Tag: Ali Karimi Sepahan

Ali Karimi out of Team Melli squad for the World Cup

Ali Karimi , Team Melli player is the first casualty of Team Melli for the FIFA World Cup 2018 Russia

The Sepahan Esfahan midfield player suffered a back injury during training and was declared as unable to continue training for some time and is definite to miss the squad to Russia.

Karimi was in the first group of 35 players announced by Queiroz and had a fairly good chance to make the final 23 players list but he has fallen a victim of the injury a day before the team meets Uzbekistan for a friendly match in Azadi Stadium in preparation for the World Cup.

Omid team falter against Qatar

Doha: Qatar moved a step closer to the knockout rounds of the AFC U23 Championship on Friday with an impressive 2-1 win over Iran at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium that sees them take command of Group A.

Ahmed Alaa and Abdelkarim Hassan claimed a goal in each half to secure all three points for Felix Sanchez’s side and leave Iran – who missed a penalty through Roozbeh Cheshmi – needing to win their final group game against China on Monday.

Ali Karimi scored on the stroke of full-time for Iran, but it was not enough to deny the Qataris a deserved victory.

“To reach six points after two games is the best situation, but we’re still not qualified for the second round,” said Qatar coach Sanchez.

“It was a tough game from the beginning.

“Iran is a great team, one of the best in the competition, but I think we played a good game and we deserved the three points. Now is the time to enjoy it because we have our final [group stage] game in three days.”

Ali Asad was, as expected, included in the starting line-up after shining when he was introduced from the bench in Qatar’s opening 3-1 win over the Chinese and he impressed once again in an enthralling midfield battle the Qataris eventually won.

The home side claimed their rewards for their increasing dominance in the 34th minute when Akram Afif’s quick feet allowed him to clip his pass behind the Iranian defence and into the path of Alaa (pictured), who slipped his shot between Mohammadreza Akhbari’s legs to score.

Five minutes before the interval, Asad went close to doubling Qatar’s advantage, only for Akhbari to palm his shot from the tightest of angles away to safety while with seconds remaining in the half, Arsalan Motahhari headed Iran’s first chance of the game over the bar.

Motahhari carried Iran’s principal threat and, five minutes into the second half, the Naft Tehran forward forced Muhannad Naim into action, firing off his effort from a tight angle that the goalkeeper pushed out of harm’s way.

Qatar, though, always looked the more likely to score and, in the 55th minute, Afif caught the Iranian defence on their heels as his pace continued to cause problems, only for Mohammad Khakpour’s team to concede a corner.

From the resultant set piece, though, Qatar doubled their lead when Hassan expertly lost his marker before side footing Ahmad Moein’s centre into the bottom corner.

Motahhari continued to push forward for Iran, twice going close with headers before being brought down in the area by Ahmed Yasser, who gave Malaysian referee Mohd Amirul no option but to point to the spot.

Iran captain Cheshmi, however, saw his attempt from 12 yards saved by Naim, with the goalkeeper diving to his right to push the ball to safety.

Substitute Milad Kamandani sent his rising shot from the edge of the area just over the Qatari crossbar with eight minutes remaining before Karimi finally found the back of the net in the 90th minute when he raced in and slotted the ball past Naim but it was too little too late for Iran.

“We dominated the game but at the end they’re not going to give any points to the better players, but to the team that scores the most goals,” said Khakpour.

“My captain, I’m really proud of him and the other players because they did their best, they were putting 100 percent into the game and missing the penalty is just part of the game. It happens and many great players in the world have missed penalties.

“But I’m so proud of them because they played a great game tonight. They sacrificed for each other and that’s good enough for me.”

Team Melli players transfer market 2015/16.

The transfer window has opened in most of the leagues round the world and our focus , as usual has been the Team Melli players past and present.

It is safe to say that the movement of the Team Melli players was not exactly an earth shattering activity. Domestically, there has been very few transfers to talk about with most of the Team Melli players renewing their contracts with their current clubs.

In essence,  Team Melli players fall in three categories, The Young promising including rising stars, the established players, the twilight zone players.

ramin-rezaeian-28553

Young prospects: Most clubs hunt for bargains while pursuing young players. Iran is a big country and find the right talent in the right place is not something that can be considered a routine or easy task. Competition amongst the clubs can be become rough and messy at times each side pulling all the tricks up their sleeves. Players also take full advantage when faced with situation where there are multiple suitors. It is not uncommon to hear that a player has signed for two clubs or more in Iran!

The favorite destination of most of the young players is Esteghlal or Persepolis. The popularity of these two teams and the bi-partisan nature of football in Iran, puts these two teams at an unfair advantage. The two most popular clubs in Iran contribute very little if any in developing or producing young players themselves. However, they are at a vantage point when players, particularly young ones, come to them and consider it an honor to don the jerseys of the big two clubs.

However , now that Persepolis and Esteghlal have been facing dire cash shortage and are technically bankrupt , the attraction of these two teams is dwindling. Young aspiring players are more careful and vigilant although the appeal of these two names is still there.

Unfortunately, this season the number of players in this category is not too pleasing. Most would be staying put in their club like Mehdi Sharifi and Ali Karimi of Sepahan and Mehdi Torabi of Saipa. Ramin Rezaeian is the only one who has joined Persepolis from Rah Ahan , otherwise the lack of promising players is becoming of some concern amongst the coaches and experts.

Ando cute

Established players: most of the Team Melli players in this category have opted to stay with their clubs despite some of the clubs not honoring timely wage payments.  The odd ones who made the change include the Captain Ando Teymourian (Tractosazi to Umm Salal (QAT)) , Pejman Montazeri (Umm Salal (QAT) to Al Ahli (QAT)) , Daniel Davari (Grasshoppers to Arminia Bielefeld) , Mohammad Nouri (Persepolis to Al Mesaimer (QAT).

This category is also lacks exciting transfers or prospects of major changes.

The Twilight zone : Unfortunately , a number of current Team Melli squad fall in this category including Teymourian (32 years) whom we gave the benefit of the doubt as he is the Captain of the team. Jalal Hosseini (33 years), the Solid and always present central defender , did not renew his contract with Al Ahali of Qatar but surprisingly he was rejected by his first choice and favorite destination , Persepolis. Eventually he was recruited by Naft Tehran, but there were not many suitors chasing him either.

Masoud Shojaei (31 years), the perennial ever-present midfielder who has been struggling for many seasons with clubs of lower divisions, once again flopped but this time in Qatar not Spain. His team Al Shahaniya was relegated last season and as expected the Qatari’s found him to be a surplus to their requirement this coming season. Shojaei is currently negotiating with Persepolis. It is rumored that he will accept a huge pay cut in order to join the reds with no sign on fees demanded by the player.

Shojaei against Montenegro
Shojaei against Montenegro

So, it looks like 2015/2016 season will start with relative calm in the Team Melli squad, which could be a hidden advantage for Carlos Queiroz if not for the fans or the transfer market.

There are tough roads ahead. Guam , Oman and India will be ready to challenge Iran in the qualifying rounds of the FIFA World Cup 2018. As Team Melli players found out against Turkmenistan , it is not a forgone conclusion to win against such oppositions. Guam , in particular has made a tremendous progress and will be testing Iran, while Oman will always remain a tough nut to crack for Team Melli.

Minimum disturbance of the players may be just what the doctored ordered for Team Melli squad.