Author: admin

Hossein Faraki seems to be the lead candidate for Team Melli job.

With the withdrawal of Amir Ghalenoei and Mehdi Tarter, the exclusion of Yahya Golmohammadi from the initial list, and the outright rejection of the offer to coach Team Melli by Ali Daei, Hossein Faraki seems to be the leading candidate for the job.

Notwithstanding the two other candidates (Majidi & Nekounam) both of whom have discipline and stability issues in addition to lack of proper international experience required for the job, Faraki seems to tick all the boxes of FFIRI and most importantly to the authorities, being politically acceptable and loyal.

 In an interview with ISNA, Hossein Faraki acknowledged that his name was amongst several for the post of Team Melli head coach and said ” I was offered the chance for the job in a call made by FFIRI leadership. They sent me an invitation and asked me for a roadmap and plan for participating in the AFC Asian Cup 2023. Of course, there are other options and they specified a deadline for me to respond.”

He continued: “Anyway, it is the national team and it is where I played for many years and had coaching experience too. In the last one or two years, I have had proposals from several clubs, which I have not yet decided on. One of the reasons was the Corona issue, and after that, I realized that the place I want to go to, must have the right conditions and atmosphere to conduct my job. Maybe some clubs have problems and lack facilities, and I also wanted to be in a place where the conditions are available so that I can have an impact. I would like to do something for the national team if I can,”

The former coach of the national team added: “If I feel that something can be done, I will think about it. Many people would love to see me take the post and would love for this to happen to me and for me to get what I deserve. There are different opinions in this regard. Some agree and some disagree, but everyone is entitled to his opinions are it should be respected “

” So far I have not sent my program but I am in the process and will soon submit it to the federation. It will be sent by tomorrow and whatever the outcome will be, it will happen.”

“I don’t like to talk about speculation,” Farraki said about the selection of an Iranian or foreign coach for Team Melli. “Anyway, the decision maker is the Football Federation. Many of our coaches have potential and the desire of every coach is to lead the national team. We also need to motivate the Iranian coach. Foreign coaches have their own values, but under the current circumstances, it is better to give the Iranians the opportunity.

Faraki was born in Tehran on 22nd March 1957 and started his playing career with PAS Tehran from 1976 to 1992), He played for Team Melli  (22 caps/11 goals for Iran), and his coaching career included Esteghlal Tehran, Sepahan Isfahan, Persepolis Tehran

Hossein Faraki played for Team Melli in the first Iranian qualification for the World Cup in 1978. He also won third place in the AFC Asian Cup 1980 in Kuwait with the national team. Faraki served as assistant coach to Branko Ivankovic for three years. Faraki also has the experience of being the head coach of Iran’s Omid national team in 2004. He led Foolad Khuzestan to the League Title in 2012-2013. He also led the Sepahan Isfahan team to the title in 2013-2014, so within 2 years, he has led two different clubs to the championship titles in the Iran Premier Football League.

Amir Ghalenoei out of the race for Team Melli head coach job.

One of the main internal options for the leadership of Team Melli has withdrawn from the race.

According to news agency reports, Amir Ghalenoei, Hossein Faraki, Mehdi Tartar, Farhad Majidi, and Javad Nekounam were named as the final five internal options of the Football Federation to lead the national team. Among the candidates, only Amir Ghalenoei has prior experience in leading Team Melli. The former Esteghlal coach and current Gol Gohar Sirjan head coach was at the top of the list, however, Ghalenoei immediately announced his withdrawal.

 On his personal page, Ghalenoei announced his decision in an Instagram post story. The reasons behind his decision were not obvious except for mentioning that the timing was not right for him to accept such a move. Ghalenoei also had a veiled dig against the federation for omitting the names of the leading candidates for the Team Melli job, particularly Yahya Golmohammadi.

On the other hand, it is also reported that Mehdi Tartar has also withdrawn from the race which leaves Hossein Faraki, Mehdi Tartar, Farhad Majidi, and Javad Nekounam as the three choices. The latter has just abandoned his job as head coach of Foolad Khuzestan while still involved in the race for AFC Asian Champions League title. His petulant and highly unethical attitude makes Nekounam unworthy of coaching the National Team of Iran. His poor record in coaching and the controversies that seem to surround him in every match create unhealthy surroundings in Team Melli.

Farhad Majidi is no better than Nekounam either.

From that list, Hossein Faraki seems to be the only viable coach with experience and the right conduct for the job.

Meanwhile, the head of the football federation emphasized that we are in no rush to choose the head coach of the national team and said: “We are currently busy with holding league games and there is no possibility of forming a national team. We are thinking about both Iranian and foreign options and we have to choose the option of the head coach of the national team with special prudence and sensitivity (….) ”

A perennial failure figure in selecting a proper coach for Team Melli, Mehdi Taj is known for his authoritarian decision-making. He has always been prompted and guided by the government in form of the Minister of Sports. Therefore the appointment of the future Team Melli coach will be highly dependent on that person’s loyalty to the regime values, Islamic revolutions principles, and being an obedient servant, much more than his competency, experience, and skills in coaching.

The options for domestic coaches are quite narrow, while a foreign coach seems to be a remote possibility due to figures that the FFIRI cannot possibly afford to pay in addition to the crumbling of the Iranian currency against the dollar.

 

Minister of Sports in critical condition following the helicopter crash.

A helicopter carrying the minister of sports on Thursday evening, crashed while landing in the sports complex of Baft city, in Kerman province. There were multiple injuries and one death due to the crash.

According to ISNA, the head of the Kerman Emergency Services Directorate said that Hamid Sajjadi, the sports minister suffered a cerebral hemorrhage as a result of the helicopter crash, and the work of transferring him from the hospital to the provincial medical centers is underway. Also, Ismail Ahmadi, the director general of the sports minister’s office, was one of the victims of the helicopter accident carrying the sports minister, who died in this accident. His body will be flown to Tehran.

According to eyewitnesses at the scene of the crash, the helicopter lost control and auto-rotated near the ground while attempting to land. The governor of Kerman said: “The helicopter carrying the Minister of Sports had twelve passengers who were injured while landing in Baft Stadium, but the condition of the passengers is good. The helicopter landed once but then bounced off the ground and lifted into the air but shortly after it came crashing down to the ground. The cause of the accident, which the observers attributed to pilot error and heavy landing is under official investigation .

The Iranian Red Crescent has announced that 16 people were injured in this incident which means that at least four people on the ground have also been injured.

In the latest news update, it is announced that Sajjadi’s condition is critical.

Javad Nekounam leaves his post abruptly after Foolad qualifies for the semi Finals!!

The head coach of Foolad Khuzestan and ex-Team Melli player, Javad Nekounam has resigned from his post right after leading his team against the Saudi Arabian side, Al Faisly in the knockout stages of the AFC Champions League western region.

After winning the tight match 1-0 with a goal scored by Sasan Ansari in Al Janoob Stadium in Doha, and advancing to the quarter-finals to meet the defending Champion Al Hilal, whom they play in two days’ time, Nekounam left abruptly in a classic unprofessional behavior that he is by now quite famous for. Contrary to his claims of being a professional football coach who learned his trade from his playing days in La Liga, one of the top and most professional leagues of the world, Nekounam was far from that.

Foolad is the only remaining Iranian club in the competition and qualification to the quarter-finals of the continent’s elite club competition is a unique achievement for the Khuzestani club and is also remarkable since the club is struggling in the domestic league. Foolad’s victory is also helping with the overall points credit for the Iranian clubs and the quota for next year’s competitions. Javad Nekonam’s resignation minutes after the final whistle of the sweet win against The Saudi team, was not only insensitive but also spoilt what was a big day for the Khuzestanis.

Nekonam’s resignation is a big shock for the club. The Foolad management has not accepted his resignation, but Nekounam was not present in the draw for the quarter-final round that pitted Foolad against Al Hilal. It is not known if the resigned coach has left Doha for Tehran either.

However, the question remains what was the reason behind Nekonam’s resignation despite his claim in the pre-match press conference that he is a professional coach? Such unprofessional behavior in the middle of this important tournament is far from ethical or professional.

There has been much talk and rumors about Javad Nekounam replacing Queiroz as the head coach of Team Melli. There are already rumors that his resignation is related to this subject and this rumorer was influenced by some reports in the Spanish media that claims Nekounam is on his way to take over Team Melli.

Iran’s youth final preparation for the AFC U20 Asian Cup.

The AFC U20 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2023 will start on the first of March 2023, with Iran grouped with Qatar, Australia, and Vietnam in Group B of the competition. The matches will be played in Tashkent and Fergana. Javanan Team (Iran U20) will have its final practice game this afternoon in Tehran against the Pas team.

Iran’s U20 is currently coached by Samad Marfavi who has coached at several club levels including Esteghlal. The Team will be flying directly to Fergana, the venue of the first match versus Qatar on a chartered flight thus avoiding commercial flights which would have taken the squad 23 hours to reach Fergana.

Group B

Qatar, Australia, Vietnam, Iran

This group looks like another tough-looking group that has two former winners in Iran and Qatar, 2010 runners-up Australia and 2016 semi-finalists Vietnam.

Qatar were perfect in Group B of the Qualifiers as they cruised to wins over Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Bahrain, scoring 14 goals and conceding just once.

Iran were equally impressive, topping Group J with nine points while Australia didn’t put a foot wrong either in Group H, also registering three wins.

Vietnam are the odd ones out, sealing their place in the Finals as among the five best runners-up after finishing second in Group F.

The Southeast Asian side, however, have become a force to be reckoned with at all age-group levels, and fans can rest assured there will be no easy matches in Group B.

MATCHES SCHEDULE
Wednesday, 1 March 2023 – 19:00 Istiqlol Stadium, Fergana
Qatar Iran
Saturday, 4 March 2023 – 15:00 Istiqlol Stadium, Fergana
Iran Australia
1 March 2023
Tuesday, 7 March 2023 – 15:00 JAR Stadium, Tashkent
Vietnam Iran
Iran won this championship 4 times in a row in 1973, 1974, 1975, and 1976. After the revolution, Iran has failed to win any titles and the drought at the youth level is now at a staggering 47 years!!
Lack of resources, poor preparations, sub-standard organization, and Iranian coaches’ standards have been the Achilles’ heel of Iran’s youth football.
Samad Marfavi, like many other Iranian coaches, has stagnated and lacks knowledge of modern football. The failure of the football federation to prepare a cadre of good domestic ex-footballers to turn into quality coaches by sending them abroad for quality education and coaching seminars has limited the success of Iranian caches. Much of the success of the youth teams evidently is due o individual performances rather than teamwork and quality coaching.
CHANCES OF QUALIFICATION
While at this level, the standards of teams are quite close and predictions are difficult, Iran U20 has as good a chance as any of the teams. The physicality of the Iranian players is always a strong point, but the Qatari and Australian teams benefit from quality coaching and long-term career development by their respective football associations, something that the Iranian side lacks in earnest.
This group is a tight call. Iran players need to be strong mentally as much as physically to navigate through the group round.
THE SQUAD 

GK ADIB ZAREI (Shahin Bushehr)
GK MOHAMMAD KHALIFEH (Persepolis)
GK MOHAMMADSADEGH SALEHI (Sepahan)

DF ALIAKBAR RANJBAR (Peykan)
DF ALI REZA SAADIPOUR (Fajr Sepasi)
DF AMIN PILALI (Kia)
DF FARZIN MOAMELEHGARI (Iman Sabz Shiraz)
DF MAHDI JAVID MEHREH (Sepid Roud Rasht)
DF MERSAD SEIFI (Nassaji Ghaemshahr)
DF MILAD KOR (Tractor)
DF MOHAMMAD AMIN HAZBAVI (Foolad Khuzestan)


MF ABBAS SHARAFI (GolGohar Sirjan)
MF AHMADREZA MOUSAVI (Sepahan)
MF AMIRREZA ESLAMTALAB (Kia)
MF ARSHIA SARSHOGH (Sepahan)
MF FARHAD ZAVOSHI (Havadar)
MF HOSSEIN HAJIZADEH (Persepolis)
MF MIRMOHAMMADREZA TORABI (Esteghlal)
MF MOHAMMADJAVAD HOSSEINNEZHAD (Sepahan)
MF MOJTABA FAKHRIAN (Aluminium Arak)

FW AMIR EBRAHIMZADEH (Tractor)
FW ERFAN GHORBANI (Kia)
FW SAEID SAHARKHIZAN (Havadar)

Team Melli fans prefer a foreign coach.

The Iranian news agency ISNA conducted two polls online which showed that the majority of Team Melli fans prefer a foreign coach to lead Team Melli after the departure of  Carlos Queiroz.

Under the guidance of the Portuguese head coach, Iran finished third in the group at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 with one win, two losses, and 3 points and failed to qualify for the knockout stage. The credit for qualification to the 2022 World Cup finals is given to Croat Dragan Skocic who was dismissed shortly after the arrival of Mehdi Taj.

Now the national team is without a head coach, and in less than a year, the AFC Asian Cup 2023 will be played in Qatar. Meanwhile, the football federation is still debating the appointment of a coach while its head, Mehdi Taj has implied that the future Team Melli coach will be an Iranian from the domestic league.

Currently, there are some local football experts who consider the appointment of an Iranian coach to be the most suitable, while others disagree and believe that none of the Iranian coaches currently operating in Iran is capable of leading Team Melli. Based on this, the Iranian Students News Agency ISNA conducted two polls on its website and Telegram channel and asked its audience this question, “Which option do you agree with to lead the national football team, Iranian or foreign coach? “

The results of these two polls show that a majority of ISNA’s audience prefers that the helm of the Iranian national football team be entrusted to a foreign coach in the future. 59% of the participants in the Isna site poll voted for the foreign option and 41% agreed with the Iranian option.

Three Iranian special needs footballers’ bodies found under the rubbles.

Three Iranian handicapped footballers have been found dead under the rubble in the match of a massive earthquake that hit the southeastern part of Turkey and northern Syria,

The head of the Iranian Special Needs Football Association announced the death of 3 Iranian legionnaires in the earthquake in Turkey.  Jafar Askari said ” Today, Thursday, 20 Bahman, (9th February) the bodies of three Iranian football handicapped players who were buried under the rubble in the earthquake in Turkey, were found.  Unfortunately, all 3 footballers had died.

Mohammad Reza Mirahmadi, Mehdi Saeedavi, and Hamed Matroodi were Iranian national football players who were active in the Turkish league.

Team Melli expresses its condolences to the sports community in Iran and especially the handicapped football community, as well as the families of the three deceased national players. God bless them all.

Iraq announxces a friendly game agaibst coach-less Iran!

The Iraqi Football Federation board convened for a meeting yesterday, and one of the topics raised in this meeting was the holding of a warm-up game with the Iranian national team.

According to the announcement of the Iraqi Federation, the country’s national football team plans to hold two warm-up matches against Iran and Thailand in Baghdad in April. Iraqi media have reported that the country’s federation insists that the match against Iran be played in Baghdad, but Iran’s request is to play at Azadi Stadium. Meanwhile, Iran’s national football team has not announced its head coach after being eliminated from the World Cup and the departure of Carlos Queiroz, and it is not clear when and who approved the match against Iraq as FFIRI as usual keeps everything a secret due to it historic poor public relations department. Iraq recently hosted the Persian Gulf Cup recently and won the championship in a dramatic match against Branko Ivankovic’s Oman.

Miroslav “Ćiro” Blažević, former Team Melli coach passes away.

Miroslav Blažević, the former head coach of the Croatian national football team, who won third place in the  World Cup 1998 with this team, has passed away. Blažević became the head coach of Team Melli.  in charge of the Iranian national team, but he could not lead this team to the 2002 World Cup.

Ćiro accepted an offer to lead the Iranian national team midway through the 2002 World Cup qualification process. Coming in ahead of the final qualifying round, he quickly developed a following among many of the Iranian fans. Ćiro kept the 3–5–2 formation that Iran had played with previously in the 96 Asian Cup, in which the Iranian national team had won third place. He also introduced new players to Team Melli such as Rahman Rezaei, Javad Nekounam, and Ebrahim Mirzapour. Known as a loudmouth and showman, Blažević stayed true to form by claiming he would hang himself from the goalposts if Iran failed to beat Ireland in the deciding qualification playoff for the 2002 World Cup.[16] Ireland won 2–1 on aggregate, the defeat that marked the end of Blažević’s time in Iran as his assistant Branko Ivanković took over.

According to the Croatian website vecernji, Blajević battled prostate cancer for a long time but ultimately lost the battle.

Blažević was supposed to celebrate his 88th birthday tomorrow. This coach had experience not only in the Iranian national team but also in the Mes Kerman team in 2011.

He is always remembered fondly by the players in the early 2000 era as a colorful character and a tactician.

God bless his soul.

Iranian handicapped legionnaires missing in Turkey.

in the aftermath of the tragic earthquake in Turkey and Syria where the death toll tops 7,100 as more victims are found, three Iranian footballers playing professionally in Turkey’s Malatyaspor Kulübü have not heard of since the massive quake hit southeastern Turkey.

The three athletes are handicapped and represent Iran at international levels.

 Yeni Malatyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in Malatya, Turkey. The club plays in the TFF First League, which is the second tier of football in the country.

The Minister of Sports and Youth demanded an immediate follow-up on the matter. Seyed Hamid Sajjadi told the Sports Federation of Veterans and the Disabled and the office Foreign relations office, the Ministry of Sports and Youth has a mission to follow up on the situation of these athletes through the available channels with urgency. According to this report, Mohammad Reza Mirahmadi, Mehdi Saeedavi, and Hamed Matroudi are three Iranian footballers, who have not been heard from since the tragic earthquake in Turkey.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Shervin Esbaghian, the head of the Veteran and Handicapped Sports Federation (Special Needs federation)  said on the sidelines about the Iranian soccer legionnaires who are Handicapped ” there is no news about them since last night, as our international relations department has been in communication with the Turkish federation seeking news. They are also persistent and the city where these players were present has suffered major damage, despite our efforts, sadly there is no definite news about their condition. They informed us that their mobile phones are on and ringing, but no one is answering. I hope they have survived that ordeal and come back home soon. The federation will follow up and if we receive any news, we will inform you as soon as we have any news.”