Tag: Juventus

23/01/2022

Burnley dealt transfer blow as striker target joins Bayer Leverkusen

Burnley’s hopes of landing striker Sardar Azmoun are over after the 27-year-old agreed to a deal with German side Bayer Leverkusen.

The Zenit St Petersburg star is out of contract in the summer and Burnley’were keen on the hotshot and made a bid, believed to be around £8million. While the Russian club were prepared to deal at that price other suitors, including Juventus and Lyon, meant the player was prepared to weigh up his options.

And he has now signed for Leverkusen, penning a contract until 2027.

Iranian international Azmoun has scored 10 times in 21 games this season.

Burnley is struggling at the foot of the Premier League table this season with many games in hand due to Covid. They have also sold their best striker to Newcastle. The chances of surviving relegation is quite thin. On the other hand, Bayer Leverkusen is enjoying a successful season in the German top flight. With 20 games played, the club is ranked 3rd in the table behind Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, and a place in the next season UEFA Champions League seems to be well within reach of the club.

18/02/2021

Daei sends an inspirational message to Taremi

Following Team Melli’s central striker Mehdi Taremi, dazzling run of goals for his club Porto, with the icing on the cake being the goal he scored against Juventus last night, the Iranian Legend Ali Daei sent Taremi an inspirational message.

Ali Daei wrote to Mehdi Taremi: “I am glad that you are becoming more complete every day. I have no doubt that by continuing this process, you will reach the highest of standards.”

***Daei scores against Chelsea in 1999/2000 Champions League game at Stamford Bridge.***

Daei is one of the Iranian players who has played for Bayern Munich and Hertha Berlin of Germany and has also scored in the Champions League. He is the Worlds top international goal scorer, followed very closely by the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, whom Taremi helped to defeat last night.

18/02/2021

Mehdi Taremi’s goal stuns Juventus in Champions League.

A terrific start for Team Melli’s striker, Mehdi Taremi, and an early second-half goal by Moussa Marega propelled Porto to their first victory against Juventus in the Champions League as they secured a 2-1 first-leg win against the Italian champions in their round-of-16 tie on Wednesday.

Taremi pounced on a sloppy back pass after 63 seconds to fire in the opener that left Juventus, which had a fully fit Cristiano Ronaldo in the lineup, rattled and they failed to create any clear chances before half-time.

This was the fourth consecutive goal by Taremi in as many games for his club Porto in what was described as a dream run for the Iranian striker by the match commentator. Taremi, considered by many as a bargain purchase from Rio Ave by Porto, was initially left out of the starting lineup by coach Sérgio Conceição, however, a last-minute change of match plan meant that Porto would start to play a 4-4-2 with two strikers upfront, a plan which worked to perfection as both the strikers scored early in each half.

Taremi’s brilliant scoring run, a first for Iranian professional footballer in Europe, started with a goal against Sporting Braga in two home and away consecutive cup matches, Boavista in the league and Juventus in the European Champions League.

Mehdi Taremi (28 years) has scored 9 goals for Porto this season scoring an average of a goal in every 121 minutes.

Sardar Azmoun, Taremi’s partner in Team Melli who is also enjoying a brilliant season with the Russian club Zenit St. Petersburg has scored 11 goals for his club this season averaging a goal in every 92 minutes.

Team Melli’s third striker Karim Ansarifard who plays in the Greek League with AEK Athens, has scored 8 goals in the season averaging one goal in 155 minutes of play.

19/05/2018

Morocco announces FIFA World Cup 2018 squad

Morocco coach Herve Renard announced a provisional list of 23 players and three reserves that will make up the North African team, who return to the World Cup for the first time since 1998.

The team will begin their preparation in Rabat on 24 May before taking part in three warm-up matches, prior to the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™.

Renard’s Atlas Lions will play Ukraine on 31 May and Slovakia on 4 June (both games in Geneva, Switzerland) before taking on Estonia in Tallinn on 9 June.

Morocco’s match schedule at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

All squads are provisional until the final list of 23 players is announced by FIFA, following their submission by participating teams, on 4 June.

Morocco provisional squad

Goalkeepers: Mounir El Kajoui (Numancia, Spain), Yassine Bounou (Girona, Spain), Ahmad Reda Tagnaouti (Ittihad Tanger);

Defenders: Mehdi Benatia (Juventus, Italy), Romain Saiss (Wolverhampton Wanderers, England), Manuel Da Costa (Basaksehir, Turkey), Badr Benoun (Raja Casablanca), Nabil Dirar (Fenerbahce, Turkey), Achraf Hakimi (Real Madrid, Spain), Hamza Mendyl (Lille, France);

Midfielders: M’bark Boussoufa (Al Jazira, UAE), Karim El Ahmadi (Feyenoord, Netherlands), Youssef Ait Bennasser (Caen, France), Sofyan Amrabat (Feyenoord, Netherlands), Younes Belhanda (Galatasaray, Turkey), Faycal Fajr (Getafe, Spain), Amine Harit (Schalke, Germany);

Forwards: Khalid Boutaib (Malatyaspor, Turkey), Aziz Bouhaddouz (St. Pauli, Germany), Ayoub El Kaabi (Renaissance Berkane), Nordin Amrabat (Leganes, Spain), Mehdi Carcela (Standard de Liege, Belgium), Hakim Ziyech (Ajax, Netherlands)

25/03/201525/03/2015

Team Melli , one last chance to excel under Queiroz.

[row]
[column size=”1/2″]

The Iran’s vs. Chile friendly match in St. Polten, Austria on Thursday , is overshadowed by the resignation of Carlos Queiroz on the eve of Nowrooz , the Iranian New Year.

The match has lost a major part of its significance as a new coach will most likely deploy different team game plan , different strategy and for sure , he will have his own sets of players in mind after a period of familiarization with Team Melli and Iranian football in general. Assuming of course that the next coach will likely be a foreign one.

No surprises !

As far as the match goes, there is not going to be many surprises in the game plan and line up unless Queiroz, for the only time, changes his mind-set and decides to give the offensive game plan a go against powerful opposition. Otherwise, it will be the usual tight at the back and counter at the front for Team Melli. There are no new players to look forward to except for the gifted young striker Masoud Hassanzadeh of Zob Ahan, who might be given his debut.

Defensive prowess

The lineup for this match will be quite close to the Asian Cup matches except that Queiroz managed to get his two injured defenders back. Pejman Montazeri and Hashim Beikzadeh were on the injury list and did not make the 2015 AFC Asian Cup. Queiroz had to significantly change the defense as he was short of options. Whether Montazeri and Beikzadeh will claim their posts back is an interesting question as their replacements, Morteza Pouraliganji in the heart of defense and Vouriya Ghafoori in the left back position, did a marvelous job in the competition and both performed to the admiration of the critics and observers.

Midfield Woes

The middle of the field is where Iran is lacking and will continue so with the aging players, lack of creativity, lack of pace and dearth of offensive capabilities hurting the team. Nekouman , Teymourian and Shojaei are on steady decline and despite their significant efforts during the Asian Cup , they were found wanting as they were no match for younger, energetic and more creative opposition players. UAE and Iraq matches, highlighted the weakness of Iran midfield. Ashkan Dejagah remains the main midfielder who can make a difference.

Up front , there is a very healthy competition developing between the established forward Reza Ghoochannejad who has a terrific scoring record with Team Melli and up and coming star , Sardar Azmoun.

[/column]
[column size=”1/2″]

Although Azmoun and Alireza Jahanbakhsh will be absent from the team due to commitment of Omid Team in Tehran, which lead to Queiroz wrath and subsequent resignation , the addition of Masoud Ahmadzadeh is another shot in the arm for Team Melli offensive capabilities. On a perturbing note, Karim Ansarifard has lost much of his sparkle and abilities since moving to Spain to join Osasuna. His inclusion in the team as a striker without scoring a single goal in the season and not even providing a single assist, is one of those Queiroz special mysteries !.

Goalkeeping Calamities

Goalkeeping will remain the biggest of Iran’s worries for the forcible future, unless the new coach changes the keepers altogether. Haghighi is still the number one choice of Queiroz however; it is unlikely that he will remain so for long. The selection of calamity Sousha Makani is yet another of Queiroz mysterious rational that defies logic. Makani has been consistently unreliable for Persepolis

The star performers

The Chilean team, La Roja , is one of the contenders for Copa America. Head coach Jorge Sampaoli is expected to field his strongest line up including the Chilean household names of Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal), Arturo Vidal (Juventus), Claudio Bravo (Barcelona) and Gary Medel (Inter Milan) for the two games series against Iran and then Brazil in Emirates Stadium in London. . Because most Chile player play abroad, the chances of the team training together on regular basis is small hence these FIFA days represent the most important times for the coaches to impliment their game plans.

Players’ Fatigue

Sampaoli is quite lucky that he has no major injury except for Johnny Herrera (Universidad de Chile) custodian who dislocated his shoulder during the victory over Palestino in the league match at home and did not make the trip, However , in Claudio Bravo (Barcelona)in goal , such absence is the least of his worries.

The European contingent join the squad after some heaving playing schedules. Sanchez and Vidal in particular had busy schedules with significant number of strong matches played in the League and the Champions League. Fatigue might be a factor for these two games for Chile. Sampaoli might think it is wise to conserve their energy and refrain from playing them the whole 90 minutes.

[/column]
[/row]

25/03/2015

Chile vs. Iran : Match review

By Michael Huguenin

www.goal.com

Mar 24, 2015 12:13:39 AM

Iran will face Chile on Thursday in its first game since its Asian Cup exit, with the South Americans looking ahead to Copa America.

Midfielder Arturo Vidal has reminded Chile it must “take advantage” of its friendlies against Iran and Brazil ahead of this year’s Copa America.

Chile faces Iran in Austria on Thursday before taking on Brazil in London on Sunday, and Vidal has underlined the importance of match practice for Jorge Sampaoli’s men before they host the Copa America in June and July.

Vidal and Co. has lost just one match since last year’s World Cup, going down 2-1 to Uruguay in November, but has won four times in seven friendlies.

In its most recent game, Chile came from behind twice to beat the United States 3-2 in January, and Vidal wants to see some improvement against Iran in St. Polten.

“It’s an important game for us, we have these two games before the Copa America and we must take advantage,” he said, according to Chilean newspaper La Nacion.

The 27-year-old also denied any issues with his fitness after he was subbed off in his most recent league match for Juventus on Sunday.

“I stepped on an opponent late in the game and left the field just in case, and I was also a little tired, but no problems or injury,” Vidal said.

Coach Sampaoli has named a strong squad for this week’s matches with the likes of Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal, Fiorentina’s Matias Fernandez, Inter’s Gary Medel and Claudio Bravo of Barcelona all involved.

The Chileans will face an underworked Iran side in Austria, with Carlos Queiroz’s side not having played since it was eliminated from the Asian Cup in January.

Queiroz has made just four changes from his Asian Cup squad for friendlies against Chile and Sweden, with goalkeeper Sosha Makani, defenders Pejman Montazeri and Hashem Beikzadeh, plus striker Masoud Hassanzadeh promoted.

Iran lost the game of the tournament to exit the Asian Cup, losing in a penalty shoot-out in a quarterfinal against rival Iraq after the match ended 3-3 through 120 minutes, with four goals scored in extra time.