Tag: Mehdi Sharifi

01/08/2015

The beginning of league season, joy and gloom.

The 15^th Season of Iran Pro football, the Persian Gulf League started with all its usual actions, fanfare, claims and counter claims by coaches, who never seem to tire from their blame culture. It was a bright start for Esteghlal , Sepahan , and Malavan all registering their first wins. The big game of the week between Tractorsazi and Naft Tehran which was so controversial at the final game of last season when Tractorsazi players and fans went into a wild celebration after the final whistle thinking they won the league, was much more quieter and mundane this time. The goalless draw was a drab affair but at least no one fooled Tractorsazi players this time.

Persepolis, with a young team and a highly confident Branko Ivankocvic who is claiming his team is challenging for the championship title and nothing less, could do no better than draw at home against Padideh. The highlight of that game was a wonder equalizing strike by Hadi Nouroozi. Rah Ahan , were minutes away from winning away to Foolad Khuzestan after they lead 2-0 but two quick goals near the end ensured the teams share the spoils. Rah Ahan remained in the top league after the ruling from the appeal committee of FFIRI against their relegation for fielding unregistered player.

Malavan Anzali, a team that is unfairly taking advantage of some peculiar ruling in Iran that allows it to snatch young players during their military service, defeated last season’s Cup winners Zob Ahan 1-0, the goal scored by Arash Afshin , one of the players who does not belong to Malavan but the Bandar Anzali team can get his service for free because it is categorized as a Military team!

As customary for coaches here, Zob Ahan’s Yahya Golmohammadi blamed elements behind the scene for his team’s defeat!

As far as Team Melli players were concerned, there was some good form displayed by various players. Sajjad Shahbazzadeh , Esteghlal’s forward who was selected for Team Melli but never made any squad, scored two goals for his team away to Siah Jamegan. Mehdi Sharifi , continued where he left off last season when he scored the winner against Esteghlal Khuzestan from an inch perfect cross by another Team Melli player, Ehsan Haj Safi.

Sajjad Shabazadeh- Potential Team Melli candidate

Amongst all the actions, the 2015/16 season was not a happy ground for a number of current and former Team Melli players. Amongst the top players sadly missing in action were, Karim Ansarifard, and Ahmad Ale Nemeh. Both part of the FIFA World Cup squad in Brazil, the two players could not find a team. Ansarifard who had a torrid season with Osasuna and was sadly released at the end, insists that he wants to play in Europe and looking for a team in the better league of western Europe.

Other recent and former Team Melli players who were not wanted by any team at the start of the season are:

Javad Kazemian, Mehrdad Ouladi , Siavush Akbarpour , Seyed Mohammed Seyed Salehi , Farshid Talebi , Ahmad Jamshidian , Milad Zeneidpour, and Mohsen Bayati.

The listed players are all out of contract and looking for teams.

10/07/2015

Team Melli players transfer market 2015/16.

The transfer window has opened in most of the leagues round the world and our focus , as usual has been the Team Melli players past and present.

It is safe to say that the movement of the Team Melli players was not exactly an earth shattering activity. Domestically, there has been very few transfers to talk about with most of the Team Melli players renewing their contracts with their current clubs.

In essence, Team Melli players fall in three categories, The Young promising including rising stars, the established players, the twilight zone players.

Young prospects: Most clubs hunt for bargains while pursuing young players. Iran is a big country and find the right talent in the right place is not something that can be considered a routine or easy task. Competition amongst the clubs can be become rough and messy at times each side pulling all the tricks up their sleeves. Players also take full advantage when faced with situation where there are multiple suitors. It is not uncommon to hear that a player has signed for two clubs or more in Iran!

The favorite destination of most of the young players is Esteghlal or Persepolis. The popularity of these two teams and the bi-partisan nature of football in Iran, puts these two teams at an unfair advantage. The two most popular clubs in Iran contribute very little if any in developing or producing young players themselves. However, they are at a vantage point when players, particularly young ones, come to them and consider it an honor to don the jerseys of the big two clubs.

However , now that Persepolis and Esteghlal have been facing dire cash shortage and are technically bankrupt , the attraction of these two teams is dwindling. Young aspiring players are more careful and vigilant although the appeal of these two names is still there.

Unfortunately, this season the number of players in this category is not too pleasing. Most would be staying put in their club like Mehdi Sharifi and Ali Karimi of Sepahan and Mehdi Torabi of Saipa. Ramin Rezaeian is the only one who has joined Persepolis from Rah Ahan , otherwise the lack of promising players is becoming of some concern amongst the coaches and experts.

Established players: most of the Team Melli players in this category have opted to stay with their clubs despite some of the clubs not honoring timely wage payments. The odd ones who made the change include the Captain Ando Teymourian (Tractosazi to Umm Salal (QAT)) , Pejman Montazeri (Umm Salal (QAT) to Al Ahli (QAT)) , Daniel Davari (Grasshoppers to Arminia Bielefeld) , Mohammad Nouri (Persepolis to Al Mesaimer (QAT).

This category is also lacks exciting transfers or prospects of major changes.

The Twilight zone : Unfortunately , a number of current Team Melli squad fall in this category including Teymourian (32 years) whom we gave the benefit of the doubt as he is the Captain of the team. Jalal Hosseini (33 years), the Solid and always present central defender , did not renew his contract with Al Ahali of Qatar but surprisingly he was rejected by his first choice and favorite destination , Persepolis. Eventually he was recruited by Naft Tehran, but there were not many suitors chasing him either.

Masoud Shojaei (31 years), the perennial ever-present midfielder who has been struggling for many seasons with clubs of lower divisions, once again flopped but this time in Qatar not Spain. His team Al Shahaniya was relegated last season and as expected the Qatari’s found him to be a surplus to their requirement this coming season. Shojaei is currently negotiating with Persepolis. It is rumored that he will accept a huge pay cut in order to join the reds with no sign on fees demanded by the player.

So, it looks like 2015/2016 season will start with relative calm in the Team Melli squad, which could be a hidden advantage for Carlos Queiroz if not for the fans or the transfer market.

There are tough roads ahead. Guam , Oman and India will be ready to challenge Iran in the qualifying rounds of the FIFA World Cup 2018. As Team Melli players found out against Turkmenistan , it is not a forgone conclusion to win against such oppositions. Guam , in particular has made a tremendous progress and will be testing Iran, while Oman will always remain a tough nut to crack for Team Melli.

Minimum disturbance of the players may be just what the doctored ordered for Team Melli squad.

21/12/2014

Second win for Team Melli against Pirates reserves

Team Melli defeated Orlando Pirates’ reserves 3-1 in a friendly in Johannesburg, South Africa on Friday.

The Sepahan contingent managed to score all the goals of Team Melli in the match. Ehsan Hajsafi was on target twice in the 47th and 70th minutes helping himself to a brace while Mehdi Sharifi scored in the 61st minute.

Orlando Pirates pulled a goal back in the 75th minute. A group of about 30 Iranians mostly families residing in Johannesburg attended the match to cheer for Iran.

Team Melli was held 3-3 against the South African football club in April as part of the preparations for the 2014 World Cup.

Iran had defeated Kaizer Chiefs reserves 2-0 on Wednesday.

The Asian Cup will kick off in Australia on January 9, with Iran playing Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE in Group C.

Team Melli is scheduled to play against Palestine on December 28 in Tehran before departing to Australia. Team Melli will meet Iraq in another friendly in Australia six days before their opening match against Bahrain.

18/09/201418/09/2014

Another humiliation: Iran U23 on the brink of elimination from Asian Games

Iran U23 team once again disillusioned the fans and failed to win against modest Kyrgyzstan. The match in Group H of the Asian Games Incheon 2014 ended 1-1. Iran has 1 point from two games, Vietnam leading the group with 3 points after defeating Iran 4-1.

In today’s match , which Iran needed to win handsomely to increase its chances of qualifying , the team played like a group of misfits which was assembled in haste. The team was not able to mount any real threat against inferior opposition on paper and ranking let alone pedigree and history.

The match started quite well for Iran U23 . The first 10 minutes was completely dominated by Iran Olympic Team. The ball hardly crossed the half line into Iran side, however, Mosalman lovely strike from just inside the box was the only real threat of this period. That shot was parried by the Kyrgyz keeper. The remaining period was full of Iranian huff and puff but there was hardly any serious threat on Kyrgyzstan keeper. Most of the offensive moves by Iran was at best , quite toothless. With the match progressing , it did not take long for the coaches of Kyrgyzstan to realize how to defend well and mount counter attacks.

The first half ended 0-0.

In the second half, much of the first half scenario was repeating itself with the exception that Kyrgyzstan was getting bolder in attack and starting to threaten Iran’s goal . They could have stunned everyone when the Kyrgyz forward was one on one but failed to finish.

Iranian offensive moves were mainly some shy attempts by Kaveh Rezaei whose shots were more like practice for the Kyrgyzstan keeper. The other poster boy, Mehdi Sharifi was incognito.!

With the match approaching the last 10 minutes and Iran desperate for a goal, a corner was given which Mohsen Mosalman masterfully took and delivered on the top of Pouraliganji’s head. The tall midfielder headed to the far corner of the net and scored triggering an ecstatic Iranian celebration and deep sigh of relief on the bench. Pouraliganji’s goal came in the 77^th minute.

Two minutes from the end , Kyrgyzstan struck and struck well. A long cross from a foul from the left found a Kyrgyzstan player with ample time to control the ball and head towards the goal. Despite the presence of 3 markers, the ball passed the goal line to register the equalizer for Kyrgyzstan. It was a deserving goal for this modest team, but well-organized and hardworking.

Iran’s football is on the brink of a real humiliation. The Continents most celebrated country in Asian Games football is virtually out of the tournament, unless you believe in miracle s and Saints rising to help this toothless team with clueless coaching staff.

Never in the history of Asian Games football, Iran faced such a degradation, but under the administration of Ali Kaffashian , such fiascoes and bitter defeats should not be too shocking. It is certainly not too shocking for Kaffashian as he thought of Vietnam as a strong team and was perhaps was at loss at what all this fuss is about, we only lost 4-1 to Vietnam!

And now…….let the excuses begin….

15/09/2014

Iran is given a lesson in football by Vietnam.

Iran’s U-23 team was humiliated by its Vietnamese counterpart in the opening group game of the 17th Asian games Incheon.

Vietnam defeated Iran 4-1 , the first half ended 2-0.

From the onset of the match , it was apparent that this team is a group of individual players who lacked teamwork was assembled for these Asian games. The team lacked cohesion and sometimes even the ABC of basic football.

It was not much of a shock when Vietnam took the lead early in the match, but the expectation was that Iran with so many quality names can quickly return into the game. That was not to be, because the Vietnamese stunned everyone by scoring the second in the 28^th minute.

Both the Vietnamese goals scored in similar style, the first one was a diagonal ball sent from the winger after he skillfully dribbled the left back. While the ball was sent into the box , there was only one defender in the box and two Vietnamese players. The second player, the furthest, slammed the ball into the net with keeper Sadeghi ball watching

The second goal a few minutes later was again from Iran’s left , but this time the Vietnamese player dribbled 3 Iranian defenders with embarrassing ease before he slotted from an angle passed Sadeghi.

The Japanese’s coach observed the weakness of Iran’s left side and directed most of the offenses on the right flank of his team.

Vingada realized , perhaps a bit late , that his team is suffering and introduced Yaghoub Karimi instead of Ali Karimi,

Yaghoub Karimi turned out to be the best player of the team despite his late introduction.

The half ended 2-0 , however Iran really bounced back in the second half with a series of offensive moves but really awful finishing.

53′ Kaveh Rezaei wastes another golden opportunity when he receives the ball from right, dribbles past the keeper but could not control the ball int0 the empty net.

54′ Mehdi Sharifi dribbles past his last marker , had only the keeper in front of him to beat from just inside the penalty box , but he shoots skywards!

55′ Mehdi Sharifi has forgotten his shooting boot, his final touch after some brilliant work on the right flank by Yaghoub Karimi was comical , to say the least. He completely miskicked the ball!

Iran could have easily been 4-2 ahead by minute 57

64′ a beautiful quality through pass from Mohsen Moslaman to Sharifi , was met by a wild tackle by the on rushing Vietnam keeper denying Sharifi a scoring chance. A classic red card offense. The referee called a Penalty for Iran but awarded the keeper a yellow card instead of red

65 Mosalman scores.

While Iran was on a good run despite missing so many scoring chances, Vietnam once again stunned the Iranians with the 3^rd goal scored on the 69th minute.

Mojammedreza Khanzadeh , who was in the World Cup squad was quite poor in the central defense.

73′ Kaveh Rezaei bests the Viet goalkeeper but his shot is deflected out hitting the lower post. Even luck has abandoned Iran.

81′ Iran goalkeeper Sadeghi handles a back pass a few meters from his goal. A very strange act and a disastrous basic mistake, The ensuing free kick is scored by Vietnam again with quite poor Iranian defense! .

As to put the icing on the kick , Iran not only lost the match result but the sportsmanship as well. A visibilyy frustrated Mojammedreza Khanzadeh was shown the second yellow card after a foul on Vietnam keeper , shoves a Vitneamese player in the face in what looks like an unsportmanship behavior, and plunges him on the ground. Khanzadeh should expect a severe punishment and that might be his un ceremonial farewell to the Asian Games.

Players like him. Who cannot control their temper after a bitter loss, should never represent Iran at any level. Their action affects the whole team.

Khanzadeh not only was poor as a player , he lost his manner and composure and will face a long suspension from AFC.

It was a bitter end for a sorry team. Even if the team recovers in the final group match , it will take a major work to make it tick for the rest of the competition.

26/08/2014

Development of a new mentality in Iran’s football planning.

Nelo Vingada, the Portuguese coach has been hard at work preparing the team for the Asian Games 2014 which for Iran will start on the 15^th September with an opening match against Vietnam.

The team’s preparation has been going well under the circumstances and the usual difficulties, however, the marked difference in the preparation this time is the tendency for the team to be mostly the U21 footballers. This policy has developed within the corridor of power of FFIRI based on the ultimate goals of Iran achieving qualification for the Olympic Games. However, when the final list of the squad for Incheon games was announced, almost a third of the players will not be eligible to participate in the 2016 Olympic Games from qualification stages.

That raised a few questions about how the federation is proceeding with this team considering the earlier plans for the 2016 Olympics and if there was a change of heart triggered by the recent events and the result of the friendly matches played by the team, which to the best of descriptions, were quite modest.

Iran has always been a contender for Asian Games medals. Historically and statically, Iran has been the most successful football team in Asian Games History with 4 Gold medals, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze followed closely by their nemesis South Korea. Incidentally both teams have met each other in the Bronze match play-off in the last two Asian Games and the honors were even.

Unlike their mentality towards marginalizing the Asian Cup, the Asian Games football tournament, is a different proposition all together. Iran’s patriciaption in the Asian Games and the Olympics falls under the responsibilities of the National Olympics Committee (NOC). All federations must strictly follow the NOC guidelines and send athletes whose records indicate that they can compete for one of the medals of the sports they are participating in. Therefore , Iran football team must abide by this charter and filed their strongest team.

With that in mind, 7 quality players who have been making their names in top level of Iran’s league have been added to the list to strengthen the squad. Kaveh Rezaei , Morteza Pouraliganji , Mohammadreza Khanzadeh, Shahriyar Shirvand , Mohsen Mosalman , Mehdi Sharifi, and Yaghoub Karimi are the top guns.

To explain this turnaround, a FFIRI spokesman confirmed that FFIR has been instructed by Iran’s Olympic Committee to field the best and full strength team for the Asian Games. “The NOC made it clear for us that Asian Games is no place for trials. Only the best must are allowed to compete and represent the country. If sending the best athletes or Teams are not possible, then there will be no participation..” This firm policy of Iran’s NOC has seen some individual Iranian world class athletes lose their place due to loss of form or lack of practice hence possibilities of defeat.

So, it seems that this mentality of FFIRI , which is planning for 4 years ahead competitions like the next World Cup and the next Olympic games is being followed unabated. It is only the IOC that has stepped its authority and threatened to kick Team Melli U23 out if it cannot compete for one of the medals. FFIRI futuristic plans, incidentally, has no mention of competing for championships titles in it. Just qualifying for the World Cup or Olympic Games!

Suddenly, a top level continental and elite competition like the Asian Cup, has no place in FFIRI agenda! To add to the complexity of this twisted mentality , Iran is actually a leading candidate to host the 2019 Asian Cup!

02/08/201402/08/2014

38 years wait for football to qualifying for the Olympic Games. Will it happen this time?

When the Colombian referee, Guilermo Velasquez whistled for the end of the match in the Municipal Stadium , Sherbrouke , on 25^th of July 1976, he put to an end what would have been a true shock to the world football system. Iran was playing against the mighty Soviet Union with its full force of senior players, in the quarter finals of the Olympic games. Iran was one goal from reaching the semifinals and perhaps the gold medal match, but for that Colombian whistle. The Soviets where comfortably leading 2-0 until the 80^th minute when a penalty was called for Iran. Ghleechkhani converted to make it 2-1. Following that goal, Team Melli went for an all-out assault. Heshmat Mohajerani urged his men to venture forward and attack, the Iranian players responded well while the Soviets were of the defensive. The equalizer seemed to be coming any minute and with it , the extra time. But , it was not meant to be as the gallant Persian warriors ran out of time. So near and yet so far.

2-1 for the Soviet Union. Iran lost the match but gained immense respect from the football community , after all losing to players in the class of the European player of the year Oleg Blokhin , was no disgrace. Middle East , was an emerging football region and Iran was proudly leading the way. But who would have predicted that it will take Iran 9 Olympic tournament and 38 years (40 years by the time the games start in Rio) to qualify once again for the football tournament ? assuming Iran will do it this time.

Olympic Games football changed quite a lot. FIFA and IOC decision to restrict the teams to U-23 players , opened the door for the emerging football nation to compete for glory , and compete they did , Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon , South Korea and Mexico all had won medals and titles in the Olympic games since the rule changes. In all of that, Iran’s name was conspicuously absent. Iran’s football was truly missing since that Canadian summer evening in July 1976.

The reason for Iranian failures at this level of football is so plentiful and diverse; it needs a whole book to give it the necessary justification. Suffice to state the obvious and that is the Iranian football community, in general, does not grant this age level and younger players the respect, recognition, care and the attention it needs to qualify at the highest level of World Football. In fact, it is even struggling at continental level at present.

In comes one Nelo Vingada. A compatriot and a close friend of Team Melli head coach, Carlos Queiroz to save the day for the Iranians and for the first time in 40 years , give Iranian fans the one thing they truly missed for decades . A smile and a wave by Iranian footballers in the opening ceremony of an Olympic games. Iran had plenty of success in Wrestling, Weightlifting and Martial arts, but football is not normally considered as an award or title wining sport of the country.

Vingada is quite gifted at this level of football with a track record that could be the envy of many coaches. On his trophy chest, there is two FIFA U-20 World Youth championship won for his country as an assistant beside no one other than Queiroz himself. Vingada went on to coach Portugal U20 as head coach , Saudi Arabia, Egypt U20 and Jordan amongst the many sides he coached and managed.

Now it is the turn of Iran’s Olympic team to get the benefit of the Portuguese coaching experience and success. Vingada, along with his Iranian assistant Human Afazeli , have been working hard for a few months now on preparing the U23 for their first real test , the Asian Games in Incheon. The signs are mixed so far but it has not been a smooth paved surface.

There have been many absentees form the original list of players announced by the coaching team due to the players club commitments. The likes of Payam Sadeghian , Mohsen Mosalman , Mehdi Sharifi , Alireza Jahanbakhsh , Sardar Azmoun and quite a few others , who are established players with their clubs now be it in Iran or abroad. Clubs will not release such players for the Olympic squad so easily while they are beginning the new season.

There is no prefect scenario for Vingada, who at the end of the day, has to work with whatever resources that are available to him. But then again, Iran is definitely not the only nation that faces such a dilemma. Others worked out some kind of a system to ensure the parallel availability of the players for their clubs and Olympic team. The onus is on the Iranian football federation to produce an appropriate program that can be helpful for the Olympics squad.

The track records, unfortunately, indicates that the federation has been pathetic at programing and management at Olympics football level. Suffice to mention that the last effort for the London Olympics 2012 ended in true humiliation and a whole set of red faces after Iran U-23 were declared loser against Iraq for fielding an ineligible player who had two yellow cards and was suspended,

Needless to say that everyone did the usual finger pointing but no investigation to find where the fault was, no gap analysis, no accountability, no one was really identified as the culprit and life went on merrily at the FFIRI as it usually does under the all smiling Kaffashian!

To expect a major improvement in programming, support and the mentality to back the U23 system in general , is perhaps asking too much. There might be a slight improvement in some areas, and we hope that a man is assigned with a pencil and paper to record the number of players’ yellow cards, but Vingada should not count on a whole-hearted 100% backing for his work. The usual difficulties will still prevail. If Vingada has strong aspiration, he has to do many things on his own.