Direct Kicks

2012-06-28T04:33:00.001-07:00

Sometimes one's desperate urge to get the maximum attention, be the hero of the day and hog the limelight may fall flat on its face and backfire.
Just ask Cristiano Ronaldo about that, who had insisted on taking the final penalty even prior to the start of the tournament. Referring to the matter of taking the final penalty in a tie break which decides the winner of the tie, and a ticket to the final of the second-most important international tournament in football.

Of course, taking such poses usually doesnt help with garnering sympathy either.

Thankfully, the more deserving team, Spain, came out of it as winners and still have a chance to make an unprecedented treble (Euro-WorldCup- Euro). Olle!

Iran putters along at home against Qatar

2012-06-13T16:59:00.002-07:00

Iran draws with Qatar at the expense of our nerves and hair(?)

What was our chance to put some distance between ourselves and the rest of the group (except South Korea, of course) turned out to be one torturous experience and one that taxed our patience. Everything was in place for a good home victory in front of a jam-packed Azadi stadium – something that hasn’t happened in recent years. We had an internationally renowned coach, a decent squad of players (although injuries to a few like Ghazi, and Dejagah were of concern), an exhausted Qatar fresh from their drubbing by Korea mere three days prior while our team had a rest day. We also recognized the need to get the three points off this game as it would help our campaign tremendously.

Well, now you can imagine our utter surprise when we first saw the starting line up chosen by Quieroz. Rahmati in goal with Mahini and Pouladi sandwiching Aghili and Hosseini in the back was expected and quite sensible. But it was beyond this line that raised our suspicions and ultimately ire as Quieroz chose to go with not one, but two defensive midfielders, Nekounam and Teymourian! So this was a departure from his earlier chosen formations, months ago, which was a more adventurous 4-3-3. In front of these two were the 33 year old Karimi in the middle with Hajsafi and Heidari on the flanks. Given the latter two’s characteristics and abilities, it was natural to wonder where the goals would come from as these two aren’t exactly known for their goal scoring ability. And seeing Ansarifard’s name didn’t provide any respite or comfort in this regard either! Ansarifard’s poor performances against the very same Qatar, especially his misses in Qatar were still fresh in our minds. What was going on? What happened to all the claims of victory and leaving the rivals behind?

Our past experience with a single forward formation hasn’t been exactly flattering. Therefore leaving Ansarifard alone up there was quite worrying. Why such defensive posture and caution? This was a home game with a 100,000 screaming fans against the tired legs of a freshly beaten team. We were wondering about Quieroz’s game-plans when the game started and we started aggressively, putting pressure on the opponents. However, after the first 10-15 minutes of good pressure, we slowly settled into a pattern of Qatar staying back and defending in mass with only one or sometimes, two players hovering around the midline and with us basing most of our attacks from the flanks with decent pairing of Heidari-Mahini on the right and Hajsafi-Pouladi on the left. Crosses coming with rapidity, which was fine by me, but coming from all sorts of angles and positions, mostly landing in the middle of the box, which proved to be easy for the big Qatari keeper, Qasem Burhan, to collect.

The more we played, the more it became apparent that Quieroz has relied heavily on crosses from flanks. But to whom? The aging Karimi was always a few yards behind and Ansarifard showed he is still not ready to hustle and battle for balls with well-built defenders … be it on the ground or in the air! No wonder majority of the balls were collected quite comfortably by the keeper. But aside from crosses, the only other route exploited by us was long free throws from both side. In fact it was off one such long throw which created our best opportunity to score when Nekounam volleyed slightly off-balanced and hit the bar. Apart from this, there wasn’t much to write home about. Both Karimi and Ansarifard were more or less invisible and Quieroz almost resorted to substitutions (once again, similar to our last game) acknowledging his poor starting line up.

In this half Rahmati also saw action as the sole Qatari corner saw a dangerous header almost creeping in had it not been for a fantastic reflex save by him. However, just as his save drew much cheer, his inability to exit even for balls that landed in his 6 yard line was exposed. A weakness that has been accentuated in recent months.

The second half, sadly, was no different from the first and the series of aimless (and quite hopeless) crosses was resumed. Didn’t Quieroz speak to the boys about such crosses? Some crosses came as soon as the player had gone past the half-line as if to say “I cross, therefore I am”. Crossing just for the sake of saying “I crossed”! Bringing in the likes of Khalatbari for Hajsafi and later on, Dejagah (fresh from injury) hardly made any palpable impact as we still didn’t have enough bodies in the box meeting all these crosses.

To make matters worse, Qatari players started their usual time wasting tactics, especially their keeper who really stretched the time with his goal kicks and suddenly falling to the ground out of the blue, reeling in pain as if injured by a mortar shell! But while it is easy to point at all the unsportsman-like behavior and time wasting tactics of the Persian Gulf opponents, we have to bear the most blame for the draw as ultimately it was our defensive strategies, bad line up and formation and late substitutions that did us in. Case in point, our third substitution was done on the 90 minute mark by bringing in yet another defensive midfielder, Zareh for the invisible Ansarifard! So we have no-one to blame but ourselves and our inability to correct our mistakes during the game or at the break. Even if the referee didn’t allot a fair amount of extra time for all the time wasting and grass-rolling done.

So we finish the group’s third match-day with 4 points in second place with Qatar right behind us equaling our points but having played an extra game. No need to press the panic button yet and we still have 6 more games ahead of us. But we could have been in a far better position had we won the game, thus putting a safe distance between us and both Qatar and Uzbekistan. In my opinion, all those issues are secondary to a more pressing item: Quieroz’s strategy in the group as well as each individual game. So far we puttered in our two opening games. I hate to see yet another World Cup campaign get smoked just because we took it too light and easy early on in the campaign, leaving for the final stress-ridden 3 rapid-fire game scenario come June 2013. We tasted that bitterness the last time and I’m sure we don’t like to experience it again.

Player ratings

2012-06-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

RAHMATI – 7.5
He did have a couple of fantastic saves. But he also conceded a goal (that should have been given) and he showed he hasn’t remedied his weakness on crosses. Are his faltering days behind him?

MAHINI – 5.5
He was left stranded on the right side, no thanks to our prima-donna Jabbari refusing to do ANY DAMN THING. But he also did have a horrible back pass that almost led to a goal. and a few other mistakes that reduce his score. I expected more from him.

MONTAZERI - 6
He proved trusting him to pair up with Hosseini may not be a bad idea. I’d say lets maintain this duo in the central defense. A few mistakes here and there. But nothing out of ordinary given Iranian football and its low productivity in defense

HOSSEINI – 6.5
Same as Montazeri. I like this duo. Seems more intelligent than the Aghili-Hosseini one. He also had a direct influence on the Uzbek goal not being counted.

NOURI – 5.5
Seemed to be everywhere. A total work horse. But with Quieroz putting 2 lefties on the left side, they all covered each other well (unlike the right side where only Mahini was to handle all the attacks!) had a few hic-ups though

NEKOUNAM – 5
Almost all his score is for his shot (which if we had a forward in the line up, he’d have pounced on the spilled rebound ball and scored. But it seems Quieroz didn’t like teams with forwards until minute 75!!!). had a few good passes and acts. But was very invisible for long periods too

TEYMOURIAN – 7.5
He basically made up our midfield belt and compensated for Jabbari’s non-presence and Nekounam’s low visibility. His few bad passes, therefor, can be forgiven.

HAJSAFI – 6
He ran a lot and helped cement our left side. Not much in going forward though. I wonder why Pouladi didn’t play.

KARIMI – 5
Again, like Nekounam had a few instances of productivity, but was marked out of the game by tough marksmen. I'm afraid his age is slowly catching up to the maestro.

JABBARI – 1
This score of 1 is for the ONLY thing he did the entire game that proved useful for the team: walk out of the pitch to make way for Khalatbari. What a waste of spot!

EBRAHIMI – 3.5
Was totally out of place and was invisible. His exit was totally justified. He isn’t a natural striker and obviously didn’t have any impact on the team’s scant few attacks. I wasn’t impressed with him. But it doesn’t mean he should be dropped from the overall Team Melli roster.

HEIDARI – 6
His entry did bring a bit of stability to the right side as he, unlike prima-donna Jabbari, did help with the defense and ran more to cover more areas. That’s why we saw less mistakes by Mahini too. But nothing really special in the day almost the entire team played badly

KHALATBARI – 7.5
For his short stint he certainly did have a major impact on the team and the result. I really wonder why Quieroz didn’t bring him in the first half for Ebrahimi or Jabbari

ANSARIFARD – 7.5
Mainly for his fantastic and precise pass to Khalatbari. A short stint, but he took full advantage of it.

THE TEAM – 6
Mostly because we won and got the 3 points. But the quality of their performance was very very low.

Carlos Quieroz – 6
Until minute 75, and seeing his starting line up (without a single forward) and persistence with Jabbari and even Karimi, I’d have given him a score of ‘3’. The other 3 is for his last two subs who took care of the job. Our first game wasn’t very convincing and left a LOT to be desired. Be it with line up, strategy, team-work, … etc. I expect (and we ALL should expect) more from a coach with his resume.

Shaky but fortuitous first step for Team Melli

2012-06-03T17:22:00.001-07:00

Quieroz falters in our first game, but the referee and FIFA's insane insistence on having no technology tarnishing the beautiful game saves his & our hide.

With the start of the Asian World Cup qualifiers’ final round, Iran had to travel to Uzbekistan to face one of their main rivals in qualification to Brazil. But Iran was fortunate to face a depleted Uzbek side that saw as many as 5 to 6 players, including stars like Maxim Shatskikh, Tursenov and Djebarov, suspended by AFC for the game. This is the kind of opportunity that knocks one’s door only once in a life-time and we all expected Quieroz to exploit this opportunity to the hilt. Well weren’t we in for a gut-kicking surprise!

The first punch to the gut was when we saw the players walk out onto the pitch and saw quite a new set of arrangement and roster set to start the game. Traktorsazi’s Ebrahimi was the biggest surprise of the day as his debut against Albania hardly encouraged anyone to think of him as a contender for the coveted starting line up. The next and an even bigger surprise was to see no recognized striker among the 11 man squad. What was Quieroz thinking? And while we were raking our heads to find the answer to the above, Pouladi’s absence just put the icing on the cake.

The 11 man team was Rahmati taking on the keeping spot with Montazeri replacing Aghili as Hosseini’s partner in front with Mahini on the right and Pejman Nouri on the left. Nekounam and Teymourian were the expected defensive midfield duo. But then came the strange and I must confess, quite irrational set of 4 players in front of this duo; Jabbari, Karimi, Hajsafi and Ebrahimi. To say this was unexpected is a major understatement. Imagine having your main qualifying opponents on the ropes due to major suspensions. One would think this is one of those times you must grasp lady luck and squeeze the most out of it by dealing a death blow to a direct qualifying rival, and that too away from home. Apparently Mr. Carlos Quieroz didn’t think so! It seemed he is content with a nil-nil drab draw!!

The first 10-15 minutes of the game also went as expected with the depleted Uzbek team coming in very cautiously and wary of getting hit early on. But once they saw how toothless and impotent our team was, they got more bold and adventurous and started to come out and attack us in droves. Not having a forward in our team also helped them as their defenders freely stepped up and joined with their midfielders to wrestle the center of the pitch away. It took them no time to actually overwhelm our team and dominate the middle of the park.

Well, it wasn’t only the lack of a forward in our team that facilitated that, as we had quite a few players severely under-performing. Karimi, perhaps had his age to use as excuse for coming in second best in majority of the clashes. But Ebrahimi and definitely Jabbari had no such excuses as these two faltered and bungled passes, runs and any direct clashes with their opponents. It was almost physically painful to watch such a talented line up (on paper) get owned and overwhelmed so easily and quickly by literally Uzebkistan’s reserves.

On the left flank, having two lefties, Hajsafi and Nouri, sort of made this side less vulnerable to the Uzbek attacks. But with Jabbari and Ebrahimi strolling around the park aimlessly and quite uselessly, I must add, the amount of pressure exerted on our right flank became too much to bear on the right fullback, Mahini. The lad almost always faced at least two attacking opponents which almost always got the better of him. So when Quieroz, late in the first half, subbed Ebrahimi out for Heidari, there was relief that help and corrections will be on the way. And Heidari did help slightly bolster the right flank as he relieved some of the pressure off Mahini. But with Jabbari still aimlessly wandering around the pitch, hardly connecting with any ball, each passing second became an agonizing one for all of us as we wondered what Quieroz was doing or thinking by keeping him on the pitch. Frankly nobody would have been surprised had he taken Jabbari out at minute 20 of the first half itself. But he remained on the pitch for a scandalous amount of time; about 72 minutes … resulting in pretty much zilch!

Nekounam’s biggest contribution in the game was his long distant shot that proved too much for the Uzbek keeper, Nesterov, to handle and he spilled it in a very dangerous fashion with the ball dropping feet away from him. But since we did not have any forwards in the line up, ready to pounce on such balls, the keeper took a few steps and calmly collected the ball with Karimi and Hajsafi as mere onlookers from distance!

Jabbari’s first and only contribution to the match was when he walked out of the pitch to make way for Khalatbari. Now, with at least one recognized forward, our team took a semblance of shape and with him busying a couple of Uzbek defenders, the amount of pressure on our midfield was reduced. However, we must not forget to credit the ever hard-running Teymourian for his relentless and tireless running to compensate for the lack of input from almost everyone in the midfield, including the captain Nekounam.

But there was much drama awaiting us as the Uzbeks attacked in waves with great pressing tactics, they finally found their way into the goal off a set piece from Geynrikh, as first their shot was mishandled by Rahmati with the ball dropping mere feet away, in front of their forward, Akhmedov, who in his haste hit the post. But the rebound ball was finely met by another attacker and the ball seemed to have crossed the line while Hosseini standing more or less inside our goal-line trying to kick it away. The ball was kicked away and eventually it was kicked farther by the garbled defense with many Uzbek players raising their arms, claiming the goal. But Nishimura, The Japanese referee, didn’t think so as his linesman did not raise his flag. Perhaps his view was obstructed by an Uzbek player blocking the view of the ball on that side. But the TV replays showed the ball indeed had crossed the line and this was a major tragedy for the deserving Uzbek team that gallantly took the match by its scruff and despite their suspensions, applied massive pressure on us.

After that extra lucky break, Quieroz finally brought in another striker, Ansarifard, for Hajsafi and finally made the team look like a real team with two strikers. And that was when for one last time lady luck smiled upon our team. During a final push by the hosts, the never-tiring Teymourian got into the thick of things with two Uzbek midfielders and came up trumps. His pass to the runner, Ansarifard was well timed and placed. But with a glance at the other flank, the most exquisite of passes from the young Ansarifard saw the ball passed to the on-rushing Khalatbari who slotted the ball first time (quite a departure from traditional Iranian strikers’ habit of over-handling the balls) into goal with mere seconds to spare.

One can only feel sad for the unlucky Uzbek team that truly deserved at least a draw. But they will come back stronger and should not be underestimated in their return tie in Tehran.

This win was unbelievable and a tremendous stroke of luck. It also spared Quieroz and Team Melli much blushes as they severely under-performed against an almost reserves side. I’m afraid we used up our entire depository of luck for the duration of the campaign, all in one game. Quieroz may “announce” to the press he was satisfied with the team and it was all “planned”. But we know better. He has no more room nor excuse to turn up for Team Melli’s following games. Yes, he has a great resume’ filled with great teams and names. But that hardly matters when he gets the starting line up wrong and takes scandalously large amount of time to remedy his wrong picks. We face Qatar in our next game at home and that should be his best chance to put all the doubts to rest and calm all the nerves.

Highlights of the game, courtesy of PFDC-TV : click here

A tale of two penalties

2012-04-27T20:26:00.002-07:00

Two penalties that defined the European season and threw out all bets and calculations by pundits. While Messi’s dent on the cross-bar spelled doom and gloom for the Nou Camp crowd, hardly believing their beloved team too tired and incapable in breaking down the double layered 8 man defensive wall of Chelsea, Sergio Ramos’ shot made even more headlines and was the source of much amusement and jolly among football fans.

Honorable mention: Ronaldo’s miss that got the ball rolling (pun not intended) to keep Mourinho on his knees even after the referee blew his whistle for the winner of the tie. Ronaldo, who proved quite adept in taking penalties this season, accumulating double digit number of goals scored off penalties, shot an easy one that Neuer had little trouble deflecting.

A few ribs and jokes circulating the internet about Ramos' penalty:

- Apparently the Airforce and the commercial air control have landed all planes in South Africa as they have spotted Ramos’ penalty ball on radar and it will be passing in South African air space within the next 20 minutes....destination Antarctica

- It is on a world tour..

- A granny and a S.Ramos came to heaven's door and God asked them why are they here?
Granny: I am a good person and I did a lot of praying.
God: Ok, come in.
S. Ramos: I just came for a ball!!!!

- North Korea has contacted Sergio Ramos seeking information on how to get projectiles to leave earth's atmosphere.

- There will be a happy kid in Africa with a souvenir CL ball.

***********

Yes these penalties denied us, the fans, of yet another El Clasico in the final of the Champions league. But haven’t we had enough El Clasicos in the past to satisfy our hunger? Having said that I think we should not take anything away from Bayern who totally deserved to be in the final. They showed great composure and that renowned German resoluteness to reach the final. I only wonder would Chelsea decide to park the bus in the final too? Afterall it is only played in one leg and there’s no away goal rule.

Neither Bayern is like Barca. While barca’s philosophy and esthetic style has its own merits, given the type of players and usual strategies they follow, it draws a clear contrast to Bayern’s capabilities. Chelsea could afford to park the bus and huddle in the middle of their box, never worrying about shots from range or even those crosses coming from flanks as Barca’s players were far shorter and less physical than the English team’s defenders. But Bayern is an entirely different matter. Not only they will shoot from range and they have great shooters to force the defenders to come out to close on them, they also have tall physical attacking players who can and will have a real say in crosses and corners peppered in from flanks through the likes of Lahm. So if you are a Chelsea fan, I suggest you start praying.

First blood to Chelsea

2012-04-18T14:37:00.003-07:00

Chelsea defeated Barcelona in a match that left a lot to be said. And boy do we have a lot to talk about.

First of all Chelsea rode their luck and really capitalized on the one or two serious chances they got through their ever-green star, Drogba, who incidentally spent a LOT of the game rolling on the floor! Barca was unlucky to have hit the bar twice, get a shot cleared on the goal line and a few other shots that were saved by great acrobatics from Cech. I also assume things cannot stay the same in Nou Camp. But at the same time I think there are things that need to be addressed or at least considered as note-worthy.

Attack routes: Barcelona’s pointless crosses and corners into the opponents’ box and how they proved impotent only reinforces the fact that they DO need a tall, physical forward like Van Persie to give them some sort of an option in such situations. Yes, they experimented with the vindictive and egotistic Ibrahimovic. But that doesn’t mean every other striker will be the same. But it was painful to see they try crosses and corners into the box for short forwards like Alexis, Messi and Cesc who were always crowded by the tall, physical defenders.

Barca has to think about adding other dimensions to their game and attack. Merely satisfied with “walking the ball into the goal” is going to get the team through each and every game and situation is just futile.This becomes more apparent when Barca faces teams that park the bus in front of their goal and fill their 18 yard box with 9 or even 10 players for long periods of the game.

Shooting: The shooting by almost everyone was atrocious. Most of the time the players don’t even look for a shot. But the scant few instances they did attempt, they rushed it or were amateurishly off target.

Overpassing and lack of urgency: While the passing and tiki-taka is very pleasing and all, when the team falls behind and needs to show urgency, there is no change of pace or tactics. It still stays the same patient tiki-taka which allows the opponent to regroup and gather in their box and block our through passes from the middle. Don’t get me started on the wasted crosses from flanks.

And I’m afraid by now the whole world knows how Barca plays and what could impede their game. From leaving the grass uncut (in some pitches you could even see flowers at the tip of the grass!!) to parking the bus in the box to getting violently physical and rash style. Therefore mixing it up with a few new tricks and routes to attack will prove extremely successful for the club and will make defending against them that much more difficult and unpredictable.

Bottomline: No need to fret yet, though. We have the return game in Spain and with the crowd behind the team, given Barca’s great form at home leaves a lot to look forward to.

A date with History

2012-04-17T21:30:00.004-07:00

4/18/2012 Will bring in a flood of memories for Barcelona fans when once again they travel to London's Stamford Bridge to take on one of their toughest rivals, Chelsea in yet another European champions league do-or-die match up. The prize? A place in the final against either the free-flowing German attacking machine of Bayern or the ...well, a Madrid team that frankly has lost all its glorious tradition and respect of the yore mostly because of the methods and attitude of their coach, one sad little man called Jose Mourinho.

Any football fan, even the neutrals would wish for a Bayern-Barcelona final. If for nothing else, just to watch two contrasting attacking styles go head to head to see whose knife is sharper and whose cut runs deeper. But first, Barca have to deal with a rejuvenated Chelsea, fresh off a thumping 5-0 win over no less than Tottenham this week-end. One wouldnt bet against many eyes in the Bridge to focus on a diminutive, balding figure of Iniesta who dealt the death blow with his last minute shot three years ago that eliminated Chelsea and helped Barca go all the way to win the trophy.

Who will steal the spotlight this time 'round? Don Andres? or the greatest football player the world has ever witnessed, Leo Messi? Perhaps the most overlooked but greatest midfield masterminds of our time, Xavi? Or maybe it will be a new name and someone most people would have overlooked whose flash of brilliance will see Barca through? Yes, as is evident, I am betting on Barca stealing the three points necessary. Come on. Should we discount the magnificent form Barca is at the moment? Then it is on to the mother of all battles, this year's final (looks like it, if Bayern has a say in it) Clasico in Nou Camp where Barca will make life a living hell for the dirty, unsporting and pampered lot from Madrid.

Speaking of Madrid's diving team, did it come as a surprise that as soon as they faced a decent team they crumbled and looked so vulnerable and weak in both defense as well as midfield, while their so called star players mis-firing against decent defenders and opposition? The way bayern approached their first leg, I wouldnt be surprised if we see another flowing attacking display in the return leg with Madrid still smarting after yet another defeat at the hands of Barcelona.

Iran's group finally out

2012-03-09T06:33:00.003-08:00

The World Cup 2014 final qualification draw was done and some may like the grouping, some may have slight apprehensions with regard to a team or two. But I still maintain with a good start (as the schedule provides us) we should be able to qualify directly from this group.

The group is comprised of:

South Korea

Iran

Uzbekistan

Qatar

Lebanon

And the time table of our games is:

WCQ 4.1: (June 03 2012): Uzbekistan - Iran
WCQ 4.2: (June 08 2012): (Bye)
WCQ 4.3: (June 12 2012): Iran – Qatar

WCQ 4.4: (Sep. 11 2013): Lebanon - Iran

WCQ 4.5: (Oct. 16 2013): Iran - Korea Rep.

WCQ 4.6: (Nov. 14 2013): Iran - Uzbekistan

WCQ 4.7: (Mar. 26 2013): (Bye)

WCQ 4.8: (June 04 2013): Qatar - Iran
WCQ 4.9: (June 11 2013): Iran - Lebanon
WCQ 4.10:(June 18 2013): Korea Rep. – Iran

Having Uzbekistan, Qatar and Lebanon in the group means short distances for our away journeys which sets us apart from our direct competition in the group, South Korea.

Given Uzbekistan’s predicament in their first game with suspension of 5 of their players who deliberately tried to get yellow cards in their group games, in one of our most crucial group games we may yet be provided a great chance to get an away win from one of the stronger teams in the group. And given our following home game and then the third game against Lebanon, it wouldn’t be too much of a wishful thinking to think we stand a very good chance to get 9 points from our first 3 games. Should this happen, this would mean 50% of the job already done. Will Quieroz exploit the Uzbek situation and go for the kill in our first game? Or will he keep it sedate and stick to the conventional rule of “aim for winning home games and draw the away ones”? I am not sure what will be his strategy. But all I hope is that he doesn’t leave things for too late in the campaign, given our last rapid-fire 3 match-days and the ultimate game away to South Korea. Our memory is still fresh from the last World Cup 2010 qualifiers, leaving things too late, with our last game away to the very same South Korea.

Iran's schedule for the final round of Brazil Qualifiers

2012-03-01T10:11:00.000-08:00

Iran's schedule and sequence of games for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers in 2012 and 2013:

WCQ 4.1: (June 03 2012): Uzbekistan/Iraq - Iran

WCQ 4.2: (June 08 2012): (Bye)

WCQ 4.3: (June 12 2012): Iran - Jordan/Qatar

WCQ 4.4: (Sep. 11 2013): Oman/Lebanon - Iran

WCQ 4.5: (Oct. 16 2013): Iran - Australia/Korea Rep.

WCQ 4.6: (Nov. 14 2013): Iran - Uzbekistan/Iraq

------------------------------------2O13----------------------------------

WCQ 4.7: (Mar. 26 2013): (Bye)

WCQ 4.8: (June 04 2013): Jordan/Qatar - Iran

WCQ 4.9: (June 11 2013): Iran - Oman/Lebanon

WCQ 4.10:(June 18 2013): Australia/Korea Rep. - Iran

And if we have wasted precious opportunity in clinching a direct qualification and come third in our group, we have to observe the following schedule for the rest of the qualifiers:

WCQ 5.1: (Sep. 06 2013): Playoff - Relegation Game 1 between 3rd. Group A vs. 3rd Group B

WCQ 5.2: (Sep. 10 2013): Playoff - Relegation Game 2 between 3rd. Group B vs. 3rd Group A

WCQ 6.1: (Oct. 15 2013): Playoff - Relegation Game 1 between Asia vs. South America

WCQ 6.2: (Nov. 19 2013): Playoff - Relegation Game 2 between South America vs. Asia

WC DRAW (December 2013): WC Groups Draw

What interests me is the last patch of games that are played between June 4th to June 18th in 2013, where we have to play two away games sandwiching a home game. But what's more worrying is the amount of travel involved in these three games, especially the last one which is either to the far east (if South Korea is in our group) or even farther, to down under (if Australia is in our group). I sincerely hope we have sown up the qualification by this time that leaves no if's and but's ... as is, unfortunately, the tradition with Iran's campaigns.

Iran through to the final WC Qualifiers round

2012-02-29T07:48:00.002-08:00

Iran finally books its ticket to the final round of World Cup Qualifiers with their historic win over Bahrain by a whopping scoreline of 6-0. That put a massive wrench in the business of Bahrain in their quest to qualify for the final round. And Team Melli cemented their qualification with a 4-1 away win in Indonesia.

But we still one game against the Qatari team that got away from us and escaped with a draw, no thanks to numerous misses by our forwards, especially the young Ansarifard.

Below are my observations from our last group game in Tehran facing a desperate Qatar.

FIRST HALF -

Good pace from the team and I liked how they pressed high and hard in the beginning of the game and they were awarded for their press with the great goal from Dejagah. Some really nice and slick passing that was sorely missing against Jordan.

I liked how Dejagah settled in so quickly and so well to combine with Heidari and Karimi on the right side. Shows his high intelligence. For someone who hasn’t really watched his games until today I must admit he used his physicality pretty well and controlled the ball very well. I think he is a very good addition to our TM, his debut goal notwithstanding.

Speaking of intelligence let me make a note on its shortage in our goal keeper, Rahmati. Once again his exit that led to the penalty showed he doesn’t really use all his faculties up there, while the Qatari player was going AWAY from the goal and had no place to go to! He could have merely formed a block to the player while the ball was speeding out. Somebody ought to work with him and somehow teach him to play a more intelligent football.

So far, in the first half, Karimi except a few nice tricks and dribbles has unfortunately been one of our weakest players …. surprisingly since he had a great game against Jordan. I hope he gets it together as he plays in a very important spot, right behind the center forward and in charge of playmaking. So this amount of turnover is alarming.

I expect the team to step it up and finish the job as we get close to minutes 75 or so.

SECOND HALF –

Wow. Pouladi’s crosses have been magnificent throughout.

I don’t care what you read on the score board. I’m going to call it 3-2 just because of Nekounam’s cruise missile that hit the bar. Somebody check the goal post. There must be a massive dent on it now.

Absolutely delicious freekick by Dejagah who hasn’t wasted time to endear himself to the Iranian fans.

Khalatbari’s subbing was a bit of question mark for me. He was a live wire and doing great putting pressure on the Qatari right back, keeping him at bay. I thought a more straight forward exchange would have been Nouri for Karimi who wasn’t doing much and had a weak first half. I really want to know why Khalatbari and not Karimi. Does it have anything to do with seniority? Should that be a factor?

And because Karimi was weak, poor Ghazi was not fed properly and was reduced to merely running after loose balls, trying to make something out of them! So I really doubt our softie, Ansarifard’s soft, gentle touches are going to make much of a difference. I’d say Ghazi is far more useful for the team than Ansarifard who hardly participates in defense like ghazi, and has a very weak physical game (which fits his soft, gentle touches of the ball).

Qatar’s second goal. Once again we revisit Nekounam’s old weakness which is not marking/tailing his man. He takes a couple of steps in and surprisingly STOPS … allowing the Qatari attacker to head in with absolutely no hinderance! Well, what the hell? How many times are we going to see this from one of the most experienced players in the team?

I really hope our laxity in dealing with Qatar and putting them away doesn’t come around and bite our arses in the next round. Given their hosting of the WC and AFC/FIFA needing them to at least qualify on their own merit at least once, which means AFC will do everything possible to see them through. Which means a mountain of trouble for whoever that’s in their group!

Iran - Bahrain | Full Highlights [ WCQ 2014 ] - خلاصه بازی ایران و بحرین

2011-10-11T19:58:00.000-07:00

Highlights of the Iran-Bahrain game (courtesy of PFDC-TV , www.persianfootball.com )

Battering Bahrain, Iran finally exorcises a ghost

2011-10-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

If the ghosts of the 2001 match in Manama were not exorcised by the 4-2 win in the Asian Cup 2004 or the 1-0 win that sealed Iran’s qualification for the 2006 world cup, then today’s 6-0 route certainly put it to a final rest.

In 2001 Iran lost to Bahrain under extremely suspicious and strange circumstances and ended up watching Bahrain players wave not their flag since they were already eliminated, but the flag of Saudi Arabia over their heads and rejoice as if it was them who had qualified with this win. That memory had remained with most Iranian fans and ever since this tie had carried a certain grudge match baggage that have seen plenty of rough and rash plays, scuffles and fights and generally bad blood between the two teams.

But today, Bahrain had nobody else to blame but their usual rough (and often unsportsmanlike) tactics for the disparity the faced for nearly the entire game. A rash two-footed lunge on the feet of Teymoorian saw the Bahraini defender see the (brave) Australian referee whip out the red card. From then on, it was smooth sailing for Iran and an up-hill battle for the Bahrainis.

An early goal within the first 20 minutes also made sure the Bahrain players would not resort to their usual time wasting tactics and they were forced to open up and come forward to get the equalizer. This played right into Iran’s hands as now they were allowed to play football in a more relaxed and open atmosphere. With some great performances from the likes of Jabbari, Teymoorian and Ghazi we exerted tremendous amount of pressure and eventually scored 3 goals and missed a few more by the halftime.

This was pretty much the same plot for the second half as Teymoorian scored the fourth goal soon. The goal that dropped the heads of the opponents and after this the Red team were only desperately waiting for the referee to blow the final whistle. But Iran was not done yet. With goals from substitutes Ansarifard and Rezaei they finished the match with half a dozen goals that made the 83,000-plus fans in the stadium jubilant and in festive mood.

Players that impressed were Mahini, who’s been blazing a trail in recent months in both club and national team. Teymoorian, who looked tireless and full of drive and energy. Jabbari, who made Karimi’s absence not felt and Ghazi, whose role as the big, strong center forward paid off very well. Ghazi’s duties resembled the old Daei who used his body strength and height to gain the upper hand in aerial balls, shield the ball well and feed the surging players from sides. This was a welcome addition to the usual Team Melli strategies as it brought in a British direct style of play into the team. Flanks and the wide players ruled the day as we had cross after cross raining in on the opponent box which caused much trouble for them.

Another positive was seeing the team attempt long rangers, most of which were either on target or whizzed by very close to the posts. Not to mention the best goal of the game, a thunderous 30+ yarder from Teymoorian.

But it is the final point that brings me joy. And that is to see Team Melli not retreat and retract as soon as it scores a goal or two. Until the dying seconds of the game our lads showed hungry and went looking for more and more goals. This is what has been missing in quite a few years in Team Melli as coach after coach, in continental and international games adopt an overly cautious side that often caused the team to suffer loss of precious points as they either exchanged wins with draws or in some cases, a defeat. But today I saw the hunger not only in the faces and movement of the players, but also in the face of the coach. And this gives me hope.

Scorers: jalal Hosseini, Mojtaba Jabbari, Hadi Aghili, Andranik Teymoorian, Karim Ansarifard and Gholamreza Rezaei.

Highlights of the game (Courtesy of PFDC-TV, www.persianfootball.com ):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP6RpQoOmtg&feature=player_embedded

Miserable day at ACL for Iranian clubs

2011-09-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

Only in Iran do we see a team win both home and away games and still get eliminated.

Yes, it is true. Sepahan, despite winning the return leg 2-1 has been eliminated. It was just in form with the rest of the day (unless one is a Volleyball fan who would have been delighted with the semifinal victory over South Korea) as we saw Zob-Ahan throw away an excellent chance of advancing from the tie with some lackluster and overly cautious performance in the second half and the extra time.

Zob-Ahan’s coach, Mr. Ebrahimzadeh failed to heed all the danger signs of the away leg as the Korean club Samsung Bluewings continued to use the flanks and create chance after chance until they scored their equalizing goal (after Ghazi had put Zob ahead, earlier) which seemed to pump most of Zob’s fight out of them.

But the biggest blow came not from the opponent’s team, but from the referee who, during a Korean set piece, in the melee in our box somehow saw something that even the TV replays from various angles failed to show. Zob’s Ahmadi was red carded and the team left with 10 men. The resultant penalty was slotted and it was literally mission for the 10-man Zob-Ahan who now had to score 2 goals in the remaining 18 or so minutes!

I believe Hadadifar’s absence in the middle of the park, controlling and directing the play for Zob Ahan was really a big blow for them and they looked weak in creating opportunities for their forwards.

Sepahan was not to be left behind, although they did make a great match out of it. They started very brightly as they scored a goal within the first minute of the game through Emad Reza’s well placed shot from range and doubled their tally by 12^th minute by Ashjari’s long ranger from the middle leaving the Qatari team and their fans jittery and busy biting their nail for most of the match. Halfway through the game, Talebi scored a goal which was correctly called offside, Seyed_Salehi had a great header cleared on the line by the acrobatic Al-Sadd keeper, and Emad Reza was fouled just outside the box which was wrongfully ignored by the Japanese referee.

Thus was the story until that infernal and eternal law of football came to play; "if you dont score and make use of your opportunities, be sure that you will concede". Despite dominating the game and possession, creating several dangerous chances, Sepahan conceded a goal near the end of the game which deflated their players and much like their compatriots, Zob-Ahan, stared down the line with little hope of scoring 2 goals in a very short period. But Al-Sadd's coach, the Argentine Fossati's reaction after scoring their only goal of the two leg tie was quite pitiable. Pumping his hands in the air and running around pointing to their club supporters, one would have thought they have beaten Barcelona by 4 goals in the World Club tournament ... and not merely for the single goal in the game that they still lost and made the totaly tally of "scored goals" 3-1 ... had it not been for the foolish mismanagement of Sepahan's officials. It was quite the peculiar reaction of a losing coach indeed.

Thus was the miserable day of Sepahan and Zob-Ahan in their bid to make an all-Iranian semifinal ... which turned out to be a non-Iranian one eventually.

Sepahan in dire straits in Asian Champions League

2011-09-27T01:10:00.000-07:00

When will our football officials, be they in the IFF or the clubs realize the desperate need for keeping up with the times and especially the need for a capable set of individuals who are competent in a foreign language and know their way around the internet and official sites like AFC or FIFA. I’m referring to the shameful and tragic elimination of our Omid team qualifiers where they simply forgot or didn’t bother to check the suspension/eligibility list of players prior to their game and foolishly turned a precious away 1-0 win in Iraq to a disgraceful 3-0 loss which resulted in the disheartened and defeated display in Tehran in the return game. We thought with that disgrace our officials would have woken up and made sure such nonsense would never happen again. Enter Sepahan’s quarterfinal game in the Asian Champions League against Qatar’s Al-Sadd and they include Rahman Ahmadi as their keeper (transferred in from Persepolis at the end of last season). They notch up a satisfactory 1-0 home win that gives them a slight upper hand in the tie. But as soon as the game was over, the Qatari officials lodge a complaint to the AFC regarding Ahmadi’s ineligibility due to the two yellow cards he received while he was playing for Persepolis, last season in the very same competition!

Sepahan may yet get away with it as the AFC officials in their list of suspended and ineligible players of the game did not include Ahmadi’s name (Not the first time we see AFC drops the ball and prove to us it is a far cry away from its European and American counterparts). But it still doesn’t take away from the fact that despite the Omid team fiasco, we have not learned our lessons and we continue to swim in the sea of ignorance and unprofessionalism. No matter how high the salaries and contracts are in our football! We only “pretend” to have a professional set up and league with such absurd amounts of money changing hands. Underneath that fast-fading superficial luster, we are as amateurish as they come!

Ps. – Speaking of ACL, we cant not make a note of Zob-Ahan’s precious away point from South Korea. With Zob-Ahan keeping a toehold on the tie with a precious away goal, and if Sepahan gets lucky and puts the blame on the AFC for its negligence in the matter of suspension list, our chances of having an all Iranian semifinal, and thereby, a Finalist (second time for both Esfahani clubs) is still very much alive.

Quieroz begins our World Cup campaign

2011-09-09T23:08:00.001-07:00

Carlos Quieroz began his and our Team Melli’s World Cup campaign with a sound victory over the minnows of the group, Indonesia. The scoreline of 3-0 was attractive enough for the general fan, as it was also important to start the games with a confidence boosting victory. However, the way the team played left much to be desired. Despite the overall team performance showed signs of improvement in some periods of the game, but the overall quality of the team was nothing to write home about.

Next was the away game to Qatar. Had anyone proposed an away scoreline of 1-1 prior to the game, I’m sure many fans would have taken it. However the sheer number of chances created up front for our strikers and especially the three golden chances for Karim Ansarifard, all of which he scoffed with rather meek and lackluster shots that resembled mere passes to the opposition keeper, left me wondering what if we had a more competent selection and staring line up. We could have easily taken the game and perhaps finished handsomely by 2-3 goals margin. But Qatar got away with a draw and we hopefully will not reach a position to rue all those wasted opportunities. The hosts’ goal was a very soft one where they exploited the confusion created in the middle of our defense and slotted a goal to salvage a point for them. One cant and shouldn’t blame the loss of two points on the young Ansarifard and despite the knee jerk reactions of some fans, I still believe he has enough talent to remain in our overall squad. However, he can certainly work on his final shots and not try to insist too much on a silky touch or tap-in. Sometimes a little power is what the doctor prescribes.

Speaking of player selection and starting line up, I have a bone to pick with our new coach. Either it is is untimely vacation at the beginning of the league season that deprived him of keeping an eye on the in-form players or perhaps his reliance on his Iranian assistants to pick the right players that ended up with a roster that included a few our of form players, one or two of whom actually found their way into the starting line up as well!! Gholamreza Rezaei is a talented player with good amount of pace to create trouble for almost any Asian team’s defense. But in recent months he hasn’t been in form and that productive. Yes he still makes fast runs up and down and zig-zags to the middle with the same pace. But all these moves show no real purpose or design and at times they even hinder the team’s attack. And yet, we see him not only picked for these games, he was also put in the starting line up. I can strongly say he was one of the weakest players in the first match with long periods of absence in the game until he was subbed (too late in my opinion) near the end of the game. And despite this weak performance, he was yet again in the next game’s starting line up and stayed on while more productive players like Khalatbari and Karimi were subbed out!

At the same time, the absence or neglect of the league’s top goal scorer, Reza Nowroozi of Foulad in any of Quieroz’s rosters (no matter how many he calls up) is something of an enigma. Surely in a 30+ man squad with a handful of out of form players there is room for the league’s top scorer. That’s what any sensible, logical person would think. And yet … .

With the Bahrain game looming one can only hope with more serious outlook towards the league players and hopefully with more coordination among the players with some sound strategies, we should be able to get the 3 points and put some distance between ourselves and the rest of the group.

Guardiola surpasses Cruyff

2011-08-27T05:05:00.000-07:00

Barcelona reign supreme in Europe's Super Cup by defeating gutsy Porto 2-0

A whopping 13 titles in only 3 seasons screams of Guardiola's mastery and Barca's undisputed reign of world football. And with the upcoming World Club Championships besides the rest of the yearly/seasonal tournaments and championships (domestic and international), you can bet your house that Barcelona and Guardiola are going to need a much bigger trophy cabinet.

(Barcelona joins forces with Bill Gates to fight and eradicate polio)

Barcelona f.c. defeats Madrid Zoo f.c.

2011-08-17T22:22:00.000-07:00

Spanish Super-copa, 2011. Football, the beautiful game, triumphs over ugly animalistic circus called Real Madrid. That game was more like a match between 11 skillful football players committed to the beautiful game versus 11 ugly, rabid dogs, led by one of the most disgraceful coaches in the world, hell bent on reminding the world why they dont have the respect of the true football aficionados.

If there was any doubt remaining in the mind of some people who were either in denial or suffering from extreme bias, Mourinho’s disgraceful behavior, twisting the ears of Barca’s assistant coach, Vilanova, in hope of provoking even more reaction and controversy should have been proof enough as to who the instigator behind Real Madrid’s shameful displays ever since this pitiful man took over as coach. It is no wonder his team continues to fail in terms of sportsmanship and discipline, if their coach is anything to go by. The Spanish F.A. ought to consider if such things go unchecked, there could come a time when Pepe or Marcelo or a host of other Madrid players may take things too far with a rash tackle and end up depriving the world of football of the likes of Messi or Xavi or Iniesta.

He single-handedly gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘sore loser’. And if the Spanish League authorities have an inkling of fondness for the game of football, they ought to take a very serious look at Mourinho’s antics and especially violent players with track record like Marcello, Pepe and a few others in the Madrid side. Otherwise, Mourinho and his Madrid team will cause untold damage to the game of football as well as the Spanish football as a whole.

It is a shame to see this happen since the Madrid side, jam-packed with highly skillful players IS capable of playing attractive football without such horrible antics.

However let us not get distracted by the ugly display and miss the positive side of the game too. Real Madrid came into the match full of energy and hope that their strategy of high pressing and full intensity frontal attack on Barca’s back-line would bear fruit as it did in the first leg. This is testament to the ability of its players who can put the best club in the world under such intense pressure (which begs the question why should they resort to unsportsmanship and violent behavior). But Barcelona once again proved why they are hailed as arguably the best football side in the history of football, by shrugging off the initial pressure and settling into their game and scoring some magnificent goals that will be etched in the memory of all those who watched the game. From Messi's exquisite through pass to Iniesta that carved the Madrid backline with a hot knife through butter for the first goal, to the central defender, Pique’s cheeky backheel to Messi who scored the team’s second, to the marvelous combination play involving the new signing Fabregas, for the match winner. Barcelona lived up to its reputation as the most fantastic footballing side with pomp and heralding the shape of things to come in the upcoming season.

By the by, did I mention this win marks Guardiola’s amazing 11th title (equaling Johan Cruyff's) out of the possible 14 since he took over as the coach of Barcelona and Xavi's record breaking 16th title at the club?

Related articles:
New York Times: This is why some people dont like Real Madrid

Iran's group in 2nd stage World Cup qualifiers

2011-07-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

Iran has been grouped with the following teams in its campaign to reach Brazil's 2014 World Cup, where the top 2 teams advance directly for the final stage:
- Qatar
- Bahrain
- Indonesia

Given the rules of advancement from this group the final stage of the Asian qualifiers, I dont see it a very difficult task. However, we must be aware of a couple of issues.

1- The away games to both Persian Gulf nations would not be without its usual characteristics and antics, even if we put aside the weather factors such as humidity and heat.

And even the away game to Indonesia is nothing to ignore as the Indonesians have proven to be quite formidable at home. Case in point their 4-3 qualification victory against Turkmenistan where more than 80,000 of its fans packed their stadium.

2- The second issue is the scheduling of the games, particularly the two games scheduled for November 2011, where we have to travel to Bahrain and play our away game on 11th of November an then traverse the whole continent to Indonesia to play them on 15th of November. Meaning 2 away games in a span of 4 days with a cross-continental journey involved.

Going by the IFF's dismal record in travel arrangements, I'd venture even if they prepare a chartered plane for the team to travel, the team would still be under tremendous strain and tough conditions for the 15th game. Factors such as humidity and travel fatigue will be compounded by shortage of recovery period between the two games.

So I would caution any fan over thinking this as an easy group where we walk over the opponents.

The complete schedule of our group games is as follows:
2 September 2011
Iran v Indonesia
Bahrain v Qatar

6 September 2011
Qatar v Iran
Indonesia v Bahrain

11 October 2011
Iran v Bahrain
Indonesia v Qatar

11 November 2011
Qatar v Indonesia
Bahrain v Iran

15 November 2011
Qatar v Bahrain
Indonesia v Iran

29 February 2012
Iran v Qatar
Bahrain v Indonesia

The overall Asian groupings:

(click to see larger view)

A wake up call for Quieroz or a warning sign for Iran?

2011-07-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

Iran got through the preliminary round of World Cup qualifiers for Brazil 2014 by brushing Maldives aside with a home 4-0 and an 1-0 away win. I would have been a fool to expect a repeat of 17-0 or even the 9-0 games of a decade ago as Maldives has shown great improvement from those days. Testament to this is their 2008 championship trophy of South Asian region and the runner-up prize in 2010 in the same tournament.

(Khalatbari scores the only goal of the game)

But the source of my disappointment was the quality shown by Team Melli. Quieroz came to Iran on the strength and promise of rejuvenating and bringing a new age for our football. So far, after the Austria camp, a friendly against Madagascar and two games against the Asian minnows, Maldives, I am yet to see any rejuvenation or even rise in quality of the team's performance.

In my opinion, he needs more time to implement his ideas and theories. But that does not distract me from noticing how he picked the roster for these games and more importantly, how forgiving he was towards some very doubtful and weak performances by some of the players. The only ray of light on this issue is perhaps with the start of the league and passage of a couple of months he will have a better idea which players are useful and what they would be capable of, therefore paving the way for more sensible rosters and line ups. That's why I will not go over each and every pick when by jove, there are some rather amusing and questionable picks in the line up. However, I will attend to one particular player in a very key position.

Ali Karimi -
Are we going to see an aging Ali Karimi in the World Cup squad in 2013? He would be 34-35 by then. Given Persepolis' league games, Asian Champions league, Hazfi games and the occasional Team Melli games, I fear this schedule would take its toll on far younger players, let alone on the aging Karimi.

Wouldnt it have been a better idea to start grooming other youngsters for this position from early on and initiating them against weaker opponents so by 2013 and the final stage of World Cup qualifiers against Asia's top teams, we would have a young, energetic and in form playmaker who fits well into the squad?

Thankfully, we do have quite a handful or promising players who can slip into this position very comfortably and deliver the goods in aplomb. Players such as Ghasem Hadadifar, the Zob Ahan maestro, who, at the moment stands out from the rest in his amazing work rate, vision, passing ability and leadership. Iman Mobali is another candidate for the post. And there are others such as Ahmad Jamshidian (Sepahan), Mojtaba Jabbari (Esteghlal) - if he stays healthy and injury free, Mohamad Nouri (Persepolis), even the young Bakhtiar Rahmani (Foolad).

I hope Quieroz will have a second look at his squad picks and line ups and does the much needed fine tuning as soon as possible.

Quieroz starts with a stutter in his first showing

2011-07-18T05:32:00.000-07:00

There's nothing much to write about, except that this wasnt exactly the kind of start a new coach would wish for. Facing a team ranked at 138th place in Fifa ranking, with many of its main players missing (mostly in the French leagues), at home with all your players available to you and still winning on a throw-in and a defender's header doesnt exactly inspire confidence in the football fans.

It is no wonder despite the game being announced as free, a mere 8 thousand fans gathered to witness Quieroz's debut. Having said all that, I have to add this game should not be the basis for any theories or judgments. As Iranian players have been notorious in taking some games far too lightly when facing a smaller team. I shall keep my assessment of Quieroz's ability to cope with Iranian football for a later date when we actually meet with a decent opponent.

The real story behind our Omid elimination

2011-06-23T13:15:00.000-07:00

After the miserable showing by the whole Iranian team and staff, I was ready to rant about how pathetic our “stars” like Ansarifard, Afshin, Hajsafi, … performed and how they displayed a (lack of) quality seen only in back allies of provinces in Iran rather than a national team. I was down and wrote on and on about how Mansourian’s inexperience got exposed when none of his substitutions made any impact on the last 30 minutes of the game. I screamed about the lack of playmaker and any sort of creativity in the middle. I wrote and wrote about how idiotic and immature our players were with their insistence on back heels and unorthodox passing when the more straight forward passes would have sufficed. I remarked on the easy chances and goals we conceded.

And I wrote in anger and dismay … until I came across this little gem of a news:
Omid’s midfielder Jalal Kamyabinia, was ineligible and barred from play in our away game in Iraq by AFC.
But here’s the twist: Due to IFF’s incompetence and their failure in conveying this news to the staff, Kamyabynia did play in that game and AFC announced they ruled that game in favor of Iraq by a scoreline of 3-0.

This catastrophic news was brought to the staff and later on, to the team’s attention who understandably lost all their hopes and drive and apparently some of the lads actually wept in the dressing room. Nobody can bear such a twist of fate, from a 1-0 ahead in an away game to a 3-0 loss in a matter of seconds.

Click here for Mansourian's press conference and remarks

This put everything in context and made sense of all the poor passing, rushed, emotional hurried game, and generally the whole miserable performance. Now I am left with my anger, but directed at the ever incompetent and frankly, brainless federation of ours rather than the poor lads whose legs must have felt like lead, trying to claw their way back from a 3-0 deficit.

And this completes the infamy of Kafashian’s federation who has failed in each and every major tournament Iran participated in. Incompetence bordering on criminal! Enough is enough, Mr. Kafashian. High time you took away your misery-ridden shadow of incompetence away from our football, once and for all.

You know what is the worst part of it all? It's that the IFF had the AFC notice of Kamyabikia's suspension FOUR MONTHS in advance of the Iraq game!!! Such is the extent of IFF's pathetic incompetence.

Foolad's Nowroozi Asia's best club goal scorer

2011-06-19T21:38:00.000-07:00

Foolad’s prolific striker, Reza Nowroozi has been named Asia’s top goal scorer (clubs) with 24 goals scored in a league season. Nowroozi’s name is on the 7th rank in the World’s best goal scorers’ list (compiled from the world’s top 60 leagues), which sees Real Madrid’s Ronaldo heading the bunch with a whopping 40 goals, followed by Barca’s Messi with 31 goals. At the same time, another Brazilian who plies his trade in Iran’s pro league at Mes Kerman, Edinho with 22 goals is ranked 9th.

Zob Ahan dodges the bullet?

2011-06-16T08:57:00.000-07:00

Looks like after much tumult and speculations, Mansour Ebrahimzadeh has decided to stay put in Zob Ahan and finish his assault on the Asian Champions League. Along with this news, it is reported that most of the roster of the club have decided to extend their contracts with the club, which should keep the structure of the team more or less intact. This is a welcome news which comes at a time that Zob Ahan sees two of its key players, Khalatbari and Talebi leave the club.

I believe with a few key purchases in the transfer season, the club can fill the vacant slots well and continue their impressive campaign in Asia, maintaining the high quality we have come to expect from them in recent years.

Meanwhile, the one man they will find hard to replace is Ebrahimzadeh's talented young assistant, Majid Saleh, who will be seen head coaching another IPL club, Saipa. I believe Mr. Saleh belongs to the few promising young up and coming coaches, the likes of which, unfortunately, we dont have many!

Omid Team begins its Olympic qualifying campaign

2011-06-12T07:59:00.000-07:00

The roster for the upcoming Olympics qualifier against Iraq has been announced by the Omid team coaches and it looks quite a comprehensive list with perhaps one or two worthy players missing. But nonetheless, this is a very capable team that with enough support from the Iranian authorities, especially the interior ministry and military in allowing the exit and travel of the under 23 years players (God only knows how many times our Olympic teams have suffered from players not given permission to leave the country due to military service rules), they stand a decent chance of advancing to the next stage of the Asian region qualifiers.

The list is;
Hamed Lak, Mohamad Mazaheri, Mohamad KhalilAzad
Milad Fakhredini, Reza Talabeh, Shoja Khalilzadeh, Rasoul Kor, Abolhassan Jafari, Mehrdad Jamaati, Ehsan Hajsafi, Siamak Korushi, Ali Zeinali, Saman Aghazamani, Ali Marzban, Kamal Kamyabinia, Yaqoub Karimi, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Mohamadreza ZeinalKheiri, Hamid AliAsgar, Mohsen Mosalman, Karim Ansarifad, Iman Musavi, Arash Afshin, Mehdi Daghaghele, and Masoud Ebrahimzadeh.

The only name I find missing in the team is Bakhtiar Rahmani, Foolad’s creative playmaker who had a very good season in the league. However, I see enough talent in the team to manage the two leg tie and come out on top.

They come off a 2-1 friendly win against the Syrian Olympics team which should muster up enough confidence to meet the Iraqi side which by all accounts should be very similar to the Syrians; a tough, physical team with enough skills to push any team. The away game is scheduled on Sunday 19th of June in Iraq with the home game in Tehran on Thursday 23rd.

Queiroz selects the roster for the Maldives game

2011-06-11T10:34:00.000-07:00

The new Team Melli coach, Carlos Queiroz has announced his latest roster of players for an Austrian camp in Loipersdorf, prior to the Maldives game and I must say the list has a lot of talking points.Lets have a look;

GOALKEEPERS –
Rahmati, Gordan, Haghighi, Memarzadeh
I believe these are among the best we have to offer in Iran, with inclusion of Esteghlal’s Mohamadi of course. So, no arguments here.

DEFENDERS –
Mahini, Aghili, Nosrati, J. Hosseini, Heidari, Montazeri, Hajsafi and Pouladi(?)

First off, I am very disappointed to see one of Iran’s best defenders, Farshid Talebi’s name missing. Given his recent performances, I thought his name would have been the first on anyone’s list. The next point is Pouladi's name listed under defenders. He has hardly been used as a defender in our youth national teams or his clubs. At the same time I must say this list is missing the league’s top scoring defender M. Hosseini of Zob Ahan who scored 12 goals in the league itself. But I am happy to see H. Mahini get his well-deserved shot.

Another point of interest is the drop of Hamoudi, Foolad’s energetic right back’s name from the list which may be related to his silly actions in Hazfi semifinals where he committed two fouls within the first 20 minutes, thus handicapping his team for the remaining 70 minutes. At this level of football, having experienced international competition, you just don’t do such silly things.

MIDFIELDERS –
P. Noori, Hadadifar, Mobaali, Teymourian, Seifi, Karimi, Zareh, Zeniedpour, Baou, Ghazi, Aliasgar, Afshin

Here’s where I’m sure a lot of people will be focusing on. No doubt most of these names are worthy of playing in Team Melli. Among those missing in the list are players just about any team would love to have in their starting line up. To name a few; Jabbari, Md. Nouri, Jamshidian, Mosalman even Foolad’s Bakhtiar Rahmani. But with the abundance of capable midfielders in Iran, I understand it is a rather hard task to choose a limited number of them at any given time.

I assume Nekounam’s name is not included due to scheduling matters and frankly I agree it is not necessary to drag him for a game against Maldives.

STRIKERS –
H. Nowroozi, R. Nowroozi, Khalatbari, Ansarifard, Oladi and Daghighi
Pretty good line up of strikers, methinks. And with the return of injured Gh. Rezaei and Meydavoudi I think we’ll have a very enviable line up of forwards.

It must be mentioned that I believe the actual roster of selected players by Quieroz is larger than this which most probably includes many of the names not included at this point of time and perhaps fatigue and minor injuries of some players, especially those in teams that represented Iran in Asia may be a factor. So there's hope to see those left out given a fair trial and test at a later date.

The roster represents all the aspects of our football. It has physical players, highly technical players with great ball skills, creative ones, speed & pace as well as wide players to provide the width. This leaves Queiroz’s hands open in employing different formations and tactics. Now, all that’s left is to actually see his end product.