Tag: Jesús Candelas

AFC Futsal C’ship 2014: Group B Preview

Published: 29 April 2014

Ho Chi Minh City: Coach Jesus Candelas insists Iran have their sights set on winning an 11th AFC Futsal Championship in Vietnam this month ahead of Wednesday’s Group B opener against Indonesia.

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 third place in the United Arab Emirates two years ago after losing 5-4 after extra-time to Thailand in the semi-finals.

But ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with Indonesia at Ton Duc Thang University Stadium, Candelas is eyeing a return to winning ways after Japan claimed a second AFC Futsal Championship two years ago.

“Our objective is to do our best and take the cup. We should prepare well to do our best,” said Spanish coach Candelas.

“There is no pressure for us, it is a responsibility. We must try and relax when we are under pressure so we will not encounter stress.

“We are not looking at the past. We will concentrate on these players and put our focus on them.”

Indonesia finished bottom of their group two years ago after losing all three games which included a 5-2 defeat by China, although Andri Irawan’s side are boosted by reaching the semi-finals of the 2013 AFF Futsal Championship.

“It is a very tough group, but we believe we can go to the next round,” said Indonesia coach Irawan.

“We know Iran are the best team in Asia and also China and Australia are good. We will do our best and fight with these teams.”

Also at Ton Duc Thang University Stadium on Wednesday, 2014 semi-finalists Australia face China.

Two years ago in the UAE, Australia lost 3-0 to Japan in the semi-finals before suffering a 4-0 defeat by Iran in the third place play-off.

“We have prepared for nine weeks, one day per week with two sessions per day. I expect the team to perform as well as they can following the preparation. I hope the team gets through the first round,” said Australia coach Steven Knight.

“Iran are the strongest team in the group and I think the other teams are similar, so the opening match with China will be very difficult.”

China also featured in the 2012 edition, although they failed to reach the knockout stage after losing to Uzbekistan and Kuwait despite beginning their campaign with a win over Indonesia.

“We have not had the preparation we wanted as we had a short time to prepare, but it is the time we have had,” said China’s Portuguese coach Andre Lima.

“We know it will be difficult, as in my opinion, this is the strongest group and they will all be hard games. I hope my young team can improve and learn by the end of the tournament by getting more experience.

“Iran are favourites to win the championship, so Indonesia, Australia and China will fight for second place and all will be tough games.”

Candelas admits possible error of judgment on missing players.

On the eve of Futsal Team Melli travel to Vietnam, Jesus Candelas talked to the press about his team, the championship and missing players.

In a very rare case for a coach in  Iran’s, and certainly by futsal/football coaches , Candelas admitted that not inviting Nazari and Keshavarz to Team Melli  could turn out to be an error of judgment from his side!

Candelas expressed his satisfaction with the training camp and the preparation matches played in Tashkent and Moscow which helped him to identify some weakness points, fill some gaps and rearrange the team in preparation for the AFC Futsal Championship in Vietnam. Candelas said that Keshavarz , the Team Captain was recovering from slight injury. “I made a decision to take him along with us to Uzbekistan to complete his recovery with the team. In hindsight, I should admit that this might not have been the best decision as far as Keshavarz was concerned, but I must commend him for his effort and perseverance during the trip.” Candelas said

On the reasons why the famous goalkeeper Mostafa Nazari was not invited to the team, Candelas said “I try to do my job within a specific framework and criteria. I have to say that the decision made on both Keshavarz and Nazari were difficult ones. I also do not want to say that it was definitely the right decision, but from the angles I was looking at , I came up with such decision which I thought it was right at the time based purely on technical issues. The question now is not about inviting them or not which was taken on technical merits. Of course, we could have had other consideration when taking the final decision, in any case I think we have a strong squad capable of challenging for the title.”

Asked about Keshavarz statement yesterday, where he said that he was disrespected and hence he will temporary announce his retirement from the team , Candelas preferred not to comment on the issue on the eve of his team’s departure. However , he emphasized that both Keshavarz and Nazari are quality players and while he is around, Team Melli’s doors will always be open for them. “I have no problem at all inviting them again for the next tournament or matches that we have to play. Right now , my focus is on the AFC Futsal Championship and I will leave it at that”

Futsal Team Melli will play Australia, Indonesia and China in Group C of the 2014 AFC Futsal Championship starting on 30t April in Ho Che Min City , Vietnam.

Futsal Team Melli held by Russian club.

Futsal Team Melli played its first friendly match against Norilsky Nickel club in Moscow,

The match ended 1-1 with Iran’s goal scored by Vahid Shafei.

The two teams then went onto penalties shoots to decide a winner. 9 penalties were played by each team with Iran scoring 6 of them , the Russian club scoring 7 and declared the winner of the contest.

The hero of the penalties was non other than the Iranian Mostafa Nazari playing for Norilsky Nickel who managed to save several penalties from his compatriots and former team mates.

Mostafa Nazari has been recently discarded by the Spanish coach of Team Melli Jesús Candelas, for the upcoming AFC Futsal Championship 2014. Nazari , a prominent player and arguably the best futsal keeper in Iran , has his differences with the federation and coaches of Team Melli.

The professional futsal club competing in the Russian Futsal Super League has 3 Iranian players on its roster. In addition to the goalkeeper Mostafa Nazari , Hossein Tayyebi and Ali Asghar Hassanzadeh also play for Norilsky Nickel.

Futsal Team Melli next game is against MFK Mytishchi, another Russian league club on Thursday.

Iran’s Futsal team to play in Uzbekistan friendlies.

Team Melli futsal team will leave Tehran on Friday en rout to the Uzbek Capital Tashkent, where it will play two friendly matches in preparation for the upcoming 2014 AFC Futsal Championship to be held at the end of this month in Vietnam.

Iran is grouped with Australia, Indonesia and China in Group C

The Spanish coach of Team Melli Futsal team Jesús Candelas has selected  the list of 16 players for the Uzbekistan tour.

According to the list distributed by the Federation, the players of the squad are :

  1. Sepehr Mohammadi
  2.  Ahmad Ismailpour
  3.  Mohammad Keshavarz
  4. Mohammad Taheri
  5. Mehdi Javeed
  6. Saeed Afshar
  7. Hamid Ahmadi
  8. Alireza Samimi
  9. Farhad Tavakoli
  10. Mehran Alighadr
  11. Meysam Khayyam
  12. Farhad Fakhim
  13. Behrouz Jafari
  14. Vahid Shafie
  15. Mohammad Shajari
  16. Alireza Vagaei.

 

The 2014 AFC Futsal Championship schedule for Team Melli is as follows

Wed 30th Apr   Iran vs. Indonesia

Fri 2nd May       China vs. Iran

Sun 4th May       Australia vs. Iran