Tag: Training

Team Melli players news & transfers.

Omid Noorafkan, who is a member of the Belgian football club Sporting Charleroi has agreed terms with Foolad Sepahan on a one-year deal. Noorafkan was on a loan deal with Esteghlal but his contract with Sepahan is a permanent one, according to ISNA. Noorafkan has already joined Sepahan squad and has been training at the club training ground from today (Tuesday). Massoud Tabash, managing director of Sepahan Club, confirmed this in an interview with ISNA.

Saman Ghoddos transfer to the English Championship club Brentford has fallen apart at the last minute with the Iranian not agreeing personal terms.  Ghoddos returned back to his club Amiens SC in France and joined the squad for training.  Ghoddos already played two matches for his club in League 1. The Iranian midfielder is one of the very few successful Iranian legionnaires’ in Europe. Last season he played 27 times for Amiens and scored 4 goals.

Meanwhile, in Qatar, Omid Ebrahimi‘s contract with his club Al Ahli is about to run out. According to one source, Ebrahimi who had a very good season with Al Ahli is sought by several QSL clubs. Al Duhail seems to be the favourite to sign him. No official announcement has been out from either side.

In Belgium, Kaveh Rezaei is still registered with Club Brugge however, he has not featured in any matches yet. He was in the 18 man squad on one match but was an unused substitute. Club Brugge seems to be looking for options to sell the Iranian forward by the 2nd of September were the European transfer windows will close. The Iranian forward is surplus to requirements at Belgian team Club Brugge according to coach Philippe Clement who has made it clear that Rezaei no longer figures in his plans.

One of the options for Rezaei is to return to Charleroi. The 27-year-old striker has played 11 times for Club Brugge and scored just one goal. Rezaei joined Club Brugge for a reported club-record fee of €5 million in August 2018.

Ali Gholizadeh, another Team Melli player in Belgium has made a cameo appearance for his club, Sporting Charleroi coming in at the 88th minute of a league game. His status seems to be a bench warmer with Charleroi however there are no indications that the club is going to release him.

Omid Ebrahimi to sign for Qatar’s Al Ahli club.

The Qatari al-Arab newspaper reported that Omid Ebrahimi joined the Al Ahli football team in a one-year contract.

According to the newspaper, the one-year contract with Ebrahimi will be signed with Al Ahly today.

Yesterday, Esteghlal’s German coach Winfred Schafer officially confirmed  that his midfieleder will be leaving.

The 30 years old Omid Ebrahimi was one of the finest players for Team Melli in the last FIFA World Cup.  He joined Esteghlal from Sepahan in 2014. Ebrahimi has played 33 times for Team Melli which included AFC Asian Cup 2015 in Australia and the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia.

Jalal Hosseini Joins Al Ahli of Qatar

Team Melli central defender , Seyed Jalal Hosseini has joined Al Ahli of Qatar on a one year deal and expected to be in Doha for his medical soon.

After the breakdown of negotiation with his current club , Persepolis , Hosseini , who was out of contract , decided to seek his fortune abroad and join another Iranian player , Mojtaba Jabbari in al Ahli.It seems that the current Persepolis CEO was not willing to honor the promises given to Hosseini by the ex CEO Mohammad Rouyanian in terms of financial settlements and  arrears in wages payments. The current CEO , Rahimi also refused to accept Hosseini’s latest wage demands which he deemed to be unreasonable.

sqd-Hosseinii2013

Al Ahli of Qatar had Fereydoon Zandi on its roster , before the German Born Iranian suffered a horrendous career threatening injury.  Al Ahli  just announced recently that their ex-Iranian midfielder has retired from football after will be leaving the club. There are talks that Zandi might rejoin the club as a coach.

Last season , was one of the best in a decade of this once top Qatari club. After suffering relegation and languishing in the lower leagues for years, Al Ahli gained promotion the season before last under the shrewd coaching of Milan Macala. Al Ahli reached the semi-finals of the cup last season and finished the league  in a comfortable 6th position in the 14 teams professional league.

Several other Qatari clubs are seeking to recruit Iranian players. Most of the Team Melli players who are available for transfer have been contacted by Qatari clubs agents. So, far , Hosseini is the only deal that has been announced 

 

Career threatening injury for Fereydoon Zandi.

The ex-Esteghlal and Team Melli player, Fereydoon Zandi was rushed to hospital after a horrible tackle that broke his leg and threatened his career as a footballer.

The incident happened during the match between Al Ahli and the newly promoted club Al Muaither. In the 80th minute a wild tackle by Georgi Gikalov hit the worst possible area of Zandi Leg who fell on the ground in severe pain and was immediately taken off the field. Zandi was taken to Espitar sport hospital and went immediately under operation.

The irony of that match which was stopped for 5 minutes while attending to Zandi, was that the player who broke Zandi’s leg was awarded the Most Valuable Player title to the utter disgust of Al Ahlii club and its supporters. The Manager of Al Ahlii said that this selection is a blatant disregard for for play.

The surgery took 4 hours under the supervision of Dr. Philip Landro one of the top sport surgeon in the world.

After the long surgery , with many well wishers, Zandi supporters and his family at attendance in the hospital, Dr. Landro informed the crowd that the operations was completely successful , and Zandi will be playing football in 6 months from now, if he wishes to do so.

Al Ahli won promotion last season under Milan Macala with Zandi playing a prominent part in the campaign after leaving Esteghlal to play in the Qatar Soccer League QSL.

 

Fereydoon Zandi hospitalized

 

 

Iran continues its domination of Asian futsal with an Aussie drubbing.

Dubai – Maktoum bin Rashid Arena – Al Wasl Club..

Iran futsal team dominated their strongest group rival and scored 9 goals without return in what was dubbed as the battle for group leadership. At the end , it was just another practice session for the Persians as they run over Australia 9-0 in a one sided match.

Vahid Shamsaei , the ever green Iranian Captain was on the score sheet again as he lead his young teammates to an emphatic third victory on a row scoring an average of 10 goals a game ( Played 3 Won 3 Goals for 31 against 1). The first half ended 5-0 for Iran and despite some strong efforts by the Australians , they could not manage to penetrate the solid Iranian defense. On the rare occasion that they managed , Nazari , Iran’s goalkeeper was more than capable of handling any threats.

Iran , therefor concludes its group matches with an impressive record. Team Melli will be facing Uzbekistan in the Quarter Finals on Monday.

A whirlwind start for defending AFC Futsal Champions, Iran.

Iran Futsal teamThe defending AFC Futsal Champions, Iran has started their campaign in whirlwind style when they defeated their main rival in the group , Korea Republic by a whopping 14-1 score line.

The first match of the two powerful Asian opponents played in Al Shabab arena to a full capacity mostly Iranian fans who did not stop supporting their team from way before kickoff. Apparently, many fans were unable to gain entry due to the limited space and seats available at this venue.

The first half ended with a 6-0 score line for Team Melli , but the floodgates really opened a few minutes into the second half.  Iran displayed some fantastic  team world and wonderful goals to keep the crowd entertained through the match.

Midway through the second half, Iran’s coach played virtually the reserve team , but that did not stop the Iranians notching goals one after another.

The irony of this match was that the Korean were quite strong and opponents who did not give up at any stage. Perhaps the gamble taken by the coach in playing the goalkeeper as a field player was behind the large number of late goals conceded in the second half , but apart form that the Koreans were  simply overpowered  by their nemesis the Iranians who were excellent in individual skills and teamwork.

Another odd occurrence was the failure of the world’s top futsal scorer Vahid Shamsaei and the Captain of the team , to score.

Iran will play Qatar , who lost their first match 3-1 , on Saturday before finishing their group  matches against Australia on Sunday.

 

Lineups

I.R. IRAN

4              DF           MOHAMMAD KESHAVARZ NASRABADI 23

7              MF         ALI ASGHAR HASSANZADEH         12,  33

9              FW         SHAMSAEE VAHID (C)

10           FP           TAHERI MOHAMMAD    11

12           GK          MOSTAFA NAZARI

Substitutes

1              GK          ALI REZA SAMIMI

5              DF           HAMID AHMADI

6              MF         JAVAD ASGHARIMOGHADDAM                29,  39

11           DF           MAJID LATIFI

14           FW         MAHDI JAVID    15,  17  27

15           MF         HOSSEIN TAYEBI               31

17           MF         AHMAD ESMAEILPOUR                  7

 

ALI  SANEI ARANI (Head Coach)