The Aftermath of Iran exit from WC2002

When the Costa Rican referee blew for the end of the game in the Iran-Ireland game, the easiest thing in the world was the prediction of the atmosphere of the post match interview. In the final 15 minutes of the game when the spectators had given up and started to shout slogans against the National Team, it seemed for certain that the post match press conference would be a tense affair.

The first disruption of the post match interview took place before the beginning of the session when a reporter and a security guard started fighting in the interview room. The doors were closed then to the large number of spectators waiting behind the glass doors for a chance to enter the hall.

The above conflict was so severe that some of the journalists began preparations to leave the press conference to show their objection to the incident. Some even reached the exit. The disagreement was resolved when a few reporters and other security personnel intervened and stopped the scuffle and the press returned to their seats.

At this exact time another reporter who had in the past caused trouble for Chalangar and Chiro in relation to Khodadad Azizi, again attracted the attention of the gathering specially the photographers. He was holding up a sports publication of a few months ago for the other reporters to photograph. The Azizi quote, the headline of the page, was the attraction, "Mr. Blazevic, this is no place for your tricks!" The 'journalist' must have brought the publication with him to the stadium hoping that Iran would not qualify so that he could have his moment of cheap glory. Well he had his moment.

The cameras flashed constantly and disorder reigned. Even McCarthy began to voice complaints. He had come 10 minutes earlier than Chiro and was waiting for the Q&A to begin. The above incident provoked him to say:

"I have to go to my players now. If you don't organize yourselves in 2 minutes, I'll leave the interview."

At this point Derakhshan, the top candidate for the post of First Technical Deputy of the PEO came up the stairs accompanied by Amir Hossieni (the present cultural/sports deputy of the PEO) and Mostafa HashemiTaba and they all headed for the exit. Funny how the governors of Iran's sports all abandoned Chiro and Iran's National Team to the fiery reporters when they were needed the most. Some in life are ready to bask in the glory but scared to face their own weakness. It seems likely that they will all be looking for other jobs soon. Their exit was the distraction needed and the press conference began formally and properly at this point.

This was an interview where for the first time no question could be asked. What question is there left to ask the coaches when a team is disqualified from the World Cup on home ground? The coach of the losing team will express sorrow and the winning team's coach will feel sorry for the other team and will express sympathy. No other words need be exchanged. What the coaches say is self-explanatory.

McCarthy, "Good evening! I am very excited right now. I am very happy that we qualified. Iran is a good team, and will be better in the future. Your team is very good and that's why you won. This was our first defeat in the past few years and I am not happy about that as we had got good results up to now."

An Irish reporter asked him how he felt after the goal scored by Iran, "It was a very late goal. I had no feelings as I thought Iran would not score." He also expressed his satisfaction with his team and thanked Shay Given for saving the dangerous shots from Iran.


McCarthy added, "I can't say who was the best player for Iran, though I can say Karimi was the most dangerous. Also the way one of your defenders played, I don't remember his name, surprised me a lot. We enjoyed ourselves these past few days and the Iranians were very hospitable." After this he left the conference hall.

Chiro's entrance with his interpreter was in the middle of McCarthy's speech, but did not cause a stir and they simply took to their seats. This was the first time no one cheered Chiro. A bitter smile formed on his face when he watched the reporters clapping for McCarthy.

It was a repeat of the smile he gave near the end of the 90 minutes. While standing by the side of the pitch dazed and confused, a spectator threw a bottle of water that landed by his feet. Then again he faced the spectators behind him and gave them the same bitter smile. Here are Chiro's comments, "I congratulate McCarthy. We have many reasons to feel regret. We lost a golden opportunity."

In reply to a naive reporter asking if he knew how far back he had made Iran's football go he said, "This year has been the hardest in my life. I thought I would get what I deserved, but I didn't. You can't always be lucky in football. No one asks you as reporters what mistakes you make."

"Although I've worked with the team for a long time and have become attached to them, I don't think I should stay on. You saw everything yourselves. I ordered the defenders to push forward in the second half. I asked everyone to take part in the attacks. Unfortunately they did not use the opportunities. As the coach I am also to blame for this failure."

He finished his speech with the following comment, "I felt everyone's support, yours & the people's. I am upset because I disappointed you. It comforts me to know that I tried hard. Forgive me as much as you can."

He left and shamefully no one applauded him. This may have been his last interview as the head coach of Iran's National team.
 

Ciro's future in doubt

Prior to the return of the three Croatian coaches to their homeland, a session will be held at the Iranian Football Federation, which may turn out to be significant as the most senior officials will participate. This was the kind of session that Farahani held for Jalal Talebi after the Iran's defeat in Lebanon.

After the referee blew the whistle at the end of the game on Thursday night, everything, including Chiro and his companions' jobs will probably be lost. The follow up is just formality. They are supposed to hand in reports to Safaei Farahani on the World Cup Qualifers, reports which should be carefully studied.

Not many believe that Farahani will break with tradition and allow Blazevic to stay on. The custom is that when the reasons for the defeat are clear, we go all the way back to the drawing board and permit someone fresh to take over. This helps to distribute the blame among more people.

In a few days time, the Croatian coaches will go to their country and spend time with their families. They will probably return after Ramadan to hold another session with Farahani or perhaps who know the new Federation Head. Safaei Farahani is a close friend of Khatami and he is also believed by many to be one of the successful & capable administrators in the country. And even he could not bring success to the National Team in his 4-year reign at the Football Federation.

He took over a team who had reached the World Cup and gave back a disqualified one. In the past 4 years he has also changed the National Team coach 6 times. Now that sets a record.