Tag: Vahid Halilhodžić

Skocic still absent, Marijo Tot deputizes him!

The designated Head Coach of Team Melli in the pre-match press conference said that “Iran, as one of the giants of Asian Football, is looking to qualify to the World Cup and we want to win all our.”

Marijo Tot, the coach of the Iranian national team, in the absence of Dragan Skocic, who is still suffering from Corona and has been absent from the current training camp, attended the press conference before the game with Syria. He said: “As you all know, we have an important game tomorrow. We are in a difficult period and we have to get the best results in 10 games. Everything is going well and we only have a few injuries but that will not make our job difficult.”  He continued “we have to win tomorrow’s game. The games get harder every time you have to play an opponent. Our team has quality and experience.”

“As we showed before, we worked hard in Bahrain, but we were able to get the best results. The teams here are fighting hard to be their best in order to qualify.” Marijo Tot was asked about the bench for the Syria game and who will lead Team Melli from the bench. “I believe and we will keep our hopes high until the last moment that Skocic will be available and be with the team tomorrow. He has had very difficult days in the hotel for the past 15 days, but if that does not happen, we will definitely get help from him during the game. With 22 years of coaching experience, I know what is required and our conversations should be short.”

The 49 years old Croatian coach has been an assistant to Dragan Skocic in Team Melli.  He has been assistant manager to Vahid Halilhodžić at Dinamo Zagreb during 2010-2011 season. When Halilhodžić was dismissed in early May 2011, Tot takes charge of Dinamo for the remaining matches. He also guided Dinamo to win the 2010–11 Croatian Cup, defeating NK Varaždin 8-2 on aggregate in the final.

Tot Coachd in Malaysia, China, and Saudi Arabia where he was coaching for the Saudi Premier League football giant Al-Ittihad as assistant to the head coach Slaven Bilić, the most famous Croatian football manager.

Team Melli tie Japan in an entertaining match.

Team Melli tied Japan 1-1 in the friendly international match played at Azadi stadium on Tuesday..

A small crowd of less than 10,000 fans were in the stadium at kick with a  slight increased during the first

Iran was the better team in the first half with Ashkan Dejagah bouncing from his quite disappointing performance against Oman to perform splendidly and turn into the pivotal player.  Although Team Melli’s  defense line was untouched, the  line that suffered badly against Oman, this time a solid performance associated with Japanese lethargy in the first half prevented the visitors  from creating any single goal scoring chance against Team Melli.

The many offensive attempts by Iran culminated in several scoring chances the best coming to Sardar Azmoun who lost his bearing at the crucial moment. Instead of guiding his ball into the empty net , the Rostov FC forward misfired the other way.TORABI-Mehdi

Ghafuri pulled a muscle midway through the half and his replacement Mehdi Torabi made a real impact. Not only did his gazelle like runs troubled the Japanese, his dribbling on the edge of the box in injury time of the first half resulted in a foul by Maya Yoshida and a penalty.

Ashkan Dejagah failed to convert the penalty as japan keeper Shusaku Nishikawa saved Dejagah’s shot, but Mehdi Torabi was on hand to pounce on the rebound and shoot into the net. That late goal ensured Iran leaves the field one goal up on the disappointing Japanese. Neither of Japan’s stars Honda or Shinji Kagawa performed at a level to talk about in this half.

DejagahA

In the second half, the Japanese stunned the hosts with an early goal by Yoshinori Mutō two minutes into the half. The substitutions by Caoch Vahid Halilhodžić ensured a better running and challenging Japanese team.  However, even with Japan increasing the tempo and going for the offensive plan, Team Melli was still the more likely to score and better performing of the two teams.

Ashkan Dejagah continued his fine performance, with Vahid Amiri and Mehdi Torabi giving the team pace and penetration control on the flanks, not to mention and exciting flavor.

In minute 70 , a series of good interplay and quick acceleration by Dejagah ended in him shooting from long-range but the shoot was parried by Japan’s Keeper. The lonely front man was Azmoun who could not react quickly enough to convert that ball into the net.

Pouraliganji came close with a header in the 83th minute while the Japanese had their own number of chances but none that seriously worried Alireza Haghighi in Iran’s goal.

Mehdi Torabi and Maya Yoshida were lucky not to get their marching orders in the match. Both carrying a yellow card, committed bookable fouls which the excellent Omani referee elected not to show.

It was an entertaining match as both teams, playing with no real pressure, performed their best. Iran’s performance was encouraging and miles better than the disappointing draw against Oman.

The 1-1 result was a fair reflection of the match.