I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y DECEMBER 16, 2019 SPORTS 15 Hamid Estili not satisfied Andrea Stramaccioni tired of Esteghlal’s behavior PLDC — Italian coach Andrea Stramaccioni says that he with Iran U23’s preparation is tired of behavior of Esteghlal officials. He left Tehran last week after the Iranian club failed to SPORTS TEHRAN — Iran pay his salary. deskcoach Hamid Estili “In response to so many fake news which have been has expressed dissatisfaction with his published by the Iranian local media in the recent days, I team’s preparation for the 2020 AFC have to say I have been searching for a solution since I’ve U23 Championship. returned to Italy after five months. I want to start my work Iran have been handed a tough with Esteghlal and I want to be happy with Esteghlal’s fans,” group in the competition, where they Stramaccioni said. are drawn in Group C along with de- “I am so sorry because I think Esteghlal has done nothing fending champions Uzbekistan, China to solve the problem. Nothing has changed since I left the and South Korea. club. I am no longer Esteghjlal coach. They have published The competition will be held in Thai- a picture which shows I have received my salary but it’s not land from Jan. 8 to 26 and the top three true,” he added. teams of the tournament will qualify “I really don’t know if they want to keep me in Esteghlal for the 2020 Summer Olympics men›s but I want to say I am really tired. I am tired of the manage- football tournament in Japan as the ment’s behavior. I want to thank Esteghlal players because AFC representatives. they kept in touch,” Stramaccioni concluded. “We have started our training from Saturday but I am not satisfied with the way we train because the camp is not holding with all players. According to Faraz Kamalvand resigns as a previous agreement between football federation and clubs, the Iran league head coach of Pars Jonoubi had to be stopped but it didn’t happen and some clubs including Esteghlal and TASNIM — Faraz kamalvand announced that he is no longer Sepahan don’t release their players to Pars Jonoubi’s head coach. join us,” Estili said. He stepped down from his role on Saturday at the end “We have to travel to Doha on Dec. of the match against Naft Masjed Soleyman, where the two 20 but our team are not complete in the teams shared the spoils. nine-day camp since some payers will remain in Iran for club duty. It makes it hard for us and I hope that the foot- ball federation changes the schedule” he added. “Iran have a difficult task in Thailand because we have been drawn in a tough group and need to more preparation for Iran have not been in the Olympics The 2020 AFC U23 Championship organized by the Asian Football Confed- the competition. The most of participant since the 1976 games in Munich. will be the 4th edition of the AFC U23 eration (AFC) for the men›s under-23 teams are preparing for the event with Estili’s team will start the campaign on Championship, the biennial internation- national teams of Asia. A total of 16 their full squad,” Estili continued. Jan. 9 with a match against Uzbekistan. al age-restricted football championship teams will compete in the tournament. Hertha Berlin’s under-16s walk off due to alleged racist abuse Hertha Berlin’s under-16 team stopped playing a game against discrimination in every form.” posing player during his side’s fourth division game against Kamalvand has resigned because of the financial prob- regional rivals Auerbach after its players were allegedly Hertha executive board member Paul Keuter called it Lokomotive Leipzig on Dec. 6. lems of the Iranian club. subjected to racist abuse from their opponents on Saturday. “the only correct decision, not to continue with the game.” “Insults are unfortunately an everyday occurrence in He was appointed as Pars Jonoubi coach in June as a The Bundesliga club said in a statement that “several players The club released a statement on Twitter which read: football, and I can put up with them,” he told broadcaster replacement for Mehdi Tartar. from our team were racially abused by their opposing players.” “There are times when football doesn’t come first. Racism MDR. “But racist abuse is a no-go.” Under stewardship of Kamalvand, Pars sit 13th in the Iran Hertha officials informed the referee of the alleged abuse has no place in our society.” Both Hertha and Lokomotive condemned the al- Professional League table, five points above relegation zone. and decided to stop playing in the 68th minute while lead- Hertha under-23 player Jessic Ngankam said he was leged abuse. ing 2-0 “because we as Hertha BSC condemn racism and targeted with monkey chants and called an “ape” by an op- (Source: ESPN) Iran U23 football team to Lucescu: Al Hilal deserved to win play Qatar Head coach Razvan Lucescu said Al Hilal go but all the matches in this competition SFC deserved their 1-0 win against Esperance are hard. Flamengo might be tough but we IRNA — Iran U23 football team will play Qatar in a friendly match de Tunis in the second round of the FIFA are capable (of matching them).» as part of preparation for the 2020 AFC U23 Championship. Club World Cup Qatar 2019 at Jassim bin Esperance head coach Moine Chaabani Hamid Estili’s boys will meet Qatar on December 28 Hamad Stadium on Saturday. said his team faced opponents who knew in Doha. Al Hilal owed their win to French forward how to win the match. Iran will hold a nine-day camp in Qatar from December Bafetimbi Gomis, who came off the bench “We had a good match and we knew that Al 20 to 28. to score the only goal in the 73rd minute Hilal have an excellent team and players who Iran have been drawn in Group C of the AFC U-23 Cham- to steer the 2019 AFC Champions League are capable of creating danger, especially in pionship along with Uzbekistan, China and South Korea. winners into the semi-finals. the last meters of the pitch,” said Chaabani. The competition will be held in Thailand from January 8 Romanian Lucescu said Al Hilal created “The match was tactical as there was only to 26 and the top three teams of the tournament will qualify many chances and deserved the win which one goal and there were not many scoring for the 2020 Summer Olympics men’s football tournament set up a semi-final clash with South American chances,” he added. “We had some chances in Japan as the AFC representatives. champions Flamengo on Tuesday. but we failed to take advantage of them.” “We deserved this victory as we controlled The 38-year-old coach said Asian teams the ball more and we created many scoring have the upper hand against African sides and chances,” said Lucescu. “We managed to that was clear in the FIFA Club World Cup. Sweden see off Thailand to take advantage of the spaces to score the “Asian teams have better capabilities and winning goal. they have a chance to sign special players, book final berth “It feels good that we are now among especially forwards. Asian teams have won the best four teams in the world and we feel “Despite the absence of Gomis and (Se- great experience and enthusiasm. nine out of 11 matches against African teams Sweden moved into the final of the U17 Women’s Football proud,” he added. “We had great success bastian) Giovinco, we managed to put a good “I’m happy that he managed to score (in the FIFA Club World Cup) and this shows Tournament 2019 with a 3-1 victory against Thailand at because of our continuous work and great performance,” said Lucescu. “Gomis is one directly after recovering from his injury. the big difference.” the Mumbai Football Arena on Sunday. enthusiasm.» of the best players that we have and he has “We expect a tough match against Flamen- (Source: the-afc) The Europeans were quick to seize the initiative after the first blow of the referee’s whistle, creating more chances than the Thai side. Swedish forward Ellika Holmberg was put through on Paralympic Marathon to remain in Tokyo goal in the 25th minute but her shot from a tight angle The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) confirmed brought forward from 07:30 to 06:30. The first races will was put out for a corner by Thailand custodian Pawarisa on Thursday (12 December) that the marathon events at involve the classes of athletes who, due to their impairment, Homyamyen. However, she could do nothing as Sweden the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games will remain in the city. are most impacted by heat. took the lead a minute later from the resulting set-piece. The decision, announced at the end of the eighth IPC Marisol Casado, ITU President, said: “For ITU, as well as Marwa Said was the quickest to react to a loose ball in- Tokyo 2020 Project Review, was taken following a thor- for the IPC, the health and safety of our athletes is paramount. side the penalty area after the corner was played in and she ough analysis of 2019 heat and humidity data and after After the test event that we held this past summer, and slammed home a powerful volley to give her side the lead.