Tag: Shojaa Khalizadeh

Cultural and Social Anomalies in Iranian Football

Introduction

Cultural anomalies and social misdemeanor tensions in Iranian football have long posed significant challenges for cultural and social experts and activists. Various committees within the football federation have been tasked with addressing these issues and reducing tensions.

The Role of Committees

  1. Ethical Committee: Responsible for defining regulations related to ethical, and cultural issues, and fair play, as well as overseeing their implementation and addressing non-compliance cases.
  2. Fair Play and Social Responsibility Committee: Focuses on establishing regulations related to cultural issues, fair play, and supervising their implementation within the football federation structure.

Cultural Integration in Clubs

Many Iranian clubs have incorporated cultural aspects alongside sports, often appointing a “Cultural Deputy” to manage cultural and social affairs within the clubs.

Challenges and Questions

Despite the existence of these committees and roles, questions arise regarding the effectiveness of their measures in recent years:

  • What fundamental measures have been taken to address cultural and social issues within Iranian football?
  • How successful have these committees and administrators been in curbing misbehavior and enhancing the image of domestic football?

Recent Incidents

Recent events involving players and coaches in prominent Iranian teams have highlighted ongoing challenges:

  • Danial Esmaili-Far and Javad Nekonam’s incidents raised concerns about player conduct and its impact on fans and the football community.

Impact and Reflection

The behavior of players and coaches on the field often mirrors the conduct of spectators, emphasizing the need for positive role modeling and cultural awareness within football.

Repeat Offenders

There are too many footballers and coaches who misbehave regularly with the fear of being punished, however, two of them have to be singled out as a prime example :

Javad Nekounam, a prominent figure known for his record as the most capped player for Team Melli and a former Captain, has consistently attracted media attention since transitioning to coaching after retiring as a player. His tenure, starting from Foolad Khuzestan, has been marred by frequent involvement in contentious incidents, including instances of unprofessional behavior, indiscretion, and verbal altercations.


Shoja’a Khalilzadeh: A player known for his misconduct both on and off the field. Recently, he has engaged in altercations with the press, hurling insults during interviews and displaying tantrums. His behavior has escalated to the point where he openly challenged the disciplinary committee of the federation to impose a ban on him.

Calls for Action

  1. Behavior Management: Emphasizes the importance of managing emotions and behaviors through expert guidance and club interventions.
  2. Club Responsibility: Urges clubs to take proactive measures in addressing misconduct before federation intervention becomes necessary.

The Need for Transparency

There is a call for greater transparency regarding the cultural initiatives and their impact:

  • Clubs and federations should clarify the measures taken in cultural fields and assess their effectiveness in fostering positive change.

Conclusion

While acknowledging challenges and weaknesses in disciplinary rules, there is an expectation for clubs and federations to prioritize cultural integration and responsibility to set positive examples within the football community.
Ever changing CEO’s of the clubs, financial instabilities, poor administrators and weak management of FFIRI has made the task of improving the culture of football so much more difficult, if not impossible.

Players rating: Bulgaria vs Iran

Overall, it was both a good match and an excellent result for Team Melli under Amir Ghalenoei who remains undefeated so far. The win could have been by a bigger margin if it was not for profligacy of players and some poor finishing. It was delightful to watch team Melli play silky smooth football and the defensive setup was excellent.

Player’s rating:

1Alireza Beiranvand : Was hardly tested by the Bulgarians, mainly due to the solid defense but when it came to action, he was right there dominating his area. Importunely injured himself while throwing one of his renowned long balls to Taremi. [7]
3Ehsan Hajisafi : Played cautiously and without over doing the basics. Had good control of the ball and good vision to distribute to teammates. Could have been more productive on the left flanks though. [7.5]
8Morteza Pouraliganji : Showed some uncertainty, nevertheless it was solid defensive performance. He did not commit any major errors to affect the team. He was lucky to have his old partner in the middle of defense. [7.0] 79′
23Ramin Rezaeian: On the right flank, he operated efficiently and was flawless in defensive duties. Like Hajsafi, he could have been more productive in attack by providing crosses to the forward line. [7.0]
4Shojaa Khalilzadeh: One of the stars of the match. His selection was doubtful, but once again this veteran has surprised observers by performing to the highest standards. Dominated the Bulgarians, sturdy in defense with timely tackles. Beaming in confidence and his timings was perfect. A delight to watch him play to such a high standard. [8.5]
17Ahmad Noorollahi : Nothing out of the ordinary for this midfield player. Does his basic duties but nothing above or beyond that. Lacks the creativirty to make him a star palyer or influnce a match, neverthe less agood reliable workhorse [7].
6Saeid Ezzatolahi : In defensive role, like Noorollahi, he is just about acceptable. His physique could be handy but there is little to single him out in the team. He drifted on and off . His early promises to indicate that he will be an outstanding player has just about faded.[6]
10Mohammad Mohebbi: This promising forward has potential to become a household name in Iran’s football. Has the right skills to be one of the stars and today he must have proven his values to Team Melli coaching staff and the observers. Took the goal very well and could have scored another. Needs more discipline tactically and emotionally to get to the higher height of stardom. He was excellent against Bulgaria troubling the defenders whenever he had the ball. [8.5] 14′
9Mehdi Taremi : It is both a strange and poor performance by arguably one of the stars of Team Melli. One of his worst matches since joining Team Melli. Uncertain, hesitant, profligate and totally out of depth in this match. Even simple passing eluded him. It was a match that Taremi should wipe from his memory, because by his high standards, this was just a horrible act. Hopefully this is one odd match although the records show that Taremi is not doing well in Porto either. All these talks and rumors about his transfer to Milan and other European teams must have affected his concentration on the field. [3.5]
14Saman Ghoddos : This was a grand performance from a player who you would think will struggle because he has not played a competitive match for a long time but also is without a club! Yet, Saman stood up to the challenge and performed like a true professional. His assist to Mohebbi was indeed a majestic move. That was not the only positive about Ghoddos either as his running and vision was delightful to watch, Unfortunately he is not physically ready for 90 minutes. Finding a club which will play him regularly, wil be a great asset for Team Melli. [8.75]
7Alireza Jahanbakhsh : There is always a lot of expectations from Jahanbakhsh however, he is one of a few  inconsistebt players in the squad. There is no doubt about his abilties and skills, the problem is when and how he deploys this for the benefit of the team. Wanders all over the pitch without being productive. Perhaps his lack of playing time in Feyenoord has affected his confidence. He was well below his high standards and just average in this match [5]

 SUBSTITUTES:

12 Payam Niazmand: Substituted early in the match after Beiranvand mishap but proved himself as good and kept a clean sheet. There is little to fault this towering keeper and seems to be full of confidence [7.5]

20 Shariyar Moghanlou: introduced in 57th minute and quickly became a bull in a China shop, getting his first yellow card 11 minutes later.  He was quite lucky not to be sent off and escaped being awarded a second yellow card soon after with his wild high tackle. His rough play could be due to a certain lack of skill. This is his third Team Melli match, and his performance is deteriorating with each match. There is little value evident in his game, no real skills just physicality.  However, even in heading duels, he lost to the defenders. [2.5]

18 Ali Karimi: It was nice to see him back in Team Melli and performed well after being subbed in on the hour. He is still capable of providing those accurate passes as witnessed in this match. His vision is also exceptional. He could be a threat to Noorollahi as a starting player. [7.0]

Milad Mohammadi, Rouzbeh Cheshmi and Mohammad Daneshgar NOT rated becide of the insufficient time of play.

Pre-match Preview Iran vs. Korea Rep. Lessons to be learned.

With Team Melli sitting comfortably at the top, this particular match remains the most crucial of all the matches. A win by Iran will lead to practically unassailable command for Team Melli and 70% of the mission accomplished towards the qualification for FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Of course, the results of other matches are also significant, but not as important as the three points of this one.

Korea Rep will always be a tough and uncompromising opponent for Team Melli never mind the Table or the Ranking. The Koreans are 14 places behind Iran in the FIFA Ranking of October 2021 and 59 points behind. No one should be fooled by such numbers though because the Koreans will surely give it all for this particular win.

FIFA RANKING

RK

Team
Total Points
Previous Points

+/-
22
IR Iran
 Iran
1538.08
 1522.04 16.04
26
Japan
 Japan
1520.46
 1529.45 -8.99
32
Australia
 Australia
1493.99
 1477.21 16.78
36
Korea Republic
 Korea Republic
1479.41
 1474.96 4.45

During the Queiroz era, this match would have been the right candidate for combustions. There was no love lost between Queiroz and the Korean coach. Eventually, Queiroz was instrumental in his counterpart losing his job following defeat to Team Melli. That is all settled now as no such hostility exists between Bento and Skocic.

Politics of the game aside, when it comes to the power, tactics, and influential players, the teams are neck and neck. There is, however, a marked decline of standard and form by the Koreans, versus the ascendency and improvement of Team Melli in the last few years, but particularly under Dragan Skocic.  Despite having arguably the best Asian player in its rank, in the shape of Son Heung-min , the Tottenham winger has been less than effective in a team of many new faces. The Iraqi’s managed to close all doors away to the Koreans,  with the match ending goalless. Lebanon was next where the Koreans won by the tightest of margins. Then came the third match against Syria. The match was drawn 1-1 until a momentary lapse of concentration in the 89th minute of the match by the excellent Syrian defense allowed Son Heung-min to score the easiest of goals and his first for his country since 2019. Son Heung-min was unmarked and the goal came from a set piece.

Sadegh Moharrami during a practice session before the Korea Rep match

The winning goal scored by the Koreans is a lesson to be learned by Team Melli. number one is that players should never relax against them and number two,  Son Heung-min can not be left unmarked in or around the box. That goal was similar in circumstances to the one that was conceded by Team Melli against Iraq in Amman in Round 2 of the same qualifiers, a goal that ended in defeat for Team Melli.

Singling Son Heung-min as their main threat is also misleading as there are many such good players in the squad, however, this team has been surprisingly profligate, wasteful, and squandering chances by the dozen in the last three matches. The other area where the team has seen a decline is the accuracy of the passes and the end result. While passing the ball around might appear neat, the final passes were mostly disappointing. In fact, the Koreans despite their control and passing stats in all three matches, have created only a handful of real scoring chances in relation to their superiority.

KOREA REPUBLIC MEN’S RANKING

The official World Rankings of the international Men’s team

36

40

17

69
Recent Ranking Average Ranking Highest Ranking Lowest Ranking

Team Melli’s perfect record in round three is also somehow misleading. Out of the three matches, only against Iraq that the team shined quite well and the result reflected the good performance. The last one played against UAE was perhaps the most worrying, but we can excuse the team performance as they were playing in a humid and warm climate that normally seeps the energy of players not accustomed to such conditions. As such it results in exhaustion, dehydration, adverse physical conditions, and lack of concentration. A very good example of that was the penalty kick carried out by Sardar Azmoun right at the end of regulation time of the match. His body language did not augur well for a player who is about to take a penalty. He was visibly tired and his feeble kick was easily saved by Khausaif, the UAE keeper.  The miss did not change the outcome, but it could have been costly in other circumstances. Another lesson to be learned by the coaching staff.

We cannot conclude any Team Melli match preview without mentioning the proverbial discipline. While Korea was lucky to get the winning goal against Syria, Iran were lucky not to lose their key central defender with around another half an hour to play. Such fouls like the one committed by Shojaa Khalilzadeh against Ali Mabkhout, was amateurish by a player who was until that time, one of the best players in the match. What instigated this foul was more emotional than tactical. Granted that Mabkhout beat him and was heading towards the goal at the edge of the penalty box, a professional and composed defender would have left his goalkeeper deal with the forward, after all, Beiranvand is one of the best in Asia especially since Mabkhoiut was not in full control of the ball anyway, and he runs behind to cover Beirnavand. Khalilzadeh, took the weaker option by pully Mabkhout!

It was all immaterial at the end because there was a VAR decision that an offside occurred earlier on and Shojaa’s red card was rescinded. A lesson learned? perhaps.

Mental and Emotional control, composure, and cool balanced heads are in short supply at team Melli level. There is always a possibility of combustion and fans have grown accustomed to seeing silly fouls and acts from the players. We just hope that tomorrow in Azadi against Korea is not one of those black days.

 

 

 

Possible Line Up against Hong Kong.

Skocic knows very well that he has no choice but to win four of his four matches in order to have a chance of qualifying for the next stage of the World Cup 2022 qualifiers and more importantly for him, to keep his job as the head coach of this team. Hence, his slightest mistake in picking the lineup could be irreparable.

Team Melli, which has the most stars compared to previous years, has gone to Bahrain without a preparation game in recent months so the match against Hong Kong will not only a must-win 3 pointer, but also a preparation for the tougher oppositions ahead in form of Bahrain and Iraq.

Dragan Skocic intends to deploy a 2-4-4 formation in this match, in which Alireza Beiranvand will keep his post in the goal. Skocic will continue using the pair.  Shojaa Khalilzadeh and Mohammad Hossein Kananizadegan in the heart of the defense. He will use  Sadegh Moharremi, who was called up to the national team again after months of injury, as a right-back. In the left-back post, although the coach has many options such as Ehsan Haj Safi and Milad Mohammadi for selection, his intentions seem to be on using Vahid Amiri as a left-back. The Persepolis midfielder, who has also played as a defender for his club team in the last two months, has impressed Skocic in this makeshift role.

In the midfield, Skocic intends to use Ahmad Nourollahi and Saeed Ezzatolahi along with Ali Gholizadeh. The selection of the fourth player among options such as Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Mehdi Torabi is none other than Saman Ghoddos. The Brentford midfielder, who has been delayed from joining the national team due to his club play-off and subsequent promotion to the English Premier League, is set to start the match against Hong Kong.. The possible presence of Ghoddos in today’s squad will be seen as a surprise from Skocic by many observers, however, it makes sense as Ghoddos has completed a successful season while Jahanbakhsh was the opposite.

Skocic’s easiest job was picking the two forwards. The head coach of Team Melli has a potent strike force that automatically picks itself upfront.  Mehdi Taremi and Sardar Azmoun, are the most powerful strikers of the national team in the last couple of decades and will be starting the match. Kaveh Rezaei, Mehdi Ghaedi, and Karim Ansarifard will be on the bench with the possibility of one of them being introduced late in the match.

It remains to be seen how Skocic’s technical thinking will play out on the pitch in the first leg of the return leg. Last minutes events could also affect his final selection.

 

Possible Line Up