On the eve of Futsal Team Melli travel to Vietnam, Jesus Candelas talked to the press about his team, the championship and missing players.
In a very rare case for a coach in Iran’s, and certainly by futsal/football coaches , Candelas admitted that not inviting Nazari and Keshavarz to Team Melli could turn out to be an error of judgment from his side!
Candelas expressed his satisfaction with the training camp and the preparation matches played in Tashkent and Moscow which helped him to identify some weakness points, fill some gaps and rearrange the team in preparation for the AFC Futsal Championship in Vietnam. Candelas said that Keshavarz , the Team Captain was recovering from slight injury. “I made a decision to take him along with us to Uzbekistan to complete his recovery with the team. In hindsight, I should admit that this might not have been the best decision as far as Keshavarz was concerned, but I must commend him for his effort and perseverance during the trip.” Candelas said
On the reasons why the famous goalkeeper Mostafa Nazari was not invited to the team, Candelas said “I try to do my job within a specific framework and criteria. I have to say that the decision made on both Keshavarz and Nazari were difficult ones. I also do not want to say that it was definitely the right decision, but from the angles I was looking at , I came up with such decision which I thought it was right at the time based purely on technical issues. The question now is not about inviting them or not which was taken on technical merits. Of course, we could have had other consideration when taking the final decision, in any case I think we have a strong squad capable of challenging for the title.”
Asked about Keshavarz statement yesterday, where he said that he was disrespected and hence he will temporary announce his retirement from the team , Candelas preferred not to comment on the issue on the eve of his team’s departure. However , he emphasized that both Keshavarz and Nazari are quality players and while he is around, Team Melli’s doors will always be open for them. “I have no problem at all inviting them again for the next tournament or matches that we have to play. Right now , my focus is on the AFC Futsal Championship and I will leave it at that”
Futsal Team Melli will play Australia, Indonesia and China in Group C of the 2014 AFC Futsal Championship starting on 30t April in Ho Che Min City , Vietnam.