Tag: Omid Nourafkan

TEAM MELLI TROUNCES QATAR TO GO TOP OF GROUP ‘A’

Iran’s Team Melli Triumphs 4-1 Over Qatar in World Cup 2026 Qualifier

Team Melli soared to the top of Group A in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round 3 qualifiers after a commanding 4-1 victory over Qatar on Tuesday. The win was powered by braces from Sardar Azmoun and Mohammad Mohebbi.

The match began with an early scare for Iran when, in the 17th minute, Almoez Ali broke free from his marker, Ali Nemati, and fired a shot into the roof of Alireza Beiranvand’s goal to put Qatar ahead. Iran responded late in the first half with Azmoun’s powerful header, which left the Qatari goalkeeper rooted to the spot. Omid Nourafkan delivered a precise cross from the left, and Azmoun’s clinical finish drew Iran level. Before that equalizer, Azmoun came close by rattling the crossbar, marking Iran’s best chance in the first half. Despite this, the opening 45 minutes ended in a 1-1 stalemate, with neither side fully controlling the game.

In the second half, Iran took command with fluid passing and excellent ball distribution, creating multiple chances and dictating the pace against the reigning AFC Asian Cup champions. Just three minutes into the half, Qatar’s goalkeeper Meshaal Bersham collided with his own defender while attempting to clear the ball, gifting Azmoun an easy opportunity to tap home his second goal and put Iran ahead.

In the 66th minute, Mohammad Mohebbi further deflated Qatar’s hopes with Iran’s third goal. A well-placed through ball found Azmoun just inside the Qatari half, and his blistering run into the box ended with a perfectly timed pass to the onrushing Mohebbi, who slotted the ball into an open net.

Mohebbi sealed the victory late in stoppage time with a second goal, heading home from Nourafkan’s corner to make it 4-1. The win lifted Iran to the top of the group, surpassing Uzbekistan on goal difference.

This was a crucial and comprehensive win for coach Amir Ghalenoei, who had been facing criticism and pressure to shake up the lineup amid injuries, suspensions and dips in form. Despite a few key absences, the coach fielded a balanced and powerful lineup. Mohammad Karimi, Nourafkan, and Nemati, despite Nemati’s early lapse that led to Qatar’s opener, performed well in their roles as replacements, proving Ghalenoei’s tactics effective on the day.

Iran and Uzbekistan Play to a Goalless Draw in Azadi Stadium

In a lackluster match at Azadi Stadium, Iran and Uzbekistan settled for a goalless draw on Tuesday evening at Azadi Stadium. Despite both teams securing qualification, their lack of urgency was evident throughout the final game of Group E of the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers.

  • Player Attitude:
    • Iranian players seemed content with a draw, displaying little energy or drive to excel.
    • The forwards often fell into the offside trap, allowing Uzbekistan to maintain defensive comfort.
    • Uzbekistan, as promised by their coach Katanec, attacked with organized moves but lacked clinical finishing.
    • Saleh Hardani was probably the Most Valuable Player with his fine work in the first half.
    • Azmoun was hardly been awarded any meaningful ball and surrounded by two and sometimes three markers, he was easily neutralized by the Uzbek.
  • Key Moments:
    • Taremi came closest to scoring when he rattled the Uzbek upright. The move originated deep within Team Melli’s defense zone.
    • Azmoun’s deflection set up Jahanbakhsh, who delivered a sublime ball to Taremi. Unfortunately, the upright denied Iran a goal.
    • Omid Nourafkan attempted long-range shots.
    • Ali Beiranvand had little work to do but a late blunder nearly Iran the points while he did manage to deflect one Uzbek ball through the game.
  • Group Standings:
    • Despite the draw, Iran maintains its lead in the group.
    • Iran, Japan, and South Korea will be in pot one for the third-round draw.

Lineup:

  • Alireza Beiranvand
  • Mohammad Hossein Kanaanizadegan
  • Shoja Khalilzadeh
  • Saleh Hardani (yellow card in the 89th minute)
  • Milad Mohammadi
  • Omid Nourafken (substituted by Mohammed Ghorbani in the 73rd minute)
  • Saman Ghoddos (substituted by Shahriar Mughanlou in the 87th minute)
  • Alireza Jahanbakhsh
  • Mehdi Torabi (substituted by Abolfazl Jalali in the 87th minute)
  • Mehdi Taremi
  • Sardar Azmoun

Top of the table clash ends in a draw- Iran 1 – 1 Korea Rep

Team Melli drew 1-1 with Korea Rep in a top-of-the-table clash in Azadi. The hosts scored first in 48th minutes by Son Heung-Min while Iran’s equalizer came through Alireza Jahanbakhsh assisted by Sardar Azmoun.

Both teams adopted a cautious approach in the first half, although the Koreans had the better ball possession at the beginning. Team Melli was content in defending or sending long direct balls to the forwards in the hope that either Azmoun or Taremi beat the solid Korean defense.

The rhythm of the game remained slow and lethargic with far too many easy missed passes by the two teams and both having problems in the final delivery of the ball. Despite the better ball possession, the Koreans have failed to register any shot on goal. As the game was in the last 5 minutes of the first half, it suddenly burst into action.

Sardar Azmoun tested the Korean keeper Kim Seung-Gyu from just inside the box with a powerful shot. The keeper could not control the ball and had to deflect with the ball somehow found Taremi. The FC Porto forward acrobatically hit a scissor kick that badly tested the keeper again, but Kim’s reflex and a fingertip save kept the ball from entering the net.

A third assault followed but to no avail.

Early in the second half, Son Heung-Min did what he does best. With one shift of the body, he easily left Sadegh Moharrami for dead and was one on one with Beiranvand. The Tottenham winger made no mistake finding the net. Iran 0 -1 Korea.

It was then that Team Melli came alive starting with a rather bold substitution by Skocic. He introduced Omid Nourafkan instead of ineffective Gholizadeh.  Nourafkan, who is originally a midfielder would be playing as the left-back and winger. However, it was the same old same old with this player. It only took him 6 minutes to get a yellow card for another silly foul. He is now suspended after two consecutive cards in two games.

The change in game plan was working well for Team Melli but there was always the threat of a quick counterattack. Saeid Ezatollahi hit a delightful shot against the woodwork as Iran was denied an equalizer. The attacks continued while Team Melli’s defenders dealt very well with the Korean counters. The Koreans were unable to penetrate the walls and hardly gave Beiranvand any trouble.

Team Melli equalized on minute 76 when Sardar Azmoun did a brilliant job of following what looked like a wasted ball on the left of Korean keeper Kim who followed the ball initially but retreated when he realized that Sardar was faster and closer to the ball.  Azmoun controlled the difficult ball just before it crossed the line and crossed towards the on-rushing Jahanbakhsh. The team Melli captain scored from a header again to maintain parity with the Koreans. With few minutes left on the match, Taremi hit a swerving shot that once again bounced from the post, the second time in the match that Iran hits the woodwork

In the last minute of injury time, there was a scare for Team Melli but Beiranvand heroically saved his goal and parried a ground shot into a corner kick.

The perfect record of Skocic continues as Iran claims another 3 points.

Team Melli defeated UAE 1-0 in Dubai in a dramatic match full of action and controversies. The goal was scored by Man of the Match Mehdi Taremi from a spectacular pass from Sardar Azmoun. The win puts Iran comfortably at the top of Group A with a two points cushion over their next opponents South Korea.

Team Melli was far from firing on all cylinders. It was an amazing contrast between the last game against Iraq. The hero of that match was Alireza Jahanbakhsh, who could not put a foot right in this match against UAE and he was wasteful and profligate. Taremi wasted a couple of very good easy chances in this half which could have reduced the pressure on the team if he had opened the scoring. The UAE did embark on a few offensive moves but in reality, they hardly bothered Beiranvand in goal.

The solid defenders in the center of Team Melli’s defense had a marvelous day as both Kananizadegan and Khalizadeh played a classy game with confidence and ability. On the right, Sadegh Moharrami was also shinning. His accelerating and ball control was immaculate. On the left halfback, Nourafkan, who was one of the star players in the previous lineup, was shaky and nervous. He got a yellow card for a foul and m, minutes later he repeated a similar foul from behind but the Australian referee elected not to award him a second card and a dismissal to the disgust and protest of the UAE Players.

In the midfield, it was clear that there is a lack of creativity and dearth of quality in supplying the balls to the forwards. Jahanbakhsh was having an off day, Nourollahi was not at his best, Ezatollahi was far too slow to be effective and focused on his defensive duties more, while Amiri huffed and puffed to no avail. The two schemers of the team, Gholizadeh and Saman Ghoddos were warming the bench.

On the whole, the performance of the team was disappointing in the first half which ended 0-0.

In the second half, Nourafkan was pulled out, perhaps to avoid a second yellow, and Gholizadeh was introduced. This substitution gave a completely different complexion to the team. The nifty winger was a delight to watch going through the UAE defense like a knife through butter.

The highlight of the match occurred on the hour, While Iran was dominant, the only instance of the match when Ali Makhbout managed to beat the trap and Khalizadeh and was going to score, Shojaa pulled him from the back just outside the box. The referee pulled the red card as a result of denying the UAE forward the chance to score. After a lot of discussions and drama, and while Azmoun was being withdrawn to replace him with a central defender, Team Melli rejoiced when the VAR declared that the original pass to Mabkhout came from an offside position. The climate of the situation suddenly turned to a non-event and Shojaa’s red card was rescinded with a free kick awarded to Team Melli.

The goal scored by Taremi in the 69th minute was a work of art between him and Azmoun. Some quick passes outside the box initiated by Taremi found Azmoun on his left. Sardar measured his return pass to his onrushing partner Taremi to perfection. Taremi controlled Azmoun’s pass, saw the UAE Goalkeeper rushing towards him, and sent his ball away from the Keeper’s body into the empty net. 1-0 for Iran. Taremi is an amazing player, he misses an open goal yet he scores the spectacular!

Near the end, there was a penalty given to Team Melli as a result of a foul on Taremi in the box. Sardar Azmoun took the penalty and feebly shot at Khusaif in UAE goal, who had no problem saving it. A penalty wasted.

In the end, the miss did not matter as the UAE could not do much to score and Iran won 1-0. Although the performance of the team was far from satisfactory in the hot and humid weather of Dubai, winning while not playing at your best is one of the signs of champions. The big test, however, is in five days’ time in Azadi Stadium.

As for the UAE which was unable to end their long winless run against Team Melli, the result leaves them stranded on two points from their three outings, considerably raising the stakes ahead of their clash with Iraq on Tuesday, the same day Iran will meet the Korea Republic in a top of the cable clash.

Team Melli preparations and brief.

Team Melli Manager says that according to the coaching staff, 10 players present in the current camp are selected to continue attending the final phase together with the legionnaires. They form the final list of the Team Melli squad.

The first phase of the national team training camp was concluded with the presence of 22 domestic league players. The coaching staff shortlisted 10 players for the final list for the games against Syria and Iraq. Mojtaba Khorshidi, the national football team Manager, announced the list of selected players on the website of the Football Federation

Saleh Hardani, Siavash Yazdani, Omid Nourafkan, Milad Sarlak, Yasin Salmani, Mehdi Torabi, Mohammad Karimi, Zubair Niknafs, Aref Aghasi, and Vahid Amiri

Khorshidi also mentioned an important point about the 12 players whose names are not in the final list and added: “The absence of these players in the final list is not due to their poor quality or poor performance in training. Mr. Skocic emphasized that not being in the final list should not disappoint these players and their performance will always be considered by the head coach and the technical staff of the national team, they will definitely have a chance to be in the national team in the future.”

 Mojtaba Khorshidi also confirmed the absence of four injured players in the final list: Ehsan Haj Safi, Morteza Pouraliganji, Seyed Majid Hosseini and Ali Karimi are the four players whose names were to be included in the final list of the national team. Their injuries rendered them unavailable.

After the weekend games in Europe, it is expected that most legionnaires in the squad will be arriving in Tehran within a day or two.

It is interesting to note that Dragan Skocic was in quarantine after he was tested positively for COVID19. His assistants carried on training with the squad and the list is prepared after consultation with all stakeholders. In addition to head coach Skocic, his Iranian assistant Vahid Hashemian, who also tested positive, was absent from training.

Both the Team Melli forwards, Sardar Azmoun (Zenit) and Mehdi Taremi (Porto) were on the scoring sheet with their respective teams while Saman Ghoddos whose appearance remains in doubt was one of the better players in the EPL match between Brentford and Aston Villa.