Jami Rafati @ AS Livorno Calcio | 2014-2015

[Ghermez Agha]

How does a footballer show us he is Iranian? Does he need to wear an Iran flag, or have Iranian tattoos? Come on, this is not only disrespectful it's discouraging to any potential Iranian abroad who wants to represent his country. Fact is this guy has never said no (as far as I know), and Iran has not invited him yet (as far as I know). But like with Zandi, Dejagah, and others who have taken the brunt of Iranian negativity before becoming idols, we should reserve judgement. All we know is he is as Iranian as you and me...and that's all that should matter.

Woah slow down man I'm in no way being disrespectful I'm not sure why you would say such a thing....

All I said is that other than having an Iranian last name, we don't have anything that tells us he wants to represent tm. I'm not saying he doesn't want to, I'm just saying he hasn't showed anything. And that doesn't mean having an interview to tell ppl that or anything like that, I'm just saying aspiring footballers usually show some type of interest in their national team, we haven't seen anything from this kid.

Again, I will root for him and hope for the best from him, all I'm doing is simply keeping an open mind about possibilities which is something I clarified in my most recent response and if you so chose to ignore that and call it disrespectful than we have different definitions of disrespect.

[O-ZoNe]

My exact thought from the second I started seeing people follow him. Wasting so much time and energy for someone who may not want to play for Iran. Judging from his social media (which I know isn't a justification but it's still a little something) he doesn't show anything Iranian about himself. Anyway, it's good there are ppl here who do think it's worth it to follow this guy.

How does a footballer show us he is Iranian? Does he need to wear an Iran flag, or have Iranian tattoos? Come on, this is not only disrespectful it's discouraging to any potential Iranian abroad who wants to represent his country. Fact is this guy has never said no (as far as I know), and Iran has not invited him yet (as far as I know). But like with Zandi, Dejagah, and others who have taken the brunt of Iranian negativity before becoming idols, we should reserve judgement. All we know is he is as Iranian as you and me...and that's all that should matter.

[Kiarash]

Start of the season is on Saturday vs. Carpi 20:30 local time, Sky Sport will broadcast it:http://www.wiziwig.tv/competition.ph...pline=Football

Also, Rafati has the #19 jersey. http://www.livornocalcio.it/rosa/gio...php?scheda=212

[Z Joon]

Jami Rafati @ AS Livorno Calcio | 2014-2015

Neil Yadolahi for TM

[Hosseini]

Any player with Iranian blood overseas that hasn't committed to playing for another team deserves every bit of attention. He has been born in tough physical training his whole career, (not Iranian conditioning bs). Coaches have grown on his style of play. He's a professional that's playing in top European teams.

Our job is to follow his growth and achievements in Italy.

[Camran khan]

This website is on drugs..

[Kiarash]

Re: Jami Rafati @ AS Livorno Calcio | 2014-2015

omg didnt we witness this whole thing with dejagah?? i remember for years the forum was BANNED from posting dejagah updates because he WAS NOT IRANIAN....then he became aziz dordoone after he joined TM. now same with this guy

who cares if he plays for TM or not, its still interesting to know there are bunch of irooni kids around europe who play pro or semi-pro at any level. maybe they're not good enough for TM, but doesnt mean we shouldnt follow and support them.

Well said, exactly my statements. PFDC always acts like this when it comes to Iranians abroad who are not in TM yet.

[EKBATAN]

omg didnt we witness this whole thing with dejagah?? i remember for years the forum was BANNED from posting dejagah updates because he WAS NOT IRANIAN....then he became aziz dordoone after he joined TM. now same with this guy

who cares if he plays for TM or not, its still interesting to know there are bunch of irooni kids around europe who play pro or semi-pro at any level. maybe they're not good enough for TM, but doesnt mean we shouldnt follow and support them.

[Camran khan]

He never gave interviews, why do you jump to conclusions this quickly? Give him a break, he just became a professional football player recently. It's not realistic to expect him stating he wants to be part of TM when he does not even play on a regular basis.

Btw, nobody is saying that we want him immediately be part of TM, it's just nice that we have a prospect who may be part of our team in the future if he wants to play for Iran. He is an Iranian part of a Serie B team, so he should be followed.

Lol please re read our statements.I said he might not play for TM. He might do it aswell. The only thing i concluded was that nothing is certain. Was that wrong?

[Ghermez Agha]

He never gave interviews, why do you jump to conclusions this quickly? Give him a break, he just became a professional football player recently. It's not realistic to expect him stating he wants to be part of TM when he does not even play on a regular basis.

Btw, nobody is saying that we want him immediately be part of TM, it's just nice that we have a prospect who may be part of our team in the future if he wants to play for Iran. He is an Iranian part of a Serie B team, so he should be followed.

I'm actually doing the exact opposite of jumping to a conclusion, I'm leaving the door to a possibility open Aziz.

And also I'm not being hard on him that I need to give him a break. If he is playing in serie b, he must be a decent player. I'm all for giving him support.

However, I haven't seen anything that would make me think he would want to play for TM. All we know is that he has an Iranian last name, we have no idea what his connection is to Iran (if any) and if he has any interest. That's all I'm saying, I'm not bashing the guy or people who follow him, I'm actually doing the exact opposite.

[Nariman]

We are following a completely unknown player (except for us) that at age of 20 (in Europe players shine at age of 18/19) has not played a single minute in his current and previous teams hoping he can join TM. We are so desperate?
Answer is "yes, we are", because i am following him and hoping the same too.

[Kiarash]

Re: Jami Rafati @ AS Livorno Calcio | 2014-2015

What's funny is that with all these speculations, he might not even want to play for TM.

My exact thought from the second I started seeing people follow him. Wasting so much time and energy for someone who may not want to play for Iran. Judging from his social media (which I know isn't a justification but it's still a little something) he doesn't show anything Iranian about himself. Anyway, it's good there are ppl here who do think it's worth it to follow this guy.

He never gave interviews, why do you jump to conclusions this quickly? Give him a break, he just became a professional football player recently. It's not realistic to expect him stating he wants to be part of TM when he does not even play on a regular basis.

Btw, nobody is saying that we want him immediately be part of TM, it's just nice that we have a prospect who may be part of our team in the future if he wants to play for Iran. He is an Iranian part of a Serie B team, so he should be followed.

[Ghermez Agha]

What's funny is that with all these speculations, he might not even want to play for TM.

My exact thought from the second I started seeing people follow him. Wasting so much time and energy for someone who may not want to play for Iran. Judging from his social media (which I know isn't a justification but it's still a little something) he doesn't show anything Iranian about himself. Anyway, it's good there are ppl here who do think it's worth it to follow this guy.

[Camran khan]

What's funny is that with all these speculations, he might not even want to play for TM.

yes we are desperate BUT we have to give him time...he is very young and in a league where they normally dont give much time to youngsters unless they are something special like pogba or veratti. i think he has a good chance to break into livorno's first team. as long as he plays in a european system, he can be helpful for TM....it could take another 3-4 years for him to shine, which is fine, he will be 23/24 by next WC

[Dreamer]

We are following a completely unknown player (except for us) that at age of 20 (in Europe players shine at age of 18/19) has not played a single minute in his current and previous teams hoping he can join TM. We are so desperate?
Answer is "yes, we are", because i am following him and hoping the same too.

In Europe players do not shine at the age of 18/19. That's a wrong assumption (imo.)

Rickie Lambert, who was bought by Liverpool this season is 32. He has been 'shining' over the past 3 years, meaning he became prominent at the age of 29. Emir Spahic (at Leverkusen) became prominent at the age of 26/27. Campagnaro (at Inter) was signed at the age of 22 when he was playing in the third Argentinian division. He got called up to the national team at the age of 32.

There's a bunch of examples of players like these. The good thing about Europe is that players of any age, as long as they are performing well, start shining and people notice them. Unfortunately in our country, a player has to join Perspolis or Esteghlal for anyone to notice them.

I bet you not many people knew of Jahanbakhsh before he moved to NEC. Same goes for Sadeghian. Now with Yaghoub Karimi at Esteghlal the same thing will happen. It's the same ridiculous system every year in our country and it has nothing to do with the government, or the federation, but the issue lies in our culture. We haven't adopted a healthy football culture yet.

There are a bunch of players in our own Iran that are shining but they go under the radar, you just need to look at the Team Melli squads for the past few years to see that most players are called up depending on how famous they are. The last coach that experimented with a billion different players was Daei at Team Melli.