Tag: Aghili

Kaffashian ” I will be honored to be ousted from my position!”

Ali Kaffashian has stated that it is an honor to be ousted from his position as the President of the FFIRI by the General Assembly!

The comment by Kaffashian was in response to Amir Abedini who has started a move to dislodge Kaffashian from his position citing amongst various issues, the poor management and administration of the federation, poor planning and lack of strategic outlook  , bad results by National football Teams representing the country.

“I welcome such a move, in fact , I will even show them how to do it (…) It needs 15 representatives to declare the no-confidence vote and if that quota is reached , then it will be my honor to be removed”.

Commenting on the results of youth teams, Kaffashian claimed that “Iran teams have not played so badly in the recent tournaments. We are not after results, in any case. Admittedly, the other Asian Teams have worked quite hard.”

Kaffashian reiterated the admission of committing a mistake in the arrangement of Iran’s U23 squad to Asian Games. “Originally we planned to send the U21 team to Incheon, but due to a last minute decision change, we added a few older players. This has disrupted the team rhythm”

“We are supposed to upkeep this U21 team and prepare it for the Olympics qualifiers. If we wanted to send this team to Incheon, where most of the opponents are sending their full strength teams, it would  have been an unfair competition (…) !”

“Our aim is to keep Vingada until the Olympics. God willing, we will arrange a few friendly games to assess his work with the squad. After the analysis and review of those games, we will decide on our future relationship with Vingada.”

Kaffashian confirmed that Team Melli players, who have been suspended by the authorities for holding fake Military Service Release Certificates, will not be invited to Team Melli. The Head of FFIRI also confirmed that he will not interfere with Queiroz selection or lack of in regards to Aghili and Rahmati.

Ali Kaffashian is known for his contentious and controversial statements. Some amount of tongue-in-cheek is usually attached to his statements to add fun , according to his justification. However, he is going beyond the border of professionalism and authenticity by these latest statements. Not only is he covering the trues facts of the events, he is making a mockery of his position by sheer lack of knowledge or deceitful whatever the case might be.

 No team is allowed to field more than 3 over-aged players in the Asian Games that has an age restriction of U23. Kaffashian’s statement that the other teams are fielding their full strength team is quite misleading. The last minute change of mind of the federation which led to replacing 7 players, was enforced by the Iranian Olympic Committees (IOC) policy that mandates teams/athletes representing  Iran in Asian and Olympic Games must stand a chance of winning a medal. The Asian and the Olympic Games have never been a trial fields for athletes as Kaffashian is suggesting.

The Irony of all this is that Kaffashian , being an ex-executive of IOC , should have known this fact!

Kaffashian’s statement that he will be honored to be dislodged from his position is as zany as they come!  Who, in his right mind, will be honored to be kicked out of his job?

 In hindsight, it will be an honor for all Iranian fans if he is actually removed or replaced but given a decent farewell party and a thank you for a job that was not very well done. Someone else, less talkative more industrious, a strong leader, knowledgeable decision-making, a veteran in sports administration should be given the opportunity to turn the fortunes of football in Iran.

Hadi Aghili bemaons lack of support and sympathy

Sepahan Esfahan defender Hadi Aghili is bitter about the lack of support and absence of any moves to return him back to Team Melli similar to other players.

In an interview with ISNA , Aghili said “there has been a strong lobby to return Rahmati to Team Melli for the World Cup. Similarly , when a player like Payam Sadeghian is not selected , lots of people are upset, demanding his inclusion while questioning the coach’s decision. On the other hand, I have no such lobby and no one has publicly or privately called for  the return of Hadi Aghili to Team Melli.”

“I have played my role for my country and I am always proud to serve my nation. Perhaps I made a mistake , or maybe I did not , but regardless of all that , It is prudent to recognize my long services for Team Melli. Certain players from certain clubs have immense lobbying power, we don’t have that power in Sepahan. If I was a player in a club with 20 million supporter , things might have been different.”

Hadi Aghili left the camp of Team Melli without permission in what looked like a protest against being benched for a match. The move which has greatly upset Queiroz , resulted from him being permanently excluded from selection to the team , as long as Queiroz is the coach.

Hadi Aghili never came up to properly apologize to the federation or the coach for his misdemeanor and lack of respect for the team spirit and coach.

 

 

Is Queiroz vindicated in overlooking of Rahmati?

The performance of Iranian clubs in the AFC Champions Leagues is always a good indicator of the standard of Team Melli since almost all the domestic players are from clubs playing in this competition, Persepolis being the exception.

After the second round, Iranian clubs results were mixed, with Esteghlal surprisingly for some, while naturally for others, faring the worst out of the 4 Iranian teams.  Esteghlal, the most successful Iranian club in the history of the competition winning it twice and finalist once, is expected to at least qualify for the next round, in a group that is far from being difficult. However the two loses at home in Azadi against ALShabab of Saudi Arabia and then the defeat against Al Rayyan in Doha, has created an immense burden on Ghalenoei to achieve what many consider to be the minimum, which is the qiualifcation. The star studded team has Heydari, Beighzadeh  , Teymourian & Sadeghi in Team Melli while they have lost the services of Nekounam , Montazeri and Jabbari other Team Melli players.

The defeat against Al Rayyan brought up one interesting discussion related to Team Melli’s players’ selection. The only goal of the match came after a terrible rudimentary blunder by Seyed Mehdi Rahmati who failed to grab an easy cross , with the ball slipping through his hands, giving the Al Rayyan forward a dream gift of simply tacking the ball into the empty net.

That goal gift by Rahmati  was enough to sink Esteghlal naturally bring up the debate about Queiroz concerns with the most experienced goalkeeper in the league. Rahmati , despite his brilliance as a shot stopper , has an acute weakness in his tactics on crosses. His timing has failed him time and again  , a a fact that Carlos Queiroz could not simply ignore or tuck under the carpet. It was his interest in having a replacement for Rahmati and criticism of the keeper that lead to Rahmati taking a break, according to his interpretation from Team Melli. That Petulant act was enough for Queiroz to cross Rahmati out of his list for good.

Another player in the Queiroz black list is Hadi Aghili , missed a penalty against Al Hilal but his blushes was saved by a injury time winner for Sepahan by Sukaj

For what it is worth, with Rahmati at least, it is quite clear that Carlos Queiroz was not far off in his assessment of the Esteghlal goalkeeper with his liabilities. Queiroz is surely vindicated.