Asia deserves more after World Cup qualifiers fall under friendly day, Iran boss says.
- By Ashley Hammond Staff Reporter
- Published: 08:00 May 31, 2013
Dubai: Iran coach Carlos Queiroz has slammed the Fifa calendar after next Tuesday’s crucial World Cup qualifier against Qatar falls on a friendly day, meaning some players won’t join training until 48 hours before kick-off.
Team Melli are currently third in Group A of the fourth round qualifiers for the 2014 Fifa World Cup, three points off automatic qualification with three games to play.
The bulk of the former Real Madrid boss and assistant to Alex Ferguson at Manchester United’s 36-man squad has been on camp at Dubai’s Iranian Club in Oud Mehta since last Sunday, but Europe-based players will join late.
While Belgium-based Standard Liege striker Reza Ghoochannejhad arrived in Dubai on Wednesday, fellow forward Masoud Shojaei of Spain’s Osasuna, goalkeeper Daniel Davari of Germany’s Eintracht Braunschweig and midfielder Omid Nazari of Sweden’s Angelholms are still on club duty.
Had the fixture been arranged on an official Fifa match-day, overseas players would have been granted five days leave to prepare.
“With the major dream and responsibility of a country like Iran, you can only call players on Sunday night to play Wednesday. I find that difficult to understand,” Queiroz, 60, told Gulf News.
“I’m sure this kind of situation can never happen to Germany or England. Nobody would accept that. But this is the reality and it’s not right. These are the limitations of our World Cup qualifying campaign.
“For a continent that contributes towards 60 per cent of Fifa and world football’s sponsorship agreements, Asia deserves better attention than this.”
Queiroz added that Qatar, who have all their national team players playing at Qatari clubs, would have more time to prepare for the match.
Meanwhile of Iran, who have never progressed beyond the group stage in three World Cup appearances, in 1978, 1998 and 2006, he added: “It’s a major dream for all countries to qualify to the World Cup and, of course, the expectation in Iran is very high because it’s a football country with a lot of passion.
“We know that it will be a difficult game for both teams but I am very positive and confident we can get a good result in Qatar.
“At this moment everybody in the group can be in [automatic qualification] and everybody can be out. So it’s still open for all the teams. It’s my major goal in this moment of my career to qualify Iran for the World Cup.”