Iran NT: Players, Team, and Related Updates

I like to use this thread to focus specifically on Iran and its players in particular.

In this first post, I will try to introduce Iran's top forwards. Not all of them will make the final cut and be part of our roster but they all have been capped by Iran recently. I list them in alphabetical order.

Iran's Top Forwards
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1- Karim Ansarifard, Forward (also attacking midfielder for Iran), Olympiacos, Greek First Division
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karim_Ansarifard

Stats: Club and Country
Iran National Team: 59 appearances - 16 Goals.
Club: 2015–2017 Panionios (Greece) 44 Appearances, 14 Goals
2017– Olympiacos (Greece) 19 Appearances, 8 Goals
Last Match where he scored for Iran: 2 goals against Togo in friendly in October 2017
Last Match where he scored for Olympiacos: a few days ago
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2- Sardar Azmoun, Forward, Rubin Kazan, Russian Premier League

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardar_Azmoun
Stats: Club and Country
Iran National Team: 30 appearances - 22 Goals.
2016/17 Season for Rostov: 27 appearances - 7 Goals
2017/18 Season for Rubin Kazan: 19 appearances - 1 Goal
Last Match where he scored for Iran:
1 goal against Russia in friendly in October 2017
Last Match where he scored for Rubin Kazan:
a few days ago
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3- Saman Ghoddos, Östersunds FK, Forward/Attacking midfielder for Iran, Östersunds FK, Swedish first division.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saman_Ghoddos

Stats: Club and Country
Iran National Team: 4 appearances - 1 Goals.
2016- Östersunds FK 50 Appearances, 18 Goals.
(had 2 friendly appearances for Swedish national team and 1 goal scored for them before choosing to play for Iran)
Last Match where he scored for Iran:
1 goal against Panama in friendly in November 2017

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4- Reza Ghoochannejad, Forward, Heerenveen, Holland top division (Eredivisie)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reza_Ghoochannejhad

Stats: Club and Country
Iran National Team: 40 appearances - 17 Goals.
2016– Heerenveen 50 Appearances, 25 Goals (2nd top scorer in the Eredivisie)
2017- Heerenveen 12 Appearances, 3 Goals
Last Match where he scored for Iran:
1 goal against Qatar in WCQ in September 2016
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5- Kaveh Rezaei, Forward, R Charleroi SC Belgium First Division
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaveh_Rezaei

Iran National Team: 6 appearances - 0 Goals.
Club: 2016–2017 Esteghlal FC (Iran) 28 Appearances, 7 Goals
2014– Charleroi (Belgium) 17 Appearances, 8 Goals
Last Match where he scored for Iran: n/a
Last Match where he scored for Charleroi: a few days ago
Transfer Market Value: 1,20 Mill. €
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6- Mehdi Taremi, Forward (also attacking midfielder for Iran) Perspolis FC, Iran.

Iran National Team: 22 appearances - 10 Goals.
Club: 2014- Perspolis FC (Iran) 87 Appearances,45 Goals
(top goal scorer in Iranian league for 2 consecutive years in 2015 and 2016)
Last Match where he scored for Iran: 2nd goal in Iran's WCQ match against Uzbekistan in June 2017
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We have several other players who can play upfront but who are used mostly as attacking midfielders. Although there are several players who I have listed as strikers (their position with their clubs) who will also probably feature in our lineup as attacking midfielders (e.g., Ghoddos, Taremi, Ansarifard).

 

In terms of transfer market value, the top Iranian players would be listed in the following order:

https://www.transfermarkt.com/iran/startseite/verein/3582

1- Sardar Azmoun, Centre Forward, Rubin Kazan (Russia),11,00 Mill. €
2- Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Right Wing, AZ Alkimar (Holland), 5,50 Mill. €
3- R Ghoochannejhad, Centre-Forward, Heerenveen (Holland), 3,00 Mill. €
4- Milad Mohammadi, Left fullback, Akhmat Grozny (Russia), 2,50 Mill. €
5- Mehdi Taremi, Centre Forward, Perspolis FC (Iran), 2,00 Mill. €
6- Saman Ghoddos,Östersunds (Sweden), 1,60 Mill. €
7- Karim Ansarifard, Olympiacos (Greece), 1,50 Mill. €
8- Vahid Amiri, Left Wing, Perspolis FC (Iran), 1,20 Mill. €
8- Alireza Beiranvand, Goalkeeper, Perspolis FC (Iran), 1,20 Mill. €
8- Omid Ebrahimi, Defensive Midfield, Esteghlal FC (Iran), 1,20 Mill. €
8- Saeed Ezatolahi, Defensive Midfield, Amkar Perm (Russia), 1,20 Mill. €
8- Kaveh Rezaei, Centre-Forward, RSC Charleroi (Belgium), 1,20 Mill. €
8- Ramin Rezaeian, Right Fullback, KV Oostende (Belgium), 1,20 Mill. €
14- Mohammad Ansari, Centre-Back, Perspolis FC (Iran), 1,00 Mill. €
14- Ashkan Dejagah, Right Midfielder, free agent, 1,00 Mill. €
14- Ehsan HajSafaei,Central Midfield/Left Fullback, Panionios (Greece), 1,00 Mill. €

With one or two exceptions, the above list also represents more or less my view of Iran's top 15-16 players. In this regard, the exceptions I alluded to would be our 35 year old captain, Seyed Jalal Hosseini, whose transfer market value (500,000 Euro) reflects his age and likely retirement after the World Cup, not his real value to the team right now. Otherwise, he is at the moment still a more reliable centre-back than the much younger Mohammad Ansari on the above list valued at 1 million Euro. I personally also rate Morteza Pouraligangi (centre-back, Al Saad, Qatar) higher than how he is valued (750,000 Euro) and above Ansari. Indeed, S.J. Hosseini and M. Pouraligangi will be our likely starting centre-backs at the World Cup, while M. Ansari will more likely be on the bench.

 

Mani, You know I appreciate your football and posts on Iran more generally. Indeed, I appreciate the support you have given me in many arguments with non-Iranian posters in the past. But I don't have any issues with PL either, who is a fan of Iran's team and may have his views on players that are good or bad. I certainly don't agree with him in certain cases. For instance, Milad Mohammadi is quite a revelation to me as Iran's left fullback. PL doesn't seem to like him much. Nothing wrong with people having different view of how players rate. Even if those views aren't widely shared.

I personally like to see as many Iranians get along as possible so I certainly hope you and PL can put whatever issues you have from elsewhere or the past behind you.

 

I mostly agree with you and that is how I see the prospects of each of these players you mentioned as well. We have 10-11 players for at most 6-7 roster spots for forwards and attacking midfielders. The 6-7 spots will, IMO, go to: Azmoun, Taremi, Ansarifard, Jahanbakhsh, Ghoddos, along with Amiri and Dejagah. It is possible that neither Ghoochannejad nor Kaveh Rezaie make the final cut but it is doubtful more than one of them will. In a way it is testament to our depth that last season's 2nd top scorer in the Dutch Eredivisie and this season's sensation in Belgium's Jupiler league are possibly going to miss out going to Russia!

 

I see the below as Iran's likely 23 player roster for Russia at this point.

1- Alrireza Bierandvand, Goalkeeper
2- Ramin Rezaeian , Right Fullback
3- Seyed Jalal Hosseini, Centreback
4- Morteza Pouraligangi, Centreback
5- Milad Mohammadi, Left Fullback
6- Saeed Ezatolahi, Defensive/Central Midfield
7- Omid Ebrahimi, Defensive/Central Midfield
8- Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Right Winger
9- Ashkan Dejagah, Attacking Midfielder
10- Mehdi Taremi, Forward/Left Winger
11- Sardar Azmoun, Centre-Forward
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12- Mohammad Rahshid Mazaheri, Goalkeeper
13- Vooria Ghafari, Right Fullback
14- Mohammad Ansari, Centreback
15- Pejman Montazeri, Centreback
[16- Saeed Aghaie, Left Fullback]*
17- Ehsan Hajsafaie, Left fullback/Defensive/Central Midfield
18- Ali Karimi, Defensive/Central Midfield
19- [Roruzbeh Cheshmi, Defensive Midfield]*
20- Saman Ghoddos, Attacking Mifielder/Forward
21- Vahid Amiri, Attacking Midfielder
22- Karim Ansarifard, forward/Attacking Mifielder
23- Hamed Lak or Alireza Haghighi, Goalkeeper

*To make room for Ghoochanejad, Queiroz will either reduce the number of attacking players (e.g., not take Ansarifardi) or decide not to take players like Aghaie or Cheshmi who play centreback.

 

I have nothing against Alipour but believe Iran already has too many good choices upfront that will force us to leave someone out. Indeed, the fact that last season's 2nd best scorer in the Eredivisie and one of Iran's top goal scorers, Ghoochannejad, might not make the final cut for Russia, is indicative of how much traffic we have upfront. Especially when you consider that Ghoochannejad often didn't get to start or even play for Iran in the qualifiers even as he was regularly scoring in Holland. Same with Ansarifard, who was doing well in Greece including now with Olympiacos where he has been scoring regularly, but is by no means assured of even a roster spot.

The positions where Iran has less depth, such as in the defensive midfield position, is where we need to focus on instead. This is particularly true since we will be without Ezatolahi in our match against Morocco given that Ezatolahi will miss that game due to his red card against S. Korea. Sure, we have Ali Karimi (not to be confused with the legendary Ali Karimi of several years back), Omid Ebrahimi, Ehsan Haj Safie and Roozbeh Cheshmi who can each fill that void. But none are perfectly suited to replace Ezatolahi IMO.

Ebrahimi is a wonderfully talented d-mid but he is short and would do best playing alongside a taller d-mid who can clear high balls in front of our defense. To a lesser extent, the same is true of Haj Safie who would be playing out of position in any case. Karimi has the physique but he wasn't entirely convincing when he played for Iran against Syria n Ezatolahi's absence (although he has done well in some other occasions, e.g. against Montenegro). That leaves Cheshmi but for some strange reason the guy is being tested as a centreback recently both for Iranian NT and at his club. And while I believe Cheshmi might be alright in his usual post as a d-mid, I have not seen his prospects helped by his performances as a centreback for his club or the national team! In fact, in the 2-3 games he has played as a centreback for Esteghlal and the 1-2 games he has played in that post for Iran, he has already had 2 penalties called against him and several other close calls as well!

This bring me to another point: until Iran clinched qualification with the 2:0 win over Uzbekistan, which also assured us the top position in our group with 2 games in hand, I had been hugely impressed by how Iran would manage its game without giving our opponents even a real look or shot at our goal. This went well beyond the fact that we had not conceded a goal; our opponents couldn't get a shot on our goal! But since then our defense hasn't been as stellar. My sense is that the reason for it was Iran not having several key players at the same time, namely our veteran centreback and captain, Seyed Jalal Hosseini, our brilliant (can't sing his praises enough) left fullback Milad Mohammadi, and also missing our d-mid, Ezatolahi (but the latter only in our competitive matches since he was used in most of our friendlies). And since I am rather comfortable with our choices upfront whoever among them makes the final cut, I am mostly anxious to see Iran be able to replicate the same organization and defensive acumen I saw from us in the qualifiers. That to me will be the key to Iran doing well in its group.

 

My depth chart for the centreback position would be as follows:
1- Seyed Jalal Hosseini 2- Pouraligani
3-Pejman Montazeri 4- Ansari

 

He need to be ready by June not necessarily right now. When it comes to defense, I am a strong believer in experience. And Montazeri is an experienced, proven, player.

 

Karim Ansarifard, who is tied as the top scorecer in the Greek Superleague, should have had another goal added to his tally for Olympiacos today (which would have put him alone as the top scorer in Greece). But his shot that hit the cross bar and bounced inside the goal was wrongly adjudged as not having crossed the line.

Kaveh Rezaie scored again for Charleroi today. He is in 3rd place in the top scorers list in Belgium's Jupiler league.

Alireza Jahanbaksh scored today for his club, AZ Alkimar, against Ajax (from the penalty spot) but his club lost 2:1. Jahanbakhsh, who is a winger and not a forward, is in 10th place among the top scorers in the Eredivisie with 7 goals (albeit 3 of them penalties). But he is 4th in the Dutch league in terms of assists. In the past, he has had the best or one of the best assist stats in Holland and has been rated as one of the best players in the Eredivisie.

Reza Ghoochanejad, who was the 2nd top scorer in the Eredivisie last season, has not had a good season and has only scored 3 goals for his club so far this season.

Another Iranian player who is not having a good season scoring for his club is Sardar Azmoun, who plays for Rubin Kazan in Russia. But he is a great player for Iran and it is seriously doubtful that his inability to find the net this season for his club will cause him to be left behind from our roster for Russia. Conversely, most people would not count on Kaveh Rezaie making the cut despite scoring regularly for his club in Belgium and even Karim Ansarifard (who is top scorer in Greece with Olympiacos) isn't assured of a roster spot.

The latter brings me to this point about club versus national team performance. Ghoochannejad's best years for Iran were when he was languishing on the bench for some minor leagues in Europe but scoring regularly for Iran. Conversely, last season when he was scoring regularly for his club in the Eredivisie and finished as the 2nd top scorer just behind the top scorer in Holland, he was seldom getting playing time for Iran.

The players that gel the most and do the best in their clubs aren't always the ones that do the best with the national team and vice versa. That is true with other teams too but bears pointing out when people want to focus too much on club pedigree and form.

 

The following images summarize the record of Ansarifard, Rezaei and Jahanbakhsh this season. Interestingly, only Jahanbakhsh among these 3 is assured of a roster spot and likely to start for Iran in Russia. Ansarifard might make the roster but he is usually a sub and often doesn't get to play for Iran. And Rezaei is unlikely to even make our roster for Russia 2018.


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Ansarifard scored another goal for Olympiocos today, albeit in cup (not league) action.