Tag: Amin Hizbavi

Starting lineup vs Hong Kong

Amir Ghalenoei has made a few changes to the usual starting lineup for the game in Hong Kong. The defending line has seen most of the changes as Shojaa Khalilzadedh is the only one who has maintained his place, while Abolfazl Jalali, Amin Hizbavi, and Arya Yousefi will be starting the match. Payam Nizmand has replace Ali Beiranvand.

Mohammad Ghorbani after an impressive season, will partner Saman Ghoddos while Ghaedi and Jahanbakhash will be operating on the flanks to support the two forwards Taremi and Azmoun.

The match is a formality for Iran, however, a good winning margin will boost the team for a commanding performance in the next rounds of the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers.

12P. Niazmand
4S. Khalilzadeh
18A. Jalali
15A. Hazbavi
13A. Yousefi
10M. Ghayedi
6M. Ghorbani
9M. Taremi
20S. Azmoun
14S. Ghoddos
7A. Jahanbakhsh

Two young defenders are to be added to Team Melli’s squad.

After lots of criticism of Amir Ghalenoei for his aging squad, the injury to Morteza Pouralgangi, and his subsequent operation which will put him out of action for six months, forced Ghalenoei to pick a replacement for the defender. The Team Melli head coach finally remembered that the team requires f much-needed youth energy to this geriatric team.

Amin Hezbavi, the Omid and the Qatari Al Sadd defender is now included in the squad. The 20-year-old Khuzestani player (born in Ahvaz) joined Al Sadd club in 2023 and has featured in this team as a fixed player despite his young age. Hizbavi has already scored a stunning header for his club in the Qatar Star League. Hizbavi has played for the Omid team and was one of the stars.

The Other addition is Gol Gohar and Omid Team defender, Saman Fallah. Despite the failure of the team under Reza Enayati, Fallah displayed some impressive football work on the flanks as a winger. The 22-year-old player from Sari is playing his football in Peykan but it is only a matter of time before one of the three big clubs in Iran will lure him, or if he gets the proper advice and opportunity, will head towards professional football in the Persian Gulf states or Europe.

Pouraliganji, who was looking for the third appearance in the AFC Asian Cup with Team Melli, will now be a TV spectator watching Iran matches in Qatar.

The selection of Pouraliganji’s successor in Team Melli has become a subject of many discussions in the last few days. Majid Hosseini, the Kayserispor of Turkey, is mentioned as a candidate. However, Amir Ghalenoei opted to invite Amin Hizbavi and Saman Fallah instead. That is quite a move from the head coach of Team Melli, who disappointed many fans and critics with his last selection for the Jordan 4 side tournament. His selection of Karim Ansarifard was a particularly disappointing and a step backward move for a team that is in dire need of rebuilding and decreasing the average age.

Team Melli will play two matches in the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers against Hong Kong and Uzbekistan this year and then head to Doha for the AFC Asian Cup 2023.

Pourdara will be realaesed for Omid Team

The Omid Team forward, Ali Pourdara who is playing for Al Kuwait club and has scored a goal and provided an assist in his last league match, is said to be joining the Omid Team in Tashkent.

Al Kuwait club, which values the Iranian player highly, agreed for their forward to join the Omid team but later than usual. In essence, Pourdara will be missing the training camp and will head straight to the Uzbek capital without joining his teammates in Tehran.

Another legionnaire that has been released is Al Sadd club, central defender Amin Hizbavi who also scored a very neat header and his team’s first goal against Al Arabi in a 4-2 thriller this week in the Qatar Star Legue match.

The third legionnaire, Sayyadmanish is yet to confirm his arrival.

Iran is in group E of the qualifier and will play its first match on 6 September 2023.

GROUP E
1 Uzbekistan (H)
2 Iran
3 Hong Kong
4 Afghanistan

Omid team announced

The list of Omid football team preparing for participation in the Olympic qualifiers was announced. Head coach Reza Enayati and his coaching staff selected these players for the training camp starting Thursday.

The list includes:

Sina Saidifar, Sina Ghasemi, Ali Asghar Sadeghi, Saman Turanian, Mohammad Reza Khaledabadi, Amin Hizbavi, Ali Pourdara, Allahyar Sayadmanesh, Mohammad Ghorbani, Aria Yousefi, Mohammad Javad Hosseinnejad, Payam Parsa, Saman Fallah, Amir Jafari, Mohammad Reza Bardbar, Aria Barzgar, Taha Tabatabai, Mohammad Hossein Eslami, Hossein Guderzi, Alireza Bavieh, Mehdi Ahmadi, Yassin Salmani and Daniyal Iri

Team Omid’s camp will start at noon Thursday at Evin Parsian Hotel in Tehran, Amongst the invitees, there will be two absentees Amin Hizbavi playing in Al Sadd in Qatar, and Allahyar Sayyadmanesh who plays in the English Championship.

It is not clear if their respective clubs will release the players for this competition. Iran failed to qualify for the Olympics since 1980 (43 years back).