Carlos Queiroz announced the final list of Team Melli players for the last two matches in Group D of Asian Zone FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers. All of the Legionnaire players who were not invited to the short training preparations camp , have been included in the final 24 players list. The hope that many older players will be rested for these two matches were quickly dashed after the list was finalized and most of the new faces were dropped. Only i made the final list.

The most significant absentee in the final list is Andranik Teymourian , Team Melli Captain.

 

 

THE SQUAD 

1	Ali Reza Biranvand
2	Alireza Jahanbakhsh
3	Ashkan Dejagah
4	Dariush Shojaeian
5	Ehsan Haj Safy
6	Ezatollah Pourghaz
7	Jalal Hosseini
8	Kamal Kamyabinia
9	Karim Ansarifard
10	Mahdi Taremi
11	Masoud Shojaei
12	Mehdi Torabi
13	Milad Mohammadi
14	Mohammad Reza Akhbari
15	Morteza Pouraliganji
16	Omid Ebrahimi
17	Pejman Montazeri
18	Ramin Rezaeian
19	Rashid Mazaheri
20	Reza Ghoochannejad
21	Saeed Ezatollahei
22	Sardar Azmoun
23	Vahid Amiri
24	Vouriya Ghafoori

Carlos Queiroz lead Team Melli training this morning in preparation for the final two home games of the 2018 World Cup Qualification Group D starting with the home tie against India in Azadi Stadium on 24th March then 5 days later against Oman .  

The training was conducted on natural turf of the Oil Company sport facilities after Queiroz complained about the low quality of turf in the National teams training center at Azadi complex. All the players were available for the training session however a few had to undergo special training due to slight knocks amongst them Voriya Ghafoori , Omid Ebrahimi , Kamal Kamiabiniya and Asghar Ashoori.

Dan Gasper took the three keepers for separate training from the squad.

GROUP D

 

Grant Wieman

Guam men’s national team midfielder Ryan Guy lined up for a free kick from 19 yards from the Iran goal in the match’s 70th minute. He approached with intent to shoot but pulled up at the last moment, opening a lane for reserve striker Ian Mariano to get a free look at the net. Mariano’s shot cleared the wall of defenders, and after them soared over the Iran goal.

The attempt was as close as Guam got to a highlight in their 6-0 FIFA World Cup Qualifying match against Iran at the Guam Football Association National Training Center on Tuesday.

It was a disappointing loss, which in itself shows how far the team has come.

“This would have been a celebration five years ago, to keep a team like Iran under 10 goals,” Matao head coach Gary White said. “We are established now as a mid-tier team. We were always a lower-tier team and to me, to be a mid-tier team in Asia, out of 47 countries, really shows the ability we have in this country.”

Mid-tier is not Iran and the top-ranked team in Asia showed as much on the field, scoring goals in the 12th, 32nd, 49th, 52nd, 53rd and 63rd minute.

Iran was bigger, faster and more experience than Guam, and while the team wouldn’t admit as much, keeping within striking distance at halftime was a tremendous accomplishment for the young, inexperienced team host a 2014 FIFA World Cup participant.

Neither team was at full strength for the game — visa issues, suspensions and injuries prevented that — but Guam was hit particularly hard on defense. Center backs Brandon McDonald and A.J. DeLaGarza missed the match and Iran consistently scored on crosses from the middle of the field.

Mason Grimes was among those tasked with filling in for McDonald and DeLaGarza on defense.

“We had some young guys and young guys had to step up,” Grimes, 23, said. “It’s not the result we wanted but we’re just trying to learn and improve.”

By the 70th minute the chance of an upset was gone so the team’s goal shifted to respecting themselves and the home crowd.

White subbed in Mariano and Dylan Naputi, locally-produced players who had the support of the team and the Matao fans.

“I think that was the momentum we needed. It really changed things. We almost scored immediately from it,” White said. “We wanted to score not only for ourselves to get our heads up a little bit, but also for the fans, give them something to cheer about.”

Moments after Mariano and Paulino subbed into the game, the Matao earned their best chance of the game.

Shane Malcolm, the team’s fastest player, took off in a sprint through the middle of Iran’s defense and brought in a forwarding pass. As Malcolm received it, the Iran keeper, Ali Reza Beiranvand, plowed through him and picked up a red card.

“I just wanted to give the fans something to cheer about and give (Iran) something else to worry about besides just attacking us the whole time,” Malcolm said. “I kind of started playing that (scoring) role.”

Beiranvand’s play earned him a red card, but the collision occurred just outside the box. Rather than being award a penalty kick, the Matao had a free kick opportunity around a wall of defenders.

The team leaders — captain Jason Cunliffe and midfielder Ryan Guy — considered the moment, the crowd and their players on the field, and drew up a set piece that would be Guam’s best chance to score against the No. 43 team in the world.

“Ryan and Jason were talking about it and they decided they wanted to put me on top,” Mariano said. “We were trying to get the crowd behind us. We were trying to use that momentum from that situation; to use the crowd’s momentum to bring us alive.”

Mariano aimed top shelf, near post, and tried to bend his shot around the wall of defenders and past backup goalkeeper Sousha Makani. The shot, Guam’s last of the game, soared a few feet over the net.

For the final 20 minutes, Iran did what it could to hold possession, burning out the remaining clock to take their comfortable win without disrespecting their hosts.

It was a lesson for Guam and showed just how far above the rest of the Group D field Iran is from Oman, Turkmenistan, India and Guam.

Guam beat India and Turkmenistan in home matches against them this June and drew with Oman, the second-highest ranked team in the WCQ group.

“I think what (Iran) showed today is why they go to World Cups and why Oman doesn’t,” White said. “It was a good lesson again for us today. There was times when we did some really good stuff but we went up against a powerhouse.”

Guam will not play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Their elimination was solidified with the loss, but their seven points in seven WCQ games has assured the team will play in the 2019 Asian Cup. They’ll host three home games in that tournament, beginning in 2017.

“For us to qualify for the next phase of the Asian Cup is a massive achievement,” White said. “Maybe, in the next few years, we can start looking toward the World Cup and the next stage, but the players have achieved so much in such a short period of time.”

Team Melli repeated the result of  last match against tiny Pacific island of Guam in the Group D match today at the Guam FA field. The final score of 6-0 was the same score as the one in Tehran when the two teams last met.

Coached by Englishman Gary White, Guam have put the rugby-score losses of the past behind them with some giant-killing performances and were determined to preserve a remarkable unbeaten home record and to extend it againt Asia’s no 1 team.

Guam’s population is just 170,000 but White’s “Matao”  have consistently punched above their weight, with victories against Turkmenistan and India, a country of 1.2 billion. However , all hopes of matching the top team of Asia or at least scoring a goal against Iran was soon dashed when Mehdi Taremi scored in the 12th minutes of the match played on Artificial turf. Some brilliant footwork by Mehdi Torabi outside the box followed by an immaculate pass to Taremi who buried the ball into the net , to open the floodgate.

Kamal Kamyabinia then added another for Iran with Torabi once gain playing the orchestrating role on the half an hour mark. Soon after , the energetic midfielder suffered some pain and was immediately substituted by Queiroz who replaced him with Masoud Shojaei at the end of the first half which ended 2-0 for Iran.

The second half started with blitz of offensive moves by Team Melli whose players did not have any major problems playing the artificial turf.

Ramin Rezaeian scored the first of 3 quick goals in matters of minutes. On the 49th minute , he open his credit with Team Melli with a good goal. A minute later , Taremi escaped his marker and beat J. Matkin . The Guam defender fouled him from behind. Referee blew for a penalty and was raised the red card for Matkinas a result of denying a scoring opportunity.

 Masoud Shojaei dispatched the penalty with ease on minute 51. 

4 – 0 for Iran with 2 quick goal.

With 10 players , Guam had a mammoth task in damage limitation. Soon after the sending off, Karim Ansarifard scored the 5th for Team Melli and Finally Taremi added a second to his credit and Iran’s 6th goal on 63rd minute.

Then a completely uncalled foul by the erratic Biranvand in Iran goal who handled the ball outside his box while two Iranian defenders were covering behind him. That resulted in a red card for the Team Melli keeper. The Naft Tehran keeper remained on the ground for minutes after that faking injury while the only pain inflicted was his pride and his profligacy for such amateurish play . Ezatollah Pourgaz took over the goalkeeping role as Iran has already substituted 3 players.

Apart from the act by Biranvand, and goal keeping in general in Team Melli, something that Queiroz has already been warned repeatedly against, the rest of team played quite well despite the low experience. Admittedly , Guam is not a team that Iran can measure its strength against , however , the smooth exchanges between the new players, the calm defending , the ball distribution and much more , were quite a good omen for this team. Lack of experience was evident in some moves, but this is expected for a team with players that have low international exposure and experience.

Iran with 14 points is now solidly at the top of the table in Group D and qualified for the Asian Cup 2018 in UAE . The two home games against Oman and India in 2016  will only solidify Team Melli’s position and prepare the team for the next round of the FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifiers.

 

TEAMS	MP	W	D	L	GF	GA	+/-	Pts
IRAN	6	4	2	0	20	3	17	14
OMAN	5	3	2	0	9	3	6	11
TURKMENISTAN	6	2	1	3	6	9	-3	7
GUAM	7	2	1	4	3	15	-12	7
INDIA	6	1	0	5	4	12	-8	3

 

Team Melli leads Guam by 2 two goals at the end of the first half scored by center forward Mehdi Taremi (12′)and Kamal Kamyabinia (30′) .

The Group D match played on Synthetic grass in Guam FA Field was a comfortable affair as Team Melli could have easily ended that half with double the current score.  The makeshift Iran team missing many players and with only two senior players in the line up , did not find much difficulty either with the pitch or the opposition.

Late in the half, Iran star Mehdi Torabi who played a role in both goals was injured and replaced by Masoud Shojaei. Karim Ansarifard hit the post and missed the chance to open his account after a long absence.

First Half result

GUAM VS. IRAN  0 – 2

Team Melli’s Sport Manager walked out of the pre-match coordination meeting that was conducted today prior to the Guam-Iran match today as a token of protest against what he called “un-sportsmanship conduct” by Guam.

Afshin Peyrovani was representing Iran side in the tradition pre-match meetings in attendance of the match commissioner from AFC and FIFA. The commissioner intervention with Peyrovani to return back to complete the formalities was succesfull after the official Guam Federation delegates apologized to Peyrovani in person.

Peyrovani’s strong complaints was due to the absence of number of players and officials of Iran due to non granting of Visa. All the Iranian players who are playing in Russia and two other technical crew have been denied visa, while Andranik Teymourian, the team Captain had to miss the Turkmenistan game to get his visa in Doha!

Peyrovani considered that as un-sportsmanship act by Guam and  in contradiction to FIFA’s Fair Play.

“Our coach cannot field its full strength team because of acts beyond sportsmanship, The denial of Guam to grant them visas to enter the country and compete fair and square, is unacceptable and pure injustice.” Peyrovani complained.

The commissioner of the match , however , pleaded with Iran’s representative who reluctantly returned to the meeting after personal apologies from the Guam FA representatives.

Team Melli defeated Turkmenistan 3-1 in the group D match of the FIFA World Cup 2018 Asian Zone qualifiers.

The first half of the match in Azadi stadium ended with Iran ahead by one goal scored by Morteza POURALIGANJI . In the second half, two more goals from Saeid EZZATOLLAHI (64′) and Ashkan DEJAGAH (pen.) (82′) sealed a win for Team Melli. Turkmenistan’s goal was credit to Mekan Saparov 62′ after a serious blunder by Alireza Haghighi in goal.

experimental team

Iran’s line up resembled an experimental team in such an important match. It seems that Carlos Queiroz took a calculated risk and his confidence in the young team was duly answered by his players most of who had very few international games in their credit. Queiroz gave a debut to Ezzatollah POURGHAZ , the Malavan Anzali central defender to partner another relatively inexperienced defender in Morteza POURALIGANJI. Those changes in defense were forced upon Queiroz due to injuries to both his defenders Hosseini and Montazeri.

As predicted, Iran took the control of the match from onset and the early goal from a corner by  Ashkan DEJAGAH met by a powerful header from the central defender Morteza POURALIGANJI, eased the pressure on the team. Iran midfield players did quite a fine job in the match with Mehdi Torabi showing once a gain his quality and promises of greater things to come. Full of running , finesse and amazing work rate, Torabi was the star of the half. It was petty that some of his work went to waste due to less the ideal finishing by his teammates.

second half

The second half was much the same, with Ebrahimi , Torabi, Ezatollahei and Dejagah ensuring that the opponents don’t get much ball possession as they seemed to be dangerous in their counter.
On the stroke of the hour passed, a serious blunder by Iran’s keeper  Haghighi  resulted in Turkmenistan scoring the equalizer and turning the stadium into silence. The goal came from a corner kick sent close to the advancing Haghighi who completely misjudged the flight of the ball as he hit the air  for the ball wto reach the waiting Mekan Saparovwho without any defenders to mark him. The Turkman player had the easiest of tasks, simply touching the ball inside the net.

It was a disappointing goal and very much against the run of the match, however a minute later, Saeid EZZATOLLAHI  restored Iran’s lead deservedly with a brilliant goal. After some skirmishes on the Turkmenistan box, EZZATOLLAHI  had the control the ball , and with a clever turn , passed his marker and sent a curve ball to the far right of Mamad Orazmuhamedov in Turkmenistan goal. 2 -1 for Iran and the fans breathed with a sigh of relief.

Turkmenistan tried quite hard to get some result and to their credit they displayed some remarkable resilience and skills especially from the flanks, but the Iranian defense stood strong not allowing much balls to penetrate towards Haghighi.

The final break came in the 81st minute when Reza GHOOCHANNEJAD was fouled from behind for the Korean referee to whistle for a penalty. Team Melli’s Captain for the day  Ashkan DEJAGAH  scored with ease to make it 3-1.

 

shortcomings

Team Melli played quite well despite the low experience. It is certainly a work in progress and there are gaps that has to be modified. The goalkeeper has left a lot to be desired. Haghighi , once again showed everyone and stubborn Queiroz himself, why it is important for a player to play regular competitive football for his club as a major condition to be selected for the national team. Haghighi has not played a single league game this season, yet he is No. 1 keeper for Iran. Queiroz need to come to his senses and his modify his dogmatic attitude.

The other shortcoming of this team , has little to do with the coaching staff or Queiroz and much to do with the players themselves. The final ball and the finishing was quite a setback and disappointing.  Iran could have been 4 goals up within a couple of minutes just before the Turkmenistan equalizer. Two identical misses from identical situations in both times Kaveh Rezaei and then Mehdi Torabi missed open goals and shot wide after the initial ball hit the Turkmenistan woodwork and rebound back to them.  Ashkan DEJAGAH despite his goal and assist was guilty of many poor last balls and committed many errors. Vahid Amiri had an off day as well and was substituted in the second half with the energetic AliReza JAHANBAKHSH who played well and created more than 4 scoring chances.

promising

At the end , it was three sweet points for Iran taking it to the top of the group ahead of Oman on goal difference and a good show from a group inexperienced players however a promising bunch and a delight to watch.