Tag: Amman

Iran vs Qatar: Head-to-Head

The records show Iran’s clear superiority in all competitions and friendly matches against Qatar. Only 3 defeats in 25 and just one of these defeats was in an official game during Mayeli-Kohan’s coaching. The last meeting was in October last year in Amman, Jordan when Tea Melli defeated Qatar, where the former Team Melli coach Carlos Queiroz was the head coach, 4-0.



Venue		MPWDLGOALSGD
Home862019 – 4+15
Away1593318 – 12+6
Neutral22006 – 1+5
Total25175343 – 17+26

DATEAttendanceVENUESCORESTADIUMAzadi Stadium, Tehran
17.10.2023Jordan 4 asideN4 – 0Amman international stadium1,500
31.12.2018FriendlyA2 – 1Khalifa Stadium, Doha50
23.03.2017World Cup QualifierA1 – 0Jassim bin Hamad, Doha
01.09.2016World Cup QualifierH2 – 0Azadi Stadium, Tehran80,000
15.01.2015Asian Cup / Group ‘C’H1 – 0Stadium Australia – Sydney22,673
04.06.2013World Cup QualifierA1 – 0Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium , Doha11,872
12.06.2012World Cup Qualifier / Round 4H0 – 0Azadi Stadium, Tehran80,000
29.02.2012World Cup Qualifier / Round 3 – Group EH2 – 2Azadi Stadium , Tehran55,000
06.09.2011World Cup Qualifier / Round 3 – Group EA1 – 1Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium , Doha8,125
28.12.2010FriendlyA0 – 0Khalifa Stadium, Doha3,000
28.12.2009Friendly / Qatar Intl. Friendly TournamentA2 – 3Suhaim Bin Hamad-Doha Qatar Stadium3,000
09.11.2008FriendlyA1 – 0Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium , Doha5,000
11.08.2008WAFFH6 – 1Khalifa Stadium, Doha5,000
10.01.2008FriendlyA0 – 0Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium , Doha2,000
24.03.2007Friendly / FriendlyA1 – 0Thani bin Jassim Stadium, Doha7,000
13.10.2004World Cup Qualifier / WCQA3 – 2Thani bin Jassim Stadium, Doha3,000
18.02.2004World Cup Qualifier / WCQH3 – 1Azadi Stadium, Tehran45,000
08.04.2002Others / WAGN2 – 1Al Qadisiya Stadium, Kuwait City
01.08.2001Friendly / FriendlyA1 – 2Khalifa International Stadium, Doha3,000
27.09.2000FriendlyA2 – 1Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium , Doha5,000
07.11.1997World Cup Qualifier / WCQA0 – 2Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium , Doha20,000
03.10.1997World Cup Qualifier / WCQH3 – 0Azadi Stadium, Tehran70,000
01.06.1996Friendly / FriendlyA1 – 0Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium, Doha10,000
17.05.1996FriendlyH2 – 0Takhti Stadium , Tabriz30,000
02.12.1988Asian Cup / Group 1A2 – 0Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium , DohaAzadi Stadium, Tehran

Team Melli defeats Qatar by four goals.

In Amman, the final match of the four nations tournament was held with Team Melli facing their former head coach, Carlos Queiroz. A brace by the substitute defender Hossein Kananizadegan, and a goal each by Ali Jahanbakhsh, and Sardar Azmoun all in a ten-minute period in the second half assured Iran an emphatic win and another regional title.

Ghalenoei, started the match with three changes, leaving Kananizadegan, Nourollahi, and Hajsafi out of the starting lineup. Ghoddos, Milad Mohammadi, and Morteza Pouraliganji were the rep[lacements.

The first half was a scruffy affair with Iran having more opportunities, but the finishing did not complement the good moves. Qatar, true to Queiroz principles, formed a solid defense and made life difficult for the central forwards’ pair, Azmoun and Taremi who were disjointed and lacked understanding. There was hardly a pass between them. To make matters more worrying, the body language between the two was far from assuring.

In the second half, both coaches stuck to their game plan. The first real event was the injury to Pouraliganji which looked serious. He was substituted and taken out on a stretcher. Kananizadegan was a direct replacment.

With Iran having more of the possession and having better control of the midfield with Ghoddos directing the play, and Ezatoolahi improving his game despite many passing errors, it was a matter of time before Iran would score.

The first goal was scored in the 69th minute from a corner taken by Rezaeian which was powerfully headed into the net by Kanani. Four minutes later (73), a result of some fine and intricate work on the left side by Miald Mohammadi ended in a square ball into the box to the unmarked Jahanbakhsh, who slotted the ball into the net. 2-0

Two minutes after the second goal, Milad Mohammadi was again the provider from the left flank, this time he found Azmoun in the box, and the AS Roma player scored on a half-turn in minute 75.

Kananizadegan finished the scoring four minutes later for his second goal and Iran’s fourth with another far post header from another Rezaeian assist.

a four-goal blitz in ten minutes was the second-biggest win of Iran against Qatar and a big disappointment for Querioz. Despite the big margin of victory, Team Melli is still not running on all cylinders.

The defense and the midfield improved but not by much. It is always hard to criticize a team that has won by a four-goal margin, but the real test has to be in the Asian Cup when Team Melli faces the might of teams such as Japan or South Korea.

Due to the criminal bombardment of a hospital in Gazza by the Israeli regime, just a few hours before the match, over 500 casualties were reported with a large number of deaths including women and children, no ceremonies were held after the final whistle.

IRAN- QATAR: Match preview

Team Melli will meet Qatar in the final of the Four Nations International tournament in Amman Jordan. The match is scheduled to kick off at 9 PM local time and will be played right after the third-place match between Iraq and host Jordan, in Amman International Stadium.

The match will be the first time that Carlos Queiroz will be playing opposite the team that he coached for 8 years in which he became a household name but not short of controversies that he created now and then in Iran. Team Melli is now under Amir Ghalenoei who is still undefeated since the start of the year.

Much hype has been made out of the fact that Querioz will face off against Iran, a team he left with the majority of players that he picked, still active in the team. The real issue of this match is the expectations from Team Melli after the collective criticism by everyone concerned in Iranian football on the performance of the team in the last match against Jordan. A shakey defense, a lethargic display, error-prone players, and just about a non-existent midfield all combined to paint a gloomy picture of the prospects of Team Melli in the AFC Asian Cup in less than three months from now.

Ghalenoei must have undergone a shock watching Jordanians dribble past his players with such ease. He certainly will not accept such a performance as he is a coach with high expectations and demands the best. Changes will be inevitable, but the fact remains that in Midfield, his choices are limited, while he still has a few cards in the defense zone.

From what we have seen from the Qatar Team, the defending AFC Asian Cup champions.is hardly anywhere near the form that brought them glory fours years back. Like Iran, they are stuck on several senior players who are aging while very few young names have emerged from their strong league. Some of these Qatar players might have lost much of their appetite and skills in the last couple of years. A win for Ghalenoei will not be a great achievement against Qatar, but more important than a victory is the overall teamwork, individual performance, and the general attitude of the team. Ghalenoei desperately needs to have the fans and media behind him and a good display against Qatar will be a good starting point.

HEAD2HEAD

H / A / NMatchesWDLGoals+ / –
HOME862019 – 4+15
AWAY1593318 – 12+6
NEUTRAL11002 – 1+1
Total24165339 – 17+22

LAST MATCH

31. Dec.2018FriendlyA2 – 1Khalifa Stadium, Doha2 – 1
* behind closed doors

Current squad scorers against Qatar

Sardar AZMOUN (2)
Mehdi TAREMI (2)
Ali JAHANBAKHSH (1)
EhsanHAJSAFI (1)

Team Melli to play in a 4-side tournament

According to the official website of the Football Federation, Teaam Melli under  Amir Ghalenoei is going to participate in the 4-side 2023 Jordan international Football tournament in Jordan. This tournament is expected to be played in the Jordanian capital Amman with the presence of the host nation, Iraq, Qatar, and Iran.

This tournament which normally takes place during the autumn  2023 window of the FIFA International Match Calendar, will be held in Amman, Jordan in October this year. FIFA days for the period are 9–17 October 2023

In last year’s edition Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Oman participated in the tournament. Jordan won the tournament by defeating Oman 1–0 in the final

Another Defeat for Team Melli, qualification in peril.

Team Melli lost its second consecutive game in the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualification rounds when it lost to Iraq 2-1 in the match played on Thursday 14th November in Amman Jordan.

The First half ended 1-1, Iraq starting the scoring through Muhannad Ali in the 11th Minute, While Ahmad Noorallahei equalized in the 28th. As the match was at the dying minutes of the added time, Iraq was awarded a corner which it turned into a goal to the bewilderment of Team Melli players.

The starting line-up for Team Melli was much more reasonable than the previous one against Bahrain. Wilmots finally realized the ineffectiveness of a 3 man forward game plan, leaving the midfield area in tatters and seriously deficient.  The idea of using some experience in the midfield was a good one to start with, hence the selection of Masoud Shojaei. However, the veteran 35 years old Tractor player is hardly up to the task. His inclusion in the lineup not only did not add any value for the team, on the contrary, his constant errors, but poor passing and couple of fouls committed resulted in his dismal 10 minutes before time leaving the team in a risky position. Iraq scored when Iran was one man short.

The Team Captain’s action after being given the second yellow card and the subsequent red card were distasteful and unworthy of Team Melli Captain.

Shojaei, who was booed several times in Azadi more than 10 years ago, because of his poor performances, has hardly had a good game for Team Melli and this one is another for the archives. This could probably see the end of his career with Iran’s Team Melli.

The highly tense match started with Iraq pushing forward and pressing the Iranian players on the ball. In this first quarter that pressing worked as they scored the opener.

As the match went on, Iran finally got a grip on the game and started playing, however, and surprisingly, there were too many long balls from the back to the forward line which was all dealt with quite easily by the Iraqi solid defence. There was no solid control of the midfield that Iraq had 5 players. Sardar hardly saw a decent ball from the midfield while Mehdi Taremi was nowhere to be seen in the match.

The equalizer scored by Iran was not a result of some nicely played passing game but due to the persistent and the brilliance of Mohammed Mohebbi who chased what looked like the Iraqi defender ball just near the corner. He robbed the ball, dribbled past a couple of his markers and sent it back to Noorollahei who wiggled his way past two defenders and shot a venomous ball into the far side of the goal.

It was a goal created and scored by two individual brilliant plays.

The match went on to be a scrappy affair with far too many interruptions with both side players trying to cheat and deceive the referee to gains advantage. There is far too many of this happening in the Asian Football. The Sri Lankan referee was cool enough to deal with them but he could and should have given at least two yellow cards to Iraqi players for play-acting. The referee’s decisions, however, were non-factors in the result.

This result puts Iran qualification to the World Cup in a real precarious position. Neither the result nor the performance was good enough to give the fans confidence in the team. It is a far cry from Queiroz’ days at the same stage of the qualification for World Cup 2018. It is obvious that Wilmots’ way is still not being understood or implemented.  He is still learning how to deal with this new challenge. His absence from Iran and limited time to train and coach the team does not help either and it is starting to show.

FIFA warns against crowd misbehaviour.

In what is expected to be a politically inspired encounter by the Iraqi side, FIFA has issued a warning against any Iraqi fans expression of political opinions by any means.

The International Football governing body warning to the Iraqi fans after before Iraq’s sensitive it had mandated a venue change and a move out of Iraq because of protests and insecurity currently prevailing in Iraq, FIFA warning to the Iraqi side included the players, as well as several, have been reported taking active participation in the protests or by the means of social media.. Admission of banners and flags (except for Iraq’s flag) or banners expressing a political view or even sympathy to a party or persons are strictly forbidden, an Iraqi Sport website wrote.

It is also rumoured that the Iraqi team is awaiting clearance from FIFA to agree to a one minute silence in respect to over 280 people who lost their lives in Iraq recently in the clashes between demonstrators and security forces. FIFA also refused Iraqi players wearing a black armband. The Jordanians are taking no chances as they have prepared around 3,350 security personnel and anti-riot brigades to secure the match on Thursday.

Iran vs Iraq, a crucial match for Team Melli.

After climbing to Group C’s summit on Matchday Four, Iraq are set to host Team Melli in a game that looks set to provide yet another major test for both the foreign coaches. Iraq’s  Srečko Katanec’s and Iran’s Marc Wilmots.

Both the coaches had differing issues to deal with it be it with their federation or the players. Katanec time with Iraq has been uneasy, to say the least. There was a rumour of a half-hearted revolt in the squad with some players that Katanec did not pick for these qualifiers going on the social media and bad-mouthing the Slovenian coach.

However, with a history of managing three national teams (UAE, Slovenia and Iraq), Katanec is using his vast experience to deal with the difficult situation including the clause in the contract that will see him being terminated if he does not qualify from this group.

Marc Wilmots is quite safe and solid for Team Melli except for the small matter of paying his wages. The Iranian Federation, like before, procrastinate in paying the Team Melli coaches. There is always one or more justification and they wait until the last minute before paying the coach. This delay, however, meant that Wilmots was not willing to work with the squad until the finances were settled. The Belgian had very few training session with the squad (2 sessions before departure to Amman). His absence from Iran meant that the selection of players was trusted to his assistants although Wilmots have seen enough good performances by the two Belgian based players (Rezaei and Gholizadeh) to include them in the squad.

IRAQ vs IR IRAN

The two teams know each other quite well. They have met 27 times since their first encounter in Amjadieh Stadium in June 1962.  Iran has a clear edge in the head to head meeting with 16 wins, 7 draws and 4 defeats. 38 goals were scored by Iranians while Iraq has managed 19.

History aside, this meeting, although not a must-win for Team Melli, a defeat will make the task of the qualification so much difficult with Iraq having a 4 points advantage. Riding high following their last month’s 4-0 win over Cambodia, Iraq will be eager to add yet more momentum to their campaign

Marc Wilmots is sure to be acutely aware that his side can ill-afford a repeat of their Matchday Four defeat to Bahrain if they are to maintain their push to progress. That disappointing loss in Manama has left the Iranians – who after their trip to Jordan will not be in Asian Qualifiers action again until next March – occupying third place and needing to rebound in style so as to avoid slipping further off the pace.

The Loss in Manama exposed some tactical vulnerability in Wilmot’s line up and those shortfalls need to be addressed.

Iraq’s success came after an opening day draw with Bahrain and a 2-0 defeat of Hong Kong at home, results that have left the 2007 AFC Asian Cup champions well placed to progress from what is proving to be a closely contested Group C.

The regional rivals last met during the group stage of this year’s AFC Asian Cup where they drew 0-0, and while maintaining their current unbeaten record is sure to be at the forefront of Iraqi minds, head coach Katanec will be viewing Thursday’s fixture as an ideal opportunity to put yet further distance between his table-topping team and the chasing pack.

IRAQ vs IR IRAN
Venue: Amman International Stadium, Amman, Jordan
Kick-off: 17:00 (UTC +3)

Nervous Iraqi federation fear spell over of politics and unrest in the match.

On Thursday, Iraq will be hosting Iran in Amman after FIFA ordered the match to be played outside the country due to security concerns.

However, the match in the Qualifying Round 4 of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and the AFC Asian Cup in Amman, is far from a being a safe and secure event as predicted by the Iraqi officials.  The match has become politically sensitive because of the riots and protests in Iraq,  in addition to the traditional rivalry between the national teams of the two countries. Officials of the Iraqi Football Federation are seeking to prevent any political and racist issues from affecting the match to avoid further sanctions by FIFA.

Fresh clashes between Iraqi security forces and anti-government protesters broke out on Friday in Iraq killing at least three people, despite a call for calm by the country’s top Shi’ite cleric, as authorities grapple with the nation’s biggest crisis in years. More than 280 people have been killed since the protests started over what looks on the surface as protests against corruptions and unemployment but instigated and induced by foreign and Arab secret services to destabilize the country.

According to the Iraqi al-Ghad Press website, a trilateral meeting will be held today with officials from the Iraqi Football Federation, the Jordanian Federation and the Iraqi Embassy in Amman to assess the security conditions of the match as well as Iraq’s next match hosting Bahrain in the same qualifiers. In addition to monitoring the crowd entering the stadium and full security implementation like body searches, the meeting will examine Iraqi officials calls on social media networks for support by its people, including wearing masks during the match.  Banners that have political or racial slurs against one another will be prevented from entering into the stadium. All efforts to de-politicize the match have been taken.

“The Iraqi federation and the embassy in Jordan are trying very hard not to allow political slogans, dissent and sectarian chants to be demonstrated in the arena because FIFA has always been intolerant to politics and racism and anything that causes spreads and promotes hate,” the Al-Ghad website continued. The Iraqi Federation and its embassy are also trying to keep politics away from the stadium in fear of possible consequences on the Jordanian people and the sensitivity of Jordan itself which saw recent riots of its own.

“There has been a lot of effort over the past three days to ensure the fans to be in the stadium just to support the Iraqi team.” it added

Amman is the new venue for Iraq vs Iran match.

Jordan will officially host FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifying match between Iraq and Iran according to Iraq’s Federation President Abdul Khaleq Massoud. The Jordanian capital will also host Iraq’s next match in the competition vs Bahrain.

According to FIFA ruling, the Iraqi national team is not allowed to host the games in Basra against Iran and Bahrain due to security concerns and demanded the Iraqi federation select another country. “We have formally requested the Jordanian Football Federation (JFA) to hold two games due to proximity , public support and no visas requirement between us,” Abdul Khaleq Massoud said in an interview with Germany’s official news agency. We will be welcomed by Iraqis everywhere. “

FIFA sent a letter Wednesday asking the Iraqi League to offer a third ground for both of the games scheduled for Iran and Bahrain due to the unstable situation in Iraq. Iraq was insisting on holding the two matches as scheduled on November 14 and 19 in Basra. The city already hosted the match against Hong Kong last October.

Iraq is leading Group C with seven points from three games so far, Bahrain is second, and Iran is third with six points. The first and second teams of each group advance to the next stage of Qatar’s 2022 World Cup qualifiers.