Hossein Faraki is a very quiet person who does his job with minimal of fuss and does it very well indeed. The coach of current Foolad Khuzestan has been working wonders with his team this season and despite the initial loss at the opening game against Sepahan , they have not looked back since. The Team from Ahvaz has collected more points than any other team in the league to reach the top. Faraki was instrumental in building this solid team with many good and exciting player
Despite the success that he enjoys, the soft-spoken big man has not changed much since his playing days when he used to be a prolific striker terrorizing defenders and goalkeepers and letting his goals do all the talking for him. He was in the squad of the First ever Team Melli participation in the World Cup back in 1978 in Argentina. Faraki is still media shy after all these years. Beside the obligatory pre and post matches press conferences in the league, he seldom does interviews and prefers to do his work in the quiet and stay away from controversial issues leaving it to the likes of Mayeli Kohan and Daei to engage the public and entertain or enrage the masses with their feuds and trash talking.
” Team Melli coach has his favorite men and he sticks to them.”
However, there are always exceptions to the rule where an issue tests the resolve of even the coolest and the quietest of people. The issue was the latest list of Team Melli players. When the list was devoid of any Foolad Khuzestan player, Faraki with that quiet demeanor was enraged.
“We worked hard in the league to maintain the top position for long weeks. Everywhere in the world of football, the selection for the national teams is based on the performance and level of player in the league except for Iran. League positions, how good a player is performing or delivering, is simply meaningless. Team Melli coach has his favorite men and he sticks to them , never mind if thy lost form or if other players perform better than his favorites. It seems the league here is meaningless to the coach of our national team as he is has a mind of his own” Faraki said in response of non-selection of any of his team’s players in the list.
“We have 27 players in our roster. I am not claiming they are all exceptional , but how can a team maintain the top position of any league if there are not at least 5 or 6 good quality players that deserve recognition in form of selection for Team Melli?”
“We value our Team Melli, we value and respect Team Melli coach, we will always support Team Melli and the coach’s decisions , but let me put this on record. I am very disappointed by Queiroz totally ignoring Foolad players in his selection.”
Faraki continued expressing his disappointment by indicating that his top players will lose their drive and be affected by the fact that no matter how excellent they perform , they will be ignored and preference will be given to a small group of “the favorites” who will always make the national team irrespective of form , performance or merits .
“We have to respect the Team Melli coach decisions, but when it is obvious that he has a tight and closed set of players in his mind, it gives the rest of the league players and coaches a very bad impression. The whole league becomes a farce. Some of my players who have been very confident that they will make the list , will lose their morale which will affect their delivery in the future. Let us not kid ourselves; every player’s ultimate dream is to play for his country. It is a legitimate dream and should be based on merits.”
“ It does not require much intelligence for anyone in Iran’s football to know that the league is not considered very highly in the vision of Team Melli coaches selection criteria. How can I explain that and drive my best players like Bakhtiar Rahmani, Mehrdad Jamaati and Esmael Sharifat to perform to the best of their ability while telling them forget about Team Melli ? What kind of act that would be?”
“ They doze off!”
“What is the point of Queiroz and his assistants coming and watching the league matches or visiting the team practice sessions, while the selection list is a closed book and the players list have been pre-determined. Maybe Ferdowspour had a valid point when he showed in Navad program what our Team Melli coaches do when attending league matches. They doze off!”
Faraki closed his statement by saying that every time the Team Melli coach issues the list, there will be debates and complaints from many.” We have refrained from doing that. But this time, it is simply unacceptable for us.”
Foolad Khuzestan is leading the Persian Gulf League with 25 points after 12 matches played. Sepahan is second with 23 points.
