Player ratings

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.

No rest for the weary of Iran

Amidst internal turmoil and personnel shuffles in both Esfahani teams, Iran's two representatives have been paired against two tough opponents for their upcoming Asian champions league quarter-final clash, a daunting task under normal circumstances.

Sepahan is slated to face the Qatari team Alsadd. And they step into this crucial game not knowing who will be their coach and most probably having lost some of their key players such as Ebrahim Toure, Jalal Hosseini and Iran (and probably Asia’s) best goalkeeper, Mehdi Rahmati. Coach Amir Ghalenoei has expressed his disappointment in leaving the club due to failure in negotiations over his salary and contract fee. Although this has not been confirmed by the club management, but all signs point to a change at the helm for the club which couldnt have come at a more crucial period what with the club making a very strong case to win the coveted Asian champions league trophy.

While the yellow camp in Esfahan mulls over its next possible coach, the green camp of Zob-Ahan faces nothing short of disaster as there have been rumors of departure of Mansour Ebrahimzadeh, their capable coach as well as some of the more prominent players like goal tender Shahab Gordan and the little big man, Mohamad-Reza Khalatbari! Considering their quarterfinal clash is against a very competent South Korean Samsung Blue-wings, fans of the club are experiencing some very nervous and stressful times that should last till the end of Iran’s transfer window.

Ironically, after talk of Ghalenoei’s departure from Sepahan, some pundits have disclosed Sepahan’s management may be going after Ebrahimzadeh as a viable replacement. Although other names have been thrown into the bowl as well, such as Luka Bonacic (former Sepahan coach who went as far as Asian champions league final 2 years back) and Perspolis’ Ali Daei.

Those in the know blame the government and its role in reducing the allotted budget for industrial teams that has forced these clubs to have a long look at their yearly budget and affordability of such high profile and imminently successful coaches and players. But this couldn’t have come at a worse time as this year, given the performances of these two teams, really held much promise for the Iranian fans to actually dare imagine seeing an Iranian club lifting the coveted Asian trophy after a more than 20 years gap.