Tag: Panama

Canadian Soccer circus. After Iran the Panama match is also canceled.

Canada Soccer’s interim general secretary Earl Cochrane looked down upon a sparsely populated ballroom in the foundations of Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium and tried to sum up the past two weeks for the national association.

“What I think it says to the international community,” he observed, “is that we have an unbelievable ability to punch above our weight in everything that we do.”

Everything? Not if everything includes successfully organizing a single friendly. It was 5.15pm, a time at which Canada should have been into the second half of their World Cup warm-up date with Panama, itself a hastily arranged encounter after the association had originally booked Iran and kicked off a firestorm. But the towering BC Place was deathly silent.

John Herdman’s side, who bridged a 36-year gap to qualify for the Qatar World Cup and light a wildfire of interest in the team, had taken a protest against their own governing body to its most drastic point. Having initially refused to train on both Friday and Saturday, on Sunday they refused to play the match itself. Canada Soccer had managed to lose not one but two friendlies in less than a week and a whole lot more besides. Millions of dollars in ticket revenue, oceans of goodwill, and positivity that Alphonso Davies and co had brought to the sport here. All of it.

Considering Canada is a co-host for the next FIFA World Cup, it speaks volumes of a disjointed, politically polluted, and unpredictable football federation in a country where Soccer is not even the first or most popular sport !

Take that.

Iran chances at FIFA world Cup 2018 draw

On 1 December, the Final Draw for the 2018 FIFA World Cup will take place at the State Kremlin Palace in the heart of the country’s capital. The tagline of the event is “Where the stars align”, which refers not only to the glow of the best footballing nations in the world but also perfectly alludes to the idea of destiny as the road to the coveted FIFA World Cup Trophy is unveiled.

Iran will be represented in the ceremony by Mohammad Reza Saket and the head coach Carlos Queiroz.

 

By tomorrow, all of the 32 teams would have been identified and the pots will be filled as seen in the table below.

Team Melli will be in POT 3 and as customary , the draw attracts wide attention across the globe. Looking at the possibilities  for Team Melli, the best draw would be a group formed as follows. Most probably it will be Group A

 

   Russia  Croatia    Iran    Panama

The worst possible draw for team Melli will be :

   Germany    Spain    Iran    Serbia

 

The List of Qualified Teams

Ranks Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4
1 Russia (Hosts) Spain (8) Denmark (19) Serbia (38)
2 Germany (1) Peru (10) Iceland (21)* Nigeria (41)
3 Brazil (2) Switzerland (11) Costa Rica (22) Australia (43)
4 Portugal (3) England (12) Sweden (25) Japan (44)
5 Argentina (4) Colombia (13) Tunisia (28) Morocco (48)
6 Belgium (5) Mexico (16) Egypt (30) Panama (49)
7 Poland (6) Uruguay (17) Senegal (32) South Korea (62)
8 France (7) Croatia (18)* Iran (34) Saudi Arabia (63)

 

 

 

Werder Bremen monitoring Saman Goddos

Werder Bremen is said to be eyeing Team Melli’s midfielder  Saman Ghoddos, writes the German newspaper Bild.

And Östersund does not seem to go unscathed if a deal is to die. The Germans are prepared to pay for Östersund’s gold climber.

Östersund finished fifth place in allsvenskan, the Swedish League. But the team’s season is not over yet. Right now, the riders are preparing for the next match in the Europa League which at home against Zorya on November 23rd. Östersund tops the UEFA second tier computation in Group J ahead of famous clubs like Spanish Athletic Bilbao and German Hertha Berlin. The successes of the Swedish have raised interest amongst many Europe clubs and other teams have begun snapping Östersund players.

Saman Ghoddos, just opened his scoring account at international level, when he scored Iran;s 2nd goal against Panama in a friendly international in Graz, Austria.

According to German Bild, Hertha Berlin league competitor Werder Bremen has sought to recruit Saman Ghoddos. Unlike Östersund, Werder Bremen has not stood for any success season so far. The team is currently second in the Bundesliga and is looking for reinforcements in the January transfer window. But if the Germans would like to beat Östersund’s gold cliff, they also have to pay for it. Bild writes that Saman Ghoddos is expected to cost fifty million kronor  (Approx. US$ 6 million) for Werder Bremen. Ghoddos has a contract with Östersund until 2019.

The Swedish national team back Ludwig Augustinsson already plays for Werder Bremen,