Tag: Carlos Quieroz

Iraq announxces a friendly game agaibst coach-less Iran!

The Iraqi Football Federation board convened for a meeting yesterday, and one of the topics raised in this meeting was the holding of a warm-up game with the Iranian national team.

According to the announcement of the Iraqi Federation, the country’s national football team plans to hold two warm-up matches against Iran and Thailand in Baghdad in April. Iraqi media have reported that the country’s federation insists that the match against Iran be played in Baghdad, but Iran’s request is to play at Azadi Stadium. Meanwhile, Iran’s national football team has not announced its head coach after being eliminated from the World Cup and the departure of Carlos Queiroz, and it is not clear when and who approved the match against Iraq as FFIRI as usual keeps everything a secret due to it historic poor public relations department. Iraq recently hosted the Persian Gulf Cup recently and won the championship in a dramatic match against Branko Ivankovic’s Oman.

Amir Abedini: Queiroz must go.

Amir Abedini is a former club chairman, former professional footballer, and currently a member of the City Council of Tehran. Abedini’s views on football and politics have always been direct and bold. He has no issues speaking up against corruption, shortfalls, and anything that he deems to be harmful to society. In football, he rarely holds back and is most critical of the football establishment, the nepotism, and the mismanagement of the federation. He does not get much press exposure because his views are deemed to be controversial and since the FFIRI and football, in general, are under direct government control, it will be detrimental to the ruling clan and the political system.

Abedini was recently interviewed by Mehrnews post the Tehran derby that ended in a 2-2 draw. He was critical of the standard of the match, the lack of atmosphere as the match was played behind closed doors in the 100,000-capacity Azadi stadium, and the general lack of quality, and skills by the players of Esteghlal and Persepolis. Abedini then remarked that “after the Excitement of the World Cup and the beautiful games we have witnessed, perhaps our expectation of this derby was far too high.”

Amir Abedini was then asked about team Melli.

The former president of the Football Federation emphasized: “One of the issues that play a role in the quality of the league is the national team, which we do not see in Iran at the moment. Queiroz’s national team means a predetermined package; A certain group of players who, if Queiroz could, would even be taken with him to Colombia! In my opinion, our league is useless and its output is nothing for the national team. This hurts the league, the players, and the clubs in many ways.

Mehdi Taj is losing his bearings.
Abedini also responded to Mehdi Taj’s strange behavior and answers, which caused a lot of controversy on the sports network a few days ago, and added: Taj is losing his integrity due to the intense pressure he is under. One of the admirable merits of Taj was his coolness and his reasonable dealings with the media. Today Taj is tense and nervous and this nervousness plays a role in his behavior and decision-making. The bad failure in the World Cup made him nervous. The expectations of the people and the media are quite high and yet I have not seen any true critique from the media so far.

Team Melli was disappointing in the World Cup.
” We didn’t see anything of worth from Iran in the World Cup,” the former member of the Football Federation stated: “People expected the National Team to show its face and turn up to play football in the World Cup, but we didn’t see such thing. The beating by England hurt badly. In the 2018 World Cup, we defeated Morocco, but what happened to Morocco, who lost to us, four years later? they became among the top four teams in the world and were so good that the people of Asia, Africa, and some of the people of other continents wanted Morrocco to reach the final. . Or, for example, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea, which performed significantly better than Iran.

Unwanted Queiroz was reborn and became alive with Iran.
Abedini added: We defeated the modest team of Wales. A team that really had nothing to say, but we messed up the national team’s camp and created false expectations. The same package of players that I mentioned earlier, threw that gentleman (Queiroz) up and down 6 times against England. Was it the same case for Korean and Japanese coaches? No one wanted Queiroz anywhere, but we brought him back to life. Taj defends something that has been rejected by the people and the media. People are not thrilled anymore;  Why do they insist that Queiroz remains one of the options for the head coach of the national team? Mr. Taj! People attack you because you are defending something that has been rejected by the people. People enjoy and rave about winners and enjoy success. Failures have no place in society.

Queiroz needs to go.
 “I am against the renewal of Queiroz’s contract. His work is not good enough.” The former president of the Football Federation emphasized that he is against the continuation of Queiroz’s work in the national team and said: “I am expressing my opinion. If Mr. Taj wants to stay in football, he must create a platform for consensus, that is, elites and experts who believe that change is necessary for football. It is good that the league is held, but the important thing is how our matches are held and what quality.

Imaginary enemies
“The media is not the enemy of football.” Abedini said, in response to the criticism of Mehdi Taj’s performance,” Taj should be spoken to and the public is entitled to know what is his plan for football and Team Melli. How does he want to continue his work? The General Assembly members and board of directors need to address that. Fand=s and experts should feel relaxed and be assured that football is being properly run (…) . These are football fanatics. The media is not an enemy, and neither are the people. Mehdi Taj must have a master plan with checkpoints to determine whether it is moving in the right direction or not.

Plans for Team Melli
“I think people like Dadkan and Maeli Kohn can provide good advice to Taj in regard to Team Melli.
Asked about, what advice the former Head of FFIRI  has for the Federation Assembly regarding the national team. He said: “Elites must decide. The football federation is for the people and the football elites become the representatives of the people. Make a decision and accept responsibility for it. People like Dadkan or Maeli Kohn or those who have experienced the ups and downs of football should help Taj as a consultant and support him. This would be a good option. It is not just a matter of having foreign or domestic coaches; whoever takes over in Team Melli, should be a coach who is proud of his appointment and capable, skillful, and competent for the post.

Is Team Melli’s unity under threat?

Across Iran, women are leading the charge in massive protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini. Morality police, who enforce the use of hijabs in public, arrested the Kurdish native 22-year-old in Tehran on September 16, 2022. Not long after she was taken into custody, she was dead.

What started with the women’s protest in Tehran and Kurdistan has now spread across the country with people taking to the streets, women burning their hijabs, and cutting their hair as a symbol of protest.

These protests have been so effective that celebrities across Iran started joining this massive movement, and that is the biggest nightmare of the clerical regime that has been governed by a known hardliner Ebrahim Raesi who was elected in an orchestrated election. Among the most prominent celebrities to stand with the people is none other than the icon himself, Mohammad Ali Karimi.

Karimi, a household name in Iran and a much-loved figure has been active n social media. The former Persepolis and Bayern Munich player has 12.2m Followers and his voice has been effective, leading the authorities to attempt to arrest him and confiscate his house unlawfully.

The protest does not stop at a former Team Melli icon like Ali Karimi as the current squad has many who sympathize with the people and mourn Mahsa Amini. Sardar Azmoun, the Team Melli current top scorer who plays for Bayer Leverkusen, after the goal celebration against Senegal on Tuesday was one of the saddest witnessed in the history of Team Melli.

Sardar Azmoun, despite the security apparatus ringing Team Melli in the Austrian camp, and everywhere outside Iran for that matter, managed to utter a few words that highlighted his status as a sympathizer for the people against the regime.

The situation gets more complicated if we contemplate that there are players in the squad who are regime agents. This has been a known fact in Team Melli since the 1980s. Some players are recruited by the security apparatus for spying on others and get rewarded for it. Football is not the only game in Team Melli as politics is deep-rooted.

It is clear that Team, Melli is split between three different factions. Dragan Skocic’s case was indicative of these differences with Azmoun and Taremi taking different views on the subject. It is a known fact that Taremi was the instigator and he pushed Jahanbakhsh and Hajsafi to meet the Iranian Minister of Sports while Team Melli was in camp in Doha to demand the removal of Skocic who guided Iran to the World Cup in what looked like Mission Impossible!. The government obliged and pushed for their man Mehdi Taj to be elected as head of the FFIRI with the main agenda item being the return of Queiroz.

No one in his right mind would think that Queiroz got the job on merits. His failure with Egypt and Colombia would relegate him to the third division of the top coach’s league plus the fact that he failed in two World Cups with Iran and two AFC Asian cups. Unknown to him, the Portuguese coach is the main beneficiary in the Iranian politics that could be threatening Team Melli which is ready for combustion in the struggle of the political factions.

These differences are directly related to the status of mass protests in the streets of Iranian cities. If the situation becomes calmer. The Team Melli camp tension will reduce, if things get worst in Iran, then there is a serious risk of disintegration or at least its weakening as a result of the loss of key players.