Year: 2022

ill discipline of Iranian players & coaches! The saga continues.

Iranian club football and to a certain extent, Team Melli, has been facing indiscipline, anarchy, and physical altercations at various levels in recent years. The FFIRI and other responsible organizations have not solved this moral and cultural problem. While the FFIRI Ethics & Disciplinary committee in particular seems to be ill-equipped for the job and proven to be a feeble body that suffers a lack of consistency and at times toothless to what is happening around.

This chaotic lawlessness has been out of control that even the pre-season camps have suffered from it.

Saket Elhami, a controversial figure and one who has faced disciplinary action umpteen times, in the last few years and was frequently banned by ethics and disciplinary committees of FFIRI, once again caused controversy and made headlines. The new head coach of Havadar coaching his team in the Turkish camp had a physical fight with Hamid Motahari, his counterpart in Nasaji Mazandaran, to the amazement of the onlookers, tourists, and athletes present at the Green Park camp in Turkey.

The culture of violence and aggression among the Iranian coaches has replaced the culture of self-control, respect, and chivalry in Iran’s football. Instead of calming the players, some coaches entice them and display a bad example of behavior towards opponent coaches, referees, and even their own fans!  Needless to mention that such poor behavior creeps into Team Melli particularly if the team coach is lenient.

This is all occurring while there are no attempts by the organizations concerned to promote any cultural awareness in the Iranian League clubs. In the season when the clubs will witness the return of the fans into the stadiums, the teams create convulsions and have justified that ill behavior as seeking success by any means possible.

The physical altercation and fist fights were not limited to the Turkish training camps of Havadar and Nassiji clubs, either. Mes Kerman was forced to abandon its friendly match halfway through the game due to the violence and fights between its players and those of Gol Gohar Sirjan. The referee, Amir Arab Baraghi has to use his yellow and red cards many times while in charge of another match between Persepolis and Mes Kerman. And all these are friendly matches …!

It is not clear whether this toxic and volatile atmosphere created in the pre-season by the hands of football players and coaches will turn into a fear of football by fans. Even worst, if the fights on the pitch will creep into the stands with disastrous results.  Unless the intervention of ethics institutions to promote sportsmanship culture will reduce the severity of this amount of bad behavior.

The body which is really responsible, The FFIRI’s Ethics and the Disciplinary Committee needs to be sacked and replaced by competent and fast-acting personnel who do not fear Esteghlal and Perspolis influences and apply heavy sentences on the offenders.

CAS Ruling on Wilmotts case starts a war of words and finger pointing!

After the Supreme Sports Court CAS ruled against Iran’s Football Federation and ordered that the former head coach of Team Melli , Marc Wilmots, be awarded euros 3,300,000 in compensation, Mehdi Taj, the former head of the FFIRI, defended his performance in the case and accused others of shortcomings that lead to this heavy fine.

Mehdi Taj’s reasonings, however, were far from convincing and lacked factual data which prompted rections from the media, legal experts, and members of the parliament. Although Taj failed to clarify the ambiguities in his own defense while at the helm of the federation that recruited the failure Wilmots, it did, however, uncover some insight into how this federation was poorly managed.

Taj’s main defense against the breach of contract is the US sanctions on Iran. The non-payment of Wilmott’s wages was due to his federation’s inability to honor the contract. However,  faced by many questions on the authenticity of his claim, he could only offer one answer to how was it that the previous coach, Carlos Queiroz was getting his wages regularly despite the same US sanction prevailing, by suggestiong that the US Sanctions got worst in the case of Wilmott’s  !!

This issue drew criticism from MP Ehsan Ghazizadeh Hashemi, who claimed that the compensation for the Wilmots case should be paid by the members of the former Board of Directors of FFIRI including Taj as they were accountable and culpable for such public funds wastage and misappropration.

Meanwhile, Hamid Sajjadi, the Minister of Sports and Youth last night, called the case of the former head coach of Team Melli as “Wilmots Tsunami” and said: “What we saw in the report is like the tip of the iceberg that is sticking out of the water.” In our meetings, I named it “Wilmots Tsunami “.

Despite the accountability of Mehdi taj and his responsibility for the failure of Wilmot both on and off the field, Taj managed to sneak in and register his name as a candidate for the new federation board and the Presidency of FFIRI!

The lack of accountability and due process has allowed many corrupt managers to get away with murder in Iran. The reality is that the country is infested with corrupt, inept, and/or incompetent managers who run public organizations to the ground with immunity. FFIRI seems to attractct all the shady elemnts.

Asia’s pathway to the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup™ 2027 confirmed

 
the-afc.com Kuala Lumpur: 

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Executive Committee has approved the 
qualification format for Asia’s Road to the FIFA World Cup 2026 as well as the AFC Asian Cup™ 2027 in preparation for the eight direct spots and a single Intercontinental Playoff slot allocated to the AFC by FIFA following the expansion of the FIFA World Cup 2026 to 48 teams.
The new qualification format has been established after several consultations and dialogue sessions with the AFC Member Associations (MAs), briefings with the AFC Competitions Committee, as well as the Confederation’s key stakeholders.
 
 
It was decided that the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification tournament will comprise four rounds:
·       Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1: 22 teams, ranked 26 to 47, will be drawn to face off in a home and away format, where the 11 winners will progress to the Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2.
 
·       Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2: 36 teams – teams ranked from 1 to 25 as well as the 11 winners from the first round – will be divided into nine groups of four teams each, who will each compete in a round robin, home and away format, where the top two teams from each group – 18 in total – will advance to the AFC Asian Qualifiers.
 
·       AFC Asian Qualifiers: Subsequently, the 18 teams, who also qualify automatically for the AFC Asian Cup™ 2027, will be divided into three groups of six teams each, competing in a round robin, home and away format, with the top two teams from each group – six in total – qualifying directly to the FIFA World Cup 2026.
 
·       Asian Playoff: The final round will consist of the third and fourth-placed teams from all groups of the AFC Asian Qualifiers – six teams in total. The six teams will be drawn into two groups of three teams each, competing in a single round-robin format.
 
·       The two first-placed teams from the Asian Playoff groups will advance to the FIFA World Cup 2026. The second-placed teams from both groups will compete in a playoff match to determine the side that will represent the AFC in the Intercontinental Playoff.
 
The AFC Asian Cup™ 2027 Qualifiers will continue from the Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1 and Round 2, in parallel with the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualification competition:
 
·       AFC Asian Cup™ Qualifiers Playoff: The 10 losing teams from the Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1 will be drawn to compete in a home and away format, where the five winners will advance to the AFC Asian Cup™ Qualifiers Final Round.
 
·       AFC Asian Cup™ Qualifiers Final Round: 24 teams in total – 1 best ranked losing team from the Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 1, 18 third and fourth-placed teams from each group of the Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2, and the five winners from the AFC Asian Cup™ Qualifiers Playoff – will be divided into six groups of four teams each, where only the first placed team of each group will qualify to the AFC Asian Cup™ 2027.
The format above is based on the entry of all 47 Member Associations and is subject to change depending on the final number of entries.
 
Additionally, the AFC Executive Committee also approved the proposal of the competitions’ (national teams, futsal and beach soccer) calendar for 2023/2024 which is tabled below and at the same time, provided the Administration with the mandate to alter the Match Days (MD) where necessary.
 

Omid Team withdraws from the Islamic Solidarity Games!

The team that Mehdi Mahdavikia is managing in hope of qualifying for the Paris Olympic Games 2024, has announced its withdrawal from the Islamic Solidarity Games that are supposed to be held in Turkey.

These games, were part of a long-term project to qualify the young Iranian team for the Olympic Games in Paris.

After some disappointing showings including the elimination from the AFC U23 Cup in the group rounds, the latest results have indicated that this team is far from challenging for any kind of title and has a long way to go to be taken seriously. According to Mahdavikia himself, “ If these are the conditions that we have to work under, we will be lucky to make Mehrabad airport let alone Paris!“
The difficulties that Mhadavikia, who has lost his foreign assistants and advisors, is referring to include but are not limited to the reluctance of the League clubs to release their players, many of whom are fixed, senior team players.

Omid Team foreign coaches left Iran after non-payment of their wages by the FFIRI or the Iranian Olympic Committee IOC, something which is quite normal in Iran. The breach of contracts between teams and coaches is affecting all levels of football in the country.

In the latest friendly match, the Omid team under Mahadavikia lost to Persepolis 4-2 with the reds playing some of the players that Mahdavikia picked for the U23 team. Kia claimed that he had only 14 to 16 players available to him and that number is quite insufficient for a team that is preparing for a major championship.

It has been quite a rough road for Mehdi Mahdavikia who reluctantly agreed to coach the Omid Team, while many others turned down this offer. The U23 or Omid Team has been a serious failing experience for the aspiring and even experienced Iranian coaches. All of them failed to achieve anything of worth for the team Melli of the future. Many of these coaches’ reputations were damaged beyond repair after experiencing failures with Omid, Mahdavikia is in danger of being added to that list too.

The FFIRI has not formally announced the withdrawal from the Solidarity games yet.

FIFA ranking is deceiving , Is Iran really the number one football nation in Asia?

Although Team Melli has been topping the FIFA Ranking in Asia for many months and years, the reality of the football results, performances of other Iranian teams, global reputation, management, and administration chaos tells a completely different story.

A close analysis of the above shows that Iranian football is lagging behind major Asian footballing nations in recent years. According to the FIFA ranking system for the Senior National Football teams, Iran’s team has often been at the top rank of Asian teams in the FIFA rankings in recent years. This ranking cannot be questioned because it has its own criteria and points are awarded for winning in each match, while each match has a factor based on importance and the position/rank of the opponents. So, it is quite scientific and the process v=cannot be faulted in any way. However, by examining various fields and indicators, including the superiority of Iranian football in the competition with important teams in the world at the club and junior levels football and the results obtained In the AFC Asian Cup, World Cup rounds, and Olympics, we find out that Iranian football is by far not the top nation in Asia as we have always been led to believe.

Now the question is why Iranian football has not been able to get results in important Asian competitions for many years. Why has a team that claims to be a contender in Asian football not achieved any important honor in the last 30 years in the club division and in the last 40 years at the national level?

 

1/ Performance in the World Cup

Performance of Asian teams in the World Cup (teams that advanced to the second round are highlighted in blue)

 

Teams Korea Rep Japan Saudi Arabia Iran Australia Korea DPR
Played 34 21 16 15 16 7
Won 6 5 3 2 2 1
Drawn 9 5 2 4 4 1
Lost 19 11 11 9 10 5

2/ Performance in the Olympics

46 years have passed since Iran’s last participation in the Olympics, and by the time the Paris Olympics begin, this longing will reach 48 years. For every Olympic qualifier, failures and lackluster results lead to elimination from the early stages of qualifiers. Iran’s Omid national team fails to advance to the Olympics tournament after tournament. The following is the list of Asian Teams that qualified for the Olympics since 1980.

1980 IRAQ SYRIA  KUWAIT
1984 IRAQ SAUDI ARABIA QATAR
1988 IRAQ KOREA REP CHINA
1992 QATAR KOREA REP KUWAIT
1996 JAPAN KOREA REP SAUDI ARABIA
2000 JAPAN KOREA REP KUWAIT
2004 JAPAN KOREA REP IRAQ
2008 JAPAN KOREA REP AUSTRALIA
2012 JAPAN KOREA REP UAE
2016 JAPAN KOREA REP IRAQ
2020 JAPAN KOREA REP AUSTRALIA SAUDI ARABIA

 

3/ The AFC Asian Cup

The longing for lifting the AFC Asian Cup trophy by Team Melli, which Iran won three times in a row before the revolution, is now 47 years old, and Iran has not won the title since the revolution. by the next edition of the Asian Cup, this longing will last half a century. This is despite the fact that since Iran’s last championship in the Asian Cup, Japan won 4, Saudi Arabia won 3, and Kuwait, Iraq, Australia, and  Qatar have won the title once in Iran’s absence.

YEAR CHAMPION FINALIST THIRD
1980 KUWAIT KOREA REP IRAN
1984 SAUDI ARABIA CHINA KUWAIT
1988 SAUDI ARABIA KOREA REP IRAN
1992 JAPAN SAUDI ARABIA CHINA
1996 SAUDI ARABIA UAE IRAN
2000 JAPAN SAUDI ARABIA KOREA REP
2004 JAPAN CHINA IRAN
2007 IRAQ SAUDI ARABIA KOREA REP
2011 JAPAN AUSTRALIA KOREA REP
2015 AUSTRALIA KOREA REP UAE
2019 QATAR JAPAN IRAN & UAE

 

4/ Performance in the AFC Champions League

Pas won the Asian Club Cup in the 1992-1993 season. Three decades have passed since then. In this competition, Iranian club teams have never been able to win the championship title in its new format. The Asian Champions League has been held in a new format since 2002.

The number of championships of Asian teams since the start of the Champions League:

South Korea: 6 championships

Japan: 4 championships

Saudi Arabia: 4 championships

Australia: 1 championship

Iran: Zero

 

5/ The number of legionnaires in the 5 prestigious leagues of the world

 

 

JAPAN KOREA DPR AUSTRALIA IRAN SAUDI ARABIA
Bundesliga 9 4 4 1 0
English Premier League: 2 2 1 1 0
La Liga 1 1 2 0 0
Serie A 2 0 0 0 0
14 7 7 2 0

 

 

Omid Team called for Islamic Solidarity Games 2022

The Football federation announced the name of 26 players invited to join the Omid Team camp in preparation for The Islamic Solidarity Games football competition in Turkey.

The team will be led by coach Mehdi Mahdavikia who has arranged two friendly games before departure for the games.

Omid team’s last outing in the AFC U23 Asian Championship was rather disappointing as the team did not manage to qualify from the group stage and departed home early. In the last decade, Omid team under various coaches failed in every competition that has been played including the Olympic Qualifiers.

 

The invited players’ list

  1. Ali Pilaram (South Pars)
  2. Alireza Khodaei (Persepolis)
  3. Ali Asghar SadeghNasab (Mes Rafsanjan)
  4. Amir Ali Sadeghi (Esteghlal)
  5. Amir Jafari Siglani (Gol Gohar Sirjan)
  6. Amir Mohammad MohkamKar (Sepahan)
  7. Arya Barzegar (Tractor)
  8. Arya Yousefi (Sepahan)
  9. Bilal Arazi (Gol Gohar Sirjan)
  10. Erfan Shahriari Khalaji,
  11. Fardin Rabet
  12. Mehdi Hashemnejad (Tractor)
  13. Mohammad Ghorbani (Nasiji Mazandaran)
  14. Mohammad Hossein Alipour (Mes Shar Babak) 
  15. Mohammad Hossein Eslami (Zob Ahan)
  16. Mohammad Javadkia (Aluminium Arak)
  17. Mohammad Mehdi Ahmadi (Persepolis)
  18. Mohammad Amin Hezbavi (Foolad Khuzestan)
  19. Milad Kerr (Tractor)
  20. Payam Parsa (Sanat Naft Abadan)
  21. Saman Falah (Peykan)
  22. Saman Tooranian (Mes Kerman)
  23. Sina SaeediFar (Esteghlal)
  24. Sina Abdollahei (Naft Masjed Soleiman)
  25. Yasin Salmani (Sepahan)
  26. Younis Akbarpour (Aluminium Arak)

FFIRI to pay Wilmots a further 3 Million Euros

The former head of the Legal Department of the Football Federation said: “The ruling of the Wilmots case has been issued and we have to pay an amount of around 3 million euros to this coach.”

According to Mehr reporter, Safiullah Faghanpour said ” as a result of the former Team Melli coach filing a claim demanding payment of 6 million Euros in back pay and damages, FIFA Disciplinary Committee ruled for the Belgian coach and order FFIRI pay Wilmott an amount of 6 million euros after, however, after FFIRI appealed against the amount, the case was sent to arbitration at CAS, which issued its verdict and the amount was reduced to 3 million Euros.

Faghanpour said: “There was a lot of concern here and everyone thought that we would be condemned in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but I consider what we achieved as a great success !!. The only case that we have won over the years in international tribunals is the Wilmots case, which was in CAS and the verdict was broken.”
Faghanpour mentioned that it (CAS) reduced the amount of Wilmots against Iran, but it could have reached about 12 million euros. Now the Supreme Sports Court has disregarded the claim and made the final payment due to the coach to less than 3 million euros.

Faghanpour claimed that this was a great success for the Federation and in a bizarre statement, claimed: “Now we have to pay an amount that is not very significant! ”  Faghanpour, who was talking to “Good Morning” TV show, was asked whether this decision on Wilmots’ case is final and official? He emphasized: “Yes, the verdict was issued. Probably, it will be announced this week. What I said is certain.”

Faghanpour then went on to congratulate himself on the victory !!! “I must congratulate the success we achieved in the Supreme Court of Sports!

The Belgian Marc Wilmott was appointed as the head coach of Team Melli in 2018 replacing Carlos Queiroz. He was in the job for less than 6 months and received 2 million euros from the Football Federation before losing to Bahrain and Iraq. Based on Faghanpour’s words, Wilmots has earned around 1 million euros each month in his short and disastrous time in Iran, yet he has the audacity to congratulate himself and the FFIRI for not paying 12 million euros as he claimed!

In contrast, The Croatian Dragan Skocic, whose contract is in local currency draws a salary of nearly US$100,000 a month, i.e. only 10% of what Wilmott’s earned.

It is a desperate time for Iran’s Football management and leadership. It seems the FFIRI as an organization attracts lots of charlatans, incompetent and inept people who do nothing but harm football and the country’s reputation, not to mention damage its finances. One person who is responsible for the Wilmotts debacle, Mehdi Taj is putting his name forward as a candidate for the Presidency of the FFIRI in the coming election next month!

 

 

Pashazadeh :”Turmoil in Team Melli camp, is the result of weak leadership”

The story of the sacking of Skocic and then a U-turn by the federation is still reverberating in Iran and across many other countries. It has sent a shock wave among senior footballers and former Team Melli players, who one after another criticized both the federation and some players for their unseemly act against the coach who qualified them for the World Cup 2022

One of those who voiced his disdain at what is happening is the Former Team Melli defender Mehdi Pashazadeh. In an interview with Mehr News, he said  ”  These events have done nothing but harm to the reputation of Iranian football and our standing in the international arena is becoming subject of ridicule, especially amongst our World Cup opponents. Those who caused and create these situations can wait and see what is the end results of their behavior in Qatar.”

The former national football player said: “After the departure of Wilmots, the national team was in a precarious and tricky situation, and at that time, few people were willing to risk their career and reputation to take over the leadership of the national team on the brink of elimination from the World Cup. However, Skocic took that risk, which is precisely why he should be given much credit and respect. The results of the qualifiers with Wilmots were abnormal and it was clear that things were not going well in Team Melli camp. Under normal circumstances, obtaining such results was beyond belief. However, with the same squad under heavy pressure, Skocic was able to lead Team Melli to the World Cup. If his services were not required beyond that, it should have been done immediately but honorably after the qualification, with a new plan in mind, and a stronger coach should have been chosen. Especially since our qualification to the World Cup was confirmed halfway through and there was an ample opportunity to plan ahead and negotiate contracts”

 

Pashazadeh continued: “Unfortunately, Skocic was not treated correctly. Once they decided in their own mind that he was not competent, they fired him but after 10 days they retained him again, and this act was detrimental to the personality and reputation of this coach or any other coach for that matter.  Personally, if I were Skocic, I would not have come back after these behaviors.”

The former Bayer 04 Leverkusen , SC Fortuna Köln (Germany), SK Rapid Wien, and SK Sturm Graz (Austria) player concluded ” These problems have appeared in our football recently as a result of weak leadership at the head of football in recent years, and this mismanagement has directly reflected on Team Melli and of course other national teams in the junior and lower age groups. Allowing players to bad-mouth coaches and dictate whom they want is the beginning of the demise.”

 

The Guardian reporting on Iran’s Team Melli fading hopes.

Iran’s World Cup hopes fading amid botched sacking and squad acrimony

Iran striker Sardar Azmoun
Striker Sardar Azmoun wrote a post on Instagram professing to speak for the squad and calling for Iran’s manager to stay on until after the World Cup. It swiftly led to angry reactions from other players. Photograph: Seokyong Lee/Penta Press/Shutterstock

Team’s star players at loggerheads over future of coach Dragan Skocic, leaving optimism and preparations for Qatar in tatters

The volte-face was welcomed by Sardar Azmoun, the Bayer Leverkusen forward who retired from international football at the age of 23 in 2018 after facing heavy criticism from supporters, only to return a few months later.

“We are members of the national team of Islamic Republic of Iran,” he wrote on Instagram. “We thank Iran for the efforts and support of the government officials in the direction of all-round support for the national team. We announce that in the current situation, we will work together with the technical staff to make the hearts of the Iranian people happy in the Qatar World Cup, and trust us and the national team in this critical and short period. The World Cup should be fully supported. @teammellifootball We, the players, ask you not to change anything, let’s leave everything for after the World Cup.”

Iran players Mehdi Taremi and Alireza Jahanbakhsh celebrate qualification for the Qatar World Cup.
Mehdi Taremi (left) and Alireza Jahanbakhsh, two of the senior players who came out publicly against Azmoun’s social-media post. Photograph: Mohammad Farnood/Sipa/Shutterstock

A few hours later, Mehdi Taremi – the Porto striker who scored a brilliant overhead kick against Chelsea that was voted Champions League goal of the season in 2021 – responded with an angry message that said Azmoun had spoken out “without consent” and “against our wishes”.

“It is disrespectful to the national team to issue statements in the name of the national team based on the personal interests of some players and causing the team to be divided,” he wrote. “Denying the current difficult situation that the national team is facing only increases the mountain of our problems.”

Taremi’s message was shared and liked by the captain, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, the former Brighton forward who plays for Feyenoord, and several other senior players. Taremi, Jahanbakhsh, and the AEK Athens duo Ehsan Hajsafi and Karim Ansarifard had been among a group of senior players who met the Iranian sports minister during their training camp in Qatar last month to demand that Skocic be removed from his post.

Iran’s manager Dragan Skocic
Iran’s Croat manager Dragan Skocic, who was sacked and then reinstated. Photograph: Getty Images

“They would never have dared to do something like that to Carlos Queiroz,” says Shaygan Banisaeid, a coach for Arsenal’s Football in the Community scheme who came to England from Iran in 2019, referencing the national team’s former coach. “After that, the team went into two groups. One led by Azmoun, with the younger players who have been given their chance by Skocic and are happy with him. Then there are the more experienced players with European experience who want to make a change. Unity used to be one of the team’s biggest strengths but we don’t have that any more.”

Elections for president take place on 30 August and Skocic’s position is expected to come under more pressure before the next training camp in September. Meanwhile, Ole Gunnar Solsjkær has been among those linked to the post along with Ali Daei, the former striker who saw Cristiano Ronaldo take his all-time international goalscoring record last year, even though Daei has not managed for three years and has said he is not interested in taking over.

Queiroz is Iran’s longest-serving manager after leading them to creditable World Cup campaigns in Russia, where they only just missed out on the last 16 after drawing with his native Portugal, and Brazil. He is available having left his post with Egypt despite leading them to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations in February, although many feel nationality could count against Sir Alex Ferguson’s former assistant.

“This is the opinion that some people have,” says Banisaeid. “They believe that the Iranian government wants to play at the World Cup against its political opponents England and USA with an Iranian coach so they can show that we are a proud nation fighting against our big rivals with our own people.

“It’s a big dilemma: can they continue with Dragan Skoic if he isn’t going to be able to unite the players? asks Banisaeid, who has also coached at Fulham and Middlesbrough. “This will be our third World Cup in a row and there was lots of optimism when we saw the draw that this could be a good chance to get through the group. Even though some people may have underestimated the USA and Wales, everyone thought we could do something in Qatar. But now everyone is so disappointed and there is not much hope among the public. It’s heartbreaking for the nation.”

Skočić: ” I am not worried about my future on Team Melli bench”

Dragan Skočić, in an interview with the Varzesh TV program this Friday morning, said ” the conditions of the national team in Bahrain in the World Cup qualifiers were quite stressful.  I have to admit that it was a really difficult situation because we could not afford to lose even a single point. It was difficult to maintain our focus and we had to deal with various complex conditions.”

Commenting on the training camp, preparations, friendly matches, and the forthcoming game against Uruguay: ” You should know that I gave a plan to the federation three months ago and asked them to consider the best teams for the preparatory game. Teams that are on a similar level and conditions to our opponents in the World Cup. I don’t want to fuel rumors now either. I have been told that the match with Uruguay has been confirmed.”  He continued: ” What is important for us is to be able to prepare our players in the best condition possible and to be able to go to Qatar with full preparation. I have not suggested any team for friendly matches. As a head coach, I should not suggest a team. That’s why I left this choice in the hands of the federation.”

In response to the question of whether he made breakfast mandatory for all the players, the head coach of Team Melli said: ” If breakfast was the only problem, it shows that the rest of the things were carried out correctly. We were able to pull off the fastest qualification to the World Cup in the history of Iran, now why do they focus on breakfast!? ” Skočić continued: “Definitely, players should not make decisions about things like breakfast, they should focus on their real work, about how to improve and correct their shortfalls. The expectation from the players is to show their best performance in training and games.”

On the group opponents in the World Cup: “Our first opponent is England, everything is clear about this team. We must step into the field with faith and high motivation. Wales has many similarities to England in terms of players. physical and style of play. These two teams are very good.  I think some might believe that the American team is a below-strength former team, but this team has changed a lot. We have to prepare for three important and difficult games.”

On the question that Skočić invited too many players to the camp, he responded: ” There are talks about the previous camp, which was an exception. Due to some problems, I had to invite a large number, but in the next camp, the number will be standard. At the beginning of the camp, we will invite some domestic league players for the pre-camp. In this sense, maybe the number of players will be more than the standard model. “
“Will you invite new players to the team?” was another question asked “, ” It is my duty to see the players of different clubs. I will travel to Turkey to watch our Iranian players playing there. I have always tried to invite the best players who are in form to the camp. I have to invite players to the camp who understand my wishes,” continued Skočić, who spoke to Channel Five TV’s stadium program.

” I have to analyze and check all the issues before allowing a player to don a Team Melli jersey. I don’t think the presence of this number of players will harm the coordination of the team. I know a lot about the players. Every player who was invited had a reason. It is my duty to invite players I deem fit.”

Regarding why he is not happy compared to the past, Skočić said: ” One of the reasons is the rumors I keep hearing. I have spent my whole life in football. I try to keep a positive attitude all the time. Let’s look back at the qualification we accomplished. Look how much some outside elements wanted to knock us down. But now, I also have an internal dragon that has been active within the team. Ever since I took over the responsibility of the national team, you have seen the leadership instability that has been experienced in the football federation. Put the chaos of the squad next to the chaos of the federation administration, it will probably realize how much energy I had to put into controlling the team. It was a near impossible mission”

Regarding the meeting with the technical committee and if he is worried about the future, he said: ” I have not had a meeting with the technical committee. This is an unacceptable issue. If a technical committee believed there are shortcomings or problems in my work or the squad, they should have discussed it with me and listened to what is really happening to the team before they pass judgment. It is not right that they judge unilaterally. This is flawed judgment and inappropriate.” 

Skočić continued: ” I take responsibility for the team and I have accepted all the pressures. I have spent my whole life under the pressure of football and I emphasize that I take full responsibility for the team’s failures.  Just as you wrote the results of the previous matches in my name, write the results of the next games in my name. “

On Team Melli’s tactics and style in the World cup against strong opponents ranked above Iran in the FIFA Ranking, Skočić said: “Be rest assured that I am not doing something childish. We will play each game aiming for a good result. We are not going to play 100% offensive football while not having anything to do with defense. We want to create balance in the team. We want to perform at our best. We have to attack and create opportunities in front of each of these teams and not just defend.”

Dragan Skočić said about the support given to him by Iranian football stars: ” After all, I am also human and you will feel good when you are supported and appreciated. I am trying to improve myself and I want to bear this pressure so that I can make the best thing happen for the Iranian national team. How many people talk about me without even knowing me and without any shred of evidence?  this is not acceptable at all. I can be much better if there is more support.”

Skočić answered a question about the selection of the captain: ” You are now dragging us to talk about rumors. The tradition is that the most experienced player is the Captain. Each of the national team players who wear the national team shirt must be a captain because they represent a nation. Definitely, and especially less experienced players should have this mentality.”