Category: World Cup 2014

Team Melli camp Johannesburg: update News.

Carlos Queiroz has deployed some interesting tactics for the first friendly match of Team Melli in South Africa.

In the match that was played in the base camp of team Melli in Johannesburg, and in a pitch which did not resemble a football pitch, Queiroz decided that the opponents coach would referee the match while his assistance including Majid Saleh will be assistant referees!

Furthermore , Queiroz decided to play with 10 men only from minute 80 of the match, presumably  to test how his players will perform under pressure of one players short.  The South African team failed to score against Team Melli in the last 10 minutes , however it is not clear if the Africans have fielded a full strength team for this practice match.

In a post match statement , Queiroz said that his objective from this training camp practice matches is to improve the physical conditioning of the players “The result of the matches do not bother me one bit. I am more concerned on the physical side of my players and how to improve it in this short time that is available to me. We need to be tough both physically and mentally, improve our running and endurance.”  said the Portuguese coach.

“I am determined to take the team to Brazil and perform to our best ability provided we have unequivocal and full support form everyone (…)”

Meanwhile , Esteghlal player who joined the camp late , have been given a stern physical training to bring them back in shape. Some of the players were running with performance measuring devices for recording their vital sign.

Team Melli real test of this camp will be on the 2nd of May when they face the full national team of Mozambique.

News: Team Melli in South Africa

The current Team Melli camp has been joined by additional two previously unannounced coaches from Brazil. Mohammad Nabi , the manager of Team Melli said these two coaches are recruited form Corinthians club of Brazil and will be replacing the departed Tony Simoez who reigned his post a couple of months back. The two unnamed coaches are added to the coaching staff team compromising of the recently recruited Majid Saleh , Oceano , Aghajanian, and Gasper.

On the other hand , the mystery of the team that was supposed to be facing Team Melli in a friendly match was finally unveiled hours before the kickoff. South Africa’s Moroka Swallows club will be the first opponent of Team Melli on Tuesday morning.

Team Melli officials refused to name the opponent teams until the last moments preferring secrecy to keep Team Melli rivals in Group F of the FIFA World cup in suspense and reducing the possibility of them observing Team Melli in action (…)

Today’s match will be the first test of the conditioning of the Iranian players. Much of the work carried out in South Africa was focused on the physical side to prepare Team Melli against the teams with better physical conditions and endurance. Mohammad Nabi re-emphasized the previous statements by Queiroz that this camp was set up for the domestic league players of Team Melli addressing their shortcomings in running , physical aspects and building body strength. Players in European leagues, do not need such training according to Queiroz.

The names of the other two or possibly three opponents of Team Melli in friendly matches remains a mystery.

Other major development of the cam p came from Queiroz who has decided to cut short the camp duration by 5 days. Team Melli coach was not very pleased by the start where he had to travel to Johannesburg with only 11 players out of 28 he selected for the camp.

The reason for cutting short the camp duration was offered by Mohammad Nabi . He said” Iranian players are very emotional lot and the long time away from their families is disturbing them ! In order to take some deserved rest and be with their families, we have decided to cut short the camp by a few days”

Mohammad Nabi also emphasized that the players who did not join Team Melli on the flight to Johannesburg are mot to be blamed and held accountable for their absence. They were under instruction from their clubs and hence are not culpable. He stressed that there is a big difference between an act such as Hadi Aghili when he left the camp or Mojtaba Jabbari who decided he will retire, both unilateral and personal decisions and the players of Team Melli held back by their clubs.

Rahman Ahmadi on his way to South Africa.

Team Melli’s number one goalkeeper , Rahman Ahmadi is reported to be on his way to South Africa to join the Training Camp.

Ahmadi is the only Sepahan player to be released from his club duties although the Esfahani team has to play its final and crucial match this week against Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia which determines the team that qualifies for the next round of the AFC Champions League. Recently Ahmadi has lost his starting place to his rival in the team , Shehab Gordan. The other 5 Sepahan players named in the Team Melli list , will remain with their club, pending further developments.

The announcement that Rahman Ahmadi is joining the team is a good news for TEam Melli as the squad was missing an important player in the Sepahan goalkeeper. Despite his low counts of his international caps, being under-shadowed by Mehdi Rahmati, Ahmadi remains the most experienced and arguably the best choice for Team Melli against the other young and inexperienced candidates that Queiroz has picked for the team.

After the weekend match between Bayern Munich and Eintracht Braunschweig, were Davari let in two soft goals against the Bundesliga champions, one filtering between his legs, Queiroz was probably alarmed by lack of experience between the posts and despite his initial exclusion of all Sepahan players , he elected to recall the most vital of the 6 players.

3 goalkeepers in Hamed Lak , Alireza Biranvand and Sousha Makani are already included in the South Africa training camp while Davari and the rest of the European based players are not invited due to club commitments and ongoing league competitions.

KArim Ansarifard

Ansarifard & Lak join Team Melli squad in South Africa

Karim Ansarifard and Hamed Lak , the two Tractorsazi players have flown directly to Johannesburg to join their teammates at the South Africa training camp.

Their departure was initiated right after Tractorsazi were eliminated from the AFC Champions league after the defeat against Al Ittihad. This is good news for Team Melli especially since the squad departed with only 11 outfield players without a goal keeper. It is expected that Esteghlal players , who were also eliminated from the same competition , will also join the squad in South Africa. Karim Ansarifard has recently won the top goal scorer award in the league.

The fate of the remaining two teams players , Foolad Khuzestan & Sepahan , is still unclear in regard to joining the camp. Foolad has already qualified for the Knock Out stages of the AFC Champions League , while Sepahan  are still alive and stand a good chance of qualifying with one last match remaining.  Foolad Khuzestan has 3 players in the squad while Sepahan has 6.

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