Team Melli lost to Jordan 1-0 in Amman in their return leg of their Asian Cup Qualifier. They still lead the group with seven points, but things look bad real bad. I have been watching Team Melli for decades and this is the lowest I have ever seen them, and I am not only talking about the loss in this match, it is the direction to which Team Melli and Iranian football in general is heading.

Folks, I have nothing to add tonight, maybe tomorrow the optimist in me will resurface, but tonight things look bad, really bad.

On Sunday Iran will face Jordan for the return leg of their Asian Cup qualifier in Amman. Iran won the first leg and is sitting pretty on top of the Qualifying Group E, while Jordan is on the opposite end, all the way at the bottom. But, do not let that fool you; Iran did not have a convincing victory over the Jordanians in Tehran. It took them 70 minutes to score the single winning goal. Playing in the Jordanian capital of Amman should not prove to be any easier.

Iran has won two of its last three games and tied the third one, which looks good on paper, but the fact is that Team Melli has not had a convincing performance in any of the three matches.

There are little signs of improvement, but not enough to suggest that the team has gelled together. To the contrary the last match, a friendly against Macedonia, proved that they have a long way to go in the way of becoming a team.

To make things worse, because the match is not on a FIFA designated international day, Iran will not have the services of a few of its foreign-based players most notable of which are Javad Nekounam and Masoud Shojaei. Oddly enough in the friendly match against Macedonia a few days ago, Ghotbi decided to play both of them for most of the game.

It will be very interesting to see who will be included in Coach Afshin Ghotbi’s starting eleven on Sunday.

What was a puzzle for me was the fact the Coach Afshin Ghotbi decided to play Javad Nekounam and Masoud Shojaei whose luxury of services he will not have available in Amman. This is because the Jordan match is scheduled in a non-FIFA day and their club, Osasuna, has decided not to release them for the match.

I would have liked to see their replacements starting the match, but that was not the case. I am sure the coach has his own thoughts on that, but I wonder what you think. Why don’t you leave a comment?

Click here to watch the goals

Team Melli will not have the services of its players based abroad for its crucial Asian Cup qualifier against Jordan.

This is due to AFC’s insistence to schedule matches on non-FIFA days, and the clubs’ refusal to release the players. This will hurt Iran more than Jordan because Jordan does not have a large contingency of players kicking their club football in other countries. I cannot be 100% certain on this, but they may even not have any players that play abroad.

Click here to read more about this.

Iran and FYR Macedonia are scheduled to play a friendly on Wednesday, November 18 in Tehran.

The Macedonians arrived in Tehran on Monday morning. Reportedly Macedonia will have available the services of thirteen of their foreign based players.

The last time these two teams met in an official FIFA friendly was June of 2000 and Iran won by the score of 3 – 1.

Click here to read the match report and watch the goal, and go here for some of my thoughts on the match and the players.

Iran now has 7 points in three matches and leads the group.

Team Melli will face Jordan on November 14 for their Asian Cup qualifier.

Ok, here is the funny; apparently a few players complained to reporters about the heavy workouts in the camp. Mind you these are most likely the same players who do not last past 65th minutes and we have seen them walk around completely spent in the last ten minutes of the game during every Team Melli match. Anyone who has watched a few IPL matches will tell you that the pace of the game in the Iranian domestic league is much slower even when compared to most European second divisions. Now as we all know, Iceland is a very physical team, and most of their players play in European leagues. So keep your eyes on our midfielders after minute 70 and you are very likely to spot a few of the complainers!

For their part, Coach Afshin Ghotbi and his Dutch Assistant Piet Buter dismissed the notion that the workouts were too difficult and pointed out that a good portion of the 70 minutes was spent on tactical work.

When asked if he was concerned about losing the friendly to Iceland and getting heat and criticism from the usual corners (e.g. the cynical Iranian media, and his regular critics who wish to see him fail), Ghotbi played it down and reminded the reporters that friendly matches were meant to prepare teams for their competitive matches.

Between us, win or lose bank on the in rushing flood of criticism after the match!

Team Melli will play friendly matches with Iceland on November 10 and Macedonia on November 18.

Iran is currently at the top of Group 5 of the 2010 Asian Cup qualifying groups.

Goalkeepers:
Mehdi Rahmati, Vahid Taleblu, Misaq Memarzadeh, Sosha Makani

Defenders:
Mohammad Nosrati, Seyyed Jalal Hosseini, Amir Hossein Sadeghi, Hadi Aghili, Farshid Talebi, Hossein Kabi, Hashem Beikzadeh, Khosro Heydari

Midfielders:
Javad Nekounam, Masoud Shojaei, Andranik Teymourian, Mohammad Reza Khalatbari, Javad Kazemian, Majid Gholamnejad, Pejman Noori, Amir Hossein Feshangchi, Farhad Majidi, Mohammad Noori, Iman Mobali

Strikers:
Ehsan Hajsafi, Milad Meidavudi, Arash Borhani, Karim Ansarifard, Amir Mohebi, Mehrzad Madanchi, Mojtaba Zarei

Ghotbi who is dealing with one of the least talented pool of players in recent years may be desperate to bring back some of the veterans in the hope to inject some quality into this team. 

Karimi’s last competitive match with Team Melli was against Korea Republic earlier this year in which Iran managed a draw and lost a chance to compete for a spot in South Africa.