Tag: Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Iran share spoils to advance.

Azerbaijan and Iran shared an exciting 3-3 draw on Sunday with the result seeing both teams advance from Group F in second and third place respectively.

On three occasions the two teams exchanged goals in quick succession with neither able to gain a break on their opponents, in what was an entertaining contest in Medellin.

Iran entered the contest trailing their rivals on goal difference, and perhaps it was they who seemed marginally more enterprising in attack during the early stages.

Indeed Iran opened the scoring just a minute into the contest after some great combination play ended with Ahmad Esmaeilpour firing high past an exposed goalkeeper. However, and in keeping with what was to be a theme, Azerbaijan quickly drew level as Gallo corner volley was deflected into the net. 

The match settled into an entertaining and fast-tempo affair, with Mehran Alighadr hitting the post for Iran, while at the other end Eduardo pinged a shot against the crossbar after attempting to lob the keeper.

The second half commenced just like the first half with an exchange of goals. Farhad Tavakoli converted at the second attempt for Iran, while the always lively Gallo fired home with hard direct shot after a corner.

Azerbaijan were arguably having the better of the second half and went ahead through Gallo only for Iran’s Hossein Tayebi to end the scoring.

Iran, seeking to leapfrog their opponents into second, played with a flying goalkeeper in the latter stages and were nearly rewarded for their endeavour as Esmaielpour hit the post and Javid narrowly failed to convert the follow-up.

The result places Team Melli Futsal team in third place behind Spain and Azerbaijan on goal difference. The bad news is that the next round opponent will be title contender Brazil. The round of 16 match against Brazil will be on 21 September. The last time the two team met , it was a thrilling affair in the finals match of the Brazil Grand Prix which ended 4-3 for the host nation .

GROUP F
TEAMS MP W D L GF GA +/- Pts
Spain    SPAIN
 3 3 0 0 13 6 7 9
Azerbaijan   AZERBAIJAN
 3 1 1 1 10 7 3 4
Iran   IRAN
 3 1 1 1 9 11 -2 4
Morocco   MOROCCO
 3 0 0 3 6 14 -8 0

Asian kings Iran fire at Morocco’s expense

(FIFA.com)

16 Sep 2016

Iran put their FIFA Futsal World Cup campaign back on track with a 5-3 Group F victory over Morocco in Medellin on Thursday.

The Asian champions, who suffered a surprisingly hefty 5-1 opening defeat against Spain on the opening matchday, belatedly found form.

After a slow start from both teams, Iran moved to a three-goal lead and they held a handy 4-2 margin at the break.

The match found its intensity and as the fouls mounted Morocco’s Mohamed Jaoud who, having scored the north Africans’ first goal, was sent for a stint on the sidelines allowing Iran to add two goals in quick succession.

The second half was a more controlled affair and Morocco, fighting for their Futsal World Cup lives, pushed Iran hard in the second period.

Iran scored soon after the interval but for much of the remainder of the half it was Morocco in the ascendency, leaving their opponents happy to counter-attack.

Morocco again drew within two goals of their rivals as captain Adil Habil netted his second of the night but it was to prove a bridge too far.

Iran will look to lock up passage to the Round of 16 on Sunday when they tackle enigmatic debutants Azerbaijan, while Morocco face a massive challenge against two-time world champions Spain.

 

Coliseo Ivan de BedoutMedellin (COL)

15 Sep 2016 – 20:00 Local time
Group matches – Group F
Iran    IRAN     MOROCCO    Morocco
FULL-TIME
5-3

SCORERS

SCORERS

Thailand futsal overpowers Iran

Iran’s Futsal Melli team lost to its nemesis Thailand 7-5 in the four nations tournament  in that match played today Sunday in Bangkok.

Iran’s goals were scored by Ahmad Esmaeilpour, Farhad Tavakoli, Mohammadreza Sang-Safidi , Mehdi Javid and Mehran A’lighadr.

On Saturday evening, Team Melli  futsal team was held to a 3-3 draw in the first match against Kazakhstan , which serves as a warm-up for the 2016 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Futsal World Cup in Colombia later this month.

“Kazakhstan is among decent futsal teams in the world, so it will be so helpful and advantageous for our players to face such squads. We played a tough game. The opposite side had earlier eliminated Italy national futsal tyeam in Euroean games.

“Kazakhstan national futsal team is in a fairly great form. Although the match ended in 3-3 draw, it was a good litmus test for our futsal players,” Ali Sanei, technical coordinator at the Iran futsal team, said after the match.

The four-nation tournament in Thailand started on August 18, and will conclude on August 23, 2016.

The 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup will be the 8th edition of the FIFA Futsal World Cup. The tournament will be held in Colombia between September 10 and October 1.

Iran has been drawn alongside Azerbaijan, Morocco and Spian in Group F of the forthcoming sports event.

The Colombian hosts, Panama, Portugal and Uzbekistan form Group A, while Cuba, Egypt, Russia and Thailand form Group B.

Guatemala, Italy, Paraguay and Vietnam are put in Group C. Group D consists of Australia, Brazil, Mozambique and Ukraine.

Argentina, Costa Rica, Kazakhstan and the Solomon Islands shape Group E.

Intensive preparation for Futsal team ahead of the World Cup.

Team Melli Futsal is on the road to an a=intensive preparation program ahead of the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2016 in Colombia.   

After the completion of the fourth round of league matches, the squad of 14 players will be named for Team Melli Futsal on Tuesday 16th August. Next day , the squad will fly to Bangkok to take part in Thailand’s 4 nations Cup.  After playing against Kazakhstan , Japan & host Thailand in the tournament, the squad will return back to Tehran on 25th August .

 “After a short stop in Tehran, the squad will fly to Mashad to play Uzbekistan in a friendly. ” Ali Sanei , the teams’ Technical Manager announced yesterday. The teams will meet twice in Mashad.

Sanei added that the team has already set up a mini camp in Tehran the aim of which was to check on the physical conditions of the players and attend to any injuries as early as possible before flying to Colombia.” we will do our utmost best to ensure that the players are in the best physical and psychological shape during the next few weeks. We need to be at our best in the World Cup as our chances are quite high and players are well motivated for this championship.”

 

Fixture

20/8/2016
15.30 Iran – Kazakhstan –
18.15 Thailand – Japan –

21/8/2016
15.30 Japan – Kazakhstan –
18.15 Thailand – Iran –

23/8/2016
17.00 Iran – Japan –
19.45 Thailand – Kazakhstan –

 

 

FIFA Futsal World Cup Colombia 2016

Group F

Macedonian match report

Moment of the second half; photo: Filip Zdraveski

After the win against Azerbaijan, Macedonia was put back on ground by the Asian giant who recorded a comfortable win in Skopje.

Macedonia made a small glimpse of hope with the 3:1 win over Azerbaijan on neutral ground in Austria on Sunday, but all that was quickly erased by the disastrous performance against Iran on Thursday. The many mistakes in the back line gave the Iranians lots of chances and only thanks to keeper Dimitrievski the final result wasn’t a humiliating defeat.

Sardar Azmoun was a hat-trick hero for the visitors scoring all goals for his team. He broke the deadlock after only 8 minutes of play, but Macedonia quickly equalized through Aleksandar Trajkovski in the 10th minute. Ten minutes later Azmoun brought back Iran the lead, a score that remained for the entire first half.

Macedonia tried to create some chances after the break, but Azmoun destroyed all the hopes for a positive result with his third goal in the 60th minute. The Iranians could have easily win with 5 or 6:1, but keeper Dimitrievski managed so make some great saves.

The small crowd at the Philip II Arena once again booed the players, except Dimitrievski who earned ovations on several occasions.

Macedonia vs. Iran

 

Team Melli carried out its last practice session on Wednesday in Skopje’s main Stadium Philip II in preparation for the game against host Macedonia in the friendly international on Thursday.

The training session led by Carlos Queiroz was mostly light drills including acceleration practise, shooting and group passing. This was the only practise for the match stadium which will kick off at 1730 local time  (20:00 Tehran Time)

Macedonia played against Azerbaijan on Sunday winning 3-1 with goals scored by M. Radeski, Goran  Pandev and  Nestorovski .  The 32 years superstar of the team and Captain Goran Pandev  is the most senior player and plays in Italy with Genoa. 

Team Melli will be playing with the same usual line up possibly with two attackers, Azmoun and Taremi. However , Queiroz might find it more appropriate to solidify his midfield which could relegate Taremi to the bench while leaving Azmoun to spearhead the attack.

The absence of Teymourian could be significant loss , however there are plenty of good options for Queiroz in the midfield area although none has the experience of Teymourian. Ashkan Dejagah will be leading from the midfield.

Goalkeeping remains the most critical of the lines with 3 options that have not been performing up to a satisfactory level. Queiroz will be working extra to ensure a solid defense line featuring  Hosseini , Montazeri in the middle of the defense while Hajsafy will occupy the left back position and Rezaeian on the right. 

This will be the 4th match between Macedonia and Iran at full international level. The honors are even between the teams with a win each and one draw.

CURRENT FIFA WORLD RANKING

MACEDONIA  141        –       IRAN   42

FYR of MACEDONIA  Squad

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Club
GK Stole Dimitrievski 25 December 1993 (age 22) Spain Granada B
GK Igor Aleksovski 24 February 1995 (age 21) Republic of Macedonia Makedonija Gj. P.
DF Vanche Shikov 19 July 1985 (age 30) Austria Austria Wien
DF Stefan Ristovski 12 February 1992 (age 24) Croatia Rijeka
DF Kire Ristevski 22 October 1990 (age 25) Hungary Vasas
DF Leonard Zhuta 9 August 1992 (age 23) Croatia Rijeka
DF Darko Velkovski 21 June 1995 (age 20) Republic of Macedonia Vardar
DF Egzon Bejtulai 7 January 1994 (age 22) Republic of Macedonia Shkendija
DF Gjoko Zajkov 10 February 1995 (age 21) Belgium Charleroi
MF Ivan Trichkovski 18 April 1987 (age 29) Cyprus AEK Larnaca
MF Aleksandar Trajkovski 5 September 1992 (age 23) Italy Palermo
MF David Babunski 1 March 1994 (age 22) Serbia Red Star
MF Enis Bardhi 2 July 1995 (age 20) Hungary Újpest
MF Bojan Najdenov 27 August 1991 (age 24) Republic of Macedonia Rabotnichki
MF Nikola Gjorgjev 22 August 1997 (age 18) Switzerland Grasshopper
MF Boban Nikolov 28 July 1994 (age 21) Republic of Macedonia Vardar
MF Dejan Peshevski 5 August 1993 (age 22) Slovakia Podbrezová
FW Goran Pandev (Captain) 27 July 1983 (age 32) Italy Genoa
FW Ilija Nestorovski 12 March 1990 (age 26) Croatia Inter Zaprešic
FW Marjan Radeski 10 February 1995 (age 21) Republic of Macedonia Shkendija

Head2Head

Venue Matches W D L Goals + / –
H 3 1 1 1 5 – 4 +1
A 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 +0
N 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 +0
Total 3 1 1 1 5 – 4 +1

Matches

Date Comp. H / A / N Final score Stadium Attendance
18.11.2009 Friendly H 1 – 1 Azadi Stadium – Tehran 1000
11.11.2005 Friendly / Tehran Intl. Tournament H 1 – 2 Azadi Stadium, Tehran. 27000
09.06.2000 Others / LG CUP H 3 – 1 Azadi – Tehran 40000

The young Iranian boys lift “Caspian Cup” trophy

Iran’s U16 team lifted the Caspian Cup trophy after defeating Turkey 1-0 in the final at Baku , Azerbaijan.

Nima Mokhtari

The only goal of the match was scored by Nima Mokhtari on the 19th minute. Reza Karimi was awarded a red card on the hour as Iran played with 1 player short for half an hour. Mostapha Ghanbarpour players managed to hold on until the end against sustained Turkish attack and win the title for the first time. Of the powerful Asian teams, Japan U16 team  also participated in the tournament but could only manage to win the 5th position.

 

Iran’s coaching staff

Iran U16 won its two matches in the group stages beating Kyrgyzstan 3-0 and Azerbaijan U16 4-0 . In the semi finals Team Melli U16 defeated Azerbaijan U17 team 1-0 to reach the final.

In the play-off for the third place A

 

Azerbaijan U17 beat Tajikistan U17 4-0 to win third place.

Lifing the trophy