Tag: Vahid Namdari

Omid team draws with Iraq, qualification is still on hold!

Iran Omid Team drew its final group C game against Iraq, which means that the Iraqi team has qualified as top of the group with 7 points, same as Iran , but better goal difference. The match ended goal-less.

The Iranian needed to win to be assured of a place in the Final rounds of AFC Asian U23 Championship in Thailand. Iran must wait for the results of other matches in the qualifiers. The four best 2nd placed teams will also qualify from the 11 groups to  the finals.

Iran’s supremacy in the first half was quite evident against a well-organized Iraq, especially in the first 10 minutes when Iran had two goal scoring opportunities. Although in the remaining time of the first half , the match was more balanced, but in the final minutes, Omid team intensified its pressure to score. However, the Iraqi goalkeeper Ali Kadhim was at his best and prevented Iranian players from threatening the goal. The Iraqi players, were satisfied with a draw which assured them qualification, started wasting time, but the referee from Singapore was not very alert to such tactics and failed to warn them

 Iran’s coach Zlatko Kranchar introduced Vahid Namdari and Mohammad Reza Azadi in the second half to give fresh force to the forward line. Like the first half, Iran only managed a few real scoring chances in this half. As the final minutes of the game approached, the pressure on Iran’s forwards to score also increased. Perhaps the best chance for Iran to score was wasted by Vahid Namdari on the 87th minute, from Muslimpour’s cross which missed the cross by inches.

At the final whistle , Iraqi players celebrated their qualification while the Iranian were left to drift and ask questions where it all went wrong.

The standard and style of Iran Omid Team does not induce much confidence. Direct football with aerial balls was the name of the game for Omid Team in all the 3 matches. Zlatko Kranjcar has not introduced anything of value in this team. It is certainly no eye candy. The way this Omid Team is playing truly does not require a coach. If by miracle, Iran does qualify, the first question that must be addressed is the coaching and leadership of this team. There is a long road and plenty of work for this Omid team to succeed as the way this team is playing is no where near championship pedigree..

Iran Omid Team Line up vs Iraq

Meraj Esmaili ; Omid Noorafkan, Alireza Artah, Mohammad Moslemipour, Hossein Saki, Sina Zamehran, Mehdi Mehdi Khani (Abolfazl Razzaghpour), Reza Shekari (Vahid Namdari ), Mehdi Ghaedi, Reza Jabereih and Amir Roustai (Mohammad Reza Azadi).

Omid starts with a win – Iran U23 3 -1 Turkmenistan U23

Iranian U-23 Omid Team commenced its long road to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics football competition with a victory against Turkmenistan at Azadi Stadium on Friday.

Iran won 3-1 with goals scored by an own goal, Omid Noorafkan and Reza Jabierah

Although Omid won with a two goal margin, it was far from an easy game and the result was too flattering for the host with Turkmenistan , a persistent and strong team giving the host a run for their money. All the goals of the match were scored from set pieces.

At the Azadi Stadium, about 1,000 fans watched this game with the majority obviously opting to spend the Nowrooz holidays away from football.

Iran Omid Team,  already aware of the result of the earlier game between Iraq and Yemen, with the former comprehensively winning 5-0,  seems to be in urgency to open the scoring early. However, poor organization & finishing, smart defending by Turkmenistan and generally uncertain game plan, they could not reach the opponent’s goalkeeper except for a few times. While the Iranian players failed to score, it was a friendly fire which did the job for them. In the 35th minute a ball cleared from the goal line hit a Turkmen defender and it deflected back into his own goal, 1-0 to Iran.

This was result by the end of a scruffy first half in which the Omid team was far from impressive or organized.

In the second half, Iran appeared to be more calculated and calmer perhaps as the result of the pip talk by the coach. There were no more ideas of an easy win against a stubborn and physically stronger Turkmen team.

However, against the run of play , Iran was awarded a free kick in a perfect area just behind the box in the 53rd minute. The resulting free kick was beautifully dispatched by Captain Omid Noorafkan, whose shot penetrated the defensive wall and hit the far left corner of the goalkeeper

While Iran was happy to play out the game with a 2 goal lead, Turkmenistan hit out.

In the 74th minute, Turkmenistan got a corner kick, which was met by the towering Giordonov who headed the ball beautifully to the left of Meraj Esmaeili in Iran’s goal reducing the margin to a minimum. Suddenly, it was game on and Iranians started panicking.

In the remaining 15 minutes, Omid team played a defensive game thus inviting more pressure from the opponents, who were the more likely team to score the equalizer.

Iranian players were more concerned with maintaining the result than attacking and despite venturing forward on limited occasions, one such attacks ended up with a free kick

It was late in the game  when lady luck saved Iran. The Turkmen goalkeeper failed to hold a ball from the resultant free kick and the ball dropped in front of the Reza Jebeirah who headed from close range to score Iran’s third and seal the game.

While the result of the match was quite satisfactory for Omid Team , the performance was far from it. This team looks incoherent at best and has no natural leader in the field. Perhaps the relatively young age of the majority is one factor. There is distinct lack of maturity in their football with silly and uncalled for showboating such as scissor kicks in impossible situations, back heel passes that did not work or excessive dribbling by Ghaedi who looks like typical back-alley footballer.

One noticeable observation on the Iran bench was the number of people sending instruction to players. At one stage, it looked like Hamid Estili was the head coach with his touchline instructions, then it was the turn of Reza Sharoudi and even Chalangar, who is Kranjcar’s interpreter got on the act !!!

The team is definitely a work in progress which needs a lot of improvement. On Sunday, there will be an easy game against Yemen which they expect to win, but the last match against Iraq is far from easy

Iran U-23 Line up:

Meraj Ismaili; Alireza Arta, Mohammad Aghajanpour, Sina Zadmehran, Mohammad Moslempour, Mehdi Mahdikhani, Omid Noorafkan, Vahid Namdari (78 AbolFazl Razaghpour), Mehdi Ghaedi, Amir Roustaei (63 Reza Jabierah) and Mohammad Reza Azadi

Omid team draws against Jordan U-23

Iran’s Omid Team (U-23) played a friendly match against Jordan U-23 team today (Tuesday) at the Medina Al-Riaziya Stadium in Irbid City, Jordan. The match ended in a 1 – 1 draw.

The home team started offensively and in the seventh minute, the Jordanian player Hadi Al-Hurani managed to open the scoring for the host. Following this early goal, Zlatko Kranjcar players took control of the ball and the field  looking for a quick response and a change the result. Iran’s offensive midfielder Mehdi Qaedi was blatantly brought down by his opponents in the box , but Jordanian referee Omar al-Ma’ani did not believe in a penalty.

During the match, Mehdi Mahdi Khani and Vahid Namdari both hit the woodwork but none of those shots ended in a goal.  Eventually, Namdari the teams striker struck  in the 37″ minutes, wagering, and turned the ball from the corner sent into the box and headed the ball into the corner of the opponent scoring the equalizer.

In the second half, the  Omid team retained  its offensive game plan. In the 48th minute,  Namdari was in a one-to-one situation with the opponent’s goalkeeper,  and could have easily scored his and the team 2nd goal. The Jordanian goalkeeper gallantly held his position and foiled Namdari.

 The two teams’ efforts ultimately failed to score any further goals. Iran’s Omid team in their fourth game in preparation for the Olympics qualifiers ended in a stalemate.

Iran Omid Team Line up:

 Shahab Adeli, Omid Noroufkan, Aref Aghasi (Hossein Saki 46′), Mohammad Moslemipour, Alireza Artah (Omid Dareh 75′), Abolfazl Razzaghpour (Hamid Reza Taherkhani 75), Mohammad Khodabandehlo, Mehdi Mehdi Khani, Mehdi Ghaedi (Abolfazl Jalali 67′), Vahid Namdari (Younis Delphi 62) and Amir Roustahi (Mohammad Reza Azadi 65)

Before the match against Jordan, the Iranian team played 3 friendly matches  , once against Oman and twice against Syria,  in which Omid Team had won all three matches. The qualifying stage games for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be held in Iran the first half of April, 2009. The U-23 team will play in the third group against Iraq, Yemen and Turkmenistan.

Iran U-17 Stuns Germany 4-0

Iran stunned Germany 4-0 in the biggest upset of the tournament so far to qualify for the knock-out round of the FIFA U-17 World Cup on Tuesday.

Iran, who controlled the proceedings throughout the Group C match, scored through Younes Delfi (6th and 42th), Allahyar Sayyad (49th) and Vahid Namdari (75th) at the Nehru Stadium in Margao.

Nothing went right for the Germans who were disorganised in the midfield and they could not trouble the rival defence. Their defence also kept a lot of space which the Iranians exploited with repeated forays.

Iran's Younes Delfi celebrates with team mates after scoring his team's first goal against Germany in their Group C fixture. Getty

Iran’s Younes Delfi celebrates with team mates after scoring his team’s first goal against Germany in their Group C fixture. Getty

Iran, who beat Guinea in their opening match, now sit on top of the group with six points and thus qualified for the round of 16.

Germany, who beat Costa Rica 2-1 in their opening match, now need to win against Guinea in their final group match in order to qualify for the knock-out round. Guinea and Costa who played out a 2-2 draw today have one point each.

Iran play their last match in Margao against Costa Rica on 13 October while Germany travel to Kochi to play against Guinea.

Iran, who adopted a defensive approach in their last match, today preferred to play an attacking game and the move paid off as they took the lead in the sixth minute when Younes Delfi took a shot which deflected from rival defender Jan Boller’s leg and found the net.

The early goal put the Germans in complete shambles. The Iranians attacked the German citadel regularly and could have increased the lead but keeper Luca twice denied Mohammed Ghobeishavi from scoring.

Luca Plogmann once again had to dive to bring a save from llahyar Sayyad in the 25th minute.

The pressure on the Germans was so much that they conceded another goal in the 42nd minute as Younes Delfi once again scored with a glancing header from a free kick taken by Mohammed Sharifi. The Iranians were 2-0 up at half time.

The Iranian defence gave a good account of themselves and did not allow the Germans any space to operate inside the danger zone.

The Germans had only one chance to score in the dying minutes of the first half when John Yeboah’s try went over the bar from close.

After the change of ends, Younes Delfi could have scored a hat-trick but German keeper Luca once again came off to his side’s rescue and denied him in the 48th minute when he blocked his shot.

But a minute latter, Delfi made a good move on the right and send a cross into the box which Allahyar Sayyed headed the ball into the net to kill the contest in favour of Iran.

Substitute Saeid Karimi then played a one-to-one pass with Vahid Namdari who shot home from close to complete the rout.

Iran U-14 narrowly misses the final of AFC U14 championship

Hamedan: Iraq will meet DPR Korea in the final of the AFC U-14 Championship after a brace from captain Mohammed Ridha sealed a thrilling 3-2 win over hosts Iran in the Monday’s second semi-finals.

 The come-from-behind win was Iraq’s third win in the championship as only Tajikistan have denied them so far in the competition.

Besides Ridha’s two stunners, tournament’s leading scorer Mohanad Kadhim also added one to make his total tally four goals in four matches.

Iran looked promising in the beginning and soon in the 9th minute, captain Zabihollah Kohkan headed home Iran’s first of the match.

Midfielder Mohsen Godarzi set Kohkan up from the right and his captain connected a bullet header from point-blank range to secure an early lead.

The lead lasted only for three minutes after Kadhim struck his fourth of the championship with a simple tap-in. A fierce shot from Vahid Namdari deflected at the path of unmarked Kadhim who just had to guide the ball towards its destination for a precious equaliser.

Ridha scored a brace in the second-half and both the goals were identical. The dead-ball specialist young boy struck rightfooter from 20-yard area at the top corner of the net in the 33rd and 40th minutes when Iran defenders brought down Kadhim (on both occasions) forcing Iran coach Heidar Sharifi to change his goalkeeper Mohammadreza Goli.

“He has a God-gifted talent from that area,” Iraq coach Sadd Hashim praised the double-scorer after the match.

“In training here, he has already scored 20-30 times from there so we knew that a freekick around the penalty area could be a good opportunity for us to score,”

“We knew that we have to convert our opportunities and despite going down by a goal we kept our head cool and manage to win this important match.

“We are now inches closer but still need to work a lot to get the objectives,” added the Iraq coach.

Iran reduced the deficit but in the stoppage time through defender Taha Shariati who was given licence by the coach to play upfront after they were trailing by 3-1 with few minutes left.

Shariati served the purpose but there were hardly any times left after his goal.

“We tried our best but yes few mistakes at the back cost us the match,” coach Heidar Sharifi said.

“There were two main objectives for Iran team; one is to gain experiences of playing in the international competition and help grow these young kids as footballer and the other one is to win the championship.

“We got the first one but not the second. It does not matter, the main thing is to play good football, enjoy the football you play which you saw today at the pitch,” Sharifi added addressing the journalists.

DPR Korea defeated neighbours Korea Republic 3-1 in the penalty shootout earlier on the day to set up Wednesday’s final showdown against Iraq.

Iran off to a flyer at AFC U-14 Championship

the-afc.com

Published: 04 August 2014

Hamedan: Hosts Iran began their AFC U-14 Championship campaign with a 4-1 win over Timor Leste in the tournament’s opening match at the Hajibabaei Stadium on Monday.

Four different players were on the scoresheet for the hosts who will now face DPR Korea on Wednesday.

“I am very happy with the way we started the campaign but the score today was a little inflated,” declared Iran coach Heidar Sharifi.

“They (Timor Leste) were speedy and were very technical, had they come to Hamedan earlier and been properly acclimatised the story would have been different.”

Zabhiollah Kohkan opened the scoring for Iran in the 22nd minute, converting Mohammed Reza’s excellent cross.

Two minutes later. Vahid Namdari headed home a Reza corner to double the lead.

Leading 2-0 at the break, Iran went on to score two more goals in the second half to seal a comfortable win.

A sublime dummy by defender Amirhossein Esmaeilzadeh left Mohsen Godarzi unmarked, the playmaker firing home past East Timor goalkeeper Frangenio Da Cruz to stretch Iran’s lead even further.

Mohammed Zolfaghari duly bagged the host nation’s fourth, before Kornelis Nahak netted a consolation goal for Timor Leste in stoppage time courtesy of a penalty.

“I am happy with the way we fought against a physical Iranian side,” Timor Leste’s Korea Republic coach Kim Shinhwan told reporters.

“We had to travel a long way from Timor and we were not at our best physically. I hope to fix today’s problems in the next two matches and qualify for the semi-finals,” he added.

Timor Leste will face Saudi Arabia in another early kick-off on Wednesday.

 

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COMMENT

The one interesting episode of this match between Iran and Timor Leste in Hamadan was the insistence of some female relatives of the players to attend the match despite the long standing official ban.

Iran is one of the very few peculiar countries in the world that does not allow woman into sport stadiums. The ban was introduced after the Islamic revolution on the pretext of protecting the females against evil and immoralities while maintaining the Islamic values. Mixing of men and woman in close proximity to each other is considered one of the greater sins. According to the clerical hierarchy perspectives in Iran, only the filthy scrooges who seem to flock to the stadiums to watch football, not the decent folks who should spend his leisure time worshipping! The clerics do not think that females have enough mental agility to think for themselves or have enough sense to figure out where and when the stadiums are not favorable, so the clerics do the thinking and ban them all together, for their own good!

That is the official version of the ban not our views, in case you wondered. 

On this occasions though, some brave acts and strong personality Persians mothers, the type that Iran is renowned for, insisted and demanded that they are to be allowed to watch their sons. Despite the security guards attempts to prevent the group of females from entering, with the help and support of other male fans , the female relatives of these young boys defied the rules and forced themselves inside the stadium. The Mothers took their rightful place , sat and watched their sons play football like any true and loving mother or sister would do in a civilized society.

Another victory for the Persian Mothers. Bless them.