Tag: Al Kuwait FC

The misfortunes of Team Melli forwards.

With around 3 weeks to go for Iran’s first match in the AFC Asian Cup 2015, Team Melli’s bad fortunes continues unabated,

Reza Ghoochannejad , the forward who singlehandedly took Iran to the World Cup 2014 with his precious vital goals in the qualifiers , has just been shown the door by a uninspiring team, low level team playing in less than modest league. Ghoochannejad has been told by Al Kuwait FC that his services are no longer required and has to return to his club , Charlton Athletics.  Gucci in fact scored 7 goals for AL Kuwait during the half season , but it was deemed not a good return on investment that the Kuwaiti club which has paid over a million Euro for his services.

Ghoochannejad vs Qatar

Reza Ghoochannejad scored the only goal for Team Melli in the World Cup against Bosnia-Herzegovina in a 3-1 defeat.

Karim Ansarifard, the young player who promised so much in the last few years , has fared much worse than Gucci . The reserve Team Melli forward has not managed to score any goals for his club Osasuna during his 8 matches and 351 minutes of playing time.

Ansarifard has been told by the Pamplona club that he needs to find another club in the January transfer windows as he will be no longer wanted in Osasuna where his Captain Javad Nekounam is a key player in the Segunda Division side.

KArim Ansarifard

Team Melli is not renowned for their offensive prowess in Asia , as the tactical policy of the team is built around solid defense, however with their two main forwards  being out of a job , it does not augur well for the team in Australia.

montazeri Thumb2

Just as expected after Umm Salal last league game, Pejman Montazeri’s injury looks like a serious one. It has been announced today that Team Melli’s central defender will not be available for selection for the Asian Cup due to the injury.

Another player who might miss the trip to Australia is Khosro Haidary whose recovery has been slow from his injury. The Esteghlal right back is currently under special observation.

Ghoochannejad finally scores in a humiliating defeat.

Reza Ghoochannejad , finally score a goal for his club Al Kuwait  nonetheless in one quite humiliating defeat for his team.

Persipura Jayapura recorded a sensational 6-1 win over defending champions Kuwait Sports Club to become the first Indonesian club to reach the AFC Cup semi-finals. Al Kuwait FC , the defending champion won the first leg 3-2

Ghoochannejhad who played in both legs , had an effort ruled out for offside in the 57th minute but the Iranian would give his side a glimmer of hope when he headed in a cross by Al Enezi eight minutes later.  

Two days after this heavy defeat, Al Kuwait FC sacked their coach. Abdulaziz Hamadah , who was a fervent supporter of Ghoochannejad and with the help of Javad Nekounam , helped secure Ghoochannjed service for Al Kuwait FC.

 

Reza Ghoochannjed has yet to score for his team in the league.

Al Kuwait ٍSC gets Reza Ghoochannejad.

While the one goal scored by Iran in the World Cup along with two defeats, did not impress any European clubs and we failed to see any real interest from even second tier Europeans,  it was believed that the scorer of the lone Iranian goal would find a better fortune than a lower tier league club in England and stand a good chance in getting a decent club playing top-level football.

Reza Ghoochanejad was not a happy man at Charlton Athletics, a club that struggled for survival and eventually scraped through and maintained it English Championship league status for the next season. Even in this frail team, Reza did not manage to find a fixed starting role. He was hardly used and only managed to score one goal. The writing was on the wall that Reza would seek out of this fortunes elsewhere, but very few predicted that he will fly 7 hours east and precisely to Kuwait to continue his professional career.

After Nekounam left Al Kuwait SC, Reza Ghoochanjed has repacked him. The news is still not official by Charlton Athletics yet, but it seems that it is a pretty done deal.

Why Al Kuwait SC?

The Kuwaiti league is one of the poorer leagues in the Persian Gulf region. It had no representation in the Asian Champions League for many years although the next edition will see of the Kuwait clubs playing in the ACL. The overall standard of the Kuwait league is way behind the likes of Saudi Arabia, Iran , Qatar and  UAE. The Kuwaiti clubs do not get the generous government support that the other Gulf Arab countries get and even much less that Iranian clubs , which are mostly government-owned anyway. As such ,   the financial structure of the Kuwait clubs and football league is pretty feeble to moderate at best. The infrastructure and the facilities are also of a lower standard than the rest of its neighbors. It seems since the Iraqi invasion in 1990 and the ensuing liberation war , Kuwait has completely forgotten about investment in football.

So , who is it that they can afford the likes of Nekounam and Choochannejad?

Kuwait has many foreign players from as far as Brazil , plenty from the African continents and quite a few Arabs, whoever , these are mostly seventh or eight grade footballers. You would never hear of a player in the stature of Raul Gonzales, the ex-Real Madrid Captain heading to a Kuwaiti club , for example.

With the exceptional and relatively immense wages that Nekounam was getting in Esteghlal , Al Kuwait SC must have either matched or improved on it for Iran’s Captain to be tempted. It would be the same situation with Ghoochannjad who had offers from Qatar and Iranian clubs as well. Al Kuwait is quite obviously, the richest club in Kuwait , although not the most popular one. That title goes to AL Qadisiya and Al Arabi.

On the bright side of this transfer is that Al Kuwait SC will be one of the country’s representatives in the 2014/15 AFC Asian Champions league and many Iranian will be able to see him play. The chances are pretty strong that Al Kuwait will be playing in a group along with an Iranian club.