Tag: Mohammadreza Khanzadeh

28/04/201528/04/2015

Khanzadeh suspended for 9 months!

FFIRI Disciplinary Committee (DC) has slapped Persepolis and Team Melli defender with a nine month suspension from all official football activities as a result of his altercation with a Persepolis fan in Doha after the clubs game against Lekhawiya in the AFC Champions League. Khanzadeh used extremely foul language, heavily swearing at the fan(s) who were protesting Persepolis weak performance and defeat. All efforts to calm the player by his embarrassed teammates were fruitless.

Earlier and before the issue of this ruling, Persepolis have decided to suspend the player temporarily pending the full report from the incident in Doha. Branko Ivankovic is reported to be appalled by Khanzadeh’s behavior.

Khanzadeh was one of the Team Melli squad players in the FIFA 2014 World Cup but did not play in any matches. He was also a member of the Olympic team in the Asian Games 2014 and his ugly attack on the Vietnamese player in the last minutes of the match lead to his dismissal and further suspension by the AFC.

Khanzadeh has a track record of insubordination with a pretty wicked disciplinary behavior.

Meanwhile , Sousha Makani, another notoriously undisciplined player was given a 3 matches suspended sentence by the Disciplinary Committee and 5 million Toman fine for his part in the incident. Mahomoud Khordbin will also have to answer to the committee for his failure to assume his role and responsibilities as the Team Manager. Khordbin was absent from the scene and did not act on hearing about the incident. On a bright note, Karim Bagheri , the assistant coach was commended for his role in ending the profanities mayhem.

This ruling by the FFIRI Disciplinary Committee (DC) is one of the strongest of its kind in such cases, however , it is a safe bet to assume that at some stage everything will be changed and all is forgotten due to someone’s intervention and advise.

07/01/2015

Beigzadeh out of Team Melli squad.

Hashim Beigzadeh , Team Melli defender was put on the injured list after he broke his wrist during training in Melbourne.

Beigzadeh will not be able to play for a few weeks hence the Team coaching cadre opted to recall a replacement in Persepolis’s Mohammadreza Khanzadeh who is in Tehran. Khanzadeh was informed on the news while he was in a training session with his team. He bid farewell to his teammates and left the training urgently to prepare himself for the flight to Sydney.

Team Melli will be playing its first match against Bahrain on the 11th of January.

Khanzadeh’s selection means that Persepolis will have at least 1 player in the squad , although the chances of him getting actual playing time is minimal. Interestingly enough , Khanzadeh faced the same situation in the World Cup being the spare player for the same Beigzadeh in Brazil. However , during the World Cup Beigzadeh recovered while Khanzadeh’s name was not included in the official 23 players list.

14/09/2014

Khanzadeh , severely criticized the living condition of the players in Incheon.

Team Melli U23 who are competing in the Men’s football of the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon , South Korea are accommodated in the worst possible hotel one can imagine.

Mohammadreza Khanzadeh claims that 7 players are accommodated in one room which has one bathroom. The hotel is more like someone’s house turned into a hotel, has no internet around the players accommodation and the food is sub-standard.

“I feel sorry for this federation that has no consideration for the players’ comfort and well-being. They wants us to win the gold medal yet they are not prepared to provide a minimum decent accommodation that is worthy of the players. Thanks God the training facilities is of a high standard which is completely opposite to the pathetic accommodation. ” Khanzadeh said in a short statement to ISNA

Iran U23 will start the competition with a game against Vietnam U23 on the 15th of September in Ansan Wa~ Stadium

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.

Nelo Vingada - U-23 Head Coach — Nelo Vingada – U-23 Head Coach

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!

19/08/201419/08/2014

Asian Games 2014 footballers list announced

Iranian football federation FFIRI has announced the name of 20 players for the upcoming Asian Games in Incheon. The squad will be coached by the Portuguese Nelo Vingada and shall start camp from Monday while players will be taking breaks to return to their clubs.

There are some prominent names missing from the list , including Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Sardar Azmoun, both of who are playing in European teams and their release seem to be too difficult for the federation to even attempt. However, Payam Sadeghian , suspended for three months, yet again misses a major tournament as he is excluded from the list.

Those missing , will be replaced by some young stars on the rise. Sepahan duo Mehdi Sharifi and Ali Karimi , head the list of names that have already impressed in the league with their clubs with Sharifi already opening his scoring this season against Esteghlal. Mohsen Mosalman, Mohammadreza Khanzadeh and Yaghoub Karimi all players of Team Melli will enhance the quality of the team , while Kaveh Rezaei is expected to shine again with his prolific scoring records in many Team Melli ages levels.

Although , 23 players are allowed to be named for major football tournaments, it is not clear why the federation has 3 less players. Their official website did not provide any explanation. This will of course mean that the door could open up for 3 additional players.

Iran , will be one of the contenders for the Asian Games 2014 football Gold Medal along with the favorites South Korea. While the team will be aiming for glory in Incheon , the priority by the federation remains to be the qualification to the Rio Olympics 2014 football tournament.

The squad has been quite active recently with practice matches in Jordan and Armenia. With the team having issues with clubs releasing players , so far the Portuguese coach has been unable to field the same line up for two consecutive matches. This period of training camp is expected to be much more stable and the majority of the players available for him to work with.

List of Asian Games 2014 squad players

Seq	Player Name	Club	Birth date	Post
1	Ali Karimi	Sepahan	11-Feb-94	FW
2	Arash Rezavand	Naft Tehran	5-Oct-93	MF
3	Ehsan Pahlavan	Gostarish Foolad	25-Jun-93
4	Farshid Esmaeili	Fajr Sepasi	23-Feb-94	MF
5	Hojat Sedghi	Mes Kerman	7-Feb-93	GK
6	Kaveh Rezaei	Saipa Alborz	5-Apr-92	FW
7	Mehdi Mehdipour	Rah Ahan	21-Mar-89
8	Mehdi Sharifi	Sepahan	16-Aug-92	FW
9	MohamadReza Akhbari	Saipa Alborz	15-Feb-93
10	MohamadReza Khanzadeh	Persepolis	20-Jan-92	DF
11	Mohammad Daneshgar	Fajr Sepasi	20-Jan-94	MF
12	Mohammad Naseri	Gostarish Foolad	18-Apr-93	GK
13	MohammadHossein Kanan Zadegan	Persepolis	23-Mar-94	DF
14	Mohsen Mosallman	Zob Ahan	27-Jan-91	MF
15	Morteza Pouraliganji	Naft Tehran	19-Apr-92	MF
16	Roozbeh Chashmi	Saba Qom	24-Jul-93	MF
17	Shahriyar Shirvand	Tractorsazi Tabriz	21-Mar-91	DF
18	Vahid Haidariya	Peykan	2-Jan-93	DF
19	Yaghoub Karimi	Esteghlal	31-Aug-91	MF
20	Yusuf Vakya	Foolad Khuzestan	30-Sep-91	DF