Ali Kafashian stated that Team Melli has not responded well to the aspiration of its fans and therefore Carlos Queiroz has been warned.
In an interview given to The Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), Ali Kafashian talking about the chances of Team Melli’s for qualification to the FIFA World Cup in Brazil explained, “ The team had good preparations and played lots of games. The Team performed well in the preliminary qualification rounds until the last two games (Uzbekistan & Qatar). In the past two games the players were not worthy of their national team status. We have two objectives to meet with the team, the qualification to the World Cup and second in the World Cup itself , playing well against strong teams.
“Just going to Brazil to appear in the World Cup is not important , we need to perform well and be strong in all the games. That is very important. When we observe Korea and Japan , we see that they are going forward with high confidence, but this is not evident in the Iranian national team. Team Melli has to meet the demands of people and we hope this is the case and the team performs better next time. I was really scared while watching the game with Uzbekistan. We warned Carlos Queiroz about that poor performance , but he also had his excuse and attributed the poor performance to poor preparation and because of the intense league program.
Asked if the administration meets with Queiroz to assist his preparation for Qualifying the finals , Kafashian responded that the federation has done everything possible to support Queiroz including cancelling of the Hazfi cup to give him time to prepare since he complained previously about like of preparation time. On top of our League matches , we also need to abide by the AFC program as there are few commitments that we have no option but to meet such as the AFC Champions League. We asked AFC to re-schedule the Champions League dates to allow more time for Team Melli preparation. We have a crucial period starting September and have arranged at least two friendly matches for Team Melli.
Kafashian on a TV sports programs in response to the question whether these major changes in the Iran’s football program is worth it ? Stated: We have the World Cup once every four years and to qualify for that tournament is very important to us. However, the Cup and League games are held every year and we should not give excuses to the technical staff. They all wanted to cooperate this year, so the technical and development committee of experts and members have requested the Federation to help Queiroz. I accept that if you go to the World Cup, but the result is poor , it will be difficult. Even if we play well, but fail to qualify for the World Cup , people will not feel bad , but if we qualify but perform badly and concede four goals from Mexico , it reflects badly on us all.
About supporting football federation officials of the UAE Federation in their run for the Presidency of the AFC, Kafashian stated: Chairman of the UAE federation, is also the AFC competitions’ chairman. Our people have to discuss various issues with him and also exchange views. Our Federation members also went to the UAE to share some ideas with them. It is all about collaboration, but the case of cancelling the friendly match is closed as we did not want to pursue it any further. That cancellation was based purely on political act. However, they need our cooperation, we do not need them.
Football Federation confirmed the presence of Iranian players have been banned in the UAE, said since the opening of the market for our players to the Persian Gulf states , our football have suffered and we have no interest in it. However , UAE has boycotted Iranian player again based on politics. It is a blessing in disguise quite like the boycott by the United States which is making our nations even more stronger and self-reliant. The sanctions are our gains.
He also delivered a warning to the clubs in regards to the professional licensing documents for submission to the AFC, Kafashian emphasized: this is only a warning, the club have to send to the AFC all relevant documents of all the Iranian league clubs in order to gain their professional license in Asia and operate as a company. To date, 85 percent of our documents are ready and to prepare these documents , they should be delivered tomorrow and we will subsequently send them to the AFC.
Kafashian also emphasized that he does not have any role in the votes issued by the disciplinary committee, he added: I also criticized the disciplinary committee decisions. There was a long delay in ruling on the Futsal case which eventually resulted in the second team Gitipasand went to represent us in Asia. Gitipasnd been successful in Asia and reached the final time that I say congratulations to them.