Tag: Fergana

Iran U20 loses to Australia

the-afc.com – Fergana:
Australia held off a late fightback from IIran to win 3-2, reviving their hopes of advancing from Group B of the AFC U20 AFC Asian Cup™ Uzbekistan 2023 on Saturday.
The win means Australia are back in the race for a quarter-final spot after having lost their opener to Vietnam while Iran’s defeat means they will have to do it the hard after failing to build on their victory against Qatar.
Australia, who were aiming to bounce back from their opening day defeat to Vietnam, were almost caught napping seconds into the start when Panashe Madanha failed to clear a dangerous ball which allowed Farhad Zavoshi to stab in a shot but keeper Jack Warshawsky was up to the challenge.
Australia, however, found the breakthrough in the eighth minute when Adrian Segecic released Jed Drew, who in turn fed Aidan Simmons to strike home from close range.
Iran struggled to find their rhythm with Ghorbani barely threatening the Australian backline and the Central Asian side conceded again in the 19th minute.
Australia’s second was spectacular with Segecic squeezing in his free-kick into the bottom left corner, with Iran keeper Adib Zarei left with no chance.
Iran came back fighting and reduced the deficit in the 25th minute with Amirreza Eslamtalab finishing off Mersad Seifi’s cross from the left flank.
Iran almost drew level in the closing seconds of the first half with Ghorbani finding space on the turn before forcing Zarei into a fine save.
Australia were quick off the blocks at the start of the second half and made it 3-1 in the 46th minute, thanks to a well crafted move set up by Alessandro Lopane, who started at the centre before supplying a cutback for Segecic (pictured above, left) to finish.
Iran, desperate to get back into the game, almost replied with an effort of their own moments later with Eslamtalab striking the ball from a tight angle, forcing Warshawsky into a one-handed save.
Australia wasted opportunities to further their advantage in the 67th minute with Drew finishing tamely from the centre of the box before Bernando Oliveira saw his shot saved in the 79th minute.
Iran reduced the deficit in the 80th minute off Alireza Enayatzadeh’s strike from inside the box but Australia stood firm to seal the win and revive their hopes.
Australia will meet Qatar on Tuesday with Iran to face Vietnam.

Iran U20 starts AFC Asian Cup 2023 with victory.

Iran’s U20 team started the AFC U20 Asian Cup 2023 with a positive win against Qatar in Istiqlol Stadium, Fergana.

The only goal of the match came from a penalty that was beautifully struck by Amin Hezbavi in the 65th minute.

Despite the close result, Iran’s U20 dominated the field and was the team most likely to score but for a series of brilliant saves from Qatar Keeper Amir Hassan and some lax finishing by the Iranian players.

In the first half, Iran’s players in their all-white kit started the game aggressively and could have opened Qatar’s goal in the first few minutes, but the Qatari goalkeeper displayed brilliant reflexes to deny the Iranians players. Despite the fact that Iran was the better team in the first half and had many opportunities to score , the half ended in a goalless draw.

In the second half, Samad Marfavi’s players’ stepped up a notch or two and were on the move from the start. The team was more settled and played some beautiful football too.  Qatar were denied any opportunity until the last minute of the injury time when Iran’s keeper Adib Zarei made a finger-tip save to deny Qatar an undeserved equalizer.

While the Iranian team was careful not to fall prey to the Qataris’ quick counter-attacks and opportunism, they continued pressing the Qataris until they were awarded a penalty. In the 65th minute of this match, Iran finally took the lead and scored the winning goal on a penalty kick by Amin Hizbavipour.

Iran always looked the better side in control limiting Qatar to the occasional attacks which bore no fruit for the Marooni of Qatar.

While the team looked side physically and technically with an added bonus of individual skills, There were however those perennial shortfalls in Iranian players, like slowness, poor finishing, wastefulness, and mental strength. These are fundamental weaknesses that have their origin in grassroots football as the result of poor infrastructure, antiquated basic training methods from early ages, and poor tactical discipline. A coach such as Samad Marfavi can do so much in the short span of time that he has with the group to prepare a team for a major championship, however, he must be commended on the fine display by this Javanan team.

Next Match

on Saturday, the 13th of March, Iran will meet Australia at 15:00 local time and  (13:30 Tehran).  The Australians lost their first match against Vietnam in the match earlier.

Group B Standing

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1  Vietnam 1 1 0 0 1 0 +1 3
2  Iran 1 1 0 0 1 0 +1 3
3  Australia 1 0 0 1 0 1 −1 0
4  Qatar 1 0 0 1 0 1 −1 0

 

IRAN U2O SQUAD

# Pos Player Name Date of birth (age) Club
1 GK Mohammad Khalifeh 19 August 2004(age 18) Persepolis
12 GK Adib Zarei 19 January 2004(age 19) Shahin
22 GK Mohammad Sadegh Salehi 5 March 2004(age 18) Sepahan
2 DF Milad Kor (captain) 19 October 2003(age 19) tractor
5 DF Mehran Feyzabadi 8 July 2003(age 19) Esteghlal
18 DF Ali Akbar Ranjbar 2 February 2004(age 19) Paykan
5 DF Amin Hazbavi 6 May 2003(age 19) Foolad
4 DF Ali rezaei 26 March 2003(age 19) Be’sat Kermanshah
14 DF Mersad Seifi 11 August 2003(age 19) Nassaji Mazandaran
13 DF Amin Pilali 7 January 2003(age 20) kia
6 MF Farhad Zavoshi 8 February 2003(age 20) Havadar
7 MF Hossein Nokhodkar 24 February 2002(age 21) Gol Gohar
8 MF Mohammad HIranossein Zavari 11 January 2001(age 22) Sanat Naft
15 MF Mohammadreza Torabi 18 July 2004(age 18) Esteghlal
16 MF Mohammadreza Bordbar 26 August 2004(age 18) Malavan
21 MF Ahmad Reza Jenadeleh 20 March 2001(age 21) Foolad
23 MF Seyed Reza Mousavian 24 June 2001(age 21) Foolad
9 FW Amir Ebrahimzadeh 31 January 2004(age 19) tractor
19 FW Mojtaba Fakhrian 15 May 2003(age 19) Aluminium Arak
11 FW Salim Toomaj 9 January 2005(age 18) Fenerbahçe
17 FW Amirreza Eslamtalab 30 January 2003(age 20) kia
18 FW Amir Shahim 18 September 2003(age 19) Gol Gohar Sirjan
10 MF Erfan Bagheri 15 December 2003(age 19) kia
20 FW Saeid Saharkhizan 26 January 2003(age 20) Havadar

Iran’s youth final preparation for the AFC U20 Asian Cup.

The AFC U20 Asian Cup Uzbekistan 2023 will start on the first of March 2023, with Iran grouped with Qatar, Australia, and Vietnam in Group B of the competition. The matches will be played in Tashkent and Fergana. Javanan Team (Iran U20) will have its final practice game this afternoon in Tehran against the Pas team.

Iran’s U20 is currently coached by Samad Marfavi who has coached at several club levels including Esteghlal. The Team will be flying directly to Fergana, the venue of the first match versus Qatar on a chartered flight thus avoiding commercial flights which would have taken the squad 23 hours to reach Fergana.

Group B

Qatar, Australia, Vietnam, Iran

This group looks like another tough-looking group that has two former winners in Iran and Qatar, 2010 runners-up Australia and 2016 semi-finalists Vietnam.

Qatar were perfect in Group B of the Qualifiers as they cruised to wins over Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Bahrain, scoring 14 goals and conceding just once.

Iran were equally impressive, topping Group J with nine points while Australia didn’t put a foot wrong either in Group H, also registering three wins.

Vietnam are the odd ones out, sealing their place in the Finals as among the five best runners-up after finishing second in Group F.

The Southeast Asian side, however, have become a force to be reckoned with at all age-group levels, and fans can rest assured there will be no easy matches in Group B.

MATCHES SCHEDULE
Wednesday, 1 March 2023 – 19:00 Istiqlol Stadium, Fergana
Qatar Iran
Saturday, 4 March 2023 – 15:00 Istiqlol Stadium, Fergana
Iran Australia
1 March 2023
Tuesday, 7 March 2023 – 15:00 JAR Stadium, Tashkent
Vietnam Iran
Iran won this championship 4 times in a row in 1973, 1974, 1975, and 1976. After the revolution, Iran has failed to win any titles and the drought at the youth level is now at a staggering 47 years!!
Lack of resources, poor preparations, sub-standard organization, and Iranian coaches’ standards have been the Achilles’ heel of Iran’s youth football.
Samad Marfavi, like many other Iranian coaches, has stagnated and lacks knowledge of modern football. The failure of the football federation to prepare a cadre of good domestic ex-footballers to turn into quality coaches by sending them abroad for quality education and coaching seminars has limited the success of Iranian caches. Much of the success of the youth teams evidently is due o individual performances rather than teamwork and quality coaching.
CHANCES OF QUALIFICATION
While at this level, the standards of teams are quite close and predictions are difficult, Iran U20 has as good a chance as any of the teams. The physicality of the Iranian players is always a strong point, but the Qatari and Australian teams benefit from quality coaching and long-term career development by their respective football associations, something that the Iranian side lacks in earnest.
This group is a tight call. Iran players need to be strong mentally as much as physically to navigate through the group round.
THE SQUAD 

GK ADIB ZAREI (Shahin Bushehr)
GK MOHAMMAD KHALIFEH (Persepolis)
GK MOHAMMADSADEGH SALEHI (Sepahan)

DF ALIAKBAR RANJBAR (Peykan)
DF ALI REZA SAADIPOUR (Fajr Sepasi)
DF AMIN PILALI (Kia)
DF FARZIN MOAMELEHGARI (Iman Sabz Shiraz)
DF MAHDI JAVID MEHREH (Sepid Roud Rasht)
DF MERSAD SEIFI (Nassaji Ghaemshahr)
DF MILAD KOR (Tractor)
DF MOHAMMAD AMIN HAZBAVI (Foolad Khuzestan)


MF ABBAS SHARAFI (GolGohar Sirjan)
MF AHMADREZA MOUSAVI (Sepahan)
MF AMIRREZA ESLAMTALAB (Kia)
MF ARSHIA SARSHOGH (Sepahan)
MF FARHAD ZAVOSHI (Havadar)
MF HOSSEIN HAJIZADEH (Persepolis)
MF MIRMOHAMMADREZA TORABI (Esteghlal)
MF MOHAMMADJAVAD HOSSEINNEZHAD (Sepahan)
MF MOJTABA FAKHRIAN (Aluminium Arak)

FW AMIR EBRAHIMZADEH (Tractor)
FW ERFAN GHORBANI (Kia)
FW SAEID SAHARKHIZAN (Havadar)