Venue: Azadi Stadium, Tehran
Kick-off: 17:00 hours (UTC+3:30)
Boasting firepower of their own in the devastating strike duo of Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi – and buoyed by a perfect record of 10 wins from as many matches since Dragan Skočić took the head coach role at the outset of 2021 – Iran will hold no fear, even if the Azadi Stadium will remain empty.
That victory puts Team Melli, even at this early stage, within sight of a third successive FIFA World Cup appearance.
The President of FFIRI Shahabuddin Azizi Khadem declared that the verdict in the case of Marc Wilmots against his federation in the Supreme Court of Sports is still pending: “We are currently waiting. We have time until the 29th of October. We hope that what is in the interest of national football will come to fruition. No Iranian is willing to waste even a penny from the pockets of these people in a contract in which this federation was not involved!!”
The remark is quite controversial coming from the head of the federation that is supposed to have signed a contract for the coach of Team Melli. All football federations of the world select, employ, and sign contracts with coaches to manage their national teams. What transpires from Azizi Khadem is that the FFIRI had no say in the contract of the Belgian coach. That raises many questions including who forced this unsuited coach on Team Melli ? and worst, why did the previous head of the FFIRI, namely one Mehdi Taj accept this failure of a coach?
Azizi Khadem continued “We hope the final verdict is not damaging to Iranian football rights.”
Regarding the introduction of video referee assistance (VAR) technology to Iran, he said “The information that I have is that the managers of the relevant company will arrive in Tehran tonight for study and planning. They will be in Iran for about 12 days and we have agreed on trials of VAR in four Team Melli games. Necessary instructions have also been given to the league organization to list the stadiums. This is a very important and historic step for the national football, club, and refereeing community to benefit from VAR technology in the near future “
The President of the Football Federation was asked about the chances of allowing female spectators into the stadium for the match against South Korea, He said “Our colleagues are studying all the relevant details and health protocols. I hope the verdict on the presence of the fans in the game against South Korea is positive, which is an important issue for us. Mr. Kamrani Far had a meeting today regarding the subject and the maximum number of fans allowed, which will be announced by himself.”
Azizi Khadem dodged the original question and refused to commit to allowing females into Azadi stadium. Of course, in Iran, such decisions are beyond the football federation or the Ministry of Youth and Sports authority and jurisdiction.
Iran will be hosting South Korea on the 12th of October in Matchday 4 of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers.
The starting lineup for the game against Syria in the Group A of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers has been announced.
This evening’s game against Syria at 20:30 was picked up by the deputies of Dragan Skocic and Vahid Hashemian, both guaranteed due to covid19 infection:
Alireza Biranvand
Shoja Khalilzadeh, Mohammad Hossein Kananizadegan, Jafar Salmani
Vahid Amiri, Ahmad Noorollahi, Milad Sarlak,
Ali Gholizadeh, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Saman Ghoddos
Mehdi Taremi.
Aref Aghasi, Saleh Hardani, Milad Mohammadi, Saeed Ezatollahi, Karim Ansarifard, Payam Niazmand, Mehdi Torabi, Seyed Mohammad Karimi, Siavash Yazdani, Omid Nourafkan, Amir Abedzadeh, Mehdi Ghaedi are bench players in this match. The big absentee of this match is Sardar Azmoun, who cannot accompany the team due to suspension.
After several years of struggles and follow-ups, Tehran is finally confirmed as the host of Iran’s home matches in the FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar in the qualifying round.
Shahabuddin Azizi Khadem, said about the plans of the national football team: “an important event just happened after years as we finally gained our right to host the first game against Syria in Tehran, which can help Team Melli a lot.”
Azizi Khadem, then went on to brief the reporters about the preparation plans for the game He added: “With intensive and scientific planning in the new management of the federation and the official support that we have realized, it is now possible for our fans to watch their national team in a competitive match. A lot of effort has been made in this regard. I would also like to thank the Radio and Television Organization for its excellent cooperation with us in this regard. We have set up a special staff to prepare for the World Cup, and Mr. Foroughi is present on behalf of the IRIB. We hope that other government officials will be added to the committee in our headquarters. Football is the manifestation of our national unity.”
The president of the federation said ” all the work of the issue of visa to attend for the Syrian delegation has been carried out and handed over to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Syrian team will arrive on Monday, August 28th. Observers and the refereeing team will also travel to Tehran. Everything is well planned and we are all ready for the game in Azadi against Syria.”
Azizi Khadem then carried on praising the effort of his management is arranging the match in Azadi, suggesting that many countries have been deprived of hosting due to Covid19.
Regarding fans’ attendance, Azizi Khadem stated regarding the presence of spectators in the matches hosted by Iran: in consultation with AFC, which has its own restrictions, in order to comply with the regulations and satisfy the public opinion, it is unlikely that the fans will be allowed.
“After that, we have to travel to Doha, and the third game is in the UAE and the fourth game is here against South Korea, we will probably be able to allow those who were vaccinated with a special card to gain entry. “
The president of the FFIRI substituted the fans who are customarily considered as the 12 players at home games, with the Head of IRIB!!!
He said: “The twelfth friend was the emphasis of the president of the Radio and Television Organization”
Aziz Khadem’s praise to the head of IRIB that has never paid a single dollar for TV broadcast rights and practically owes football tens of millions of dollars in back pay is a true sound of desperation in a country where the one and only broadcaster considers itself above the law.
This time, there was no other option. It was either IRIB pays for the broadcast to AFC and FIFA or Iran will not be granted any rights to play its home game in Tehran. It is not clear if FIFA is compensated by IRIB for illegally broadcasting official matches without paying the right.
Team Melli will host its home matches in the third qualifying round of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in Tehran.
According to the FIFA website, the venue for Iran’s first match against Syria is Azadi Stadium. FIFA has chosen Azadi to put an end to the speculations over the past few days and weeks about the hosting being taken away from Iran. Thus, Team Melli will play all five home matches in Tehran if the matches are played are to be played on Home and Away format rather than a round-robin tournament in a single country.
FIFA prefers home and away because it has always been played in this format since the inception of the tournament. There have been the odd times that teams played in a single venue, especially in Aisa due to logistics, but Home and Away is the standard that FIFA likes to adhere to.
The scenario of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is different, which has always been to deprive Iran of hosting its matches. These politically motivated moves are the results of Gulf Arab countries lead by Saudi Arabia, both to uphold its hostility towards Iran and also to gain an unfair advantage on the pitch!
In the second qualifying round of the World Cup, Bahrain was chosen as a host. FIFA also agreed to approve Jordan to host Syrian national matches, but the venue for the Iraq Games has not yet been determined yet and it is not clear in which country Iraq will host its opponent in the qualifiers including the Iranian national team.
This arrangement could be nullified if FIFA or the governments of the participating teams apply strict entry conditions as a result of COVID19.
Ali Daei set the international goal record on 109 – he was in the World Cup’s ‘most politically charged game’, hit his record-equalling strike twice as a rival was struck by a FIRECRACKER… and downed Chelsea at club level!
By JACK BEZANTS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED:
It would have been impossible to realize it then but 15 years ago, on June 17, 2006, the paths of two players who have shaped the landscape of international football crossed for the only time.
Cristiano Ronaldo was one of them. That day, he scored his 12th goal for Portugal from the penalty spot in a 2-0 win against Iran as he helped his side seal a place in the last-16 of the World Cup.
The other was Ali Daei, the legendary Iran striker who with 109 goals in 149 matches, holds the record as the highest ever scorer in internationals. It is one of the few that Ronaldo hasn’t broken but with Euro 2020 on the horizon, he heads into the tournament narrowing his sights on that landmark with his tally at 103.
That day, the 36-year-old Daei was an unused substitute. He would play just one more time for Iran, in the ensuing dead rubber group match against Angola which ended 1-1, without him scoring.
Daei’s career is an intriguing tale. His name is at the summit of a long list of players who thrived on the international scene more so than at club level. Pulling on the colors of ‘Team Melli’ brought the best out of the 6ft 4in striker, who was unsurprisingly strong in the air and had a poacher’s instinct in the box.
It wasn’t straightforward for Daei to make it as a footballer. His father didn’t want him to play the game at all until he graduated school and he trained as a metallurgical engineer. But his mother secretly helped him develop his footballing talent, without his dad knowing.
‘I used to leave home without my football uniform and my mother would smuggle it out for me so that I could play,’ Daei told the New York Times in 1998.
He made his Iran debut in 1993 and across Asia, promptly established himself as the most prolific marksman in the game. In fact, just 13 of his goals came outside of the continent and in the way that Ronaldo cashes in when he plays the Faroe Islands or Andorra, Daei did likewise against teams such as Nepal and Sri Lanka.
But Daei’s story as a player is far more remarkable than just banging them in again in against sub-standard opposition. If anything, it encapsulates the pureness of football because while nobody is debating who the more talented is out of Daei or Ronaldo, his story shows how scoring goals can bring greatness.
He scored 20 goals in a calendar year for Iran in 1996 and with a four-goal haul against Lagos in 2004, became the first man to bring up three figures in international football.
Goal No 84 was perhaps one of the most significant. It was that strike that took him level on the all-time scoring charts with the legendary Hungarian Ferenc Puskas but remarkably, Daei had to score it twice before it could count.
Iran were facing North Korea at Tehran’s Azadi stadium in November 2003 and in the second half, they got a penalty. Daei stepped up, scored, and amid the pandemonium, a fan threw a firecracker onto the pitch that hit a North Korean player in the face.
North Korea walked off and refused to play the game, prompting the referee to abandon the match and award Iran a 3-0 win.
But that meant Daei’s penalty was erased and Puskas stood alone on 84 goals for a little longer. Daei eventually moved level with him for good the following week, again from the penalty spot in a match against Lebanon in Beirut.
Later that November, back in Tehran, Daei scored the only goal of the game against Kuwait to move alone on 85 international goals.
Daei didn’t score in the biggest game he played in for Iran, against the United States in the 1998 World Cup. It was billed ‘the most politically charged match in World Cup history’, and for good reason.
Daei pictured celebrating with Iranian supporters after qualifying for the 1998 World Cup. Around him, fans hold up pictures of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khameini. Iran were drawn against the United States at the tournament, in a game that was billed ‘the most politically charged match in World Cup history’
The day before the game in France, Daei (right) and his team, including coach Jalal Talebi (pictured) were given orders from Khameini not to walk towards the American team
Relations between Iran and the US had descended since the 1979 Islamic Revolution which ousted the pro-Western Shah and replaced him with Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, who denounced the US as ‘the Great Satan’.
The US had severed diplomatic ties with Iran after the US embassy hostage seize in 1979 and the following year supported Saddam Hussein when Iraq inavaded Iran in what became an eight-year war.
FIFA rules state that Team B in a fixture approach Team A and in this case, Iran were B. But on the day before the game, Khomeini had forbidden Daei and the team to walk towards the Americans, so FIFA negotiated a compromise where the US side walked to Iran.
Fortunately, the hostilities between the countries didn’t transcend onto the pitch. Daei and his teammates were each given a bouquet of white roses to walk out onto the pitch with – a symbol of peace in Iranian culture – and they handed them to the Americans before having a team photo together.
Incredibly, Iran then won the game 2-1 with Daei turning provider for the second and decisive goal, scored by Mehdi Mahdavikia. That victory also dumped the States out of the World Cup.
Iran’s players headed out onto to pitch with bouquets white roses, a peace offering in Iranian culture, to hand over to their opponents on the United States national side
Iran and the US players had a team photo together before the match kicked off – Daei is No 10 and pictured fourth left, in the back row
Daei didn’t score for Iran that day but assisted the second goal as they beat USA 2-1
That same summer, Daei was plying his trade in Europe and had joined Bayern Munich from Arminia Bielefeld, but he struggled to transfer his scoring record with Iran to the German Bundesliga.
He scored just six times in 32 games during the 1998-99 season but became the first Asian player to play in the Champions League.
Chelsea fans may remember him when, the following season, he joined Hertha Berlin and scored twice in a Champions League clash against a Blues side containing the likes of Marcel Deasilly, Gianfranco Zola, and the now France manager, Didier Deschamps.
He retired in 2007 when, back in Iran, he scored in the final to help his team Sapia win the Persian Gulf Cup.
Since then, he has had coaching which has delivered varying degrees of success, including a spell at the helm of the Iranian national side.
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Daei struggled to replicate his scoring record when he played for Bayern Munich but he became the first Asian player to play in the Champions League
And when he joined Hertha Berlin in 1999, he showed his scoring prowess against Chelsea
Daei scored twice as Hertha defeated Chelsea 2-1 in a Champions League encounter
Daei is, however, fully prepared for Ronaldo to break his scoring tally as Portugal’s head into this summer’s tournament as defending champions.
Speaking to Tuttomercato in Italy back in November, he said: ‘I sincerely hope that Cristiano Ronaldo will reach my goal record for the national team.
‘In no way [would I be hurt], it would be a real honor for me if a player of his class could do it.
‘Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best players not only of his time but of all time. He is an absolute phenomenon. I would congratulate him directly. But first, he has to get there.’
Team Melli and will face Syria in an international friendly today (Tuesday) at 17:30 in Azadi Stadium as part of the preparation for the upcoming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers.
In recent years, Iran and Syria have faced each other in various competitions. The matches between the two teams in the World Cup qualifier in Russia in both round-trip matches ended in a draw, but with the change of Iran’s training cadre and the arrival of Wilmots, Team Melli inflicted a heavy 5-0 defeat to the Syrians in a friendly match.
Since then, the coaches of both teams have changed and now Syria is in a much better position than Iran in the World Cup qualifiers.
Iranian national team
Dragan Skocic will have his third coaching experience with Team Melli against Syria. He has already managed to achieve a perfect record with two victories in two matches defeating Uzbekistan and Bosnia. The Croatian coach’s whole effort is to prepare a team of the best Iranian players to claim a place in the World Cup qualifiers next round and defeat both Iraq and Bahrain in order to clinch one of the places.
With the exception of a few players who were unable to accompany the national team due to injuries or travel restrictions during the spread of the Coronavirus, Skocic has invited most of the top players inside and outside Iran, although as always there have been criticisms in some posts.
However, the return of Taremi, Azmoun, Beiranvand, etc. to the national team in this camp compared to the earlier one is good news for the fans of Team Melli who always want to see a full-strength team in action. As in previous camps, the Croatian coach has invited several young and lesser-known players, and it remains to be seen what the consequences of their presence in the national team will be.
Given Bahrain hosting the third qualifying group for the World Cup in Asia, Skocic and his team are working very hard to advance to the next stage and must use the same friendly games to increase the quality and preparation of the national team.
Syrian national team
The Syrian national team recently played a friendly match against Bahrain, and lost 3-1, with some Syrian media and fans criticizing their coach. However, Nabil Maaloul, who has a track record of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup with the Tunisian national team, has achieved brilliant results in the first group of the World Cup together with Syria and is in first place above China.
Syria has almost reached the third round of the World Cup and is now preparing for the toughest stage of the tournament to complete the unfinished work of the previous round. They lost four years ago in their last World Cup qualifier against Uruguay and failed to qualify for the World Cup.
Omar Al-Suma (due to injury) and Omar Al-Kharbin (lifelong suspension from the national team) are not present in this match as two prominent strikers, but other main Syrian players have come to Tehran. This meeting is very important for Syria in terms of results and readiness.
On recommendation from FIFA and due to the postponement of the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers, Uzbekistan friendly match which was supposed to be played on 8th September has been put off for a month and will therefore be played in Bunyoudkar Stadium on 8th October.
Meanwhile, FFIRI has finalized arrangements for another friendly 4 days later after the Uzbekistan match when Team Melli will host Tajikstan in Azadi on the 12th of October. These will be the first Team Melli matches under the new coach Dragan Skočić,
the Croat has yet to meet Team Melli as a group in any training session. However, he traveled to several places to meet individual players or observe them in action.
Maryam Shojaei, who mounted a campaign — first anonymously and later publicly — that led to Iran allowing women to attend men’s soccer matches, is being honored with the Stuart Scott ENSPIRE Award, ESPN announced Tuesday.
The award is part of the Sports Humanitarian Awards, which typically are handed out during the week of the ESPYS. This year, the awards will be given out on various ESPN programs.
Women had been banned from watching men’s games since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution, with only a few exceptions made for small groups on rare occasions. Shojaei, whose brother Masoud Shojaei is the captain of the men’s national team, initially criticized the ban on social media anonymously. She then started a five-year battle to allow women to see matches live in her country.
Shojaei, attended the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada in 2015, displaying a banner but keeping her identity hidden. By 2018, she had helped create the #NoBan4Women petition, and she went to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Russia, where her banners were confiscated but she revealed her identity.
She kept pushing FIFA to uphold its policies against gender discrimination, and eventually, the soccer governing body sent a delegation to Iran, which resulted in women being allowed to attend men’s international matches.
In October 2019, women were allowed to watch the Iranian men’s national team beat Cambodia 14-0 in Tehran in a World Cup qualifier. The initial lot of 3,500 tickets for women sold out almost immediately, and an additional 1,100 were released — about 5% of the total tickets in the stadium.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has urged Iranian authorities to open up stadiums to women for domestic league games, not just World Cup qualifiers.
“This is a very positive step forward, and one which FIFA, and especially Iranian girls and women, have been eagerly waiting for,” FIFA said in a statement in October 2019. “The passion, joy and enthusiasm they showed today was remarkable to see and encourages us even more to continue the path we have started. History teaches us that progress comes in stages and this is just the beginning of a journey.
“Consequently, FIFA now looks more than ever towards a future when ALL girls and women wishing to attend football matches in Iran will be free to do so, and in a safe environment.
“There can be no stopping or turning back now.”
The ESPYS will be televised on ESPN on June 21 at 9 p.m. ET. The Stuart Scott ENSPIRE Award is sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Asian soccer leaders on Wednesday postponed two key meetings because of the spread of the Coronavirus.
The Asian Football Confederation was due to hold an executive committee meeting in Bahrain on March 14 ahead of a congress of member nations on April 16 in Kuala Lumpur. The AFC told The Associated Press that both gatherings had been postponed, with no new dates for the meetings given.
Governments have announced more than 20 cases of the virus in both Malaysia and Bahrain.
The virus has already impacted soccer matches on the continent with Asian Champions League games involving Chinese clubs Guangzhou Evergrande, Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai SIPG postponed to April-May.
All group and playoff matches in the east zone of the AFC Cup have been delayed until April 7.
Iran is one of the worst-hit countries in West Asia with many countries suspending flight to and from Iran while most have closed the borders. Several league matches were held with spectators while many clubs advocate the postponement of the league until the situation stabilizes and the threat of the virus is minimized.
Sepahan Esfahan, Esteghlal, Persepolis and Shar Khodro are representing Iran in this season’s AFC Champions League.
Team Melli is scheduled to meet Hong Kong in Azadi Stadium on 26th March in the FIFA World Cup 2022 Asian Zone qualifiers.