6th day of training

Persopress-Today the 6th day of training ended with some very good news from the players and coaches. First of all it has been stated by the coaches and officials that Karimi is in top shape and is running and working out very well. While playing Karimi has also been said to have been dribbiling and running faster then all the players. He has been noticed as one of the best players in the camp. Mirzapour was also present at the camp today just to practice even though he won't be able to play in the Asian Cup or any of Iran's friendlies. The players have been training intesnly with hard runs, sprints and workouts at the academy so they seem to be a bit tire after a week of doing all this and soon they will start the ball handling and technicue drills. Sadeghi and Zare were not present today due to minor injuries as hopefully they will soon recover. Nosrati practiced with the team doctor due to his injury as well. Overall things are going well in the camp and not many injuries have been sustained for Iran. I think we really needed the running practice since as we saw in most of our games our players would tire out in the 60th minute of the game or so and this could not happen against teams like Japan or Australia. Hopefully we will se our team play well against top teams in the Asian Cup.

5th Day of Training

Persopress-Today was the last day that the players did their usual weight training and running (fitness) in the morning then playing in the afternoon. After this day, the practices are strictly going to be on getting the guys to play with each other and make them familiar with each other. Ghalenoei told the reporters after the training that his hopes have gone up after seeing how fit and well Rezaei has been playing. He was also delighted to have Nekounam in training for the 1st time after he left his team from Spain (Osasuna). The players started today by jogging and doing aerobic exercises on the turf field outside of the Academy, then they went inside and did some weight training. In the afternoon, they practiced crosses, taking shots on goal, and they played tennis soccer. Then they separated into teams of 10 and they worked on playing together. Some important things from today were that it has been said that Karimi and Rezaei are doing the best, while Hashemian has a little injury, which kept him out of training for today, but he is supposed to practice tomorrow. Khatibi and Kaebi are fine after having some minor injuries, but Khatibi had to stay out of the afternoon session.

Sepahan wins Iran League Cup

Persopress-Sepahan has won the Jame-Hafzi with a 3-0 win over fellow opponent Saba-Batri. The first leg was also won by Sepahab 1-0. Goals were scored by Mahmoud karimi(47), Ebrahim Loveynian, and Mahmoud Papi(88). This concluded all the IPL games for this season with Saipa winning the season and Sepahan the Jame-Hazfi. Both will be particpating in next years AFC Champions league unless Sepahan wins the Champions league this year in which Esteghlal Ahvaz will join Sepahan and Saipa next year too.

Iran and Iraq end game in goalless draw

Persopress-Iran and Iraq ended their first WAFF game this year with a 0-0 draw. Newcomer Shapourzadeh to Iran was reported as average but was involved in many Iran's chances. Iran had many chances in the first half and should have taken the lead with Shapourzadeh cross to Badamaki who volleyed it into the cross bar. Many other chances were missed by Iranians B team while Iraq kept on defending until the second half when Iraq had two good chances which were saved by Roudbarian. Iran will take on Palestine on Wednesday to play their second game in WAFF. The top two teams in each group will go to the semifinals of this Middle Eastern tournament.