Tag: Sepahan Esfahan

Sajjadi “We will pursue Queiroz, if evidence is presented!”

Deputy Minister of Youth Sports said “if evidence is presented against Carlos Queiroz violating our values, we will deal with him as we did with others!”

The veiled threat to the Portuguese coach came in the aftermath of the public prosecution of Zlatko Kranjcar, in which the ministry of youth & Sport has accused the Croat coach of consuming alcohol in players’ dressing room!

Nassrollah Sajjadi, like his boss Goudarzi , who has not made any great attempts to conceal his contempt towards football , starting from Kaffashian and his administration to the footballers and coaches in club and Team Melli, has once again wielded the sword of threat. Not only this ministry has said little to praise anyone related to football, it has consistently been hostile and hardly screened their disapproval of Carlos Queirroz and Zlatko Kranjcar.

Sepahan CEO Merhrzad Khalilian with Zlatko Krajncar

The Ministry of Youth & Sports has been widely criticized and ridiculed for their narrow-minded and immoral way they dealt with Kranjcar in which the most basic of human rights has been disregarded by a Ministry. One of the sharpest reaction was that of the Sepahan CEO Mehrzad Khalilian who called the accusation that Kranjcar consumed alcohol in his team’s dressing room as fabricated , fraudulent and uncivilized. Even the government supporting media has been vocal in their criticism of a Ministry that has installed itself as the judge, the jury and executioner of morality cases thereby over-stepping its authority that is the function and responsibility of the Judiciary of the Islamic Republic.

After that episode with Kranjcar, while being reminded about the cultural differences of foreign coaches , the Ministry to be seen as applying their own version of law on everyone, now is in pursuit of Carlos Queiroz for the same reasons as Kranjcar!

As if the never ending problems with Team Melli ahead of the Asian Cup are not enough, now Queiroz has to deal with this side issue and this lot!

Barazay “Kranjcar is the perfect coach for Omid Team”

The Captain of Team Melli U-23 , known as the Omid Team , has spoken to ISNA about the aspirations and the prospects of the team.

Behnam Barazay , the current Rah Ahan player and the Captain of the U23 team , believes in strong preparation games ” unless we play against quality teams for our friendly games to get the big experience , I am afraid we will not be able to qualify for the Olympic Games.”

The young striker , is also confident that the Croat coach Zlatko Kranjcar is the best candidate for the Omid team ” He has coached at different levels, his record is quite good , he coached in Iran and his approach is professional. I believe he is the perfect coach for Omid Team.”

“Although many players prefer to work with Iranian coaches, and I am one of those players , as communication is easier , however a coach in the class of Kranjcar can make a big difference.” Barazay added.

Regarding the recent failures specifically in the Asian Games in Incheon, Barazay said ” The players were under tremendous stress after the Asian Games. In the Qatar camp , quite a lot of work was done on the psychological aspect but fear of losing still causes a lot of stress.”

About his own future career and whether he will follow his teammates Alireza Jahanbaksh and Sardar Azamoun in to Europe,  Barazay Did not want to think about that for the time being although he received an offer from an Arab team. ” All my concentration right now is on the form of my team Rah Ahan. I have  not succeeded in gaining the full confidence of Hamid Estili yet. My goal is to do that. I need to get it right here in Iran before thinking about abroad and becoming a legionnaires”

The situation with the appointment of Kranjcar took another weird twist when it was decided that a committee within the football federation will have to examine the Croat coach resume and give its seal of approval before the coach can be appointed. This development cam up aright after Ali Kaffashian and Habib Kashani confirmed the appointment of the ex-Sepahan Esfahan coach as the head coach of the Omid Team. Many observers are suspecting some interference by the Ministry of Sport who always claims that they have no role in appointing coaches for National Team , but in reality they exert pressure on the FFIRI and Kaffashian to pass their own candidates.

 

Behnam Barazay

Behnam Barazay

Hossein Faraki appointed as Sepahan coach

After the abrupt resignation of the Croat coach  Zlatko Kranjcar from Sepahan , Hossein Faraki was signed as the head coach of the Esfahani club.

Faraki will start his job with immediate effect this weekend when his stuttering team faces the only unbeaten team in the league , Padideh.

Farki was the prime candidate for coaching Team Melli after the World Cup when Kaffashian suddenly did a U-turn and decided that Queiroz shall remain in charge.   At this time , Team Melli is still coach less while Kaffashian keeps telling everyone that Queiroz is the coach but has not signed yet!

Meanwhile , all the teams of the Iran Group C in AFC Asian Cup 2015 ,  have played at least two friendly matches or more in their preparation for the premiere competition. Today Bahrain beat Kuwait 1-0 , while Qatar lost 0-2 to Peru.

 

Zlatko Kranjčar “I will think about Team Melli job”

The Croatian coach of Sepahan Esfahan , Zlatko Kranjčar, said that he will think about Team Melli job offer after the World Cup if it was offered to him.

After winning against the city rivals Zob Ahan in a closely fought match 1-0 on Friday , the Croatian coach said that his whole effort at the moment is to win the remaining 4 matches of the current season and challenge for the league title. In the post match press conference , Kranjčar was asked about the Team Melli Job, in which the Croat coach said :

“I think the source of this rumor is no one other than Carlos Queiroz himself. He has been talking to some reporters , and now it is doing the round and hearing it from the press. I think it is not a very wise move by Team Melli coach to say something like that. When he spreads the news that he is leaving and someone else will be taking over, while the players have serious work to do in the World Cup, it will affect Team Melli. Such a fact will diminish the player’s enthusiasm and will reduce their interest in what the coach is saying knowing that he will not be around after the tournament is over. ” The Croat said.

“My whole focus now is on Sepahan both in the league and the Asian Champions League. Team Melli has a coach and in my opinion , he is the best person for the job right now. If he leaves after the World Cup when his contract expires, and if the job is offered to me, then I will certainly think about that offer. I have no other comments on that.”

Kranjčar , however, praised  Queiroz saying “Although Queiroz has created a havoc for the league with his program where some teams will be waiting for weeks without playing while others will be playing once every 4 days, I still believe Queiroz is best suited for the job and the federation should keep him. He has achieved quite a bit for Iran including qualification for the World Cup.”

Asked whether he can iron out his problems with Queiroz the way he did with Ghalenoei in a meeting a few days back, Kranjčar responded “First of all , Queiroz did not invite me to that meeting , he also did not come to Esfahan to discuss the issues in question. Most importantly though , I don’t think it would achieve much. I still stand firmly on my point. Arranging a Team Melli camp during the Asian Champions league is plainly wrong and there is no two way about it. And to make it worse , they are asking for our best players to join the camp and do not play in the ACL!”