AFC U17 Asian Cup 2025

[PSGman#19]

I stopped looking at anything happens in Islamic Republic in a logical way , nothing is ever seemed to be done based on reason . logic research, meritocracy is almost dead to answer your question about why they would do it, you don't have to look very far to see who gets to any position of power and privilege in the country .
The U20 was very unlucky , they lost to the same Japanese team in U17 very badly in the AFC Semis and losing on penalty to them couple of years later I still see some level of progress with them (although admittedly not enough). one thing that really stood out for me with this team was the sheer lack of even basic skills by a large number of these players. I am 43 , I don't think I ever remember an International Iranian team(especially at youth level ) be this bad at least at individual level ( team work was always an issue with exception of 2008, 2016 and 2023)

it is obvious to me that if Iran does not radically change direction in terms of talent development , investment , coaching etc qualifying for a WC will become a dream again just like the 80s and early nighties very soon even with a 8.5 slot in Asia. The likes of Uzbekistan very soon will take our place in this part of Asia with the way they are progressing in all age groups.

We were always very bad in collective sport. Our culture is very individualistic and unity/cohesion isn't natural.
We somehow had success in volleyball for sometime, maybe because it is limited to 3 passes max!

At the contrary, our culture loves flashy things. That's why we are guided by individual effort, dribbles rather than passes that are seen as modest. Nobody in Iran rates the great Ajax passing play but more individual statistics and wonderclass from cr7 or messi. As everybody in Iran supports flashy teams like barca and real, collective and passing ability from Iniesta and kroos started to get noticed.

[PEJ]

I mentioned it earlier, but it was really surprising to me that no one from KIA Academy made it. Could it be that they weren’t deserving? Sure, but it just appeared odd to me.

[Nokhodi]

I mentioned it earlier, but it was really surprising to me that no one from KIA Academy made it. Could it be that they weren’t deserving? Sure, but it just appeared odd to me.

Very odd. Kia Academy is I think 1st or 2nd right now in the Tehran U-17 league.

[mani4000uk]

We were always very bad in collective sport. Our culture is very individualistic and unity/cohesion isn't natural.
We somehow had success in volleyball for sometime, maybe because it is limited to 3 passes max!

At the contrary, our culture loves flashy things. That's why we are guided by individual effort, dribbles rather than passes that are seen as modest. Nobody in Iran rates the great Ajax passing play but more individual statistics and wonderclass from cr7 or messi. As everybody in Iran supports flashy teams like barca and real, collective and passing ability from Iniesta and kroos started to get noticed.

I agree , however the way to change it is to bring coaches or train coaches to change this at grassroot level , volleyball was directly due to this type of attitude change for a while which resulted in reaching top 4 or winning junior levels in volleyball for a few years running , as a result few of these players like Maarouf became world class players and had a big impact at senior level.

to have long term consistent success we need infrastructure investment throughout the country with robust scouting system to identify talent at young age and have the right coaches to hone their skills .

this requires patience and systematic approach and unfortunately I cannot see this happening under this regime. The only person that tried to do this at local level was KIA and look what they did to him.

[PSGman#19]

I agree , however the way to change it is to bring coaches or train coaches to change this at grassroot level , volleyball was directly due to this type of attitude change for a while which resulted in reaching top 4 or winning junior levels in volleyball for a few years running , as a result few of these players like Maarouf became world class players and had a big impact at senior level.

to have long term consistent success we need infrastructure investment throughout the country with robust scouting system to identify talent at young age and have the right coaches to hone their skills .

this requires patience and systematic approach and unfortunately I cannot see this happening under this regime. The only person that tried to do this at local level was KIA and look what they did to him.

I think iranian should change individually and collectively from within first. We are the world champion to blame others and make fun of others/ourselves but we don't take lessons (or very few) from the obvious.
Volleyball reach such level because of a world class coach named Velasco. When he left, everything crashed. Of course, it didn't crashed too violently because the next coaches weren't too bad. it crashed violently when the stars aged + we took an iranian coach
We had the same in football with CQ whose legacy last longer because some european leagues took care of our stars. Skocic and GN could ride on it.

it's 20 years our U17 play exactly the same, does exactly the same mistake, score the same deflected goals, etc.. sometimes we have better players and it is a little better.

We don't have much competent people in iran to develop our young past a certain level, certainly because we are completely out of the global world. we can pour money into infrastructure, programs, academy it won't change anything until an army of competent foreigners come (that won't happen for U17 and certainly not in Iran). Football is already the sports to receive more attention, money, coverage btw.

Japan system is a wet dream for Iran. We just have to accept that and the fact we can just rely on individual talents that emerge. Do everything in iran leagues to promote these individual talents and make them go to Europe asap.

[oracle]

n.k beating Indonesia 6-0🤣
Makes tm 1-1 look good

[mani4000uk]

I think iranian should change individually and collectively from within first. We are the world champion to blame others and make fun of others/ourselves but we don't take lessons (or very few) from the obvious.
Volleyball reach such level because of a world class coach named Velasco. When he left, everything crashed. Of course, it didn't crashed too violently because the next coaches weren't too bad. it crashed violently when the stars aged + we took an iranian coach
We had the same in football with CQ whose legacy last longer because some european leagues took care of our stars. Skocic and GN could ride on it.

it's 20 years our U17 play exactly the same, does exactly the same mistake, score the same deflected goals, etc.. sometimes we have better players and it is a little better.

We don't have much competent people in iran to develop our young past a certain level, certainly because we are completely out of the global world. we can pour money into infrastructure, programs, academy it won't change anything until an army of competent foreigners come (that won't happen for U17 and certainly not in Iran). Football is already the sports to receive more attention, money, coverage btw.

Japan system is a wet dream for Iran. We just have to accept that and the fact we can just rely on individual talents that emerge. Do everything in iran leagues to promote these individual talents and make them go to Europe asap.

For sure there are lots of aspects we need to work on as people, but I'm cautiously optimistic if we can push this regime out within the next few years Japanese system is not a wet dream anymore and definitely achievable within 10 years, you would be surprised how many competent Iranians exists in and out of Iran that can drive change just need the right environment, having said that I agree if the regime survives it can only gets worst I don't even think we can produce a team like now ever again

[Super Shojaei]

North Korea 6-0 Indonesia

[diz]

An all Korean final would be epic!

[BacheLot]

We are flat out hopeless in our U TM levels..! & rightfully so for total apathy by our federation & 0$ investment made by them to properly flourish our young hopefuls ..!
unless their games fall on my lap by chance i dont bother watching, same shit when with our league action or even more so in acl action , cause i know its just gonna be an exercise in getting annoyed & minfked ..!

[Pluto2000]

TO BE HONEST this is less about the players and more about Chamanian, where did he find these players? He is absolutely awful coach.

I took a look at the players on this team and only like 5 of them even have a club, or a youth academy. Did they find them on the streets?

What happened to recruiting players from KIA, Sepahan, Foolad, PP, SS academies? They all have U17 teams. Some of these players look like they haven't even learned the fundamentals and got picked up from their local middle school after impressing the coach in a random tryout...

[mani4000uk]

TO BE HONEST this is less about the players and more about Chamanian, where did he find these players? He is absolutely awful coach.

I took a look at the players on this team and only like 5 of them even have a club, or a youth academy. Did they find them on the streets?

What happened to recruiting players from KIA, Sepahan, Foolad, PP, SS academies? They all have U17 teams. Some of these players look like they haven't even learned the fundamentals and got picked up from their local middle school after impressing the coach in a random tryout...

I couldn't agree more and I think I mentioned this , there was something really off about a large number of these players not demonstrating even the basics . Chamanian did well in 2016 with the Sayadmanesh generation beating Germany 4-0 and lost in the Quarters to Spain. it is one of 2 things , either even back then he was incompetent and just had better technical team around him that resulted in a succuss of that team or he just never really progressed from 10 years ago and can no longer keep on with the current way the game is played not to mention the player selection is highly suspect, it is possible that it is a combination of al the above. we may never know the exact reason for this utter shit show.

[Super Shojaei]

TO BE HONEST this is less about the players and more about Chamanian, where did he find these players? He is absolutely awful coach.

I took a look at the players on this team and only like 5 of them even have a club, or a youth academy. Did they find them on the streets?

What happened to recruiting players from KIA, Sepahan, Foolad, PP, SS academies? They all have U17 teams. Some of these players look like they haven't even learned the fundamentals and got picked up from their local middle school after impressing the coach in a random tryout...

Rumours on twitter that some agents had bribed their way into the first team and on watching the matches it seems true although this is unverified

[ShirFarhad]

TO BE HONEST this is less about the players and more about Chamanian, where did he find these players? He is absolutely awful coach.

I took a look at the players on this team and only like 5 of them even have a club, or a youth academy. Did they find them on the streets?

What happened to recruiting players from KIA, Sepahan, Foolad, PP, SS academies? They all have U17 teams. Some of these players look like they haven't even learned the fundamentals and got picked up from their local middle school after impressing the coach in a random tryout...

I agree with you on Chamanian and he should have never been appointed but where did you get the info on the players and their clubs? There majority of the players were selected from the academies of Foolad, Sepahan and Persepolis and there were only three players without a club.

Rumours on twitter that some agents had bribed their way into the first team and on watching the matches it seems true although this is unverified

Well the same players beat Indonesia and Saudi Arabia before the tournament.

[Nokhodi]

I agree with you on Chamanian and he should have never been appointed but where did you get the info on the players and their clubs? There majority of the players were selected from the academies of Foolad, Sepahan and Persepolis and there were only three players without a club.



Well the same players beat Indonesia and Saudi Arabia before the tournament.

I was defending Chamanian but he was apparently constantly changing the lineups and selected players. He allegedly didn’t take some of the best players of the league. Every tournament we had a whole different set of players.

I’m generally one who gives benefit of the doubt to most people, so maybe certain players were overage and he didn’t want to take them?