Tag: Mohsen Godarzi

Iran U-14 narrowly misses the final of AFC U14 championship

Hamedan: Iraq will meet DPR Korea in the final of the AFC U-14 Championship after a brace from captain Mohammed Ridha sealed a thrilling 3-2 win over hosts Iran in the Monday’s second semi-finals.

 The come-from-behind win was Iraq’s third win in the championship as only Tajikistan have denied them so far in the competition.

Besides Ridha’s two stunners, tournament’s leading scorer Mohanad Kadhim also added one to make his total tally four goals in four matches.

Iran looked promising in the beginning and soon in the 9th minute, captain Zabihollah Kohkan headed home Iran’s first of the match.

Midfielder Mohsen Godarzi set Kohkan up from the right and his captain connected a bullet header from point-blank range to secure an early lead.

The lead lasted only for three minutes after Kadhim struck his fourth of the championship with a simple tap-in. A fierce shot from Vahid Namdari deflected at the path of unmarked Kadhim who just had to guide the ball towards its destination for a precious equaliser.

Ridha scored a brace in the second-half and both the goals were identical. The dead-ball specialist young boy struck rightfooter from 20-yard area at the top corner of the net in the 33rd and 40th minutes when Iran defenders brought down Kadhim (on both occasions) forcing Iran coach Heidar Sharifi to change his goalkeeper Mohammadreza Goli.

“He has a God-gifted talent from that area,” Iraq coach Sadd Hashim praised the double-scorer after the match.

“In training here, he has already scored 20-30 times from there so we knew that a freekick around the penalty area could be a good opportunity for us to score,”

“We knew that we have to convert our opportunities and despite going down by a goal we kept our head cool and manage to win this important match.

“We are now inches closer but still need to work a lot to get the objectives,” added the Iraq coach.

Iran reduced the deficit but in the stoppage time through defender Taha Shariati who was given licence by the coach to play upfront after they were trailing by 3-1 with few minutes left.

Shariati served the purpose but there were hardly any times left after his goal.

“We tried our best but yes few mistakes at the back cost us the match,” coach Heidar Sharifi said.

“There were two main objectives for Iran team; one is to gain experiences of playing in the international competition and help grow these young kids as footballer and the other one is to win the championship.

“We got the first one but not the second. It does not matter, the main thing is to play good football, enjoy the football you play which you saw today at the pitch,” Sharifi added addressing the journalists.

DPR Korea defeated neighbours Korea Republic 3-1 in the penalty shootout earlier on the day to set up Wednesday’s final showdown against Iraq.

Iran qualifies for the semi-finals of AFC U-14 Championship.

Hamedan:

Mohsen Godarzi scored a cracking decisive in the 40th minute as Iran edged Saudi Arabia 1-0 to enter into the semi-final of the AFC U-14 Championship as Group A runners-up.

 The Saudi players gave a good fight to the hosts and after Timor-Leste scored an equaliser elsewhere at the Mofateh Stadium against DPR Korea, Iran had to suffer an anxious ending of the match.

The failure of Timor-Leste to win combined with Saudi’s inefficiency in front of Iran goal ensured that the hosts progress as group runners-up and wait for the opponents from Group B as their potential foe for the semi-final. Both the matches of Group B will be played on Saturday.

Compared to previous matches, Saudi were much better on Friday as they came close twice early in the match including a chip from midfielder Aldhuwayhi Abdulaziz which rattled the cross bar.

Iran’s midfielder Mohammad Sharifi also struck the side bar just before the half time.

As both the sides were playing entertaining football, Godrazi’s individual brilliance separated the sides after he connected a powerful leftfooter from the edge. He dribbled past two Saudi defenders before unleashing the shot which left Saudi goalie Alshamrani Anas Ibrahim clueless.

“Iran against Saudi match is always an important match and today was no different,” Iran coach Heidar Sharifi said after the match.

“We (Iran and Saudi Arabia) are considered as traditional powerhouse of Asian football and we respect each other very much.

“We knew that it was not going to be easy task against a Saudi side who are under the vigil of a master tactician Omar (Abdulla).

“But we were also determined to win and the credit goes to all the players and technical staff for this great win.

“I don’t have any preference on my semi-final opponent, whoever is our opponent we will play to win,” he added.

His counterpart Abdulla was also magnanimous in defeat.

“The good sign is that we continue to improve and that is what my objectives were in the tournament,” said the Saudi coach.

“These players are still very young and have a lot of football ahead of them so this tournament was a good learning experience for them.

“They will be much better in next AFC U-16 Championship in 2016.

Iran off to a flyer at AFC U-14 Championship

the-afc.com

Published: 04 August 2014

Hamedan: Hosts Iran began their AFC U-14 Championship campaign with a 4-1 win over Timor Leste in the tournament’s opening match at the Hajibabaei Stadium on Monday.

Four different players were on the scoresheet for the hosts who will now face DPR Korea on Wednesday.

“I am very happy with the way we started the campaign but the score today was a little inflated,” declared Iran coach Heidar Sharifi.

“They (Timor Leste) were speedy and were very technical, had they come to Hamedan earlier and been properly acclimatised the story would have been different.”

Zabhiollah Kohkan opened the scoring for Iran in the 22nd minute, converting Mohammed Reza’s excellent cross.

Two minutes later. Vahid Namdari headed home a Reza corner to double the lead.

Leading 2-0 at the break, Iran went on to score two more goals in the second half to seal a comfortable win.

A sublime dummy by defender Amirhossein Esmaeilzadeh left Mohsen Godarzi unmarked, the playmaker firing home past East Timor goalkeeper Frangenio Da Cruz to stretch Iran’s lead even further.

Mohammed Zolfaghari duly bagged the host nation’s fourth, before Kornelis Nahak netted a consolation goal for Timor Leste in stoppage time courtesy of a penalty.

“I am happy with the way we fought against a physical Iranian side,” Timor Leste’s Korea Republic coach Kim Shinhwan told reporters.

“We had to travel a long way from Timor and we were not at our best physically. I hope to fix today’s problems in the next two matches and qualify for the semi-finals,” he added.

Timor Leste will face Saudi Arabia in another early kick-off on Wednesday.

 

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COMMENT

The one interesting episode of this match between Iran and Timor Leste in Hamadan was the insistence of some female relatives of the players to attend the match despite the long standing official ban.

Iran is one of the very few peculiar countries in the world that does not allow woman into sport stadiums. The ban was introduced after the Islamic revolution on the pretext of protecting the females against evil and immoralities while maintaining the Islamic values. Mixing of men and woman in close proximity to each other is considered one of the greater sins. According to the clerical hierarchy perspectives in Iran, only the filthy scrooges who seem to flock to the stadiums to watch football, not the decent folks who should spend his leisure time worshipping! The clerics do not think that females have enough mental agility to think for themselves or have enough sense to figure out where and when the stadiums are not favorable, so the clerics do the thinking and ban them all together, for their own good!

That is the official version of the ban not our views, in case you wondered. 

On this occasions though, some brave acts and strong personality Persians mothers, the type that Iran is renowned for, insisted and demanded that they are to be allowed to watch their sons. Despite the security guards attempts to prevent the group of females from entering, with the help and support of other male fans , the female relatives of these young boys defied the rules and forced themselves inside the stadium. The Mothers took their rightful place , sat and watched their sons play football like any true and loving mother or sister would do in a civilized society.

Another victory for the Persian Mothers. Bless them.