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Dragan Skočić feeling of relief and pride after Croatia wins third place.

Croatia ended their World Cup campaign with the pride of claiming third place in a 2-1 win against Morocco, which marked the end of a journey but also promised a bright future, coach Zlatko Dalic said on Saturday.

Croatia, runners-up in 2018, prevailed with goals by Josko Gvardiol and Mislav Orsic to end their World Cup on a high as Luka Modric possibly bid farewell to the soccer extravaganza.

Croatia beat Brazil in the quarter-finals, but for Dalic, Saturday’s bronze medal game was the highlight of their tournament.

“It was a difficult, great match. I want to extend my congratulations to Morocco, they put up a great fight until the last minute, despite the fatigue.

“They can be proud, they remind me of us four years ago. We’re among the best teams in the world.”

Croatia can now look forward to the future with confidence.

“It’s the end of a cycle for us, the end of a journey. Tonight’s match and the win is the moment of the tournament for us,” said Dalic.

“Yes, this is the last World Cup for some of my players today due to their age. But we have young players in the team and it is great for Croatia,” he added, referring to  man of the match Josko Gvardiol, but also Lovro Majer and Borna Sosa.

“We have many of the players on the bench, too.”

Dalic, however, is still counting on his old guard for the Nations League and the Euro 2024 qualifiers.

“We would not have been that far without our older players. We have a great future, Croatia has nothing to fear. Is it the end of an era for a generation? Well, we still have the Nations League and the Euro qualifiers. All I know is that Croatia has a bright future.”

While the proud nation of only 3.8 million people is meager compared to the 9 million living in Tehran only, its football pedigree is something to be proud of. Finalist in the last tournament and third-place winner in the current 2022 edition, the Croats must be feeling elated and proud of their achievements. One person who was robbed of being a happy and proud man is non-other than Dragan Skočić. The Croat former head coach of Team Melli was unceremoniously removed from his post following the return of Mehdi Taj. After taking Iran to the World Cup finals, his reward was dismissal. The win for his country must at least have given Skočić some sense of justice and relief, while Mehdi Taj and his failed team are pondering what to do next, perhaps figure out a trick to reinstate the perpetual failure coach to ruin Iranian football again, this time in Asia Cup 2023.

Dragan Skočić responds to Taj albeit briefly!

A few minutes ago, Team Melli’s former head coach published a post critical of Mehdi Taj and his associate Mehdi Mohammadnabi, which he deleted after a short time. According to Isna, after the return of the Iranian national football team from the World Cup, and failure to qualify from a group, a feat which was quite possible for Iran to advance to the knockout stages, Mehdi Mohammadnabi, the manager and Markar Aghajanian, Queiroz’s assistant, talked about the circumstances yesterday.

In that interview, both criticized the team during Skocic’s era and blamed the head coach, without naming him for Team Melli’s player’s disunity and disagreement!!

While MohammadNabi is a political appointee and an extension of the regime, planted in the FFIRI and Team Melli in particular (his attire and looks give it away immediately), he has the motive to blame this failure on the previous coach and management. However, it was quite surprising that a respectable character and coach Markar Aghajanian joined this bandwagon!!!  Aghajanian is a football personality, he played and coached in addition to being an analyst and advisor. Unlike Mohhamdnabi, he has a footballing pedigree.

Neither Mohammadnabi nor Aghajanian were part of the Team Melli structure in the camp in Doha for their views to be taken seriously. All they are doing is manipulating the views of several anti-Skocic players to use for their own advantage. It is a sick game that is being repeatedly played in Iran’s football circles. It is intensified now that the regime is facing massive protests all across the country. For the record, Carlos Queiroz is handpicked regime head coach.  The regime is also controlling FFIRI.

The Croatian coach responded to them in a post he published on Instagram and Facebook. Dragan Skočić called the results of the national team a failure and attacked Taj and Nabi in the article he published on his social pages. It is unclear why Skocic deleted the post because facts do not lie and will remain for generations. It supports his status and achievements in Team Melli. Under the Croatian, Team Melli was revitalized and brought from the dead to head of the group and qualify for the finals of the World Cup in record time with three matches to spare. Under Taj and Queiroz, Iran was beaten 6-2, the worst result in it history of Iran in the world cup, and then failed to even draw with the USA to qualify due to the expired tactics of Queiroz.

So, to cover for their failures in Doha, this Mohammadnabi starts to blame some players in Team Melli and the previous regime in a cowardly and shameless act.

Ali Daei in the news again

Team Melli legend and former Head Coach is being mentioned repeatedly in the media following the recent goal-scoring spree of Lionel Messi in the FIFA World Cup 2022.

Messi with five goals scored is on par with Kylian Mbappe, the French prodigy as the best scorer of the tournament. The Paris Saint Germain teammates will meet on the final on Sunday for their respective countries Argentina and France. With those 5 goals, Messi is fast advancing to overtake Ali Daei in second place among the World’s Top international scorers.

Messi is 13 goals short of Ali Daei’s tally and 22 short of Ronaldo, the record holder. With Messi having a few more years of his best football still in the tank, he is well-placed to overtake Daei and Ronaldo.

Rank Player Country Goals Caps Ratio First cap Last cap
1 Cristiano Ronaldo  Portugal 118 196 0.6 20 August 2003 10 December 2022
2 Ali Daei  Iran 109 148 0.74 6 June 1993 21 June 2006
3 Lionel Messi  Argentina 96 171 0.56 17 August 2005 13 December 2022
4 Mokhtar Dahari  Malaysia 89 142 0.62 5 June 1972 19 May 1985
5 Ferenc Puskás  Hungary 84 85 0.99 20 August 1945 14 October 1956
Sunil Chhetri  India 84 131 0.64 12 June 2005 27 September 2022
7 Ali Mabkhout  United Arab Emirates 80 109 0.73 15 November 2009 16 November 2022
8 Godfrey Chitalu  Zambia 79 111 0.71 29 June 1968 12 December 1980
9 Hussein Saeed  Iraq 78 137 0.57 5 September 1976 3 March 1990
Robert Lewandowski  Poland 78 138 0.57 10 September 2008 4 December 2022
11 Pelé  Brazil 77 92 0.84 7 July 1957 18 July 1971
Neymar 77 124 0.62 10 August 2010 9 December 2022

Javad Nekounam denies the rumors.

Javad Nekounam reacted to the gossip regarding his presence in Team Melli coaching staff in an interview during the training session of the Foolad Khuzestan football team. First of all, regarding the upcoming AFC Asian Cup 2023 and Iran’s elimination from the group stages at FIFA the World Cup, Nekounam said: “I have nothing to say about the national team. I hope this team is successful.”

Nekonam then emphasized that the mention of his name to join Team Melli created tension amongst Foolad fans and management who feared he will abandon the club. “First of all, I should say that no one should speak on my behalf in an interview. I have not received an offer. The federation has no plan on recruiting me. The first talks were not a definite plan just discussions. It is the same now as we speak. People just create rumors and this time it is about whether Nekunam will go or not. No one has spoken to me from FFIRI. If something happens, I will officially come in and talk to you (the media). If necessary, we will make a statement in coordination with the club. “

The head coach of Foulad continued: “I don’t feel that I need to deny or speak this subject every time someone fancies asking the same question. I say honestly, No one has spoken to me. Everyone’s dream is to become a coach of the national team, but when there are no exchanges, It is pointless to keep asking”

Nekounam served for a short time under Carlos Queiroz, but soon found himself out of the TEam Melli coaching staff before the squad departed to Russia for FIFA World Cup 2018

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Team Melli ready for an Iranian coach.

It is high time this federation, aka the regime, thinks of appointing a National coach to lead Team Melli in the next stage which is the AFC Asian Cup 2023 and beyond.

It is now over 11 years since an Iranian head coach has managed Team Melli. The last one who could speak Farsi was Afshin Ghotbi, who left his post following the elimination of Iran in the quarter-finals of the AFC Asian Cup 2011.  Before him, it was Mayeli Kohn who was fired as soon as he was recruited, and before that Ali Daei.

The disappointing failure in the FIFA World Cup should ring some alarm bells in the FFIRI or the Ministry of Youth and Sport, the de facto ruler of football in Iran. There is nothing to suggest that Carlos Queiroz has anything more to offer Team Melli. In fact, his sudden return was an act of desperation by one man whose recent return has created controversy as head of the Football Federation. Mehdi Taj took a gamble by listening to several senior players who thought that Queiroz would be a much better option than Dragan Skocic with less than 3 months to go to the World Cup. That gamble failed, and Team Melli left Doha with two defeats, the first of which was a painful humiliation for Iran’s football.

The return of Mehdi Taj is not a good omen for Iran football. The man is a political appointee and his priority is certainly not toward football development or growth. The object is to safeguard the regime’s interest using the popularity of football as a tool. Such appointments are quite common in Iranian establishments.

The gamble on Queiroz, who was fired from his previous two jobs due to failures,  was part of the plan to preserve the regime while it was suffering the most serious of internal challenges. Queiroz served a purpose and with a handsome payment for a few months, he would abide by the rules.

After  8 years of the Portuguese man and millions spent, Team Melli Queiroz has achieved nothing that a decent local Iranian coach would not achieve. It is now the right time to pick that decent Iranian coach to lead Team Melli in Doha, like the last time under Ghotbi. There is no lack of candidates either, but the best candidate must be Yahya Golmohammadi.

At 51 and after an illustrious football career as Team Melli and Persepolis player, Golmohammadi coached several teams like  Naft Tehran, Zob Ahan, Tractor Sazi, and Padideh before he took over Persepolis in 2020 (for the second time in his career).  Golmohammadi managed to win the league title twice with Persepolis.  While not perfect and has his shortfalls, Golmaohammadi, proved many times that he is a skillful and consistent coach with a winning mentality who can control and lay down the best game plans for his players and could also control rebel players too. Under limited resources and shortages of star players, he lead the team to the title while others clubs with better players and resources failed to do so.  Golmaohammadi therefore must be a leading candidate for Team Melli.

Amir Ghalenoei is consistently ranked near the top of coaches in Iran. The former Head Coach of Team Melli and a record holder of League titles wins as a coach has the attributes and abilities of a successful coach.  His major shortfall has to be the temperament that has put him in all sorts of trouble. This is possibly the only setback with Ghalenoei.

Javad Nekounam is a young and upcoming star in coaching in Iran. His shortage of experience in coaching is covered by his long playing career in Spain under quality coaches. He learned from the best.

In any case, there would be other contenders for the Team Melli head coach job, the important matter is that this federation must give the Iranians the opportunity to manage their own team the way that Morocco, Japan, Australia, and many other teams in the World Cup have done. FFIRI has to put trust in Iranian coaches at some stage, and there is no better time than now. I should be a long-term project too.

Former Team Melli players passes away.

“Karim Bavi“, the former Iran national football team striker, passed away this evening after suffering from a long illness for many years.

Bavi played made his debut for Team Melli against China on 28th May 1986. He went on to play 34 times for Team Melli between 1986 to 1990 and scored 10 goals. Born and raised in Abadan, Bavi movd to Tehran to join Persepolis and he also played for the Shaheen football team for many years before moving to Qatar. A veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, BAvi suffered after enduring years of pain. Team Melli expresses its condolences to Karim Bavi’s family and all the fans.

Karim Bavi was in Team Melli’s squad that won third place in AFC Asian Cup 1988 in Qatar.

Bavi was 56 years old.

Why does Carlos Queiroz not resign after failrues?

Republic of Korea’s Portuguese head coach resigned his post after the defeat against Brazil and the elimination from the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in the round of 16.

It is not the first resignation of a kind for coaches present at the most important football event in the world. Before him, the head coaches of teams like Mexico, Uruguay, etc. also resigned after being eliminated from the tournament. The World Cup domain is an exceptional opportunity for coaches who have been able to develop as head coaches in this important international field.

There are many renowned coaches in the world who have never experienced the competition and the atmosphere of the  FIFA World Cup as the head coach of a national team. So, if a coach shows up at this sporting event, he likes to be seen. There is a lot of exposure and perks in taking part in the IFA World Cup.

However, the same coaches who have been in important football events for many years, when they experience defeat or failure in the world’s most prominent football arena, inevitably, have no choice but to step down and resign with courage and honor. Maybe resigning from a national team is not digestible for any of the famous coaches, but they have accepted that they no longer have room to stay. The Portuguese head coach of South Korea has been one of the brave coaches in this FIFA World Cup. After South Korea lost to Brazil in the knockout stage, he said he was going to leave. Portuguese Paulo Bento has been working as the head coach of the South Korean national team since 2018. Carlos Queiroz’s Compatriot resigned in order to maintain his dignity and respect in the eyes of Korean football players and fans. Because he knows that staying in South Korea after being eliminated from the Qatar World Cup will not bring him any benefits. After all, he failed to achieve anything of significance in the Korean star-studded team that has many famous players such as Son Heung Min.

But why doesn’t Carlos Queiroz follow suit and resign? His record is by far worst than Bento’s.

Doesn’t he realize that after experiencing three World Cups with Team Melli, he has failed to reach the next round, and doesn’t he comprehend that he can no longer be productive for Iranian football?

Paulo Bento knows that if he was supposed to accomplish special goals, he must have achieved them in these few days in the World Cup.

Queiroz has worked hard for Team Melli and there should be no doubt about it. We must realize that his strict disciplinarian approach and no-nonsense manner of players were a breath of fresh air in Iranian football. It was needed to put many players in their place. After all, he was supposed to be a prodigy of that famous strict Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson. His disciplinary style is now synonymous with his name in Iran.  The bucks stop there. His achievements in major tournaments for Iran are a big fat zero. To maintain dignity and respect, he should have resigned after the loss against the USA, in addition, it would have been quite prudent of him to apologize to the Iranian people for the failure to achieve expectations, just like his fellow compatriot Bento. However, Queiroz is not the type, and this in particular summarizes his character. A person who does not realize his shortfalls, never admits that he has failed and hence will never work to rectify and change. In management, that is the biggest drawback.

Carlos Queiroz’s failure in his plans and strategies, selection of old players who mostly warm the benches in Europe, insistence on piling up the defenses that crashed in the first match against England, his focus on short-term objectives, deficiency in forward planning, dearth of opportunities for promising young players, preference on players’ loyalty rather than suitability and many more other factors, has deemed this Portugues man as nothing more than a financial burden off the field and a failure on it.

Of course, there are others who blame a few players in Team Melli and Mehdi Taj for the untimely appointment of Carlos Queiroz. That school of that has its merits too as failure is the culmination of many facts, not just one.  However, this subject needs its own discussion and analysis.

Saudi Arabia set to host 2027 Asian Cup after India withdraws bid

Saudi Arabia looks set to host the 2027 Asian Cup after becoming the sole bidder for the tournament when India withdrew its bid.

LUSAIL CITY, QATAR - NOVEMBER 22: Saudi Arabia players celebrate the 2-1 win during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group C match between Argentina and Saudi Arabia at Lusail Stadium on November 22, 2022 in Lusail City, Qatar. (Photo by Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)

LUSAIL CITY, QATAR – NOVEMBER 22: Saudi Arabia players celebrate the 2-1 win during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group C match between Argentina and Saudi Arabia at Lusail Stadium on November 22, 2022 in Lusail City, Qatar. (Photo by Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)© Clive Brunskill

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said in a statement that the All India Football Federation had pulled out from the selection but did not provide any reasons for India’s decision.

In October, the AFC’s executive committee shortlisted India and Saudi Arabia as potential hosts. Iran which submitted its own bid also withdrew for unknown reasons.

“The Asian Football Confederation has been officially notified by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) of their decision to withdraw their bid from the AFC Asian Cup 2027 host selection process,” the regional body said Monday without elaborating.

Three-time champions Saudi Arabia will now probably host their first AFC Asian Cup. The AFC Congress will formally decide on the host in the Bahrain capital of Manama in February next year.

Saudi Arabia caused one of the biggest shocks in the ongoing World Cup in Qatar when they beat Argentina 2-1 in their opening match, although the team were not able to advance past the group stage.

The 2023 Asian Cup will also be hosted by Qatar. It was previously set to be held in China but the country withdrew because of its Covid-19 guidelines.

The Asian Cup is staged every four years. Qatar won the tournament’s last edition, in 2019, which was hosted by the UAE.

Results by nation

AFC Asian Cup winners 
National team Winners Runners-up Total Years won Years runners-up
 Japan 4 1 5 1992, 2000, 2004, 2011 2019
 Saudi Arabia 3 3 6 1984, 1988, 1996 1992, 2000, 2007
 Iran 3 0 3 1968, 1972, 1976 –
 South Korea 2 4 6 1956, 1960 1972, 1980, 1988, 2015
 Israel 1 2 3 1964 1956, 1960
 Kuwait 1 1 2 1980 1976
 Australia 1 1 2 2015 2011
 Iraq 1 0 1 2007 –
 Qatar 1 0 1 2019 –

Dragan Skočić criticizes Team Melli formation.

The former head coach of Team Melli, Dragan Skočić who managed to lead Iran in the qualifying rounds under challenging conditions, to the World Cup to see his hard work being robbed by Carlos Queiroz, criticized the Line up of the team in FIFA World Cup.

After the loss to America, in an interview, Skočić again reviewed the events that happened to him in Iran and his dismissal from the team’s bench and said:

‘As it is, I can say that I have already passed a little. It happened in September.  The tension was high. They kept changing the head of the federation. Finally, a boss was appointed in the federation who also previously was the chief before I came and he practically destroyed my contract and financial commitment. Iran was on the verge of elimination from an early stage of qualification, and for this reason, we were not allowed to lose points in the rest of the qualifiers. We got the best result in the history of Asia in the qualifiers, but it wasn’t enough for me to take the team to the World Cup.

Skočić admitted that he had a difficult time watching Iran. He said: “I am also of flesh and blood, it is hard for me to watch it (Iran games) because I should have been there, but I am strong enough. to bounce again. ” The former head coach of Team Melli then criticized the formations that Carlos Queiroz used in the matches during the three games in the World Cup and stated: “I watched the games. There were many changes, and many different factors involved. In the first game -against England- Iran was extremely cautious. If I were to written 10 different formations for this match, I would not have guessed this formation. I was there for three years and worked closely work the players. Those who played in the World Cup 2022 were not the ones that played in the World Cup qualifiers at all. In the second match – against Wales – he brought Iran closer to the team that was playing in my last term.

only four players did not get any minutes in the three games played as Queiroz used 21 players against England, Wales, and the USA. Amongst the players that were unused Amir Abedzadeh, Vahid Amiri, and Shoja’a  Khalilzadeh were three of the key players for Dragan Skočić team in the preliminary rounds of the qualifiers and played a significant role in Iran’s qualification to the finals. Of course, players such as Sadegh Moharrami, Saman Ghoddos, and Mohammad Hossein Kananizadegan did not get much playing time either. Queiroz mainly used a formation that he had confidence in during his eight-year tenure with Team Melli. Hossein Kananizadegan and Khalilzadeh formed a solid partnership in the central defense of Iran when Skočić was at the helm.

it is the same old, same old Queiroz! a pentagon of failures.

Team Melli has just experienced its fifth major failure under Carlos Queiroz, meaning that the football federation, after spending billions of tomans (Millions of dollars) in the last 11 years, could not fulfill the two demands of the fans and people of Iran in football.

 11 years ago and when FFIRI decided to choose a renowned head coach for the national team to put an end to the failures and disappointments of Team Melli especially since Iran won the AFC Asian Cup three times in a row from 1968 to 1976, a feat not repeated until now by any nation. and also failing to qualify for the knockout stages of the World Cup, the leaders of the FFIRI did not imagine that even a 9-years tenure by a renowned coach,  still could not achieve anything of worth.

Carlos Queiroz was the option that the Football Federation chose to lead the national team in early 2010 based on analysis and research, as claimed! He was supposed to be the Messiah, able to break the spells of several decades of Iranian football failures and heartbreak. FFIRI objectives for Queiroz were clear and that would be to lead Team Melli into the knock-out rounds of the World Cup and win the AFC Asian Cup for the first time since 1976.  Two objectives had been set for Iranian football for years and the federation members spent millions of dollars to break these spells, but until today, they failed.

Qualification to the FIFA World Cup and winning thirds and fourth places in AFC Asian Cup were achieved by national coaches at a fraction of the cost of appointing Carlos Queiroz. In fact, Iranian coaches had a better performance than his team. Football Federation hired this Portuguese head coach at a very high cost that the FFIRI could not afford,  to break the two spells, but the 1-0 defeat against the United States was the end of the dream of qualification completing a pentagon of Queiroz’s failures with the Iranian national team.

Under Carlos Queiroz, In the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014, Team Melli had one draw and two defeats and was knocked out at the group stage.
In the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018, the team experienced the same feat with one win, one loss, and one draw collecting 4 points.
Now,  in the FIFA World Cup Qatar  2022, the same thing repeated as Iran was knocked out with one win, two losses, and 3 points.

The Portuguese head coach was supposed to lead the Iranian national team to the title in the AFC Asian Cup, but during these competitions (2015 in Australia and 2019 in the UAE), when he was the head coach, Team Melli could not reach the finals with defeats against Iraq in the quarter-finals 2015 and loss to Japan in the semi-finals of AFC Cup 2019, and hence Iran completed its pentagon of failures under this Portuguese coach.

One of the criticisms that were leveled at Queiroz during this period is that he had a brute defensive mentality, commonly known as Park the Bus. It became synonymous with Queiroz and Team Melli quite unlike the Croatian coaches before him like Blazevic, Ivic, and Ivankovic who believed in offensive and attractive football.

While coaching Iran, Queiroz preferred strong defense detrimental to the offensive side. Whatever the coach’s playing strategy is, must be respected but ultimately he is responsible for the result. In Iran’s case, the defensive mentality of Queiroz failed to yield results.

In modern-day football and with so many advances in every angle of the game, it is rare that a coach survives that long in a team without achieving zilch.  Queiroz is unique perhaps an enigma. Why are they sticking to this man?

There is a logical reason, prepare a few for that. The first of which is the poor communication skills of the FFIRI, the nonexistence of quality international relations, and the twisted way that this federation is run. In Iran, the football federation is an extension of the government. It is an NGO by name only as the de facto leader of the federation is the Minister of Youth and Sports. It was the ministry that shouldered the coact of employing the highly expensive coach.

So, the failure of FFIRI is a natural extension of the failure of the government where loyalty rather than skills, intelligence, and suitability is the main requirement for appointment in every government-controlled organization.

Mehdi Taj has shown that he has a special faith in this coach because, despite past failures, he ludicrously went on to recruit the Portugues while the man who created a miracle that took Iran to the FIFA World Cup was fired with two months left! There was no logic and reasoning behind this but what it highlighted is the culture, or lack of it, of FFIRI leaders. A Culture of deceit, back-stabbing and immoral behavior.

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