Category: Editorials

Azizi-Khadem’s theory on Team Melli victories!

While the Team Melli fans and many observers praised the performance and the result of Team Melli against Iraq leading to a precious victory, as a result of collective efforts from the head coach to players and support staff, there comes an individual to offer a completely different perspective to this victory.

There always seems to be one individual who manages to undermines the efforts of those who achieved the victory by sending the wrong message.

These messages or series of obscure messages starting from the Syria game came from non-other than the Head of FFIRI. Azizi-Khadem was and still is under heavy criticism for his administration’s failure to fully prepare and support Team Melli for the third round of FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers.

Lack of adequate financial support, late scheduling and setup of the training camp, and failure to arrange friendly internationals matches are a few of many of his administration failures. However, the man is now claiming that the victory against Iraq is nothing but a “divine intervention”.

A man whose election to the head of FFIRI has raised a lot of eyebrows and shouts of corruption, in a series of statements to the media, has in fact downplayed everything by asserting “Hands of God” theory as the reason for Iran’s victory.

“We have seen the hand of divine support, guidance, and mercy of God in this victory, and we hope that these victories will be lasting and continuous and that we deserve this grace and grace of God.”

 “In the core of our existence, is faith and trust in God. Effort, diligence, hard work, planning, etc. are also fruitful (…)“

 “Along with strategic planning and effort and practice … we will and will continue to recognize and emphasize that the essential element of trusting in God and divine secret grace.” !!

“We ask God to make our football a means of growth and material and spiritual upliftment for us and our society.” Said Azizi-Khadem, after the Team Melli victory against Syria, also considered that victory as the result of “the blessed prayer of the world” for the national team!!

Why would the Whole World Pray for Iran’s victory, he did not explain!

The insiders and skeptics, who are quite a few, consider Aziz-Khadem’s rhetoric as a defense mechanism against his feeble and incompetent management. The man had no decency to credit the players and the coaching staff for a job well done.  Another objective of his is to limit the demands for funds to support Team Melli like setting proper training camps and playing friendly games.

Match Preview: Iraq vs. Iran

There is a solid consensus that Team Melli did not play well against Syria and also Iraq will form a much tougher opposition versus Iran on Tuesday in Doha.

The Performance

It did not need a professional football analyzer to conclude that indeed Team Melli was not at its best versus Syria and the team lacks cohesion and strategy. Despite the superiority in statistics for Team Melli against Syria with a ball possession figure of 69% against Syria’s 31% and total passes of team Melli of 416 against Syria’s 130, the dangerous chances created on the opposition keeper was meager and hardly inspiring.

So, Yes, the Team lacked direction, was short of ideas, and generally poor in the finishing phase and final passes. When one looks at the reasons and preparation of the Team, achieving a win against Syria is actually admirable.

Team Melli came to the match with the worst possible preparation. Even the Syrians were better prepared despite the catastrophic conditions of their country. Iran’s football federation and in particular the body in charge of national teams is world-renowned for their incompetency and poor organizational skills. This body, if it actually exists, has done little in terms of value for Team Melli’s preparation for the World Cup qualifiers. With only one or two proper training sessions, lack of leadership as both Skocic and Hashemian were quarantined, and the hallmark of Iran’s federation (no friendly matches) the expectation of a brilliant performance against Syria with a good result was just wishful thinking. In fact, grabbing all the 3 points was admirable under the circumstances.

Against Iraq, the conditions will be slightly improved in the sense that the full squad would have 3 days of training together and a coach sitting on the bench, but that is about all.  The team still requires strengthening in many areas which have been covered and reported many items over, particularly in the discipline department.

It will not be a bad idea to replay the AFC Asian Cup 2019 Semi-final match against Japan to teach the players a lesson of how the breakdown of technical discipline led to such an embarrassing historical defeat.

The opposition

Despite Iraq’s admirable draw away to South Korea, it is hardly a team that Iran should fear. The tactics that Iraqis deploy have not changed for years. Dick Advocaat in the short time he has taken over cannot change the Iraqis system overnight as what he will focus on is much the same as old Iraq with enhancement here and there.

Being a Dutch coach and a master in the offensive free flow Dutch football system does not mean that Iraq will go for an all-out attack against Iran on Tuesday. In fact, the Iraqis are lacking in offensive areas and lack the power that Syria has upfront. Their general situation is very much like Iran with organization and preparation. Iraq however is stronger than Iran in a few areas. They are a defensively disciplined team, strong mentality, and have a never-say-die attitude. There is intensity in their game but has a vulnerable defense line. In general, the team has a good mixture of physical and mental attributes which makes Iraq a strong opponent.

 

 The expectation.

The unsatisfactory performance will be truly forgotten when Iran gabs all the 3 points from Iraq, which is entirely possible. The Coaching staff has a few things to sort out, but the expectations from the fans will be nothing short of 3 points. Sardar Azmoun is available and that is a tremendous boost for Team Melli, the Stadium is air-conditioned and ideal for playing football, the team is away from any controversy and drama that is sometimes associated with Iran training camps. It is all set for another victory, but it will not be easy nor granted.

Team Melli complexion is changing rapidly.

After the transfer of Sepahan’s and Team Melli Captain Ehsan Hajsafi to AEK Athens, Iran has just five players playing in the domestic Persian Gulf league. That puts Iran among the group of countries whose majority of the national team players play abroad. These countries, including World Cup holder France and FIFA Top ranking team Belgium, have only a few footballers that are based at home.

With the conclusion of the 2020/21 season of the Persian Gulf League in which Persepolis won the title for the fifth time in a row, 3 significant transfers were confirmed. Hossein Kanani from Al Ahli of Qatar from Persepolis, Payam Niazmand to Portimonense of Portugal, and Ehsan Hajsafi to AEK Greece from Sepahan, the last 23-man squad of Team Melli home-based players reduced to five only,

Vahid Amiri,  Milad Sarlak, Ahmad Nourollahi, Mehdi Torabi (all Persepolis), and Mehdi Ghaedi (Esteghlal) are the only players present in the World Cup qualifiers who are based in Iran. As for the latter player, Mehdi Ghaedi, his suitors have increased since his brilliant performance in AFC Champions League. Farhad Majidi announced a while ago, that he will not stop Ghaedi from seeking his fortunes in other pastures to improve his standard, which means the possible transfer of the best current talent in Iranian football to a foreign club.

The full list of Team Melli with 19 players

Team Melli legionnaires also include the following players who were not part of the squad for the return legs of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, who could be possibly invited to the next stage of qualifiers. These 6 players are as follow

In total 25 (83%) players are legionnaires out of 30

It is quite possible that under these circumstances, Iran will probably not have any players from domestic league playing for the country in the national team for several years to come, and there will be no trace of the old superiority and total control of Team Melli squad by the to poles of Iran football, Esteghlal, and Persepolis.

Several years ago, at the time of the decline of the domestic leagues of France and Belgium, all the players of these two powerful national teams were players working outside the domestic leagues. It seems that no player from the Belgian league was in the Red Devils’ starting line-up at Euro 2020 this year, and that was the case in France before the re-emergence of Paris Saint-Germain in France as one of the top teams in Europe.

The standard of Iran’s domestic league has fallen quite badly in the last few years due to several factors. Total government hegemony on clubs, chronic incompetent management, nepotism, poor coaching, politics, lack of resources, favoritism, corruption, and exceptional indiscipline have all resulted in a league that is relegated in the AFC Asian ranking to mid tables.

Iranian clubs have never won the AFC Champions League and the last time a club from Iran won a trophy was back in 1990/91 when Esteghlal won the Asian Club Championship, the predecessor of Champions League.

Why is Carlos Queiroz coaching of Iraq seems farfetched?

Despite no official announcement, sources all over Europe and Iraq have confirmed that the Iraqi Federation is close to signing a contract with the Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz to lead Iraq’s challenge of qualification for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

Katanic was the last coach of Iraq to leave his post after Iraq secured the qualification to the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The reason was simply, monetary. Iraqi football federation has not paid the Slovenian for months which can frustrate even the most loyal and tolerant of coaches.

The fact is Iraq FA is bankrupt and has no steady income. Securing the services of an international coach requires a hefty budget which is not available to the Iraqi FA. So, recruiting a coach with an asking price of the north of two million US$ seems to be unattainable.

If Iraq FA could not regularly pay Katanec, how on earth they can afford an expensive and very demanding coach such as Queiroz?. Let’s face it, he does not come cheap and he is a very heavy burden to the budget of any federation.

Here comes the role of the insecure government of Iraq. To gain some hardly sought popular approval from the masses, the government of Iraq has agreed to pay for Queiroz and burden all his expenses. Such things will never be published, of course, but enough information has been leaked to give this theory some credibility.

Assuming that the Iraqi FA has sorted out the big challenge of Queiroz fees, it has to tackle other serious issues with the Portuguese. Like the 8 years that he spent with Team Melli, he was never a permanent resident of the country. His preference has always been the limelight of the City of Dubai. He traveled to Tehran when required and nothing more than that. He hardly attended league matches to find out about the standards of the local players, the tactics, and the physical strength of players, ironically he saved his travels to Europe to check on the Iranian legionnaires.

What is another big challenge is the demeanor of the Portuguese man. He is a difficult character to deal with. Aggressive, confrontational, and generally outspoken, the Iraqis have a challenge. He is a “never wrong” type of person who easily shifts the blames on others for shortfalls. Quite demanding when it comes to facilities, training equipment, player’s comfort, rest, league scheduling, and the time allocated for training camps. Queiroz will perhaps make one friend versus 10 enemies in any period of time in Iraq.

Despite all that, it is fair to say that Queiroz did a fine job with Iran. Whether the Iraqi’s will accept the heavy baggage that comes along with Carlos Queiroz is another story. If all financial issues are settled, the chances are that Queiroz will find some adversaries in Iraqi politicians. Many will question his pay reported to be more than 2 million dollars per annum while Iraqi people are living in extremely harsh conditions with frequent power cuts in the sweltering heat of summer not to mention the lack of security. That may be the reason that Queiroz does not intend to live in Baghdad

Why is Jahanbakhsh move is a win-win situation?

When Alireza Jahanbakhsh, a pacy winger, who beats defenders with agility, capable of accurate and powerful shooting from distances, a player who was scoring goals at will, and recently being crown as the Highest Goalscorer of the Eredivisie elected to choose Brighton and Hove Albion, many eyebrows were raised.

Many Iranians fans had to Google Brighton, while others with more knowledge wondered what on earth attracted the promising Jahanbakhsh to a recently promoted club that will spend life in the top flight of the English League struggling not to be relegated!

Chris Houghton, then Brighton coach had a lot of faith in Jahanbakhsh and managed to convince the Team Melli winger to join his team even breaking the record of the club in transfer fee. He had plans for Jahanbakhsh, unfortunately, his faith did not survive the brutal reality of football as he was sacked.

It was always a question of survival for the seaside city team, which continued to struggle in the competitive  English Premier League.   In the late 1990s, Brighton was in the fourth tier of English football and were having financial difficulties. After narrowly avoiding relegation from the Football League to the Conference in 1997, some investors injected funds into the club and their fortune changed.

In the 2016–17 season, Brighton finished second in the EFL Championship and was thus promoted to the Premier League, ending a 34-year absence from the top flight. In the first 3 seasons, Brighton finished 15th, 17th, 15th in the Premier League.

It is no wonder that the focus of the club was different from the more established teams.

To maintain its status and avoid relegation, the strategy was based on tight defenses with physically strong players who would run and run the way classic English football has been known for in the hope of not conceding goals.

Brighton under Graham Potter was operating under this strategy as pressures to maintain the EPL status simply reduced the chances of a player in the caliber and capabilities of Alireza Jahanbakhsh. As such Jahanbakhsh did not fit in the grand scheme of the Brighton project.

In Hindsight, Jahanbakhsh made a poor choice opting to move to a struggling club in England, and despite his denial, he must regret all the wasted time in England. Feyenoord Rotterdam is a completely different class and category of football teams. One of the most successful clubs in Dutch football. A team synonymous with championships (15 Eredivisie titles, 13 KNVB Cups, and 4 Johan Cruyff Shields) European Titles (one European Championship, two UEFA Cups), legendary players, and occupants of one of the largest stadiums in the Netherlands and Europe (The Stadion Feijenoord capacity 51,177)

The scene is set for return to glory to Alireza Jahanbakhsh at Feyenoord. A coach that has worked with him before, knows him and loves his style, a team that is always challenging for the Eredivisie title (3rd, 3rd and fourth in the last 3 seasons), and most importantly, Alireza will be operating at his most favorable position in the right-wing where his success was evident in AZ Alkmaar.

There is also a great opportunity to improve his style and prowess working under the legendary Robin van Persie who is the striker’s coach at the club.

This is completely a different setup than the modest struggling Brighton.

At the recently concluded FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers, Team Melli qualified with full marks with many remarkable performances from the players such as  Azmoun, Taremi, and Ghoddos amongst others. However, Jahanbakhsh was less than impressive.

Even the likes of Kaveh Rezaei and Ghaedi played well, that cannot be said of Jahanbakjsh where there always is a lot of expectation from him. Sitting on the bench at club level and away from competitive football has always affected professional players and Alireza is no exception. Playing in mighty Feyenoord is a breath of fresh air for the capable winger and exceptionally good news for Team Melli too if he keeps playing regularly. He needs to prove himself, of course, but that will probably take some time in order to acclimatize and gain some of the confidence he lost in England.

The confidence will be provided by the capable and caring head coach Arne Slot. The future looks bright, let us hope Alireza Jahanbakhsh takes this opportunity well.

A serious error of judgment by AFC Disciplinary committee

Isa Al Kasir, The Persepolis Center Forward, was given the heaviest sanction possible by AFC for celebrating his goal against Pakhtakor. To add insult to injury, the 6-month ban came right before kick-off between Persepolis and Al Nasr in the Semi-Final of AFC Champions League 2020 in Doha.

No person would argue that contemptuous, discriminatory, or denigratory remarks or gesture has no place in football and any offender’s ban is justifiable, however, amongst the many experts that this website has asked, no one seems to know what exactly was the insulting behavior or any of those violations in Al Kasir’s gesture!!!

No one in his right mind would believe that the AFC  disciplinary committee while sitting a few thousand miles away in Kuala Lumpur,  has the divine power of correctly interpreting the signs that Al Kasir as being discriminatory, racist, or any incriminating offense. If no one in Iran knows, at least the experts that we approached, anything about discriminatory or the racial sign of Al Kasir’s celebration or even what it means.  How on earth, AFC did the trick?

What we have managed to collect, however, is some photos of Al Kasir identical celebration in the domestic league when he was playing for Naft Abadan.

Isa Al Kasir Rajabi has joined Persepolis on 1st September 2020, from Sanat Naft. He has scored in three consecutive games for Persepolis in the AFC Champions League 2020 and was considered the most important and pivotal player of the team going into the crucial clash against Al Nasr of Saudi Arabia.

However, three hours before the kick-off the news of his heavy ban based on unsubstantiated, unproven, and haphazard theory has shocked the squad. The timing was a perfect bonus for the opponent as good as AFC handing the match to Al Nast before the actual kick-off.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Disciplinary and Ethics Committee decision, lacked any explanation of the nature of the so-called insulative behavior of the Persepolis player. There was also no sign on what was deemed unsporting, contemptuous, discriminatory, or denigratory in Al Kasir’s gesture, which he frequently performs after goal celebration. Al Kasir’s brother has told a local reporter that this gesture is a private game between him and his brother and has nothing to do with any race, religion, or any political opinion.

Such a heavy sentence deserves much more explanation. As a basic Human right, which the AFC is trying to protect, hearing the accused is a principle right. Was Isa Al Kasir given the chance to explain this gesture? What is the level of the committee’s knowledge of Iranian culture in Khuzestan and where did they reckon this violation has occurred?

When the Bahraini player was given a 10 match ban, with a similar gesture, he was clearly insulting the Chinese. There was no Chinese involved in the match against Pakhtakor and we doubt that Sanat Naft was playing a Chinese team in the domestic league when he carried out a similar celebration.

AFC has a lot of explanation to do to preserve the little reputation that it has in the West Asia region. Failure to act promptly will mean that AFC has developed a dictatorial power and has little regard for the spirit of the game, the fans, and the media. We hope that AFC is courageous enough to deal with this issue fairly and apologize for what looks like a serious error of judgment.

Bad news all over for Iran’s football.

If you are a die-hard fan of Iranian football, the bad news coming out of Iran is enough to send one into depression.

It seems that since Carlos Queiroz left the country to seek his fortunes in Latin America with the Colombian National team, hardly anything has gone right for Team Melli and Iran’s football in general. It all started with the recruitment of Marc Wilmots, a coach who has been sacked in his last two jobs with the latest appointment lasting only six months with the Ivory Coast. For the first time in decades, Team Melli suffered two consecutive defeats and that was in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

There have been a lot of secret talks and behind the scene negotiation to find a competent and true replacement for the legendary Queiroz. The odds on that were quite low for a lot of reasons. Not only the leading and the renowned coaches were already active coaching teams and thus not available, the second tiers looking for a job, did not put Iran’s Team Melli coaching on the top of their priority. Any potential foreign coach fancied the job but examined Queiroz’s experience in Iran or heard about the pandemonium in the football federation management with several layers of governance making decisions, would have thought twice before indulging in such an adventure.

Not surprisingly there were no quality takers for the job. Is this a Queiroz curse ?!

 Then came the real shock. While the masses were waiting for an Amir Ghalenoei or an Ali Daei to take over the helm, there comes an outsider and takes over the chair. To the utter shock of many, Dragan Skocic, a Croat who was coaching Sanat Naft was announced as Head Coach of Team Melli and assumed responsibility without much fanfare.

While the Croat enthusiastically started his mission by building rapport in preparing for the two upcoming matches, the coronavirus struck and chances of the fans seeing Skocic in action is delayed for at least 3 or 4 months.

Team Melli at least has a leader in Skocis, the football federations do not. The leadership struggles, political interference, influences, and the circus, continues in the head-less FFIRI. Mehdi Taj was forced to resign citing ill-health while the government is looking for an obedient regime stooge to install him as President of the Federation in the upcoming election!

FIFA got hold of these games and finally put its foot down hard on the authorities and the FFIRI itself declaring any elections under the current conditions and rules will not be recognized by FIFA unless the FFIRI amends its statute and rules in compliance with the international football law governance.

Away from Team Melli, Iranian clubs in the AFC Champions league displayed their worst performances and results ever with one solitary win in 8 matches. It was not only the results that were disappointing but the manner of defeats and the amateurish attitudes of the Iranian players with a lack of character and professionalism that hurt the most.

The so-called professional football league devoid of proper competition is full of drama, however, yet nothing like what Sepahan club did when they refused to turn up for the match against Persepolis in their home ground Naghsh Jehan stadium in Esfahan for. These things belong to the fifties and in Europe, such acts may result in relegation to lower divisions, but the FFIRI disciplinary committee like the rest of the federation is as incompetent as the rest of the federation. When it comes to applying strict discipline and punitive measures.

And then there are players who receive a cheque from one club to turn up playing for another club in a league match!

The initial enthusiasm of Iranian legionnaires in Europe all but evaporated with one player after another struggling to make the starting line-up. Even Sardar Azmoun was benched in Zenit last match with Jahanbakhsh remaining a solid benchwarmer in Brighton, Ezattolahi making a rare cameo appearance in a lowly Belgian league club and Taremi losing that initial goalscoring brilliant run of his in the Portuguese league.

Very little good news to report from Iran’s football. Perhaps it needs a real shake-up and severe jolt for it to recover again.

Messenger of hate suspended.

A Polish volleyball player called Michel Kubiak has been suspended by his federation for six matches after the used terms that are “inconsistent with good customs and principles of social coexistence” according to the disciplinary committee of the Polish volleyball federation.

His preposterous statement and mentally confused status of mind may contribute to a volatile atmosphere when Iran hosts Poland in the Volleyball Nations League match in Urumia on the 3rd round of the competition.

It is does not matter why did Kubiak uttered in an interview condemning the whole Persian nation. Was it a result of momentary lapse of sanity or a reflection of a sick individual who perhaps has deep rooted fascist or extremist views and is in dire need of therapy, the important issue is how such a mad man can influence and entice violence and reprisal by the fans against himself, the rest of his teammates and his country.

The significance of this issue goes well beyond the beautiful game of Volleyball and touches every aspect of every sport. It is a warning to the authorities of how delicate world peace is and a small and silly person like this Kubiak can ignite fires. Fans in their thousands follow this person; weak minded individuals will be receptive to his messages thus spreading hatred amongst sport fans. It really does not matter who are the targets of the hatred, be it blacks, Jews, Muslims or in this case Persians. The fact that an athlete can go on air or through the web and spread racial vulgarities is a serious threat to all sports.

Fans look up to the athletes and some become icons, while many are examples to the younger generations. An idiot like Kubiak is not only a bad influence; he is a danger to the sport. He is in dire need of help through therapy before is let loose again.

The local Polish federation has promptly reacted to the stupidity of the player and no doubt the International federation FIVB will have its say too.

Iran’s Volleyball president has sent a message of appreciation to his Polish counterpart for their action against Kubiak and assured him of the safety of the Polish Volleyball team when there are guest in Iran. However, after the two recent major incidents and riots of the Hazfi Cup matches, it is pertinent the security forces and the organizers take extreme caution and strict measures to protect the Polish team who will definitely be without the undignified Kubiak. The Polish players are mostly quite respectable and decent players that have shown respect and dignity to the opponents in all competitions. They cannot be victimized by one sick individual.

Mehdi Taj’s masterstroke!

Mehdi Taj and the FFIRI have to be credited for the appointment of Marc Wilmots as head coach of Team Melli replacing Queiroz.

The Iranian federation FFIRI faced many obstacles in their quest to replace Queiroz beginning from the Finances, or lack of it , to political objections, to social issues and the strong local lobbies.

The lack of funds is by now a common knowledge. Despite the lack of transparency by FFIRI including no audited balance sheet that is publically available to answer discrepancies such as the alleged disappearance of large amount of payments awarded to FFIRI during the reign Ali Kaffashian, the federation has been suffering from lack of resources for years.  Transfer of salary through normal banking channels to a foreign coach is also a great challenge thanks to one Donald Trump and his American sanctions.

It is that sanction that prompted many politicians and hardliners to question the appointment of a foreign coach and thus the wasting of rare hard currency on football while large sectors of industry and other services were in dire need of that cash and hard currency. It was certainly a legitimate question particularly that this football has yielded nothing for the country since the revolution particularly the trophy that really matters for the Iranians, the AFC Asian Cup.

Compared to other sports, football has one of the lowest returns of investment  and yields in the country yet the people associated with it are the highest paid of them all, some of whom make astronomical figures comparatively.

Socially speaking, the question foreign coach appointment has always been divisive debate in Iran. A large number of fans question such appointments based on issues such as communication, language, culture, logistics and most importantly, cost.

The other factor in this endless debate is the strong lobbying by influential people in Iran’s football. Ex-players, coaches, administrators and managers who strongly support the appointment of one of their own.

That reservation on foreign coach is responded to by the other camp who believe that Iranian coaches are not suitable or favorable at this time. Ali Daei, a legendary figure in his own right, lost his job in an un-ceremonial fashion after losing to Saudi Arabia at Azadi in a World Cup qualifier match.

Before him, Amir Ghalenoei, who is by far the most successful Iranian league club coach, tried but failed to achieve success in the AFC Asian Cup 2007.

Mansour Ebrahimzadeh was an interim coach but he was a disaster losing all the 3 matches Team Melli played under him. Finally Afshin Ghotbi, who is technically an American citizen, who failed to deliver in AFC Asian Cup 2011

In reality, in this period, there is no good Iranian candidate for Team Melli. From experience to knowledge to discipline to modern football tactics awareness and many more aspects, it is clear that Iranian coaches have a lot to learn.

Taj and his men had to navigate all those hurdles and skillfully managed to come up with the correct decision.

So, without bias, the appointment of Marc Wilmots is a masterstroke carried out under immense pressure. Mehdi Taj deserves much credit for such a move, notwithstanding the shortfalls in his administration and  lack of transparency.  Certainly there remains a lot to be corrected at FFIRI, but credit must be given were credit is due

The sense of Déjà vu

The sense of Déjà vu was overwhelming by the end of the match against Portugal.

Another brilliant performance by Team Melli boys, another close call, another if only that Taremi ball was a few inches to the right…. But at the end, it counted for nothing more than a brave performance that culminated to nothing for Team Melli.

What is left are sweet memories and some unforgettable moments that will linger in our memories until, at least, the next World Cup in Qatar. That save by Biranvand will stay with us a bit longer we suspect. Karim Ansarifard’s unstoppable penalty in the dying minutes in the roof of the net, was another sweet one. The tears of some players at the end of the game was touching and inspiring too.

There are also those bitter memories. How on earth that violent conduct play of Cristiano Ronaldo against Pouraliganji was not a red card, and especially after the referee used VAR and took his sweet time,  is beyond any logic. Elbowing an important is a straight red card, unless the game rules were changed before yesterday’s game. The Paraguay referee decided in his wisdom that it warranted a yellow card only. No doubt the name of Cristiano Ronaldo had much to do with that decision. Peer pressure by FIFA hierarchy and their fear of losing the best players in the tournament was playing at the back of the referee’s mind too when he swapped his red with yellow!

Favoritism was everywhere; the media was one of them too. The bias towards the more famous and household teams was blatant and widespread. Against Portugal, they complained about the penalty call awarded to Iran, yet the violent conduct of Ronaldo elbowing Pouraliganji m a definite red card offense, received way less attention!!

Ronaldo VAR assisted penalty decision was blessed by the media, despite the minimum of contacts between Ezatolahi and Ronaldo. Interestingly, the ref was close to the scene and waved play on, however, insistence of Ronaldo for a VAR, meant that the penalty was a foregone conclusion.

No matter how much you ridicule the theory of conspiracy, one simply cannot dismiss it and hide from the fact that it simply is not just a coincident. From the cancellation of friendly preparatory matches of Team Melli before the tournament to refusal of Nike to supply boots, it seems that the odds were very much against Iran qualifying.

It is a cruel world and if you need to be recognized, you have to be at your best. Then, even refereeing decisions tend to favor you. Iran is not there yet, but with this group of gallant players and an astute coach like Queiroz, the path is not too long. Bravery, desire and pride were in full display by the boys and that is way more than what Egyptians displayed in that shameful match against Saudi Arabia.

Proud to be a Team Melli supporter.