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Daily News:Feb 08, 2010  Hashemian concerned about future of Iran football Esteghlal crushes Zorratkaran at Azadi Video: Pele Predicts World Cup 2010 Favourites Rooney's cooler head prevails for England Mancini: February Is Crucial For Manchester City Barcelona Return To Training Without Alves, Puyol And Toure Valdes: The Referees Are Professionals; The Pressure Will Not Affect Them Real Madrid's Esteban Granero: My Best Is Yet To Come AC Milan agree shirt sponsor deal with Emirates - source Ibrahimovic: I Am Not Worried About Not Scoring Fit-again Kaka feels he is improving all the time Ballack hits back at Wenger sniping Mascherano Defends Referee After Fierce Derby Against Everton Gascoigne facing drink driving charge Arsenal needs to end slide against LiverpoolFeb 07, 2010 Daei: 90 percent of Iranian footballers dream of playing for Persepolis Del Bosque 'Relatively Happy' With Euro 2012 Draw Higuain Close To Signing Improved Real Madrid Contract Keane scores 1st Celtic goal in Scottish Cup win Capello Says England's Euro 2012 Group Is One Of The Toughest Raul Albiol Confident Of Real Madrid Success Inter juggernaut rolls on, Milan draw Vogts expects windfall from Germany game Hiddink sad that UEFA had to part former Soviet states Big guns get comfortable Euro 2010 draw Spain handed easy draw for Euro 2012 Draw for the Euro 2012 qualifying competition Referees Are Doing Their Best - Barcelona Sporting Director Arsenal To Hand Cesc Fabregas 30m Deal Massimo Moratti: Jose Mourinho Is The Secret Behind Inters Success Milan stumble and Inter cruise as title looks over England and Wales to clash for Euro place Scots confident of ending major finals wait Van Gaal accuses winners Bayern of arrogance Ancelotti expects Chelsea to ignore Terry storm Ferdinand's England captaincy 'will boost United'Feb 06, 2010 Ahmadzadeh named Esteghlal of Ahvaz coach Persepolis best Iranian team in IFFHS rankings Afghanistan, Bangladesh in summit clash VIDEO: Roberto Mancini on Wayne Bridge's situation VIDEO: Fabio Capello replaces Terry with Ferdinand Hurting ... John Terry hasn't given up hope of captaining England again Benitez: I Cannot Ask For More From My Players Inter's Christian Chivu: I've Started A New Life After Injury Pele: Ronaldinho should be on Brazil WCup teamKaveh's Corner:Afshin's Corner:
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January 23, 2008Iranian Professional League — Round 18 Wrap1/23/2008  Perspolis and Sepahan Keep Winning Despite Turmoil The midseason break for the Iranian football meant: • Major snow storms cancelling team practices Perspolis and Sepahan, one-two in the table, went through difficulties that typically should insure disaster. At Perspolis, Afshin Ghotbi, continues to be this season’s most successful club coach in Iran. Perspolis is at the top of the table and marching forward but the house is not in order. During the break, when Ghotbi tried to fire his second assistant coach due to insubordination, club president stepped in and overruled him. Then a few of the five players who have been vocal against Ghotbi for months went on several interviews criticizing their head coach. Many expected the club President to step in and punish the players but no action was taken against them. Ghotbi finds himself in a situation that with every tie or loss a mountain of criticisms would be directed against him by those who either plan to take his place or find themselves not on Ghotbi’s arrangement on the field. As long as Perspolis wins, this uncomfortable co-existence of the two sides would remain but if the REDs find themselves in a slump, many expect to see Ghotbi’s first assistant to engineer a change behind the scenes to replace his boss. Within the club, key players including Capitan Navidkia criticized their coach. Bonacic quickly then ended up at UAE’s Al-Nasr. In thirty days, Sepahan lost her head coach, five points and left a trail of bad memories behind. Perspolis won at home when no fans were allowed in to the stadium as a punishment for fans behavior of the past. The REDs managed to defeat Sanat Naft for the third time this season. This time, the score was 1 – 0. Sepahan had to play a home game outside of home in Tehran as a punishment yet the team defeated the last place Pegah 3 – 1. On the road in Ahvaz, Estaghlal faced Esteghlal of Ahvaz. Despite the fact that these two clubs share the same name and have some common histories, bad blood was evident. Just weeks ago, Esteghlal of Ahvaz head coach resigned his post and joined the Tehran BLUEs. Esteghlal defeated Esteghlal of Ahvaz 2 – 1. Sixth place Barg lost their coach to the national team. Yavari is now the General Manager of the national team but despite of that, Barg salvaged a tie at home against Paykan and remained in top six. Ali Daei’s Saipa is still struggling and at home tied Rahahan 2 – 2 on a 91st minute goal. Mes has a new head coach. Amir Ghalenoi formerly the interim head coach of the national team now coaches the 14th place Mes. In his first game as a coach, Mes defeated Pas 2 – 0. RESULTS Here are the results of week 18: (Home teams are noted first) Perspolis 1 – Sanat Naft 0 Sepahan 3 – Pegah 1 (the game was played in Tehran as a punishment for Sepahan) Saipa 2 – Rahahan 2 Shirin Faraz 0 – Moghavemat Sepasi 1 Esteghlal of Ahvaz 1 – Esteghlal of Tehran 2 Saba Battery 0 – Abumoslem 1 Mes 2 – Pas 0 Bargh 1 – Paykan 1 Malavan – Zobahan (Due to weather condition, the game was postponed) TABLE RANKINGS 1 – Perspolis 39 points 2 – Sepahan 32* (Five points deducted as penalty) 3 – Saba Battery 29 4 – Malavan 27 5 – Esteghlal 26 6 – Barg 26 … 13 – Saipa 20 BEHIND THE NUMBERS 0 for 2 – Perspolis and Sepahan each hosted a match with no fans. They were both penalized for fans’ violence. 5 – Number of points deducted from Sepahan for the fans problems during week 17 against Perspolis. 5 out of 19 – New Brazilian player of Mes, Paolo Roberto Zaltron, scored two of the five goals scored by foreign players in the league. 19 – It took 19 months for the Iran Football Federation to have a President. 20 – We are entering month 20 of the national team without a permanent head coach. World Cup qualifying matches are only a weeks away. Kaveh_Mahjoob@hotmail.com 
3 Responses to “Iranian Professional League — Round 18 Wrap”
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فارسی
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:48 pm
What I don’t understand is why would some players in Sepahan or Persepolice would criticize their coaches. In case of Persepolice, Ghotbi since his arrival has made this team the league leader. In case of sepahan, their coach made their team one of the best in Asia. They did not value him and now he is gone. I am afraid with the attitude that persepolice club managers in not showing any support for the coach, Iranian football may loose Ghotbi as well, who is arguably one of the best Iranian coaches there is. In a situation where hardly any of the respectable coaches that have been approached to lead our national team have shown interest in the job and involvement in Iranian football, why don’t we value the very few good ones we have.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Behrad jAn, I ask the same questions myself. It is as if there is a conspiracy to bring down any club that shows signs of improvement. Saipa won the league and over the summer all of their main players were traded away; Esteghlal won the league and they failed to submit the papers on time so they were kicked out of AFC Champions League and their coach was fired; Foolad won the league and within one year they lost most of their players and were relegated to 2nd division; and now Sepahan.
Some of it is the club and league officials but as you point out, the players have a role in it too.
January 24th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Afshin,
You have made an interesting point. If I were to guess, I would attribute part of the current problems with the Iranian football to the poor economy. These days, unlike the old days, there is plenty of money in this sport and I am afraid that may have attracted many unwanted elements to this field.
I just saw the news about the possible new coach, Clemente. The report says, if he accepts the job, he will be living in Spain and traveling to Iran in between. I know we seem to have run out of options as far respectable foreign coaches, but would that scenario really work? Clemente has never been to Iran and perhaps with the exception of Nekounam, unfamiliar with Iranian players. Will his staying in Spain and occasional trips to Iran be enough for him to lead our team to and hopefully in the WC? Considering the situation, I am wondering why someone like Ghotbi is not even considered for the post.