Tag: Japan

Political interference in football is unfavorable, says IRIFF

Hamid Reza A’sefi , the international spokesperson of the Football Federation has stated that his organization does not approve of political decision making in football affairs. A’sefi was speaking to ISNA on the possibilities of Iran withdrawing from the  2016 AFC U-19 Championship . The 39th edition will be held in Bahrain between 13–30 October 2016. Iran has qualified for the finals.

“The federation is not in favor of politicians making decision in football affairs. It is against our wishes and is not acceptable by international standards. However, if there are strong objections from the government on security ground, then of course we have to oblige.”  A’sefi said. “We know that playing in Bahrain is akin to playing in Saudi Arabia , as the country is a satellite state of Saudis and run under their supervision. By withdrawing from this tournament we give the Saudi the best of excuses. It is exactly the what they seek for not playing in Iran. Their propaganda machine has been active for sometime now but we should not be deceived.”

“We have no issues playing in Bahrain. of course we will demand security precaution and assurances, else there is no other concerns.” 

“As for postponing or delaying the match against South Korea because of Ta’sooa , I think it will be extremely difficult. It is a holly day in the Iranian calendar , but FIFA does not entertain such demands and with the tight schedule already , I doubt that FIFA will even respond to such request. It is unfortunate, but we have to oblige and go along with the rules of FIFA” A’sefi responded on the question if Iran will demand a change of date for the South Korea match in Azadi on October 11th.

Iran is in Group C of the  2016 AFC U-19 Championship along with Japan , Qatart and Yemen.

The matches:

14 October 2016    19:30     Qatar v Iran
17 October 2016    16:30     Iran v Japan
20 October 2016    16:30     Yemen v Iran

Futsal teams departs to Bogota with great expectations.

Asian Futsal Champion, Iran departed to Bogota to participate in the FIFA Futsal World Cup Colombia 2016 with great expectation.

Iran goes into the FIFA Futsal World Cup with significant momentum, claiming the 2016 AFC Futsal Championship where they racked up an incredible 48 goals.  This is the sixth appearance for Futsal Team Melli in the World Cup which is now ranked in the top 5 teams in the FIFA Ranking.

Seyed Mohammad Nazemalsharieh will be hoping to lead his team to the final rounds of the competition after some sterling performances in the previous World Cup. Only two teams in the world had more participation in the FIFA Futsal World Cup than Iran’s 6 times. Both Brazil and Spain took part in 7 edition of the  FIFA  Futsal World Cup.

Reunion time 
Iran will be up against some familiar faces in the group stage of the FIFA Futsal World Cup Colombia 2016, where they will take on not just Spain but also Morocco, whom Tayebi and Co edged past four years ago. Their third opponents, meanwhile, will be somewhat more of an unknown quantity in Azerbaijan.

The Asian champions will once again be kicking off against Spain, on this occasion in Medellin on 12 September. Tayebi stressed that he and his team-mates will be gunning for victory in this heavyweight bout: “I can assure you that every time the Iranian national futsal team enter the pitch, we do so to win, because we’re among the world’s powerhouses in this sport. We respect the Spaniards but we want to win our first match in Colombia. Encounters between Spain and Iran are always spectacular and tight affairs, but we’re determined to get the win.”

“We know that Azerbaijan have a strong team, even though we’ve never faced them,” he continued. “The coaching staff have watched two of their games, though, and told us that they play some good stuff. As I said before, we play to win and that match will be no exception.”

Despite his confidence in his own side’s abilities, Tayebi is nevertheless mindful that several other countries have kicked on in recent years and so it will prove a tough task for Iran to achieve their goal of advancing to at least the last four.

“I think most teams’ level has improved, which means the competition will be stiff and there will be no easy games. There are no favourites on paper and every side will be made to work hard for wins.”

“We’re going to do our best to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup and play with heart. We respect all the other teams a great deal, but we’re determined to succeed.”

Shamsaei thanks God

Inspired by Shamsaee 
Tayebi is hopeful that the strike he bagged in Thailand four years ago will not be his last on the world stage, although collective glory remains his number-one target. “I was delighted to find the net against Spain. It was the most important goal of my career. Scoring at a World Cup is something unforgettable for any player,” he said, before quickly clarifying that, “As far as I’m concerned, the team’s success comes before my scoring statistics.”

“It’s exciting to see your name on the scoresheet in a World Cup match but, like I said, the team’s targets are more important. The fact that I’ve scored at a World Cup before shows that I can play my part within the group.”

In his eagerness to do his bit and perform his role with aplomb, Tayebi is inspired by the example of former Iran stars such as ex-national team captain Vahid Shamsaee, whom he described as “one of the best players in futsal history”.

“Vahid is a real legend and I have tremendous respect for him. He’s a great man who had a lot of success in his career. I’m proud to be his compatriot. I love the way he played and I’m going to try to follow in his footsteps by living long in all the Iranian fans’ memories.”

Colombia 2016 could provide the perfect platform for Tayebi to fulfil this dream by not just adding to his World Cup goal tally, but accomplishing something that not even the great Shamsaee was able to – helping his country through to the semi-finals of the global showpiece.

This year’s competition will be a total of 6 groups in the competition with each group having four teams. After the group stages, the top 2 teams from each group will proceed to the knockout stage along with the 4 highest ranked third place finishers.

Solid preparations 

 

11 times Asian Champion Iran team has been actively preparing for the FIFA Futsal World Cup for over 4 months and played several tough matches. In Mashad, Team Melli played two matches against fellow qualifiers Uzbekistan with convincing wins 3-0 and 6-3 for Iran. Earlier, Iran participated in a 4 nation Futsal tournament in Thailand, where they drew with Kazakhstan 3-3, lost to Thailand 7-5 and beat Japan 4-2.

 

Team Roster

 

1 Sepehr MOHAMMADI Goalkeeper 27 years old

2 Alireza SAMIMI Goalkeeper 29 years old

3 Ahmad ESMAEILPOUR Pivot 27 years old

4 Mohammad KESHAVARZ Defender 34 years old

5 Hamid AHMADI Defender 27 years old

6 Mohammadreza SANGSEFIDI Wing 26 years old

7 Ali HASSAN ZADEH Wing 28 years old

8 Ghodrat BAHADORI Wing 26 years old

9 Afshin KAZEMI Defender 29 years old

10 Mohammad TAHERI Wing 31 years old

11 Mehran ALIGHADR Wing 27 years old

12 Hossein TAYEBI Pivot 27 years old

13 Farhad TAVAKOLI Defender 27 years old

14 Mahdi JAVID Pivot 29 years old

 

Head Coach: Seyed  Mohammad NAZEMALSHARIEH (IRN) 46 years old

Assistant Coach: Mohammad  HASHEMZADEH (IRN) 39 years old

 

 

Iran beach soccer wins the Continental Beach Soccer Title

Iran beach soccer won the Continental Beach Soccer Tournament by beating Oman 6-3 in the final.

Iran’s goals were scored by Amir Hossein Akbari (4 goals), Seyed Ali Nazim , and Peyman Hosseini.

This was the first title for the team under coach Mohammad Hossein Mir Shamsi. Peyman Hosseini  was as the tournament’s best goalkeeper while Amir Hossein Akbari grabbed the top scorer title.

On  Wednesday, Iran booked a place at the Continental Beach Soccer Tournament final after beating Japan 5-1. .

In the group stages, the Iranian team, Bahrain 10-1 in its first match. 

 China and Thailand played for the bronze medal.

The three-day tournament was held in Ordos, China.

The top eight Asian teams namely, Iran, China, Bahrain, Japan, Vietnam, Oman, Thailand and Lebanon participated in the event.

The Iranian team takes part in the competition as part of its preparation for the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup qualification.

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

FIFA Ranking: Iran maintains its top Asia Ranking

Team Melli maintained the same ranking both in the World and in Asia in the latest FIFA Ranking for July 2016.

Iran Climbed remained 39th in the world , while staying as Number 1 in Asia.

in the monthly published ranking , Iran which had no matches last month accumulated a total of  674 down from the previous month of 688.  However , that was still  comfortably higher than the second place and  its closest rival South Korea  with 592 points while  Uzbekistan (569) narrowly overleaps Japan (564)  in third place.

In addition to South Korea and Uzbekistan Iran’s opponents in the World Cup qualifiers group are ranked as Follows: Qatar (79) followed by  China (81)  and Syria (104).

FIFA ranking

July 2016

Asia World Rank Team Total Points Previous Points +/-
 [1] 39 IRNIran 674 688 0
 [2] 48 KORKorea Republic 592 591 2
[3] 56 UZB  Uzbekistan 569 544 10
 [4] 57 JPNJapan 564 581 -4
 [5] 59 AUSAustralia 555 663 0
 [6] 65 KSASaudi Arabia 540 545 0
 [7] 74 UAEUnited Arab Emirates 484 517 -4
 [8] 78 JORJordan 438 434 2
 [9] 79
 QAT  Qatar 425 407 5
 [10] 81 CHN  China PR 422 423 0

Iran drawn against Korea Rep. again.

Iran was drawn with Korea Rep. , Uzbekistan , Qatar , China and Syria in Group A of the FIFA World Cup 2018 Final qualification rounds.

The draw was conducted by AFC General Secretary Dato Windsor John, with a helping hand from former Korea Republic star Park Ji-sung. Numerous personalities were in attendance, headed by the coaches of the teams that will contest the third round.

The latest FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking was used to split the 12-country field into six pots. These were then drawn into two groups of six teams, who will do battle for direct qualification to Russia 2018 between 1 September 2016 and 5 September 2017.

Both group winners and runners-up will go straight through to the 2018 World Cup. Meanwhile, the two teams that finish third will meet in a two-legged showdown on 5 and 10 October 2017. Whoever triumphs in this double-header will look to secure their spot at the finals in an intercontinental play-off – also to be played over two legs – against the fourth-placed country from CONCACAF qualifying.

Australia , the AFC Asian Cup title holders is grouped with Japan , Saudi Arabia, UAE , Thailand, and Iraq in group B.

The two teams Iran and Korea Rep. will renew their rivalry once again in the qualification for the World Cup. In the last encounter , the relationship between the coaches were making the headlines and as there was not love lost between Carlo Queiroz and the South Korean Choi KANG-HEE . The South Korean for all his rhetorics ended up in the losing side and eventually resigned his job, South Korea survived by the skin of their teeth after Uzbekistan failed to score one more goal to put them ahead on goal difference in the other group matches.

The draw avoided a potential problem for FIFA and AFC after the Saudi’s claimed they will refuse to play in Iran.

Iran, Japan, Korea Rep.,  Australia and Qatar are the top seeds for qualification. The first round will commence on 1st September 2016.

 

MATCHES SCHEDULE

Matchday One
September 01, 2016 Thursday Iran vs. Qatar – H

Matchday Two
September 06, 2016 Tuesday China vs. Iran – A

Matchday Three
October 06, 2016 Thursday Uzbekistan vs. Iran – A

Matchday Four
October 11, 2016 Tuesday Iran vs.  South Korea – H

Matchday Five
November 15, 2016 Tuesday  Syria  vs. Iran – A

Matchday Six
March 23, 2017 Thursday Qatar vs. Iran – A

Matchday Seven
March 28, 2017 Tuesday Iran vs  China – H

Matchday Eight
June 13, 2017 Tuesday Iran vs. Uzbekistan – H

Matchday Nine
August 31, 2017 Thursday South Korea vs. Iran – A

Matchday Ten
September 5th, 2017 Iran vs. Syria – H

Iran up 2 places in FIFA ranking March 2016

 Team Melli maintained it top place in the Asian FIFA Ranking while climbing two steps up to number 42 in the world.
 
According to the latest FIFA ranking published today for the month of March in Zürich, Iran was ranked ahead of Senegal while one rank below Denmark.
In Asia , Iran was top with 672 points followed by Australia with 601, Korea Republic 579  and Japan 577.
2016 (100 %) 2015 (50 %) 2014 (30 %) 2013 (20 %)
Rank Team Total Points Previous Points +/- Positions Avg. AVG WGT Avg. AVG WGT Avg. AVG WGT Avg. AVG WGT
42 IRNIran 672(672.3) 627 2 321.98 321.98 336.87 168.43 439.32 131.80 250.48 50.10
50 AUSAustralia 601(600.64) 506 17 353.81 353.81 272.17 136.09 240.62 72.19 192.79 38.56
56 KORKorea Republic 579(579.33) 566 1 304.20 304.20 312.46 156.23 217.75 65.32 267.84 53.57
57 JPNJapan 577(577.02) 575 -1 266.44 266.44 335.96 167.98 213.61 64.08 392.56 78.51
60 KSASaudi Arabia 559(559.01) 562 0 380.91 380.91 118.20 59.10 297.06 89.12 149.41 29.88
66 UZBUzbekistan 549(548.8) 484 8 311.74 311.74 181.07 90.54 303.39 91.02 277.53 55.51
68 UAEUnited Arab Emirates 521(520.95) 517 -4 256.74 256.74 242.20 121.10 291.77 87.53 277.90 55.58
81 CHNChina PR 423(423.24) 351 15 234.48 234.48 245.50 122.75 132.40 39.72 131.43 26.29
82 JORJordan 418(418.02) 414 0 257.18 257.18 61.72 30.86 272.08 81.62 241.77 48.35
83 QATQatar 416(415.92) 441 -3 251.18 251.18 171.62 85.81 160.54 48.16 153.89 30.78
99 OMAOman 346(346.42) 342 -2 176.62 176.62 124.70 62.35 242.23 72.67 173.89 34.78
100 KGZKyrgyzstan 340(340.42) 324 5 255.80 255.80 66.96 33.48 41.48 12.44 193.50 38.70
105 IRQIraq 333(332.97) 371 -14 157.68 157.68 218.68 109.34 119.25 35.78 150.88 30.18
110 SYRSyria 316(316.38) 279 13 207.54 207.54 131.58 65.79 85.69 25.71 86.70 17.34

Iran maintains top Asian FIFA Ranking Feb. 2016

IRAN               Iran

  • 44         CURRENT FIFA WORLD RANKING
  • 47        AVERAGE POSITION SINCE FIFA WORLD RANKING CREATION

 Team Melli continued leading the Asian FIFA Ranking while remaining unchanged in the world at number 44.
In the figures published for the month of February 2016 today in Zürich, Iran was ranked ahead of Scotland while one rank below Paraguay.
Japan maintained its second place while Korea republic is third.
2016 (100 %) 2015 (50 %) 2014 (30 %) 2013 (20 %)
Rank Team Total Points Previous

Points

 +/- Avg. AVG WGT Avg. AVG WGT Avg. AVG WGT Avg. AVG WGT
1 44 IRN   Iran 627(626.53) 626 0 275.78 275.78 323.29 161.65 460.10 138.03 255.35 51.07
 2 56 JPN   Japan 575(575.15) 569 2 263.60 263.60 327.02 163.51 205.07 61.52 432.61 86.52
 3 57 KOR   Korea Republic 566(565.74) 580 -4 282.46 282.46 343.57 171.78 225.59 67.68 219.09 43.82
 4 60 KSA   Saudi Arabia 562(562.38) 571 -5 384.56 384.56 122.58 61.29 297.06 89.12 137.05 27.41
 5 64 UAE   United Arab Emirates 517(517.42) 520 1 236.30 236.30 245.47 122.73 377.77 113.33 225.27 45.05
 6 67 AUS   Australia 506(505.85) 510 1 253.52 253.52 272.38 136.19 259.19 77.76 191.91 38.38
 7 74 UZB   Uzbekistan 484(484.31) 502 -3 239.19 239.19 202.48 101.24 287.67 86.30 287.89 57.58
 8 80 QAT   Qatar 441(440.99) 444 -2 292.40 292.40 141.62 70.81 150.66 45.20 162.91 32.58
 9 82 JOR   Jordan 414(413.65) 418 0 234.41 234.41 102.88 51.44 310.32 93.10 173.52 34.70
10 91 IRQ   Iraq 371(370.87) 372 -2 204.28 204.28 230.16 115.08 67.61 20.28 156.14 31.23
 11 94 PRK   Korea DPR 356(355.68) 350 1 283.58 283.58 42.12 21.06 16.51 4.95 230.44 46.09
 12 96 CHN   China PR 351(350.77) 365 -3 158.99 158.99 244.98 122.49 189.38 56.81 62.39 12.48
 13 97 OMA   Oman 342(341.55) 345 0 160.69 160.69 146.02 73.01 255.33 76.60 156.29 31.26
 14 105 KGZ   Kyrgyzstan 324(324.34) 324 0 246.80 246.80 66.96 33.48 146.86 44.06 0.00 0.00
15 113 TKM   Turkmenistan 298(298.41) 298 1 207.98 207.98 64.50 32.25 64.50 19.35 194.11 38.82

Iran Futsal to the final after a bone crushing defeat of Vietnam.

Futsal Team Melli reached the final of the AFC Futsal Championship 2016 with a commanding win against surprise semi-finalist Vietnam. Iran’s 13-1 win was one of the biggest semi final margins in the history of the competition. The first half ended 7-1 for Team Melli.

Vietnam paid the price of naivety of their coach. Their quarter-final win against defending champion Japan, led to unrealistic , though legitimate belief in the team that they can conquer Iran.

However, It was clear from the first few minutes of the match that Vietnam cannot match Team Melli for skills and technique.

In the pre-match press conference , the ambitious Spanish coach Bruno Formoso said his team was looking beyond Iran and into the final. However, he failed to analyse the opposition properly and his plans went tragically wrong as his team was 3-0 down in less than 9 minutes in the 1st half. The major mistake was playing offensively against Iran and trying to match them for ball possession and attack.

Mahdi Javid opened the scoring for Iran before Farhad Tavakoli scored two quick goals to put Team Melli comfortably 3-0 ahead.

After the 3rd goal, Vietnam coach asked for a time out where he decided to play with all players in the filed ( 5 -0)  to score at least one goal against the mighty Iranians. Again , Vietnam players simply could not match the Iranians.

Despite the fact that Iran’s coach was revolving and playing all his squad, Nazim AlSharia  mainly used the reserve restig the likes of Taheri, Tayebi, Hassanzadeh and Keshavarz.

Vietnam brave resistance fell apart in the second half as Ahmadi , Hossein Tayebi , Mahdi Javid and Tavakoli  (scoring  his 4 goals) , Keshavarz  added another 6 goals in the second half for Team Melli.  Vietnam could not add to that solitary goal scored in the first half.

Iran’s injured Captain Mohammed Keshavarz , returned to the team and played the last 10 minutes helping himself to two goals in the process.

Iran will be meeting Uzbekistan in the Finals for a repeat of the for 2010 championship edition when the mighty Iranians defeated the host 8-3 in front of the passionate Uzbek fans.

Iran Futsal looking for lost glory.

Tashkent: Coach Mohammad Nazemosharie is adamant Iran have their sights set on winning an 11th AFC Futsal Championship in Uzbekistan this month ahead of their Group B opener against Jordan on Wednesday.

Iran are comfortably the most successful side in the history of the AFC Futsal Championship having won 10 of the first 11 editions, although they were forced to settle for a runners-up finish in Vietnam in the 2014 tournament after a penalty shootout defeat to Japan.

But ahead of the meeting with Jordan at Universal Stadium, Nazemosharie is confident his side will return to winning ways.

“Futsal is very strong in Iran and we’ve come here to put on a good show,” said Nazemosharie.

“We respect all the teams in our group but we are aiming to be champions and we are a very powerful side.”

Jordan coach Salah Abu Jafer, though, is looking for a strong start for the debutants with an eye on the second round and will look to the likes of key player Samer Samih, who plays professionally in Qatar.

“It’s Jordan’s first time to reach the finals and the whole country is proud of this achievement,” said Abu Jafer.

“We’ve prepared well with several camps and our training has been good so we come in high spirits and with the aim of qualifying to the second stage.”

Also at Universal Stadium on Wednesday, Iraq will take on China with coach Haitham Abbas’ squad based on powerhouse club side, Naft Al Wasat.

No fewer than 12 of Iraq’s final 14 man selection are from the Najaf-based outfit who reached the semi-finals of last year’s AFC Futsal Club Championship.

“We don’t have any professional players in our squad unlike Iran but what we do have is a strong unity borne from the Naft Al Wasat side which is like a defacto national team,” said Abbas.

“Originally, I was looking at other players and we tried many different combinations but I kept coming back to the fact that this club had the best players – I’ve even called two goalkeepers from the same team.”

Opponents China also featured in the 2014 edition in Vietnam, although they failed to reach the knockout stage after losing to Iran, Australia and Indonesia but coach Shan Zhiping is hopeful of an improved performance.

“We’re very happy to be here in Uzbekistan and we’ve had a good preparation with the team being in camp since January 18,” said Shan.

“We enter with the same hopes and expectations as every other nation and that’s firstly to reach the knockout stage and ultimately to claim one of the five spots for this year’s World Cup.”

Photo: AFC