Tag: UAE

Iran take on UAE for top spot in Group C

Sydney (AFP) – Three-time Asian Cup winners Iran will go for a win against surprise package the United Arab Emirates on Monday as they try to avoid a likely quarter-final against holders Japan.

A draw would be good enough for the UAE to top Group C, owing to their goal difference, but Team Melli need all the points to move up from second spot.

While Iran are favourites in Brisbane, UAE’s attack inspired by star playmaker Omar Abdulrahman has netted six goals in two games and attracted admiring glances.

“In my opinion we will be playing the best team in West Asia,” said Iran’s coach Carlos Queiroz, formerly of Real Madrid, Portugal and Manchester United.

“They have played together for many years, been together since 17 (years old). They are a beautiful team to see,” he added.

Whichever team finishes second is likely to play either Jordan or Iraq in the quarter-finals. The game starts at 7:00 pm (0900 GMT).

“It’s good to finish first (top) because it gives motivation to the players for the second round,” said UAE coach Mahdi Ali. “(But) it doesn’t matter which team we have to play.

“We have no problem with Japan.”

The statistics aren’t in UAE’s favour — in 15 full internationals, the Emiratis have beaten the Iranians just once and there have been three draws.

In Sydney, Qatar and Bahrain are playing only for pride and their world ranking at 8:00 pm (0900 GMT), with both teams already out after two defeats.

Squads of UAE , Qatar and Bahrain.

Team Melli will be facing a tough task against 3 well prepared team in Group C of the AFC Asian Cup 2015 Australia.

With all the 3 opponents starting their preparation at least six months ahead of the competition and playing numerous friendly games, Team Mell has only managed one game against South Korea in Tehran while a scheduled match against Palestine was canceled in Azadi by the guests. Team Melli should have one last friendly against Iraq in Sydney.

On paper , Qatar is considered the favorite to qualify or top the group. Iran & UAE have equal chances to join the Qatari team while Bahrain is not been given much hope by the experts after their poor showing in the Gulf Cup and going through their 3rd coaching changes in a short time.

 

UAE

Exciting Al Ain playmaker Omar Abdulrahman has been included in the 24-man United Arab Emirates squad for next month’s AFC Asian Cup in Australia.

23-year-old Abdulrahman played a key role in Al Ain’s progress to the AFC Champions League semifinals this year. He has been selected in the squad by coach Madhi Ali, despite not having played competitive football since sustaining an injury during last month’s Gulf Cup. UAE were defeated 3-2 by eventual runners-up Saudi Arabia in the semifinals.

“Omar Abdulrahman is fine, his doctor reports he has started jogging. He needs five to seven days to get back to full fitness,” coach Ali told the official AFC Asian Cup website.

UAE are in the all-West Asian Group C of the elite continental competition along with fancied Iran — who impressed at June’s World Cup in Brazil — and neighbours Bahrain plus Gulf Cup winners Qatar.  

Ali has named six players who were not part of the Gulf Cup squad for the elite continental competition beginning in January. Al Ahli goalkeeper Majed Nasser and Al Wahda centre-back Hamdan Al Kamali have been recalled to the side.

UAE will play friendlies against Jordan and Kuwait after reaching Australia on Wednesday. After the friendlies, Ali will trim his squad down to 23 players.

UAE — who reached the final of the competition in 1996 when they were hosts — take on Qatar on Jan. 11 in their first group game in Canberra.

Squad:

Goalkeepers Majed Nasser, Ali Khaseif, Khalid Essa,

Defenders: Mohammed Fawzi, Abdulaziz Haikal, Abdulaziz Sanqour, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohamed Ahmed, Ismail Ahmed, Mohanad Salem,

Midfielders: Ismail Al Hammadi, Hassan Ibrahim, Majed Hassan, Khamis Esmail, Habib Fardan, Amer Abdulrahman, Haboosh Saleh, Mohamed Abdulrahman, Omar Abdulrahman,

Forwards: Ali Mabkhout, Ahmed Khalil, Salem Saleh, Saeed Al Kathiri

 

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QATAR

Doha: Experienced striker Sebastian Soria was left out of Qatar’s 23-man squad for next month’s Asian Cup with the Gulf Cup winners instead opting for uncapped African-born forwards Tresor Kangambu and Mohammad Montari.

Soria won his 100th cap for Qatar in October and marked the milestone by scoring in a 3-0 success over fellow Asian Cup finalists Uzbekistan but it was not enough to make the squad for the Gulf Cup tournament the following month.

The 31-year-old has continued to score goals for Qatar Stars League champions Lekhwiya but national team head coach Djamel Belmadi opted against a recall when he named his travelling party for the Jan 9-31 tournament in Australia.

The Algerian instead went for the Congolese-born Kangambu, a wide forward who plays alongside Soria at the league leaders, and El Jaish’s striker Montari, who was born in Ghana.

The 27-year-old Kangambu moved to Qatar four years ago, while 21-year-old Montari has been in a rich vein of form for his club side in recent weeks. The duo joined Asian Player of the Year nominee Khalfan Ibrahim in the squad after the Al Sadd playmaker was recalled after he missed the Gulf Cup because of injury. Qatar have been drawn in an all West Asian Group C in Australia alongside Bahrain, Iran and United Arab Emirates.

The Maroons faceD final warm-up matches against Estonia , which saw them easily win  3-0 and Oman next week before they kick-off their campaign in Canberra on Jan. 11 against the UAE.

The 2022 World Cup hosts staged the Asian Cup four years ago, matching their tournament best showing of a quarter-final berth in 2000.

 

Squad :

Goalkeepers: Saad Al Sheeb (Al Sadd), Ahmed Sufyan (El Jaish), Qasem Burhan (Al Gharafa)

Defenders: Ahmadi Ali Mukhtar (Al Sadd), Abdelkarim Hassan (Al Sadd), Ibrahim Majid (Al Sadd), Mohammed Musa (Lekhwiya), Khalid Muftah (Lekhwiya), Abdulrahman Issa (El Jaish), Bilal Mohammed (Al Gharafa)

Midfielders: Khalfan Ibrahim (Al Sadd), Ali Assadalla (Al Sadd), Karim Boudiaf (Lekhwiya), Mohammed Muntari (El Jaish), Majed Mohammed (El Jaish), Khaled Al Zereiqi (El Jaish), Boualem Khoukhi (Al Arabi), Abdulaziz Hatem (Al Arabi), Ahmed Abdul Maqsood (Umm Salal)

Forwards:

Hassan Al Haidos (Al Sadd), Ismaeel Mohammad (Lekhwiya), Mohammed Tresor Abdullah (Lekhwiya), Meshal Abdullah (Al Ahli)

 

BAHRAIN

 

The Bahrain national soccer team arrived yesterday in Balart City, Australia, for their second training camp ahead of the 2015 Asia Cup to be held in Australia from January 9 to 31.

Bahrain are in Group ‘C’ with Iran, Qatar and the UAE.

Bahrain completed their first training camp in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday and the second camp will run till January 7.

The team will play its first friendly match tomorrow against Saudi Arabia.

They held their first practice session yesterday evening under the supervision of national coach Marjan Eid and his assistant Isa Al Sadoon. The team warmed up and worked out some tactical moves while the goalkeepers trained separately under goalkeepering caoch Abdulla Belal.

Faisal Bu Dahoom and Abdulla Abdo also trained separately under physical fitness trainer Deen Taylor as they are yet to fully recover from recent injuries.

The team will have an early evening training session before the friendly game tomorrow.

Coach Eid has included all three professional players – Fawzi Ayesh, Abdulla Omar and Jessi John – in the squad which was cut from 27 to 23 before leaving for Kuala Lumpur.

The trio were not selected by the previous coach Adnan Hamad of Iraq for the 22nd Gulf Cup held in Riyadh in October. Bahrain failed to qualify for the knock-out stage and coach Hamad was sacked.

The best position of Bahrain was in the 2004 edition in China where they were ranked 4th. Bahrain has a player nicknamed  “Karimi” after the famous Iranian player Ali Karimi.

 

Goalkeepers :Sayed Mohamed Jaafar (Muharraq)  Ashraf Waheed (Manama), and Hamad Al-Dosari (Al Riffa)

Defenders : Mohammed Hussain (Al Nasr KSA), Hussain Baba (Al Kuwait FC KWI),  Rashid Al-Houti (Al Busaiteen) ,  Abdullah Al-Hazza (Al Hidd) , Faisal Ali Budahoom (Al Riffa) , Mohammed Daij (Al Riffa), Walid Al Hayyam (Muharraq)

Midfielders: Abdullah Yusuf (East Riffa), Abdulla Abdo (Al Riffa), Abdullah Shallal (Al Riffa), Sami Al-Husseini (Al Busaiteen) , Abdullah Omar(Al Riffa), Fawzi Ayesh (Al Saliyya QAT),  Abdul Wahab Almalood (Al Hidd)

Forwards : Ismail Abdullatif (Al Nahdha KSA),  Abdulwahab Ali, Syed Zia Saeed Muharraq)  , Seyed Ahmed Jaffar “Karimi” (Al Busaiteen), Jaycee John Okwunwanne (Al Khraityat QAT), Mohammed Tayeb (Al Najma)

 

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Group C
UAE, Iran, Bahrain, Qatar
11 Jan 2015
06:00pm
           
UAE    vs.  Qatar
Canberra Stadium
**********************************
 
11 Jan 2015
08:00pm
           
Iran   vs.      Bahrain
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
**********************************
 
15 Jan 2015
06:00pm
             
Bahrain  vs.   UAE
V
Canberra Stadium
********************************** 
15 Jan 2015
08:00pm
             
Qatar   vs.     Iran
Stadium Australia
********************************** 
19 Jan 2015
08:00pm
             
Iran  vs      UAE
V
Brisbane Stadium
********************************** 
19 Jan 2015
08:00pm
         
Qatar  vs. Bahrain
V
Stadium Australia

Qatar seals a 3-0 win against Estonia

Doha: Qatar downed Estonia 3-0 in a warm-up game for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup to extend their unbeaten streak to 10 games. The Persian Gulf Cup title holder scored through Mohammad Muntari, Abdul Karim and Mohammad Ismail  to put the match beyond Estonia’s reach in the first half.

Although the result was a good sign of this team’s progress, the game plan and the fluid like football that the Qatari team displayed against the European opposition , was highly impressive. Qatar continuing to play in such a style and immaculate performance , will undoubtedly make it one of the AFC Asian Cup 2015 title contenders and certainly the favorite team to qualify from group C that also includes Team Melli, UAE and Bahrain

The 2014 Persian Gulf Cup champions will begin their Asian Cup campaign against the UAE on January 11 before taking on Iran and Bahrain.

Qatar will play their final friendly on New Year’s eve in Canberra against Oman.

Team Melli will play Benfica Reserves !

Iran’s Team Melli will be playing a friendly match against the reserve team of Benfica in preparation for the AFC Asian Cup! The match will be played at 10:30 in the morning next Tuesday 14th October 2014.

Team Melli squad is currently in Carlos Queiroz homeland and so far has managed to arrange two matches only, one of which would have been a real test for Team Melli which has lost valuable preparation time for the upcoming premiere Asian Competition. Due to procrastinating of Queiroz and Kaffashian on signing a contract extension, Team Melli had no coach or a program until a few weeks ago.

The match against full strength Benfica, would have been a strong duel to test Queiroz’s much favored defensive system. However, since the famous Portuguese club and three times European Cup holder is involved in the Champions League and the National Team of Portugal is busy with the European Cup qualifiers, Benfica coach Jorge Jesus has preferred to field the reserve team giving his main players enough rest for the tough schedule ahead.
Benfica will be meeting Sporting Covilhã in the Portuguese cup on 18th October.

On the other hand, Iran opponents in the group have been having a busy schedule from the summer as UAE has played strong oppositions like Paraguay , Lithuania, Norway, Georgia & Armenia while Qatar played the likes of Uzbekistan, Peru, Morocco, Indonesia and Macedonia.

It is rumored that a friendly match against Palestine is on the cards next for Team Melli, but it has yet to be finalized.

 

60 days to go with the wrong headlines.

 

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60 days to go to the start of Iran’s pursuit of glory in the World Cup, yet Team Melli is making the headlines for the wrong reasons.

While the team and the squad needs much stability , comradeship , peace of mind and hard work in training , instead, a disruptions to the plans has resulted in some unwelcome events which has already over shadowed the preparation to the camp of Team Melli.

The episode revolved around one point. The release of 4 Clubs’ player for national team duty conducting a training camp in South Africa, while these clubs were still involved in AFC Champions league competition.

Much has been said in this matter while heated argument ensued between the two sides, the clubs and the football association each accusing the other side of non-cooperation and ignoring the national interest.

If it is about taking side, then we all need to take the side of Team Melli. But, if it is about the law, respect for the regulation and if it is about justice, then there is only one verdict, and that is for the side of the clubs. FIFA regulation regarding release of the players for the 2014 FIFA World Cup is quite clear. The mandatory rest period for the players is from 19th to 25th May 2014. After which the players should be released for national team duty.

 

Why Carlos Queiroz who incidentally has reminded us , that he knows more about FIFA Rules than anybody in Iran , has failed to understand and abide by this particular FIFA regulation , is beyond our understanding.

If for argument sake , Queiroz was a coach of Portugal or England , would he dare demand that the football league competition has to stop by mid-April , 30 of the best league players from their team pulled out for a camp while denying them playing in the most prestigious and lucrative club competition of the continent , the Champions league ? The answer is simply, no way. He would have been laughed at for even suggestion that. But , he got away with it in Iran, he managed to convince the hierarchy that the league should finish early and the players be at the disposal of Team Melli for about 70 days before the World Cup duty.

How did he achieve that?  Perhaps because for one, the Iranians are quite an accommodating lot especially towards foreigners and guests. It is a cultural issue to respect the foreigners and that extends to football coaches like Queiroz. Unlike their Arab neighbors, the Iranians rarely sack foreign football coaches like the Arabs do with ease and monotonous regularity, while paying them millions of dollars in compensation in the process. Cash strapped FFIRI simply cannot afford such payments and that is one good reason not to sack the coaches early.

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Queiroz justification in taking 28 domestic players for three weeks training camp, might sound logical to some. His concern about the players’ physical conditioning is one such justification. Local Iranian players, being the products of the Iranian domestic league are not in ideal physical condition. They run much less in a game than the Europeans players do and are physically weaker compared to the stronger opponents whom they will compete against in the World Cup. That is fine and quite understandable, however, what seems amiss here is the question of timing , why set up camp while clubs are involved in competitions and have already declared that they, the clubs, will not release their players for Team Melli?

What is becoming more complex in this equation is the character of the Portuguese head coach.  Queiroz demeanor, an antagonist, aggressive, stubborn and begrudging person are some of the darker side of the this highly acclaimed coach.

A look at Queiroz history and you will see a list of misdemeanors as along as your arm,

Queiroz has a history of getting into trouble with others. From the time he was sacked as the coach of UAE in 1999 due to poor results on the surface when he lost to lowly Palestine , but in reality it was because Queiroz ignored his peers advise on the selection of some players, an act that did not please the shaikh. To the time that he resigned from the South Africa job despite qualifying them for the World Cup 2002 because of squabble with Jomo Sono over who has ultimate control of Bafana Bafana. Then in 2010 came the sacking from his own country’s top coaching job because of combination of poor results and insulting of Doping team staff for which he was suspended then pardoned by CAS.

Conceivably Queiroz was not always the guilty party in all of those cases, yet he continued his style in Iran. He always seems to have differences and arguments with the League coaches over various issues, continuously involved in confrontation with the media, he abruptly leaves press conference, he is expelled from a crucial match against South Korea for being too graphic in protesting a referee’s decision. Then comes that famous headline making confrontation with the petulant South Korean coach. Queiroz was lucky to escape sanctions by FIFA for provocations and insults at the end of that famous game in Ulsan.

What it seems like is that Querioz has communication issues mixed with some hot temper. Has very little time and capacity for accepting criticism and can only see it one way, and that is his way. Anything else is seems to be a sign of animosity.

No one can question the Portuguese lack of passion and sense of achievement and pride. He is a fighter alright and does not accept defeat easily. Some of his misdemeanors might be justified, but in the real world of very competitive football with lots at stake, being an accommodating and a compromising character, can go a long way towards the success or failure of a coach.

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Queiroz in Minsitry of Youth & Sport
Queiroz in Minsitry of Youth & Sport

Persepolis and Khalatbary on the brink of FIFA Sanctions.

Mohammad Reza Khalatbary and his club Persepolis are on the brink of suspension after the Club failed to pay the UAE League club Ajman the reminder of the payment for the player’s transfer.

Ajman has given Persepolis one week ( 15th April) to fork out US$ 250,000 outstanding from the player’s transfer deal. Ajman has claimed that the amount is already six month overdue and will not tolerate any further delays by the Iranian club.

Khalatbary signed a 1.5 Million dollar contract with Ajman last year, however before he even played a single match for Ajman, Persepolis came calling for the Team Melli Midfielder and on the assertion of the former CEO Mohammad Rouyanian , they managed to strike a deal with Ajman for his transfer back to Iran.

The deal raised many questions in the football circles, mainly because Persepolis had acute financial difficulties which were well publicized and known among all concerned. Somehow Persepolis managed to pay the transfer fee for Khalatbary , but the club refused to disclose the source of the transfer fee. This transfer occurred at a time when many Persepolis players and staff wages were not paid for several months. The Khalatbary transfer created some discontent in the dressing room.

Now, it has been disclosed that Persepolis has not paid the full transfer fee to Ajman.  The balance of US$ 250,000 must be paid within 1 week else Ajman will file a complaint with FIFA. If Persepolis fails to adhere to the clause of the transfer agreement, FIFA can rule to suspend Persepolis from football activities, ban it from transfer market (selling or buying players) , deduct points or impose a heavy fine.

While Persepolis is in a perilous position, Khalatbary may also be suspended if FIFA deems it necessary. That would be a severe blow to Carlos Queiroz who is preparing the squad for the World Cup. The rest of the Persepolis players with Team Melli should not be affected by any FIFA ruling against their club and will be allowed to play for Team Melli.

Zamani, the agent of Khalatbary , shed some light on the transfer details. He said that the agreement between the two clubs required Persepolis to initially pay US$ 500,000 then the second payment of US$300,000. Persepolis paid US$ 400,000 initially and then with a lot of delay, it paid US$ 150,000 , which was half the agreed amount it should pay to Ajman. Eventually , Hossein Hedayti , paid the remaining US$ 150,000 “

“However , there is still US$ 250,000 remaining and an additional US$ 50,000 as interest fees due to delays in payment,”

Zamani said that “FIFA usually makes quick decisions when it is faced with cases of nonpayment of contracts. All evidence and document shows that Ajman Club has the full right and as such Persepolis might face heavy penalties from FIFA and might regret delaying the payment.”

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