vision is also exceptional. He could be a threat to Noorollahi as a starting player. [7.0]

Milad Mohammadi, Rouzbeh Cheshmi and Mohammad Daneshgar NOT rated becide of the insufficient time of play.

Team Melli beats Bulgaria in Plovdiv

Iran’s Team Melli defeated Bulgaria 1-0 in international friendly match at Hristo Botev Stadium, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on Thursday evening. The only goal of the match was scored early in the first half by FC Rostov forward, Mohammad Mohebbi from an immaculate first time cross by Saman Ghoddos.

Team Melli has taken its winning run to five and will be meeting Angola next at Azadi to continue its perfect run ahead of the challenging time in AFC Asian Cup in Qatar in January 2024.

Iran began the match in a fine style distributing the ball smoothly and opening up the Bulgarian defences many times over. However, Mehdi Taremi, who perhaps had his worst match in Team Melli jersey, failed to capitalize on the services of his teammates as he was a shadow of himself failing to connect for the final shots at goal or stumbling over.

The goal scored in the 14th minute, had some element of luck as a long ball was sent towards the Bulgarian goal. The half back misjudged the flight of the ball as it lazily flew over his head towards the far end near the corner. An opportunistic , Ghoddos read the situation perfectly and gallantly reached out for a half volley type to send the ball towards the goal. Mitov the Bulgarian keeper was already out of his goal thinking he will receive the pass from his defender. Mohammad Mohebbi , coolly headed the ball by Ghoddos into the empty net.

The Bulgarian defense was quite lax and a Iran should have scored more than they did in the first half. Ghoddos was doing a fine job distributing the ball and creating chances but the final ball was disappointing.

In a freak accident, Beiranvand who caught the ball right on the D, cleverly saw an opportunity for a counterattack. He fully stretched himself to send one of his famous balls all the way to Taremi in Bulagria half. In the process he seemed to have over-stretched himself pulling a muscle. It was a double blow as that ball should really have been scored by Taremi who was profligate and also led to substitution of Beiranvand.

In the second half the Bulgarians were more aggressive and looking for the equalizer, but that created more scoring chances for Team Melli that again was marred by loose ending and misjudgment of the final balls.

The absence of Sardar Azmoun was truly felt in this half.

The Iranian defense was majestic and thwarted many attacks without really allowing the hosts to seriously bother Niazmand. , the star was Shojaa Khalilzadeh in his return to Team Melli whose immaculate defensive work steered the team to yet another a clean sheet.

Team Melli will return back to Tehran to Face Angola next Tuesday.

Omid Team starts with an impressive win.

Tashkent: Iran and Uzbekistan look set to battle for the sole automatic ticket to the AFC U23 Asian Cup™ Qatar 2024 Finals after impressive wins in Group E of the Qualifiers on Wednesday. 

Omid Team opened their campaign with a 3-0 win over Hong Kong, China while hosts Uzbekistan sailed 8-1 past Afghanistan.

Iran started on the front foot at the Lokomotiv Stadium and their positive approach paid early dividends, with defender Amin Hazbavi giving them a second minute lead.

The U23 team continued to dictate terms for the remainder of the first half and were rewarded again just before the break with Mohammad Ghorbani doubling their advantage in the 44th minute after heading into the net from a perfect cross.

Hong Kong, China fought valiantly in the second half to find a way back but substitute Allahyar Sayyadmanesh of Hull City ,settled the proceedings with Iran’s third goal in the 88th minute. 

Omid Team will play Afghanistan next Saturday.

Omid team starts the long march against Hong Kong.

Iran’s Omid Team (U23) and also the Olympic team is embarking on a long journey for qualification to the Olympics Games Paris 2024 with a game against Hong Kong.

This match is in the qualification rounds for AFC U23 Championship in which the top 4 teams qualifies for the Olympics. Host Uzbekistan will be the most serious opponent of this group that includes Afghanistan as well.

Under a relatively inexperienced coach, Reza Enayat’s Omid Team is hoping once again to break the long tradition of failures to qualify for the Olympics since 1980. These failures occur even with the availability of quality players under this age bracket. Many Omid teams had Team Melli players, but still failed to qualify with the team falling at different hurdles.

Reza Enyati, the former Team Melli striker, will hardly set the football world alight with his resume and experience in coaching. His short career started in 2019 with Qashqaei and then in the same season, Havadar before moving on to Naft Masjed Soleiman, all teams at the lower end of the tables or in lower tier of football in Iran.

Yet, Enayati, a demanding character, has managed some respectable results with the team so far. He will undoubtedly have a hard and testing times against better. more prepared and organized teams not to mention much experience coaches. It is remains to be seen if Enyati can stand up to the challenge by boosting his players and cover technical and tactical deficiencies by utilizing individual skills and solid defense the team is well capable of.

In toddy’s match , Reza Enayati, the starting lineup against Hong Kong as follows: Mohammad Reza Khaledabadi, Saman Touranian, Hossein Goudarzi, Amin Hizbavi, Mohammad Javad Hosseinnejad, Yasin Salmani, Aria Yousefi, Amir Jafari, Mohammad Ghorbani, Mehdi Hashminejad, Mohammad Reza Bardbar.

The match starts at 15:30 ,(Iran Time) at Lokomotiv Stadium in Tashkent. This meeting will be held in the first stage of the Olympic qualifiers.

Reza Asadi called back by his club from Team Melli camp.

At the request of Sepahan Club to the president of FFIRI , the head coach of Team Melli agreed to release the midfielder Reza Asadi from national team duties and leave the camp just before departure to Bulgaria for the friendly match.

The midfielder left after two days of training with the squad.

Iran’s national football team left the country on Monday morning, while Asadi headed to Esfahan.

The Sepahan midfielder, who managed to score four times by the end of the fourth week, was prematurely removed from the list for the match against Bulgaria for the rumors mills to start churning,

However, there is a logical explanation for this move hat came from Mehr News. According to their sports reporter, Sepahan requested the release of two players from Team Melli camp, Asadi and Payam Niazmand in a letter sent to the Football Federation. The reason for such request is the upcoming friendly game between Sepahan and Zenit St. Petersburg.

In the text of Sepahan club’s letter, which was signed by Mohammad Reza Saket and handed over to Mehdi Taj, the club reminded FFIRI of the presence of eight Sepahan players in the Omid and Team Melli ranks. These two players are needed for the friendly match with Zenit St. Petersburg.

The request was handed over to Amir Ghalnoei for his final decision. The head coach of Team Melli agreed to release one rather than two players and the choice was Asadi.

It is worth noting that Sepahan players Payam Niazmand, Ramin Rezaeian, Mohammad Daneshgar and Shahriar Moghanlou also stayed in the Team Melli camp and flew to Bulgaria with the rest of the squad.

The match between Iran and Bulgaria will be held on Thursday 7th, September at the Hristo Botev Stadium in Plovdiv.

List of Team Melli announced

The FFIRI announced the list of 24 players who will be assembled in preparation for Team Melli for the FIFA Day matches against Bulgaria and Angola.

The list includes several key players including the team’s top scorer Sardar Azmoun who is still recovering from injury and not 100% fit plus the fact that he has joined AS Roma on loan and needs time to meet and train with his new teammates.

Majid Hosseini, Omid Nourafkan, and Mohammad Karimi are also on the injury list and will not feature in the squad for the two matches.

Hossein Kananizadegan is omitted from the squad as a result of his petulant and childish act last time Team Melli played when he refused to leave the field and sat on the ground despite being red-carded.

There are called for three newbies Mohammadreza Akhbari and Alireza Alizadeh , both from Gol Gohar Sirjan and Mohammad Daneshgar from Sepahan.   

Alireza Beiranvand

Persepolis
Goalkeeper
Age: 30 
Caps: 57
Goals: 0

Payam Niazmand

Sepahan
Goalkeeper
Age: 28 
Caps: 4
Goals: 0

Mohammadreza Akhbari

Gol Gohar Sirjan
Goalkeeper
Age: 30 
Caps: 57
Goals: 0

Ramin REZAEIAN

Sepahan
Defender
Age: 28 
Caps: 53
Goals: 4

Morteza POURALIGANJI

Persepolis
Defender
Age: 31
Caps: 51
Goals: 3

Ehsan HAJSAFI

AEK Athens (GRE)
Defender
Age: 33
Caps: 127
Goals: 7

DANESHGAR Mohammad

MOAHAMMAD DANESHGAR

Sepahan
Defender
Age: 29
Caps: 0
Goals: 0

Sadegh MOHARRAMI

Dinamo Zagreb(CRO) Defender
Age: 27
Caps: 23
Goals: 0

Rouzbeh CHESHMI

Esteghlal
Defender
Age: 29
Caps: 25
Goals: 2

Milad Mohammadi

AEK Athens (GRE)
Defender
Age: 30
Caps: 48
Goals: 1

Milad SARLAK

Persepolis 
Midfield
Age: 28
Caps: 12
Goals: 0

Ahmad Nourollahi

Shabab Al-Ahli (UAE)
Midfield
Age:30
Caps: 28
Goals: 3

Hossein Moradmand

Esteghlal
Defender
Age: 29
Caps: 25
Goals: 2

Ali Karimi

Kayserispor (TUR)
Midfield
Age: 29
Caps: 16
Goals: 0

Ali Alizadeh

Gol Gohar Sirjan
Midfield
Age: 30
Caps: 0
Goals: 0

Mehdi TORABI

Persepolis
Midfielder
Age: 40
Caps: 42
Goals: 7

Vahid AMIRI

Persepolis
Defender
Age: 35
Caps: 71
Goals: 3

Saeid EZZATOLLAHI

Vejle Boldklub(DEN)
Midfielder
Age: 26
Caps: 53
Goals: 1

Saman Ghoddos

Free Agent
Midfielder
Age: 29
Caps: 24
Goals: 2

Reza Asadi

Tractor
Forward
Age: 27
Caps: 1
Goals: 45

Mohammad MOHEBI

FC Rostov (RUS)
Forward
Age: 24
Caps: 8
Goals: 3

Moghanlou Shahriyar

Shahriyar MOGHANLOU

Sepahan
Forward
Age: 28
Caps: 2
Goals: 0

Mehdi Taremi

Porto (POR)
Forward
Age: 30
Caps: 68
Goals: 39

AliReza JAHANBAKHSH

Feyenoord (NED)
Forward
Age: 29
Caps: 69
Goals: 14

Pourdara will be realaesed for Omid Team

The Omid Team forward, Ali Pourdara who is playing for Al Kuwait club and has scored a goal and provided an assist in his last league match, is said to be joining the Omid Team in Tashkent.

Al Kuwait club, which values the Iranian player highly, agreed for their forward to join the Omid team but later than usual. In essence, Pourdara will be missing the training camp and will head straight to the Uzbek capital without joining his teammates in Tehran.

Another legionnaire that has been released is Al Sadd club, central defender Amin Hizbavi who also scored a very neat header and his team’s first goal against Al Arabi in a 4-2 thriller this week in the Qatar Star Legue match.

The third legionnaire, Sayyadmanish is yet to confirm his arrival.

Iran is in group E of the qualifier and will play its first match on 6 September 2023.

GROUP E
1 Uzbekistan (H)
2 Iran
3 Hong Kong
4 Afghanistan

Omid team announced

The list of Omid football team preparing for participation in the Olympic qualifiers was announced. Head coach Reza Enayati and his coaching staff selected these players for the training camp starting Thursday.

The list includes:

Sina Saidifar, Sina Ghasemi, Ali Asghar Sadeghi, Saman Turanian, Mohammad Reza Khaledabadi, Amin Hizbavi, Ali Pourdara, Allahyar Sayadmanesh, Mohammad Ghorbani, Aria Yousefi, Mohammad Javad Hosseinnejad, Payam Parsa, Saman Fallah, Amir Jafari, Mohammad Reza Bardbar, Aria Barzgar, Taha Tabatabai, Mohammad Hossein Eslami, Hossein Guderzi, Alireza Bavieh, Mehdi Ahmadi, Yassin Salmani and Daniyal Iri

Team Omid’s camp will start at noon Thursday at Evin Parsian Hotel in Tehran, Amongst the invitees, there will be two absentees Amin Hizbavi playing in Al Sadd in Qatar, and Allahyar Sayyadmanesh who plays in the English Championship.

It is not clear if their respective clubs will release the players for this competition. Iran failed to qualify for the Olympics since 1980 (43 years back).