Tag: Omid Team

19/04/201919/04/2019

“Pathetic direction and administration of football” Massoud Eghbali

The Iranian national U23 football team (Omid), barely managed to qualify for the final rounds of AFC U23 Championship which is also the qualifiers for the 2020 Olympic Games. Despite having the advantage of being the host, Iraq won the group on goal difference, while Iran had to wait until late to find out if they have qualified as one of the 4 best second ranked team.

The cesarean qualification has led to many discussions and different views on the status of the team and mainly on whether Krancjar should continue with the team after such modest performance. Some experts believe Krancjar should remain at the helm while others are opposed to the Croat continuing to work with Omid team.

In the midst of such arguments , the views of Massoud Eghbali, the official Asian Football Confederation coaching master is quite interesting. Eqhbali spoke to Mehrnews sports reporter.

“The main problems of our football has always been the deep-rooted management and administration of football at its highest level. Football does not have a healthy atmosphere and strong foundation in general. Our organization and conditions suffer from numerous problems, and like cancer it keeps spreading. One of the biggest and most important problems in this football is the management problem. Mismanagement in Iran’s football is a long-standing problem that has existed in these 30-40 years. Management problems have never been eliminated, in fact it has been spreading and getting worst. With each management personnel changes, the problems that existed is passed on to the new managers who are incompetent or unable to improve them.”

“It is uunfortunate that these pperennial pproblems have not only not disappeared, they have in fact have increased and become more severe and deliberate. All national teams have suffered from these identical problems. The difficulties in groundwork, resources, programs, logistics and training facilities are facing all national teams in all age groups. “

“Look at our senior Team Melli. It is without a coach since January, and there is no solution in sight, just the official propaganda of the FFIRI repeating the same old statements or on the other hand a bunch of speculations and rumors. There are no coaches in other national teams too. The criterion for choosing coaches by the football federation is not right at all. Coaches are appointed, mostly based on nepotism rather than competency or suitability. At age group teams where it is very vital to have quality coaches, there are appointmentS based on anything but merit, subsequently they fail and then leave quietly. There is no appraisal process, no investigation, no inquiry to why the team failed!

There is no board member in the football federation assigned to justify these failures, no one who can explain why these coaches come and go without being investigated. No one is ready to explain the whole process of selections and appointment of coaches. The Omid team of Iran is one of those teams that is immersed in these problems.

Political influences in choosing a coach In the Omid team,

At Omid team we finally choose a perfectly competent coach like Zlatko Krancjar, but we do not facilitate his job and deprive him of the resources. One of the most important tools of any boss is a very strong technical staff with background and experience, involvement in high level competition at club or national team levels. What is happening in reality in our Omid Team is that people with connections to the federation management get the job to sit on the bench with Krancjar. They choose young assistants or inexperienced coaches while ensuring to equally divide the bench appointments between Esteghlal and Persepolis!!

While we were hosting the qualifiers, we failed to win the group but qualified to the final by luck, and if we are realistic, we have to say that there is little hope for Omid Team to make it to the Olympics as one of the 3 top teams of Asia. The team, called Omid Iran in Asia, does not have the quality to be among the top three Asian teams that qualify for the Olympic Games. Most players in this team do not have what it takes to make the grade to the Senior Team Melli. The problem is not Krancjar, he is a quality coach with experience and has coached national teams. Now there are whispers that they are supposed to dismiss him.

Krancjar is a professional coach, tried and tested .If we are to sack him and replace him with the world’s leading coach, with the same problems at hand such as lack of facilities and this lack of cooperation with by the clubs in releasing their players, the same thing will be repeated again and again.

Clubs dilemmas

Among the major problems in Iran’s football is the unwillingness or disinterest of the clubs in grassroots football. For one reason or another, there is no strong urge or commitment to build and form strong academy level teams. Success and ranking in the league table is the utmost priority of almost all the clubs especially those at he top like Persepolis and Esteghlal, which makes it hard for them to focus or have serious interest in promoting the youth

This policy has become a cycle and it turned into a defective cycle, the effect of it is felt at Team Melli level and also in the ranks of the clubs themselves who have to go into the international transfer market and import cheap players, not necessarily good players.

There is a long-term damage in following such policy, and the results are so obvious. Iran has hardly won anything of worth in the last forty years. The Asian cup have eluded them, no Iranian club has won the AFC Champions League so far, Last time Iran was in the Olympic football competition was in 1976 (qualified for 1980 Olympics but subsequently boycotted it) and at youth level, success has been rare.

That is the reality of our football. More serious damage in imminent the future if this pathetic direction and administration of football in Iran continues.”

17/04/2019

Omid Team is in search of a replacement for Kranjcar.

The issue of Omid team performance and the coaching standards of the team has been raised in the technical committee of Iranian football federation.

Hossein Kalani, a member of the Football Federation’s Technical Committee said that in the past two weeks, there has been several discussions on the dismissal of the Omid team head coach, the Croat Zlatko Kranjcar.

in an interview with ISNA, Kalani commented on the rumors circulating around Krancjar’s fate and his imminent dismissed from coaching Iran’s Olympic Team (Omid) : “I have heard this as well like the rest. However, as I was sick and resting at home because of the illness, I was unable to attend several meetings of the technical committee.”

“but earlier, there was talk of such intention because Krancjar did not meet the required expectations. We were quite lucky to qualify for the next round. The players did their best, but that draw against Iraq which had better goal difference, put us in the second place in the group. If one of other teams scored a goal or two extra in the final matches of the Asian groups, we would have been eliminated.”

He continued, “There was some lack of cooperation and coordination between Krancjar and his own assistants. There was a clear disconnect in the coaching team. I think there was some negotiation with Krancjar to release him. This decision was probably taken at a technical committee meeting that I did not attend.”

Kalani denied any knowledge of Javad Nekounam being considered as Kranjcar replacement.”“I do not have any knowledge of this subject.”

As an ex Team Melli player and one of the legends of Iranian football, Kalani is a prominent member of the federation’s technical committee, yet he is unaware of crucial and important decisions made by that committee. He can only guess what has been decided in the meetings that he did not attend !!!

Commenting further “in Iran, there are foreign coaches like Branko who are successful and Persepolis feels proud of him, There are other foreign coaches as will that have succeed in other teams,” he said.

“However, we have virtually never received positive feedback and results from the presence of foreign coaches. I have always said that if we provide the same working conditions, perks and facilitates afforded to foreign coaches, to our local coaches, we will get 100% better results. Most of the honors in our football history have been achieved by our own Iranian coaches, some of whom never even had coaching certificates nor attended coaching classes. “

“The familiarity of the Iranian coach with the culture and language and hence, the ability to communicate instruction, plans and objectives to the players is one of the most important issues that must be considered. The Iranian coach recognizes the emotions of his players. The national team has always consisted with the best players, and they do not need to teach them basic football issues and high tactics. The most important thing is psychological issues.”

Kalani is one of very few prominent people in Iran that is clean shaven and wears a tie in public or official meetings in a country that one can be easily considered as outcast , labeled as westernized and accused of being anti-Islamic for that. He is western educated and a successful businessman in his own right.

24/03/2019

Iran Omid 3-0 Yemen

Iran U-23 National Team (Omid) defeated Yemen 3-0 on Sunday in Azadi Stadium to maintain its challenge for qualification to the final rounds of the AFC Asian U23 Championship Thailand 2020 and the Tokyo Olympic Games men football competition.

All the three goals were scored in the second half and all were from Headers. Reza Shekari headed the first goal from a corner, Reza Jabeireh added the second from a rebound also with a header, while the pick of the lot was Mehdikhani’s incredible back header from a free kick.

All of Iran’s 6 goals scored so far have been from set play as no goals were scored in the two matches from love play. This is very worrying trend as it seemed from the beginning of the match that Iran’s Omid team is offensively ineffective and depend on the old school of crosses from the wings to forwards in the box for scoring. Yemen, gallantly put up a good fight and could have scored from the few chances they had.

This match was a continuation from the same old shortfalls of the match against Turkmenistan. Poor team work . old style and basic football, lack of penetration from the middle , general lack of positional awareness, and disconnect of midfield players with forwards marred today’s performance against Yemen.

The match against the powerful Iraqi teams will be decider for Iran. Anything short of a win, will risk the Team elimination from the competition and a loss of another opportunity to make the Olympics, a 39 years wait for Iran. Despite two wins in a row, the goal difference for the second position is not very healthy for Iran as other teams in the Asian groups have some sizable advantage. So, Iran really needs to win against Iraq to be assured of a place in the finals.

Omid Team

Meraj Esmaeili, Omid Noorafkan, Alireza Arta, Abolfazl Jalali, Mohammad Aghajanpour, Abolfazl Razzaghpour, Mohammad Khodabandehloo, Mehdi Mehdikhani, Mehdi Ghaedi, Reza Jabeireh , Mohammad Reza Azadi

Substitution 2ND HALF

Rwza Shakari & Hossein Saki (46 min)

GOALS

Reza Shekari (55)

Reza Jabeireh (66)

Mehdi Mehdikhani (75)

22/03/2019

Iran Omid team U-23 Squad list

Zlatko Krancjar announced the final list of the Iran U-23 Omid Team for the qualification rounds of AFC U23 Championship 2020

No.	Player	D.O.B	Age	Club	Born
	GOALKEEPRS
1	Meraaj Esmaeili	13-Jan-00	19	Zob Ahan	Andimeshk
2	Nima Mirzad	27-Feb-97	22	Nassaji Mazandaran	Anzali
3	Shahab Adeli	19-Jan-97	21	Sepahan	tehran
	DEFENDERS
4	Abolfazl Jalali	26-Jun-98	20	Saipa Alborz	Amol
5	Abolfazl Razzaghpour	17-Sep-97	20	Paykan	Ghaemshahr
6	Alireza Arta	04-Feb-97	21	Mes Kerman	Kerman
7	Hossein Saki	10-May-97	22	Sanat Naft	Dasht-e Azadegan
8	Mohammad Aghajanpour	20-Apr-97	21	Padideh	Babol
9	Mohammad Moslemipour	25-May-97	21	Sepahan	Tabriz
10	Omid Darreh	08-Aug-99	19	Saipa Alborz	Tehran
	MIDFIELD
11	Hamid Reza Taherkhani	26-Mar-99	19	Sapidrood Rasht	Takestan
12	Mohammad Khodabandelou	07-Sep-99	18	Paykan	Tehran
13	Mohammad Khorram Al Hosseini	07-Apr-97	21	Gostaresh Foolad	Qazvin
14	Omid Noorafkan	09-Apr-97	21	Esteghlal	Robat Karim
15	Reza Shekari	31-May-98	20	Rubin Kazan	Tehran
16	Vahid Namdari	26-Jun-00	19	Esteghlal Khuzestan	Ahvaz
	FORWARDS
17	Ali Shojaei	27-Jan-97	22	Nassaji Mazandaran	Tehran
18	Amir Roostaei	05-Aug-97	21	Paykan	Tehran
19	Mehdi Ghaedi	05-Dec-98	19	Esteghlal	Bushehr
20	Mohammad Mehdi Mehdikhani	26-Jul-97	21	Padideh	Gilangharb
21	Mohammad Reza Azadi	07-Dec-99	18	Tractor Sazi	Tabriz
22	Reza Jabireh	07-Jul-97	21	Sanat Naft Abadan	Abadan
23	Sina Zamehran	10-Mar-97	21	Padideh	Mashad

22/01/2019

Omid Team wins Qatar tournament title

Omid Team under the coaching of Zlatko Krancjar, defeated host Qatar 2 -1 in the final match of the round-ribbon invitational tournament in Doha.

Omid Team goals were scored by Mehdi MehdiKhani in the 3rd minute and Allahyar Sayad-manesh (17th minute)

Earlier in the day , Kuwait defeated Tajikistan 1-0. At the conclusion of the tournament , Iran’s Omid Team with two wins and six points and goal difference of 5 , won the title of this competition.

The tournament was part of Iran’s preparation for the upcoming qualifying rounds of the Tokyo summer Olympics 2020, which will be played in Iran.

15/01/2019

Omid team loses to Tajikistan.

Omid Team lost its first match in the 4-side football tournament in Qatar. In today’s match in Doha, Tajikistan overcame Iran’s U23 team 2-1.

Zlatko Kranjcar started the game against Tajikistan with a 4-2-3-1 formation with the following players:

Shahab Adeli, Omid Noroufkan, Alireza Artah, Mohammad Moslemipour, Hossein Saki, Sina Zamehran, Mehdi Mehdi Khani, Mehdi Ghaedi, Vahid Namdari, Amir Roustai and Mohammad Reza Azadi.

The first half ended in a 1- 1 draw, but the Tajik team scored the winner in the second. Omid players failed to respond to that goal and the match ended in defeat for the team that is preparing for the Olympics Games 2020 in Tokyo.

26/11/2018

Omid Team will face Syria in Kish.

The Manager of the Iran U23 national team, (Omid Team) , announced the forthcoming plan for the team which includes a training camp in which the team will play two friendly matches against the Syrian national U23 team.

in an interview with Hamid Estili published in the official website of the Football Federation, Omid Team Manager said: “The new round of Iranian U23 National Football team training begins on Dec. 15^th. A day later, the squad will fly to Kish Island to play two friendly preparations matches.”

The director of the Omid team also said: “According to the schedule , the first match will be held on 18^th December in Kish, we will face Syria in the first game. Syria is a powerful opponent and can be a very useful game. On December 21^st, we will hold the second game in Kish also against the same team (Syria), and then we will return back to Tehran to conclude the camp.”

Estili added: “It’s very important for us to hold preparation games to compete against the best opponents possible. The coaching & technical staff has emphasized this. Fortunately, we played a very good match against Oman, and the two scheduled matches against Syria should be very useful indeed. Also, luckily, we have had good results in negotiating with some other Asian teams for more matches. The result of these will be announced in dues time after agreeing terms. The ultimate goal is to be prepared for a tough competition by playing valuable matches with different teams to prepare for the preliminary qualifiers for the Asian U23 and the Olympics. We shall achieve our objectives, God willing, with the support of the Federation. To this day, it has been excellent, which I see as prudent to mention that publicly. We are encouraged by the interest and support given to the team’s program and the backing of all parties concerned from the federation executives to the clubs.”

Team Omid (Iran U23) , which is coached by the Croat coach Zlatko Kranjcar, is preparing for the AFC Asian Championship qualifiers and the preliminary Olympics Games football competition qualifiers.

08/01/2016

Omid team list announced for AFC Championship

Iran U23 football (Omid Team) squad competing for a place in the Olympic Games 2016 has been announced.

Sixteen nations are vying for honors at the continent’s second largest national team competition, which also serves as the qualification for the the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Omid team has already arrived in Doha and started training under the supervision of Mohammad Khakpour.

Iran is one of the strong contenders for qualification with a team which has at least 5 Team Melli players.

[wpcm_players limit=”0″ season=”1261″ team=”738″ orderby=”name” linktext=”View all players” stats=”thumb,name,position,age,dob,hometown” title=”Iran U-23 Players”]

01/01/2016

Big blow for Omid team.

Iran Olympics football Team U 23, Omid Team received a setback when it was confirmed that 3 of its top players will not be competing in the finals of the AFC U23 championship which is also the qualifiers for the Rio 2016 Men Olympics Games Football competition.

Sardar Azmoun, Saeed Ezatollahi and Alireza Jahanbakhsh will not be part of the squad that will be competing in Doha in two weeks time.

Habib Kashani , the head of Team Omid said “These 3 players are registered as professionals in European club. We were unable to obtain the release from their respective clubs. The competition for the Olympics are not played in FIFA days and as such these clubs are not obliged to release their players for their national representative teams. All these clubs will be either busy in their own league competitions or preparing for the league as the case with the two Russian based players are.”

Sardar Azmoun, Saeed Ezatollahi (FC Rostov) and Alireza Jahanbakhsh (AZ Alkmaar) are also in Team Melli squad in addition to playing for the U23 team. Their quality and European experience is considered vital for the Omid team which is trying to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in 40 years. Kashani , however, played down the significance of the 3 players absence and said that their team has been mainly competing and training without the 3 players most of their campaign and their absence for the final will not produce a shock for the team.

Iran, under coach Mohammad Khakpour, will be playing in Group A with host Qatar , Syria nd China. Omid’s first match will be on 12th January against Syria U23.

04/11/2015

Khakpour announces Omid Team plans.

Mohammad Khakpour, Iran’s U23 (Omid) coach announced his plans for the team from now until January 2016, when Iran will join 15 other finalist in a tough battle to qualify for the Rio De Janeiro Olympics football competition. The final rounds of the qualification for Rio Olympics will be held in Doha, Qatar.

In his briefing with the sport journalist, Khakpour express his gratitude to the clubs who helped the case of Omid team with their timely release of the players for the inaugural WAFF U23 tournament. Khakpour was over joyed by the results achieved in this first tournament of its kind, where Iran’ U23 won the title defeating Syria 2-0 in the final.

“The first order of business in to set up a short camp in UAE, were we were hoping to play against Iraq and Australia. The latter match is 100% confirmed but the Iraq match is yet to be finalized” Khakpour said. “After that we will be going to Turkey foe another short camp followed by a local camp either in Kish Island or in Khuzistan (Ahvaz). We hope that by that time , we will have all our players available for the best preparation of the squad.” Khakpour continued.

The reporters then quizzed Khakpour on several topics including the readiness of Arya Hashemi. Khakpour said that this player will not be fit on time to join the team.

About Iran’s prospect for qualifying to that eluded prize of Olympic Games, Khakpour responded “We should be under no illusion that qualifying to the next round from the group is not an easy task at all. Qatar is the host, China is one of the strongest teams in Asia at that age level, and we have all seen Syria play against us with strength and skill. So, it is not going to be an easy task, but we are not going there to surrender either.”

About his abrupt resignation after winning the WAFF U23 tournament, Mohammad Khakpour admitted his mistake as he particularly apologized for Mohammad Mayeli-Kohan and Habib Kashani for this hasty move. “Both these gentlemen put a lot of faith in me and I let them down. I like to sincerely apologize to them and also to my compatriots for such an act and admit that it was out of emotions and not rational.” the Iranian U23 team coach said. Khakpour also apologized for the media in an unprecedented move! As such , this is a rare occasion that an Iranian coach admits his fault and apologized for it. So, there is still hope left in Iranian coaches!

The head coach of U23 team however, did not conceal his disappointment with Ali Kaffashian and the general lack of support for Omid Team from the federation. Khakpour said that the main reason for his resignation was the one-sided contract that he was offered in which he was held accountable for everything , while it hardly mentioned anything about the federations responsibilities.

2016 AFC U-23 Championship

Qualified teams

The following 16 teams qualified for the final tournament

Team	Qualified as	Appearance	Previous best performance
Qatar	Hosts	1st	Debut
Iraq	Group A winners	2nd	Champions (2013)
Jordan	Group B winners	2nd	Third place (2013)
Saudi Arabia	Group C winners	2nd	Runners-up (2013)
United Arab Emirates	Group D winners	2nd	Quarter-finals (2013)
Syria	Group E winners	2nd	Quarter-finals (2013)
Australia	Group F winners	2nd	Quarter-finals (2013)
North Korea	Group G winners	2nd	Group stage (2013)
South Korea	Group H winners	2nd	Fourth place (2013)
Japan	Group I winners	2nd	Quarter-finals (2013)
China PR	Group J winners	2nd	Group stage (2013)
Thailand	1st best runners-up (Group G)	1st	Debut
Iran	2nd best runners-up (Group C)	2nd	Group stage (2013)
Vietnam	3rd best runners-up (Group I)	1st	Debut
Yemen	4th best runners-up (Group D)	2nd	Group stage (2013)
Uzbekistan	5th best runners-up (Group E)	2nd	Group stage (2013)