Tag: Edin Dzeko

Iran – Bosnia; Without key players.

The national teams of Iran and Bosnia will face off in an international friendly match this evening in Sarajevo. Both teams will be without key players in the lineup.

The match is the first since that memorial encounter in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

The match (Thursday) at 20:30 Tehran time (18:00 local time) at Asim Farhatovic Stadium is held on FIFA Day allowing many countries the chance to test their players. For many football fans, this match is a reminder of the one between the two teams in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where the game ended with a score of 3 – 1 in favor of the European rival, but in the end, neither team managed to advance from the group.

In the latest FIFA rankings, Iran is 29th while Bosnia-Herzegovina is 51st. Continentally, Iran is the second-ranked team in Asia while and Bosnia is ranked 30th in Europe. The most crucial point of this game is the absence of many Bosnian key players either enforced due to injuries but mainly due to an attempt by the coach to give more opportunities to domestic young players and several players playing in Eastern European countries. In this match, the Bosnian coach will give a rest to stars such as Miralem Pjanić, Sead Kolašinac, etc. in preparation for the game against Italy and the Netherlands.

Ehsan Hajsafy

The biggest absentee of the game is Edin Dzeko, the star of Italian AS Roma, who is absent due to Coronavirus. Also, three players and two members of the Bosnian technical staff are in the same situation as Dzeko and lost this game. In Team Melli, the illness of Mojtaba Najarian and Sasan Ansari prevented them from joining the squad hence missing the match. Mehdi Shiri and Ali Karimi are the replacement players.

The team coach Dragan Skocic, who is going through his second camp with Iran, has invited a list of domestic league players to the squad. There is a significant list of key players who will miss this match such as Azmoun, Taremi, Ghoddos, Jahanbakhsh, Beiranvand, Mohebbi, Torabi, Ghafouri, Rezaian, and so on.

However, despite being criticized, the national team coach hopes to win this friendly: “I know Bosnia well and I am aware of the strengths and weaknesses of this team. We want to win against them on and off the field. I wish Bosnia success in his next games, but we want to beat this team in the next game.”

In the first game since Dragan Skočić, took over, Team Melli defeated Uzbekistan 2-1 away from home to mark a positive start and hope for an impressive run for the Croatian coach’s tenure. Team Melli will be in Bosnia from Monday night and will return to Tehran after Thursday’s match and will not have any more friendly matches, which is due to the perpetual weakness of the Iranian federation in arranging friendly matches.

The Bosnian national football team suffered a recession after the 2014 World Cup and could not qualify for Euro 2016 or even the 2018 World Cup. Bosnia did not qualify for Euro 2021 recently, so the trail of failure is still hanging around Bosnia disappointing its fans. However, in the second round of the Europa League, they reached the highest level of competition and are in a group consisting of the Netherlands, Italy, and Poland. Bosnia collected 2 points only from its first 4 games. However, with several of the squad members playing professionally in European leagues, they are still a serious benchmark for Iran.

 “In the game against Iran, we want to give some players a chance, specifically those who do not normally get playing time. This game is an opportunity to learn about the technical quality of the young and newly invited players,” Dušan Bajević said of his team’s condition before the friendly against Iran and Italy in the Europa League.

“They are playing in the Bosnian league, but they are not at the level of the players who play in the European leagues. However, the national team player must always be serious.” The Bosnian coach also called Iran a strong team in the offensive line, but considered the national team’s defensive line to be weak: “The Iranian national team has not been able to achieve the desired results in the past few years. They changed their coach. Skocic has taken over the reins of Iran and now he has only played one game while he was in charge on the bench. We analyzed Iran’s friendly against Uzbekistan. They have good players in attack but weak in defense.”

Skočić invites 23 player for the friendly vs Bosnia-Herzegovina

Iran will play Bosnia-Herzegovina on Nov. 12 at the Asim Ferhatović Hase Stadium in Sarajevo as part of the preparation for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, where Iran are currently third behind Iraq and Bahrain.

The ‘Persian Leopards’ defeated Uzbekistan in the last friendly international 2-1 on Oct. 8 in Tashkent. The 2022 World Cup qualifiers scheduled this year were postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The major absentees from the list are Sardar Azmoun, Mehdi Taremi, Saman Ghoddos, and Ashkan Dejagah.

Meanwhile, the captain of Bosnia and Herzegovina Edin Dzeko will miss the friendly against Iran after he tested positive for the coronavirus.

The AS Roma forward will miss coming matches against Iran on November 12 and the Netherlands on November 15. The 34-year-old player opened Iran’s goal in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, where the Dragons beat Iran 3-1.

Team Melli Squad

Goalkeepers:
Amir Abedzadeh (Maritimo), Payam Niazmand (Sepahan), Rashid Mazaheri (Esteghlal)

Defenders:
Majid Hosseini (Trabzonspor), Hossein Kanaani-zadegan (Persepolis), Shoja Khalilzadeh (Al Rayyan), Aref Gholami (Esteghlal), Sadegh Moharami (Dinamo Zagreb), Milad Mohammadi (Gent), Mojtaba Najarian (Foolad), Morteza Pouraliganji (Shenzhen)

Midfielders:
Ehsan Haji Safi (Tractor), Ahmad Nourollahi (Persepolis), Omid Noorafkan (Sepahan), Ali Gholizadeh (Charleroi), Vahid Amiri (Persepolis), Siamak Nemati (Persepolis), Akbar Imani (Tractor), Saeid Ezatolahi (Vejle Boldklub)

Forwards:
Kaveh Rezaei (Charleroi), Mehdi Ghaedi (Esteghlal), Karim Ansarifard (AEK Athens), Sasan Ansari (Foolad)

Iran slump out of World Cup with disappointing defeat to Bosnia

Argentina played their part and won in Porte Alegre, yet Iran could not rouse themselves to take advantage and progress at Nigeria’s expense. Iran needed a win by a couple of goals to finish second, but goals are evidently not their speciality.

For more than 80 minutes it looked like they would fail to trouble the scorer for a third match in succession, and in the end said a meek goodbye to the tournament, allowing Bosnia to record a convincing first win at their first World Cup finals even if their overall experience was soured by a poor refereeing decision.

It was Edin Dzeko’s wrongly disallowed goal against Nigeria that Bosnia feel changed the course of their World Cup, and though the consolation was entirely hollow once his side had been eliminated after two games, at least the Manchester City striker registered a goal that did count.

After seeing a shot on the turn clear the bar and a header saved by the goalkeeper in the opening minutes, Dzeko came back down the pitch in search of the ball and was successful with a longer range attempt midway through the first half. Picking up the ball from 40 yards out from Miralem Pjanic, the Roma midfielder who initiates most of Bosnia’s attacks, Dzeko carried the ball forward then cut inside to make room for a left foot shot that found Alizera Haghighi’s bottom left corner with some precision. Perhaps the goalkeeper should not have been beaten from outside the area by a low shot that was less than thunderously struck, yet Dzeko aimed for exactly the right area.

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Having barely crossed the halfway line by that point, Iran almost managed to equalise within a minute when the lively Masoud Shojaei crashed a shot against Asmir Begovic’s bar. Reza Ghoochannejhad was unable to accept the rebound but was in an offside position anyway. Interestingly the goalline technology replay was triggered, even though the ball had clearly rebounded back into play. A no-goal verdict was duly returned, though the suggestion that the ball had gone anywhere near the line was misleading.

While there is no doubt Iran can defend well – they proved that against Argentina – it is their attacking efforts that are often stodgy. They could theoretically have reached the round of 16 for the first time here, depending on Nigeria losing their final group game, though even when a goal behind they never drove forward with the sort of intensity that might have been expected.

They have scored only one goal in this tournament and it is not difficult to see why – they are much too conservative. It would have been amusing to have been a fly on the wall in the Iran dressing room at half-time when Carlos Queiroz, of all people, was presumably telling his players it was time to throw caution to the wind.

Iran did get forward a little more in the second half without looking entirely convincing. Ashkan Dejagah spent far too much of his time being pulled up for offside, as if unfamiliar with operating in such an advanced role. The television reaction shots of Iran supporters in the crowd showed disbelief and dejection when Pjanic’s well-taken second goal put the matter beyond doubt, but Queiroz and his players were hardly in a winning position before that.

At no time in this World Cup have Iran been in a winning position, and when Pjanic just about stayed onside to accept Tino Susic’s pass and elegantly slip the ball beyond the goalkeeper after an hour, they paid the price for lack of adventure.

Even when Ghoochannejhad finally opened their World Cup account with eight minutes of the competition remaining – Bosnia were waiting for an offside flag that never came – Avdija Vrsajevic hit back within a minute to restore a two-goal winning margin. Fair enough, Iran had a hard luck story after their Argentina defeat, yet even that does not match the one Bosnia can tell.

Nigeria defeats Bosnia-Herzegovina

Peter Odemwingie scored the African champions Nigeria only goal to defeat Bosnia-Herzegovina 1-0 at Arena Pantanal, Cuiaba, on Saturday, June 21.

The win gives Nigeria its 4th point in Group F and enhance its chances to qualify with Argentina.

Nigeria have their first World Cup win since 1994 and Bosnia are out of the World Cup. It was an unspired performance by the European debutante and whatever chances they created were wasted by Edin Dzeko. At the back Emir Spahic looked like he was playing football for the first time and Emmanuel Emenike’s dominance of the right flank led to the Nigerian goal.

Bosnia , however , had a legitimate goal scored by Edin Dzeko ruled offside by the referee to complete a miserable day for the referees errors in Group F of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Team Melli must defeat Bosnia on Wednesday to stand any chance of qualifying to the next round along with Argentina.

GROUP F
TEAMS MP W D L GF GA Pts  
ARGENTINA
 2 2 0 0 3 1 6  
NIGERIA
 2 1 1 0 1 0 4  
IRAN
 2 0 1 1 0 1 1  
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
 2 0 0 2 1 3 0  

Susic: We won’t sacrifice a player to man-mark Messi

No Miralem Pjanic, no Edin Dzeko, no problem for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Even without the mercurial Roma midfielder and the €32m Manchester City striker, Safet Susic’s side comfortably saw off Brazilian club Santos U-21s 5-1 in an unofficial friendly on Monday – their last before the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™. It was the Bosnians’ fourth successive victory and will send them into Group F high on confidence.

Following the game, FIFA.com caught up with Susic to discuss the performance at the Vila Belmiro, the fitness of Pjanic and Dzeko, and his plans to combat Lionel Messi in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s opener against Argentina.

Safet, were you pleased with your team’s performance in the victory over Santos U-21s?
Safet Susic: I think it wasn’t bad at all. It was a good match, with many opportunities for both sides, many goals, many beautiful pieces of play. I think we should be satisfied.

Have the recent results boosted Bosnia and Herzegovina’s confidence? 
Definitely, definitely. The self-confidence we had lost after the two defeats has come back. The boys are now, evidently, in a very good mood. During the matches they even tried out some things that they had previously practised with fear. It is evident that they played in a relaxed way, that the [recent] results have helped to regain self-confidence, to bring the morale to a high level.

It is a dilemma for me, but to sacrifice a player just to man-mark Messi, I don’t think it would be good for us.

Bosnia and Herzegovina coach Safet Susic

What is the state of Pjanic’s and Dzeko’s fitness? 
Nobody is seriously injured. The four players I spared was to not take any risks. Dzeko is not even injured, he is just a bit tired. The other three players, they have minor injuries. If the match against Argentina was tomorrow, everybody would be ready.

Do you plan to man-mark Lionel Messi? 
It is a dilemma for me, but to sacrifice a player just to man-mark Messi, I don’t think it would be good for us. We have a player who would be ideal for man-marking Messi – this player is [Muhamed] Besic – but this guy is so well prepared physically that it wouldn’t be good for us to make him track Messi. Messi sometimes stands for several minutes, not participating in the match. It would therefore be a shame to sacrifice a player [to mark him]. Messi will probably enjoy plenty of freedom, but each time he gets the ball, somebody needs to be near him. But I don’t think we have ever played a match having dedicated a player to man-mark a specific opponent, and it’s going to be the same [against Argentina].

5 Bosnia players to watch at World Cup

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — With an attack-minded coach and a world-class striker leading the way, Bosnia is looking to score plenty of goals at the World Cup.

Manchester City striker Edin Dzeko scored most of the team’s goals in qualifying, and coach Safet Susic will be looking for plenty more when the team gets to Brazil to face Argentina, Iran and Nigeria in Group F.

A creative midfield run by Miralem Pjanic will help, too.

Here are five Bosnia players to watch:

———

EDIN DZEKO

EDIN-DZEKO

While playing a major role in Manchester City’s Premier League-winning campaign, Edin Dzeko also managed to score 10 of Bosnia’s 30 goals in World Cup qualifying.

Dzeko, nicknamed “the Diamond” in Bosnia, has scored 26 goals in 49 international matches and will be the key man up front in an attack-minded lineup.

———

MIRALEM PJANIC

PjanicRoma attacking midfielder Miralem Pjanic provides flair in the Bosnia midfield.

Pjanic started his international career in Luxembourg following his family’s move to the country shortly before the outbreak of the war in Bosnia in 1991.

He had to wait two years to get permission to play for Bosnia, making his debut in 2008. He has scored eight goals in 46 appearances for Bosnia.

———

VEDAD IBISEVIC

VEDAD-IBISEVICVedad Ibisevic’s strike gave Bosnia a 1-0 win over Lithuania in Kaunas to assure his team of World Cup qualification.

The Stuttgart forward has also played club football in Switzerland, the United States and France.

In 2008, Ibisevic was awarded the “National Idol” award as Bosnian footballer of the year.

He has scored 20 goals in 51 appearances for Bosnia.

———

ASMIR BEGOVIC

ASMIR-BEGOVICStoke goalkeeper Asmir Begovic is considered among the top netminders in the English Premier League.

Begovic, who left Bosnia when he was 4, conceded only six goals in 10 qualifying matches for Bosnia.

He opted to play for Bosnia ahead of Canada, the side with which he started his international youth career in 2004.

———

ZVJEZDAN MISIMOVIC

ZVJEZDAN-MISIMOVICMidfielder Zvjezdan Misimovic leads Bosnia with 80 international appearances, and has scored 26 goals.

Playing for Wolfsburg and winning the Bundesliga in 2009, Misimovic led the league with 20 assists.

Misimovic currently plays for Chinese club Guizhou Renhe.

 

 

Bosnia and Herzegovina coach slaps sex ban on Edin Dzeko and co.

By Cyrus Engineer

‘No sex in Brazil’:THINGS are going from bad to worse for Manchester City star Edin Dzeko.

After losing to Liverpool and drawing at home to Sunderland, the Citizens’ Premier League title bid is all but over.

And now Dzeko’s international manager has issued a SEX BAN ahead of this summer’s World Cup in Brazil.

Bosnia and Herzegovina coach Safet Susic has decided he does not want his players wasting their energy romping with their WAGs in Brazil.

“There will be no sex in Brazil,” he said.

 

[quote] “I am not interested what the other coaches do, this is not a holiday trip, we are there to play football at the World Cup” Bosnia and Herzegovina coach Safet Susic [/quote]
“They can find another solution, they can even masturbate if they want. I am not interested what the other coaches do, this is not a holiday trip, we are there to play football at the World Cup.”
Susic wants “military discipline” from his squad during their first ever World Cup.

As well as Dzeko, Bosnia and Herzegovina boast Stoke keeper Asmir Begovic and Roma playmaker Miralem Pjanic in their ranks.

The men from the Balklands get their campaign underway on June 15 against Argentina in Rio de Janeiro.

They will also face Nigeria and Iran in a group they hope to qualify from.

Group ‘F’ analysis by FIFA

fifa.com

Group F will feature one match that has become something of a classic fixture of and five that have never been played on the big stage before, part of the reason for which is because Bosnia-Herzegovina are making their first appearance at the FIFA World Cup™, while Iran have only ever faced their group rivals in friendlies.

As for Argentina and Nigeria, the other two combatants in the group, there is not much they do not know about each other. Their meeting next June will be the latest instalment in an exciting rivalry between the two sides, led by Lionel Messi and John Obi Mikel, who have faced off three times in major competitions at different age levels: the final of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Netherlands 2005, the gold medal match at the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Beijing 2008 and in the group phase at South Africa 2010. On all three occasions Argentina won.

The teams
There is not much that has not already been said about two-time world champions Argentina or for that matter about Messi, who will renew his bid to lift the FIFA World Cup™ Trophy. Alejandro Sabella’s men are the favourites to top a group in which reigning African champions Nigeria will be aiming to make the experience they have acquired on their four previous appearances count. Meanwhile, Bosnia will be out to replicate the entertaining brand of football that made them the fourth-highest scorers in the European qualifiers, and Iran, coached by Portugal’s Carlos Queiroz will hope to combine solid organisation with the technical attributes they have long been known for.

Players to watch
Lionel Messi, (ARG), Sergio Aguero (ARG), Gonzalo Higuain (ARG), John Obi Mikel (NGA), Victor Moses (NGA), Victor Obinna (NGA), Edin Dzeko (BIH), Vedad Ibisevic (BIH), Miralem Pjanic (BIH), Reza Ghoochannejhad (IRN), Javad Nekounam (IRN), Karim Ansari (IRN).

The crunch match
Bosnia-Nigeria: in a section that most people will expect Argentina to win, games such as this one will be crucial in deciding who goes through to the last 16. The European side will have the challenge of performing in circumstances that will be entirely new to them, while the Nigerians will be eyeing the chance to reach the knockout phase for the first time since France 1998.

A look back
Argentina 2-1 Nigeria, 25 June 1994, Boston
This game, which will forever be remembered as Diego Armando Maradona’s last match for his country, pitted an Argentina side packed with stars such as El Diez, Claudio Caniggia, Fernando Redondo and Gabriel Batistuta against a Nigeria team very much on the up and up and featuring the likes of Rashidi Yekini, Finidi George and Emmanuel Amunike. The Africans took a surprise early lead through Samson Siasia, only for the wily Caniggia to turn the game around with a typically predatory double. The blond-haired striker’s cry of “Diego, Diego”, imploring Maradona to play the pass that would lead to his second goal, is an iconic moment for Argentina fans.

Did you know?
Bosnia-Herzegovina, who played their first official match as an independent national team in November 1995, came close to making their World Cup debut at South Africa 2010 but lost out in the play-offs to Portugal. Twenty-four of their 26 most regularly selected players ply their trade outside the country.

The stat
36 – The number of years since Argentina and Iran met for the first and only time to date. That match, which ended in a 1-1 draw, took place in Madrid on 22 March 1977 and formed part of Real Madrid’s 75th anniversary celebrations. One year later La Albiceleste won their maiden World Cup title on home soil in a competition that marked the Asian side’s world finals debut.

 

 

The tweet

 

En un Mundial ningún partido es fácil pero con esfuerzo y trabajo siempre hay recompensa. Vamos Argentina!!!

 

In a World Cup match is no easy job but there is always effort and reward. Come on Argentina!
Sergio Aguero, Argentina