These days the news regarding Team Meli B has become one of the major topics. As you have read on this board and news media, IFF just announced list of players invited for Team Meli B. This list includes old timers like Bagheri as well as new comers and potential stars such as Oladi.
However, the purpose of Team Meli is not well defined or at least not understood well by me. Some call it a team for future (backbone of future team meli); some merely see it a patch up team for the Islamic game and to keep some players and managers hopeful and happy; some think of it as an opportunity for players that were not invited for the camp before Bahrain to gain experience and hopefully shine enough to be invited to the main team; and some think of it as a mixture of above.
Nevertheless, this confusion and lack of prior preparation by IFF shows that there are not any long term plan. I personally think a long term plan for team meli (both main and B team) is in order. Given TM’s situation, even in short term this could be a good opportunity for players that have shined in IPL and have potentials to show their skills and potential contributions to Team Meli. This team could be used to fill in the holes in Team Meli, such as in defense and left. While one of Branco’s strength is to give opportunity to young players (we have several U23 in the main team), it’s also one of his weaknesses that he sticks to the same players that, for past few years, have shown they are not strong enough for Team Meli yet. This includes likes of Kameli, Badavi, Zare, etc. In short term, Team B could provide opportunity to TM management to find better players for positions that we are not and have not been strong as well as identifying new talents for future. Of course both objectives are achieved better in long term. Of course, from the look of it, it seems like IFF is after short term goals (patching up a team to represent Iran in Islamic games) and in best scenario, paving path for some well-known players such as Bagheri to join TeamMeli. IMHO, in a well defined program, we would have two teams (consisting of 50 or so players all together) ready for different levels of competition. Naturally there would be an organic relationship between the two teams. For example, we can identify and test better players that are shining in IPL (such as Bakhtiyarzadeh, Mansourian, Khatibi and even Hamadani, etc) and those that do not get playing time in the main TM (such as Mohammadi, etc) and young talents (such as Oladi, Taleb-loo, etc) to replace those in the main TM that have not shown much improvement in past few years (as mentioned earlier). Eventually, players like Kameli, Badavi, etc could play in Team Meli B, if still qualified to be invited, to gain more experience in TM level, rather than playing in the main team. This way, our Team B could also be a bridge from U23 to TM. A short term approach, i.e. patching up a team to play only in an insignificant tournament, may not have much benefit on its own and may even introduce more headaches.
As a reminder, before WC78, Iran had a strong A team as well as a good B team. Our B team also participated in the qualifying games. They beat S. Arabia (2-0) and had an unforgettable victory against Kuwait in our last qualifying game (2-1; our main team beat them 1-0 at home). Back then, H. Mohajerani – then head coach, relied so much on B team that he claimed he had submitted the roster before knowing that Iran would qualify to WC78 after the game against Australia.
However, the purpose of Team Meli is not well defined or at least not understood well by me. Some call it a team for future (backbone of future team meli); some merely see it a patch up team for the Islamic game and to keep some players and managers hopeful and happy; some think of it as an opportunity for players that were not invited for the camp before Bahrain to gain experience and hopefully shine enough to be invited to the main team; and some think of it as a mixture of above.
Nevertheless, this confusion and lack of prior preparation by IFF shows that there are not any long term plan. I personally think a long term plan for team meli (both main and B team) is in order. Given TM’s situation, even in short term this could be a good opportunity for players that have shined in IPL and have potentials to show their skills and potential contributions to Team Meli. This team could be used to fill in the holes in Team Meli, such as in defense and left. While one of Branco’s strength is to give opportunity to young players (we have several U23 in the main team), it’s also one of his weaknesses that he sticks to the same players that, for past few years, have shown they are not strong enough for Team Meli yet. This includes likes of Kameli, Badavi, Zare, etc. In short term, Team B could provide opportunity to TM management to find better players for positions that we are not and have not been strong as well as identifying new talents for future. Of course both objectives are achieved better in long term. Of course, from the look of it, it seems like IFF is after short term goals (patching up a team to represent Iran in Islamic games) and in best scenario, paving path for some well-known players such as Bagheri to join TeamMeli. IMHO, in a well defined program, we would have two teams (consisting of 50 or so players all together) ready for different levels of competition. Naturally there would be an organic relationship between the two teams. For example, we can identify and test better players that are shining in IPL (such as Bakhtiyarzadeh, Mansourian, Khatibi and even Hamadani, etc) and those that do not get playing time in the main TM (such as Mohammadi, etc) and young talents (such as Oladi, Taleb-loo, etc) to replace those in the main TM that have not shown much improvement in past few years (as mentioned earlier). Eventually, players like Kameli, Badavi, etc could play in Team Meli B, if still qualified to be invited, to gain more experience in TM level, rather than playing in the main team. This way, our Team B could also be a bridge from U23 to TM. A short term approach, i.e. patching up a team to play only in an insignificant tournament, may not have much benefit on its own and may even introduce more headaches.
As a reminder, before WC78, Iran had a strong A team as well as a good B team. Our B team also participated in the qualifying games. They beat S. Arabia (2-0) and had an unforgettable victory against Kuwait in our last qualifying game (2-1; our main team beat them 1-0 at home). Back then, H. Mohajerani – then head coach, relied so much on B team that he claimed he had submitted the roster before knowing that Iran would qualify to WC78 after the game against Australia.