Afshin Ghotbi New Coach of IranAfshin Ghotbi has been appointed the new national team coach of Iran, following the resignation of Mohammad Mayelikohan. Mayelikohan lasted less than two weeks in the hot seat after the sacking of Iranian football legend Ali Daei.
Iranian football is in turmoil as the national team are struggling to qualify from Asian Zone Group 2, headed by the two Koreas.
Ghotbi has experience as a coach in Korea, the USA and in Iran, where he lead Persepolis to a championship.
Ghotbi faces the uphill task of dragging Team Melli into a play-off spot and taking the national team to the World Cup finals in South Africa.
Aussie clubs floundering in the face of Japanese might
Twelve games played. Seven defeats. Four draws. One win.
That’s the record A-League clubs currently hold against their Japanese counterparts in the Asian Champions League, with Australian teams struggling to hold their own against the might of the Japanese game.
The trend continued this week when Central Coast Mariners lost for the second straight time to Kawasaki Frontale, while Newcastle Jets missed a penalty in succumbing to Nagoya Grampus at home.
There were grave doubts about the quality of the A-League when Kawasaki Frontale dished out a humiliating 5-0 thrashing of Central Coast Mariners in Gosford a fortnight ago.
“I hope the players are embarrassed, I am embarrassed,” quipped Mariners coach Lawrie McKinna in the wake of that pummelling. “It was the worst moment of my coaching career.”
And while the Mariners turned in a vastly improved performance in going down 2-1 in the return fixture in Kawasaki, torrential rain mitigated Frontale’s free-flowing passing game.
Newcastle Jets fared better against Nagoya Grampus, although they too were beaten …