Naft Tehran midfielder in confident enough to believe that his team can win the Hazfi Cup, in addition to achieving a respectable high ranking in the Persian Gulf League. He also said that he aims to gain the full confidence of Team Melli coach in order to make the squad to the Asian cup. His long term ambition is to play in Europe.
Morteza Pouraligangi , the 22 years old footballer from Babol , in an interview with Mehr News Agency, after his team Naft Tehran defeated Padideh to qualify for the final of Hazfi Cup expressed his satisfaction with his team performance. “We were the better team throughout the match and if I and my other teammates dealt better with the final ball, the margin of victory would have been much better. I think we wasted at least 5 good goal scoring opportunities against Padideh.”
“We could have easily won that match if we managed to score an early goal to draw the Padideh out of their defensive cocoon. They were just thinking of not conceding as their game plan was based upon solid defense while their attack was based on Route 1 (direct route) to the opposition goal “.
Pouraligangi , who was named in the last Team Melli squad and was an unused substitute in the match against South Korea, attributed his team sterling performance to long term vision of the club management and quality coaching.
“After Naft Tehran won promotion to the Persian Gulf League, the club recruited the best coach they can afford and one who had an excellent track in producing and developing talented young players. He was Hossein Faraki , who gave me my first chance to play in the league while I was only 18 years old. After Faraki left, Golmohammadi maintained the same policy as his predecessor of allowing talented players to be given playing time regardless to their name or family backgrounds. Now, Alireza Mansourian who is an expert in youth level football is taking over and doing a remarkable job with Naft which is one of the youngest teams in the league.”
“Most of the young players in our team have similar aspirations. To start with, we all want to gain success and win trophies with Naft Tehran. This is vital for our career success and future. Then we want to build upon that domestic success to reach our goal of playing in the European leagues.”
Morteza Pouraligangi joined Naft Tehran in 2010. The midfielder started his football career for his local club, Peykan Babol , before moving to Pas Tehran , and then Ehsan Shahr Rey before settling in Naft Tehran in 2010 and making his professional debut.
In 2009 , Morteza Pouraligangi was selected for Iran’s U 16 team where he played 4 matches while in 2010 he was a member of Iran’s U 18 playing 2 matches, then Iran U23 where he won 10 caps.
“My aspiration is to be a member of Team Melli. I am hoping that my performance in the league with Naft is good enough to get the approval of Carlos Queiroz.”
“Ultimately , my selection for Team Melli is based upon my own performance in my team. Carlos Queiroz has already expressed his satisfaction with my work in the U 23 team. My aim is to maintain his confidence and reinforce it further on and off the field. Queiroz is an experienced football coach who coached world class players such as Zidane, Beckham , Figo , Christian Ronaldo and others. He knows the strength and weakness of his players and always works to enhance their abilities. I hope that in the next training camp I work even better to enhance my chance for the AFC Asian Cup in Australia.”