The rumors of Carlos Queiroz returning back to lead Team Melli in the upcoming qualifying matches of the FIFA World Cup 2022 to replace Dragan Skucic are quite strong.
Iranian Football Federation, however, has no plans to recruit the Portuguese coach. At the same time, the issue of the contract with Dragan Skocic is still pending. The Croat coach, who achieved a 100% record with Team Melli is out of contract with the end of the second rounds of the World Cup Qualifiers.
Apart from stating the obvious on the expiry of the Skocic contract, the Football Federation has been tight-lipped about renewing or terminating the contract. No communique or statement from the Media officers has been issued leaving media and the fans to speculated through cyberspace.
Skocic had an excellent record with the Iranian national team. Not only he won all the friendly matches, but he also completed the remarkable feat of winning all the return matches of the World Cup qualifiers away from home. A feat that the supposedly more celebrated and famous coach in the form of the Belgian Wilmots miserably failed to achieve.
In the second round of the World Cup qualifiers, held in Bahrain, Iran under Skocic won against Hong Kong, Bahrain, Cambodia, and Iraq scoring 17 goals and conceding one to advance to the third round as the top of Group C.
However, the words of Shahab al-Din Azizi Khadem, the president of the Football Federation, on his return from Bahrain, made headlines. Azizi Khadem announced that Skocic’s contract with the national team has expired and the board of directors will decide whether he will stay or leave. This ambiguous statement led to speculation that he would cut ties with Skocic despite his success with the national team. Right from that time, the names of other coaches for the team were mentioned; From coaches like Andre Stramaccioni to Gabriel Calderon to Carlos Queiroz.
The name of Queiroz has been mentioned more than any other option due to his eight years stint with Team Melli and two consecutive qualifications to the World Cups in Brazil and Russia. Queiroz’s work in Iran was marred by controversy, with conflicts and verbal duels with other individuals such as club coaches, administrators, and journalists. He was never out of the headlines, even when Team Melli had no games planned. He is by far the most divisive person that has ever coached Team Melli. He has a cult following, mainly from Iranians living abroad, and many groups that despise his presence in Iran.
The opponents of the Portuguese coach cite his clashes with then-Persepolis coach Branko Ivankovic and his harsh treatment of his critics in addition to the extremely high salary that has broken FFIRI as reasons for not wanting him to be at the helm of Team Melli. Despite all the speculations about Queiroz’s return, even to the extent that some media outlets talking about a meeting between the former Real Madrid and Manchester United coach to be conducted soon, more informed sources mention that Queiroz has no place in the programs of Azizi Khadem, the president of the federation, and his return to the national team is just a media discussion.
Queiroz, whose name has also been mentioned in the Iraqi media as a possible candidate for their National Team head coach, relishes the chance to continue working for the Iranian national team with an excellent chance for another qualification to the World Cup; Especially since Iran has already qualified to the third qualifying round, but, if the president of FFIRI makes a final decision to terminate Skocic’s contract, he will certainly be looking for other options beyond Queiroz, particularly because there is no love lost between the two.