ISP: Persian Gulf Cup 08/09 PREVIEW

With a nail biting season just ahead we are having a closer look at the favourites, the relegation bound teams, possible surprise team's and of course the players to watch.

Favourites

Persepolis, Sepahan, Esteghlal and Saipa are certainly going to be the four teams that will be fighting for the title this year.

Persepolis: Head coach Afshin Ghotbi has most of his squad from last year in his disposal and with the addition of Mr Hedayati, a man with deep pockets they have managed to add some new impressive names to their squad. Alireza Mohammad (Rahahan), Mohammad Mansouri (Abumoslem), Mojtaba Shir (Esteghal Ahvaz), Ivan Petrovic (Abumoslem Mashad) and Ebrahim Tore (Peykan) are five out of ten new signings.

Afshin Ghotbi will surely look to continue from last year’s championship and will also have an eye towards the prestigious AFC Champions League.

Esteghlal Tehran: Amir Ghalenoi guided Esteghlal to the league title two seasons ago before he took charge of “Team Melli”. At the end of last season he was back in charge and won yet another title with the club, this time the Hazfi Cup. Esteghlal finished at an embarrassing thirteenth position in the league last year and Amir Ghalenoi has wasted no time to recruit some of the leagues finest players. On top of that the club has renewed Mojtaba Jabbari's contract in a deal making Jabbari one of the leagues highest paid players. Despite rumoured offers from France and Germany the highly talented 25 year old will most likely spend one more season in the pursuit of AFC Champions League glory.

Hashem Beikzadeh (Fajr Sepassi),Milad Nouri (Steel Azin FC), Khosro Heydari (Pas Hamedan), Alireza Abbasfard (Saba Battery), Hossein Kazemi (Sepahan), Hadi Shakouri (Zobahan), Yadollah Akbari (Pas Hamedan), Ebrahim Tahghipour (Pegah Gilan), Siavash Akbarpour (Al-Dhafra/UAE) and Fabio Janvario (Foolad Khoozestan) are the ten new high profile signings of Esteghlal.

Seven players are going the other direction and leaving the star packed squad. Among them is Mansourian who retired after the memorable Hazfi Cup final.

Sepahan: Jorvan Viera did not meet the high expectations and was released by Sepahan soon after his arrival. With the new arrival of Turkish manager Engin Firat Sepahan will go into new season with revenge on their mind, as they lost the title in the 97th minute to Persepolis.

With a third consecutive AFC Champions League campaign coming up Sepahan has boosted their squad further. Engin Firat and Mohammad Reza Saket have built what could be a contending squad in every competition they enter.
Ahmad Jamshidian (Rahahan), Mehdi Jafarpour (Pas Hamedan), Mohsen Mirabi (Pas Hamedan), Hadi Asghari (Rahahan), Amir Sadaati (Damash), Bahman Tahmasebi (Fajr Sepassi), Rahman Ahmadi (Saipa FC), Armando Sa (Foolad) and Ali Molaei (Mes Kerman) are nine out of almost a dozen new Sepahan signings.

Saipa FC: Ali Daei's departure from the coaching staff of Saipa FC has handed the challenge to high profile German coach Pierre Littbarski. The German will be poised to add another championship to his CV, formerly leading Sydney FC to A-League championship.

Saipa will also look towards the quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League and their game against Kuruvchi of Uzbekistan.

Ali Daei has built a team with impressive youngsters such as Ansarifard, Zeynadpour, Ashtiani and Shahalidoost. These youngsters will alongside a new crop of players and the core of the team be a serious title contender. The Saipa squad has been strengthened as nearly three billion Toman has been spent to bring some of the finest names in Iranian football to Karaj.

Saber Mirghorbani (Sanat Naft Abadan), Hossein Kabi (Persepolis), Abbas Aghaei (Persepolis) Iman Razzaghirad (Steel Azin FC), Ebrahim Mirzapour (Steel Azin FC) and Mohammad Parvin (Steel Azin FC) are among the new Saipa signings.

The struggler's

Last season Sanat Naft Abadan, Pegah Gilan and Shirinfaraz Kermanshah were fighting to survive. Lets have a look at the teams that will be fighting relegation this year.

Payam Mashad managed against all odds to promote to the Persian Gulf Cup. One who thinks it could be a short stop is Khodadad Azizi who has said that Payam do not have the necessary financial funds to stay in the Persian Gulf Cup.

Though Payam isn’t going to give away its spot and have signed seven new players. German midfielder Shpejtim Arefi is signed from German second division as well as Abumoslem captain Mehdi Hasheminasab who will be playing his last season of professional football. Serbian defender Darko arrives from the Serbian premier league to boost the Payam squad. Though despite the new signings Payam will struggle in the forthcoming season.

What speaks against Rahahan isa young and inexperienced head coach, Davoud Mahabadi and that the club has lost eight of their starting players. Among them the leagues top goal scorer Hadi Asghari and key midfielder Jamshidian. With Asghari gone newly signed Uruguayan striker Alvaro Pintos will be the man Rahahan will look to score their goals.

Coach Davoud Mahabadi has less then one year of coaching experience after taking over Rahahan as a player last season. He is not the type of coach you would want to have ahead of a tough season where teams will show even less mercy then last year.

Pegah Gilan struggled last year and this year will be no different. Nader Dastneshan took over Traktorsazi Tabriz while Bijan Zolfagarnasab has taken over the struggling team from Rasht. A massive twelve players have left the club including key players such as Mahdavi and Ebrahim Taghipour. Only five players are signed as replacements, most notable signing has been Sanat Naft Abadan captain Amir Hossein Yousefi and Malavan's Reza Niknazar.

”Dr Z” has also added Saipa's Adriano Alvez and Ivan Dragisevic from NK Zepke to add some very much-needed experience in the team.

The "surprise" teams

Every year we seem to have one or two teams that raise the standards and surprise everyone with their performances. Last year we enjoyed an unbelievable fourth position finish from Abumoslem Mashad, followed by Zobahan finishing sixth.

This year there are teams capable of pulling of such a stunts again. Here is a look at the most likely teams to upset and surprise the favourites.

Pas Hamedan’s move away from Tehran has proved everyone wrong, as they look somewhat like the Pas champion's back in the 1992-1993 season. They have found a huge fan base in Hamedan and have finally settled in and proved that they were one of title contenders last season.

Pas Hamedan have already snatched up players such as Jaba Mujiri (Sepahan), Mehrdad Karimian (Bargh Shiraz) and U23 national goalkeeper Sosha Makani from Fajr Sepassi. Former Persepolis midfielder Mohammad Reza Mamani is another addition this season. Croatian head coach Vinko Begovic will stay for another season and aim to finish better than the fifth position from last year.

Mes Kerman has a new head coach in Parviz Mazloomi. He was behind one of last year’s big surprise teams Abumoslem and will this year aim to do just as good with Mes Kemrna. Mes Chairman Hamid Niknafs is investing heavily in the club and has great visions for the club.
Mostafa Sayfi (Esteghal Ahvaz), Mojtaba Ensafi (Shirinfaraz Kermanshah) and Ruhollah Ataei (Shirinfaraz Kermanshah) have recently signed for the club. Adding to those signings is Persepolis star midfielder Farzad Ashoobi and Esteghlal's Sadeghi.

Parviz Mazloomi has so far kept nearly all of Mes Kerman's players from last season. Mes finished tenth last season and can do considerable better this year.

Players to watch

Every year we have new stars coming out of Iran, showcasing their amazing talent in the league. Last year our eyes were on the brilliant goal scoring abilities of Khalili and Asghari and the talent of Hajsafi and Amraei. What about this time around?

Mojtaba Jabbari had another great season and crowned it with a man of the match performance against Pegah Gilan in the Hafzi Cup final. His departure from Esteghlal looked certain and could still happen however he has renewed for another year with Estaghlal receiving a reported 360-420 million Toman. Esteghlal Tehran will be heavily dependant on his performances for any kind of success in Asia and in the Persian Gulf Cup.

Ebrahim Tore, the Senegalese striker who has previously played for FC Metz youth, comes out of a great season in Peykan. This season he has joined the Iranian champion's and this will certainly give him more exposure as all Perspolis games are broadcasted all over the world. The change of clubs comes with far more pressure to play in one of the biggest clubs in Asia, will he live up to his $600.000 dollar move from Peykan to Persepolis?

Hossein Ebrahimi is the 17-year-old striker who raised a few eyebrows last year including his goal against Persepolis in Rasht. Ebrahimi alongside Mosalman, Amraei and Hajsafi was one of the finest talents in the league. He has now gained more experience and will next season still be one of the youngest strikers in the league and will be hoping to bring out his best this coming season.

Ehsan Hajsafi has been a prodigy for the past 2 seasons as he has played in two AFC Champions League campaigns and also played in the World Club Championship. As an experienced 18 year old he now has started his “Team MellI” chapter and without a doubt many European teams are going to follow the progress of this super talent.

Mohsen Mosalman and Vahid Amraei is the Zobahan duo that belongs to the group of Iran's finest young talents. At the age of 16 Mosalman became the youngest goal scorer in the league after his beautiful goal against Persepolis in Azadi stadium. He followed that up with another four goals in the league only at the tender age of 16.

18 year old Vahid Amraei who had 7 goals in his name last season has had a breakthrough even in the national team under Ali Daei and has recently been named in the 31 man squad for preparation ahead of the 2010 World Cup final qualifiers.

We are counting the days for the start of the 2008/2009 season of Persian Gulf Cup and as days go past we become more and more anxious of yet another breathtaking and action packed season.