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Russia negotiating with UEFA and FIFA on their future.

The Russian Football Union (RFU) is negotiating with FIFA and UEFA to retain eligibility to participate in competitions with friendlies already lined up.

The Russian team will play a friendly match against Iran in Tehran on March 23 and are also due to face Iraq on March 26 in the city of Saint Petersburg.

They will also be participating in the Championship of the Central Asian Football Association, which will involve Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan, and is due to be held from June 9 to 21 in Bishkek and Tashkent.

FIFA and UEFA were both on the list of sports associations that banned the Russians for the invasion of Ukraine on February 21 2022.

The ban was imposed exactly one week later on February 28.

The Russian national team was due to face Poland in a qualifier for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, with the winner going on to face Sweden for a spot in the finals, but the ban took effect before the match and Poland got a pass through the round.

Russia were disqualified from the 2022 World Cup when they were two wins away from claiming a spot ©Getty Images
Russia were disqualified from the 2022 World Cup when they were two wins away from claiming a spot ©Getty Images

 

Since the ban, the Russian national football team have participated in three friendlies, defeating Kyrgyzstan 2-1 in Bishkek and drawing with Tajikistan in Dushanbe and Uzbekistan in Tashkent, with both matches ending goalless.

Denis Rogachev, the RFU deputy secretary general, spoke on the current state of the national team in a meeting of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports.

“The activity of the national team is not frozen,” Rogachev said, as reported by Russia’s official state news agency TASS.

“It has suffered greatly, we do not experience a flow of people who want to play with us. This is a very difficult negotiation process, negotiations are underway to participate in the Championship of the Central Asian Football Association in June. We have retained corporate rights to participate in FIFA and UEFA, but we are negotiating with colleagues about a phased return to competition.”

“I can’t add anything new. ”

The RFU had an appeal to return to FIFA and UEFA rejected by the CAS in May 2022 ©Getty Images
The RFU had an appeal to return to FIFA and UEFA rejected by the CAS in May 2022 ©Getty Images

“A working group has been created, a negotiation process is underway with UEFA and FIFA on a phased return. “A FIFA Congress was held in Africa, and there will be elections of the UEFA President, which we will attend.

“The process of restoring our rights as a priority option provides for keeping us in European football, but all scenarios are being considered.” The RFU attempted to appeal to overturn the ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but failed to meet the deadline for the filing of the complaint. The CAS already rejected the return of Russia to tournaments in May 2022 after a majority vote by members on the matter.

The 2018 World Cup hosts will be looking to return to international competitions, as well as competitions for their club teams such as the UEFA Champions League.

Azmoun withdraws from Team Melli camp.

Team Melli’s training camp the preparatory games against Russia (March 23) and Kenya (March 28) that started today was joined by several legionnaires but with a notable absentee.

Domestic league players, who have been invited to the national team camp, have introduced themselves to the technical staff this morning at the Olympic Hotel. Ahmed Noorolahi, Mohammad Hossein Kananizadegan, and Shoja Khalilzadeh, the three legionnaires playing in the UAE and Qatar have also been added to the national team camp. It is reported from the camp that Bayer Leverkusen striker Sardar Azmoun has requested the national team’s coaching staff to be excused from joining this camp. Apparently, Azmoun will not accompany the team in the upcoming games with Russia and Kenya due to family reasons and with the permission of the head coach.. Azmoun’s presence in the team camp was especially important for Russian media and experts because of his time with Rubin Kazan, Rostov, and Zenit for many years, and was considered one of the best foreign stars of the Russian league.

Hossein Hosseini, Hossein Pourhamidi, Alain Dinka (GK coach) , Alireza Bairanvand and Payam Niazman.

Today, the Football Federation also introduced the assistants of Amir Ghalenoei. According to this, Saeed Elhawi, Rahman Rezaei, Ali Asghar Ghorban Alipour, Alian Dinka (Goalkeeper Coach of Tractor ) and Ali Kamangari (Analyzer) are members of the national team’s technical staff. Due to the limited time between the end of the league games and the start of the camp, the first foreign assistant to the head coach of the national team will be introduced after this camp, and another Iranian coach will be added to the current staff.

Another masterclass for Iran’s beach soccer defeating UAE 7-2

the-afc.com
Pattaya:
Iran were simply unstoppable as they defeated United Arab Emirates 7-2 to top Group B of the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup™ Thailand 2023 on Monday.
Both teams advanced to the quarter-finals, with Iran to face the Group A runners-up while UAE will take on the Group A winners.
Despite both having already sealed their knockout stage tickets, the action came thick and fast at the Jomtien Beach Arena with UAE threatening after Abdulla Dahqani rifled his effort high but it was not long before Iran kicked into high gear.
The Central Asians made short work of the Emiratis defence in the fourth minute with Ali Mirshekari volleying Saeid Piramoun’s overhead effort into the roof of the net.
UAE came close on several occasions with Rashed Yaqoub wasting two golden opportunities, while keeper Mohamed Abdulla failed to find the target from a volleyed effort as the score remained 1-0 going into the break.
UAE remained compact in the second half but Iran showed their class when Mahdi Shirmohammadi found space at the top of the area before curling in a powerful drive past a rooted UAE keeper Mohamed Abdulla.
The momentum shifted in UAE’s favour when they reduced the deficit in the 17th minute through Walid Mohammad free-kick before the No 10 executed a clinical strike a minute later which slipped past Iran keeper Seyedmahdi Mirjajili.
Iran stayed calm under pressure and netted twice in two minutes thanks to efforts from Movahed Mohammadpour off a set-piece before Mirjajili struck from distance to restore their two-goal advantage.
It was end-to-end action in the closing stages of the half but it was Iran who took advantage again with Mahdi Shirmohammadi scoring from distance.
Iran extended their lead in the 27th minute through Mohammad Moradi’s free-kick before Mohammadali Mokhtari pounced on a back pass to strike home Iran’s seventh in the 33rd minute.

Iran advances to the quarter finals of AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup 2023

PIran advanced to the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup™ Thailand 2023 knockout stage after defeating Uzbekistan 11-2 in their second Group B tie on Saturday.
With the United Arab Emirates defeating Malaysia 5-3 in Group B’s later match on Saturday, Iran joined the West Asians in confirming their quarter-final spots with a match to spare.
Iran and UAE will square off on Monday to decide the group winners.
Iran settled quickly with Ali Mirshekari testing Uzbekistan keeper Abdukarim Mukhamedov in the first minute.
Uzbekistan’s hopes of bouncing back from their opening-day defeat against UAE suffered a setback as Mirshekari found the back of the net when he sent a swerving shot past Mukhamedov in the third minute.
Uzbekistan tried to force their way back with Iyos Mallaev testing Iran keeper Seyedmahdi Mirjajili from close range, only for Iran to increase their tempo with Movahed Mohammadpour collecting a wonderful pass from Mohammadali Mokhtari to slot home from close range.
Iran continued to dictate play in the second half and it wasn’t long before the floodgates were opened with Mokhtari deflecting Mahdi Shirmohammadi’s shot into the back of the net from close range in the 14th minute.
Mohammadpour then collected his second goal of the evening when he calmly controlled Shirmohammadi’s pass to net Iran’s fourth in the 16th minute.
Uzbekistan, however, managed to pull one back in the 19th minute when Jamshid Rasulov scored from close range, steering home Mallaev’s corner.
Iran retaliated by scoring twice in the space of three minutes through Reza Amiri Zadeh and Mirshekari to put them 6-1 up at the 23rd minute mark.
Uzbekistan kept trying and scored their second through Mallaev’s spot-kick, but Moslem Mesigar responded for Iran with a looping header as they stayed firmly in control.
Iran furthered their advantage in the third half with Mokhtari scoring their ninth in the 26th minute before goals from Mesigar (33rd) and Shirmohammadi (36th) made it 10-2.
Mokhtari then added the final goal of the evening in the closing seconds to complete a comprehensive victory.

Amir Ghalenoei announces his first squad

Amir Ghalenoei has picked up his first squad ahead of the two international friendlies against Russia and then Kenya both in Azadi Stadium, Tehran.

There were no major surprises as the bulk of the previous Team Melli squad was picked. Ghalenoei, however, did not call eight players from the previous squad of Carlos Queiroz. Karim Ansarifard, Saman Ghoddos, Ali Karimi, Milad Mohammadi, Abolfazl Jalali, Morteza Pouraliganji,  Amir Abedzadeh and Majid Hosseini. Apart from the latter who is injured, the rest have been suffering performance issues or warming their club’s benches.

One of the notable absentees is Allahyar Sayyadmanesh, of Hull City in the championship. Although he is back after a longish injury deprived him of playing, it seems that Sayyadmanesh still requires more time to fully recover.

 

Of the new players, many of them passed 25 years of age bracket, Hezbavi of Team Melli U19, is the most significant. Despite his good performance in Uzbekistan in the AFC U19  Asian Cup 2023, he was unable to lead the team to the finals, although his selection to Team Melli is a good consolation.

 

the squad

Position No. Player Club Age Caps
MF 1 Ahmad Nourollahi Shabab Al Ahli (UAE) 29 28
MF 2 Ali Gholizadeh Kasimspor (TUR) 26 29
MD 3 Alireza Jahanbakhsh Feyenoord (NED) 29 66
GK 4 Alireza Beiranvand Persepolis (IRA) 30 54
FW 5 Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh Charleroi (BEL) 22 3
DF 6 Aref Aghasi Foolad Khuzestan (IRN) 26 2
DF 7 Armin Sohrabian Gol Gohar Sirjan (IRN) 27 0
MF 8 Ehsan Hajsafi AEK Athens (GRE) 32 122
GK 9 Hossein Hosseini Esteghlal (IRA) 30 8
FW 10 Hossein Kanaani Al Ahli (QAT) 28 36
GK 11 Hossein Pourhamidi Aluminum( Arak (IRN) 24 0
DF 12 Mehdi Hosseini Mes Rafsanjan IRI) 29 0
FW 13 Mehdi Taremi Porto (POR) 30 63
MF 14 Mehdi Torabi Persepolis (IRA) 29 39
MF 15 Milad Sarlak Persepolis (IRA) 27 11
MF 16 Milad Zakipour Sepahan (IRA) 27 0
DF 17 Mohammad Amin Hizbavi Foolad Khuzestan (IRN) 19 0
FW 18 Mohammad Hossein Eslami Zob Ahan (IRI) 22 0
MF 19 Mohammad Karimi Sepahan (IRA) 26 0
MF 20 Mohammad Mohebi Esteghlal (IRA) 24 3
DF 21 Omid Noorafken Sepahan (IRA) 25 15
GK 22 Payam Niazmand Sepahan (IRA) 27 1
FW 23 Ramin Rezaeian Sepahan (IRA) 32 48
FW 24 Reza Asadi Tractor Tabriz (IRI) 27 0
FW 25 Reza Shekhari Gol Gohar Sirjan (IRI) 24 0
GK 26 Roozbeh Cheshmi Esteghlal (IRA) 30 21
DF 27 Sadegh Moharrami Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) 26 21
MF 28 Saeid Ezatolahi Vejle (DEN) 26 50
FW 29 Sardar Azmoun Bayer Leverkusen (GER) 27 68
FW 30 Shahriar Mughanloo Sepahan (IRA) 28 0
DF 31 Shoja Khalilzadeh Al Ahli (QAT) 33 25
MF 32 Vahid Amiri Persepolis (IRA) 34 68

Team Melli defender Saman Fallah involved in a fatal car crash.

Saman Falah, the Peykan and Team Melli defender was seriously injured in a fatal car crash on his return to Tehran. One occupant died and another was seriously injured along with Fallah.

Latest reports indicate that the defender is recovering well from his injuries and the bleeding has stopped, It is not known who the driver of the vehicle was during the accident.

The 21 years old, Fallah was on the 30-man list of Team Melli but was dropped out from the squad flying to Doha for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Fallah also captained the Iran U23 team and made several appearances at various age-level teams for Iran.

Kenya, to meet Team Melli in Azadi.

According to a news report, the Kenyan Football Federation officially announced that the national team of Kenya will face Iran on March 28th  in an international friendly match at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium.

Before this, Iran’s national team has a match arranged against Russia on March 23rd at Azadi Stadium. Amir Ghalenoei will lead Team Melli for the first time since his recent appointment as Head Coach.

Kenya’s national team, Harambee Stars, will flex muscles with Iran in an international friendly on March 28, Football Kenya Federation chief executive officer, Barry Otieno has confirmed. Stars will travel to Tehran for the match as they make their comeback to the international stage after being banned by the world football governing body, Fifa, in February of last year.

Otieno has urged Kenyans to rejoice over the national team’s return after a year away, adding that the friendly will be the ideal chance for them to freshen up after getting rusty from inactivity. “On March 28, the Harambee Stars return to the pitch for the first time in over a year. This is a big moment for Kenya. I expect a great match and urge all Kenyans to rally behind the team so that we can move forward together,” Otieno remarked.

The FKF boss said they would deploy every resource at their disposal to help Kenya qualify for the next Africa Cup of Nations.

National team head coach Engin Firat welcomed the fixture, saying Iran will provide a good test for Kenya. “Iran is a World Cup nation and is ranked 24th in the world. Playing them in our first match back after suspension will help us assess where we are which is the first step in rebuilding the team and working our way to a high level of competitiveness,” Firat said.

“It is important to keep the team engaged and to keep working so that we can play at a good level when we return.” The Turkish gaffer revealed he will name the provisional squad on Thursday morning, before the start of a residential training camp on March 19.

Engin Firat, has previous coaching experience in Iran’s Saipa and Sepahan clubs. Firat was also the assistant of Ali Daei on the Iranian national team at one point in time.

Iran and Kenya have met twice with both matches played in Iran with Iran also winning them both.

 

 

IRAN v KENYA

Head2Head

FIFA Ranking:

Iran – 24th  [1551 pts]
Kenya -101 [1202 pts]

Date Comp. H / A / N Final score Stadium Attendance
14.03.2009 Friendly H 1 – 0 Azadi Stadium, Tehran 6500
21.04.1997 Friendly / Friendly H 3 – 0 Tabriz 42000

Iraq friendly match cancelled.

Mohammad Mehdi Nabi, an executive at the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI), has announced the cancellation of Team Melli’s second friendly game. The match was scheduled to take place after their friendly against Russia.

According to Nabi, the reason for the cancellation was that Iraq suggested hosting the match in their country. However, this proposal was not accepted by FFIRI due to their prior arrangement to play against Russia in Tehran. “We have finalized one game and our goal is to have a second match here in Tehran as well,” said Nabi.

FFIRI personnel are actively seeking another team to play against on FIFA day. Amir Ghalenoei will test his selection against Russia on March 23rd. It is believed that most legionnaires will be available for this match, which coincides with the Nowrooz festivities. The exception is Majid Hosseini, whose Turkish club announced his injury last week.

 

Amir Ghalenoei already active in Team Melli preparations.

Amir Ghalenoei is wasting no time in his quest to prepare Team Melli for the two upcoming friendlies on FIFA Day.

The newly appointed Team Melli head coach will announce the list of 23 to 26 players after the conclusion of the match between Golgohar and Foolad Kusestan in the Hazfi Cup. on March 17th. The training camp will commence on 19th March as the players will start arriving at the National Teams Training center in Tehran. Despite the prior announcement that the coaching team has already been selected, the assistants to  Amir Ghalenoei in the Iranian national team has not yet been determined, and considering that Mehdi Taj is away from the country, attending the FIFA Congress, Ghalenoei had meetings with the executive officials of the national team today to prepare for the camp. Mehdi Taj announced yesterday that the names of Ghalenoei’s assistants have not yet been determined, but a foreign coach will be part of the coaching staff alongside national coaches.

On the other hand, an ongoing poll by ISNA on the question of whether Ghalenoei is the right choice for Team Melli had a 50-50 split.

Iran will play Russia and then Iraq on the first FIFA Day of the year

Amir Ghalenoei appointed as Head coach of Team Melli.

 Amir Ghalenoei, who is on the verge of turning 60, was appointed by the Football Federation as the new head coach of Team Melli as the replacement for Carlos Queiroz.
After 13 years of foreign coaches on the bench of the national team, an Iranian was selected. Afshin Ghotbi , and Mansourian on a caretaker basis, were the last of the Iranians who coached Team Melli. Ghotbi failed to achieve success with Iran in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup as South Korea ended the Iranian dream in the quarter-finals. Alireza Mansourian briefly took over the leadership of the national team for only one game against Russia. After this, the Portuguese Carlos Queiroz took over to begin his long reign of coaching in 2011.
Queiroz has since taken Iran to 5 major tournaments, of which were 3 FIFA World Cups and two AFC Asian Cups between 2011 and briefly in 2022.  The Portuguese who was a difficult character off the field and a strong advocate of a defensive game was a divisive figure among the fans. Some truly believed in him despite his failures in major tournaments, while others thought of him as the major stumbling block to the development of football in Iran.
Post-FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qata, the FFIRI has approached many coaches including, the former Qatar coach Sanches. However, to the surprise of many, Amir Ghalenoei, who has earlier announced that he is out of the race for the Team Melli head coach, was chosen ahead of the rest.
Ghalenoei succeeded Branko Ivanković to become the head coach of Iran on 17th July 2006. He took over while the team was preparing for the AFC Asian Cup 2007 qualifiers. In these preliminaries, he won four games and drew two to qualify for the finals.
In AFC Asian Cup 2007, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Iran under Ghalenoei qualified for the quarter-final stage as the top team from the group consisting of China, Malaysia, and Uzbekistan, winning two and drawing with China.
In the quarter-finals, Iran lost again to its nemesis South Korea in penalty kicks to miss out on reaching the semi-finals. After the AFC Asian Cup 2007, Ghalenoei resigned from his post. his well-respcted record with Iran stood as 
Played Won Draw Loss GF Ga GD
17 10 6 1 30 12 +18
Ghalenoei (born on 21st November 1963) is the most successful national coach in Iran’s domestic league history winning titles with Esteghlal and Sepahan winning a total of five championships and two Hazfi Cup titles. He also managed Tractor.
17 years later, Ghalenoei has another shot to make a name at the international level with Team Melli. There is only one accomplishment that will give him legendary status, and that is lifting the ultimate trophy, the Asian Cup which has eluded Iran for 47 years and counting.
However, Ghaqlenoei comes with by now so familiar heavy baggage of Iranian coaches. The main problem is his demeanor after defeats. He seems to be in denial and lacks the integrity to focus on himself and his players, instead, he diverts the ball to others blaming them for his team’s defeats, particularly the referees. He is also not a stranger to conspiracy theories making up stories about plots and other rhetorics.
Ghalenoei also had a short temper during his first stint with Team Melli. His antic at the touchline, his anger, and his constant protests led to his dismissal in a group match. Hopefully, with advancing age, it is hoped that he has mellowed down a bit.
Overall, this Coach is capable of leading and winning with notable man-management skills. He handles his players well and can influence them positively. Although the federation was hinting at the appointment of a domestic coach, there were fears amongst the fans as the majority preferred foreign coaches. With the appointment of Ghalenoei, it is hoped that many would change that view.
Alas, people should not forget that financial constraints were the main reason for selecting a domestic coach.
Amir Galenoei will be leading Team Melli against Russia on the 23rd of March and then Iraq in the next two friendly games.