Omid Namazi , one of assistance coaches of Carlos Queiroz , hinted that the proposed participation of Team Melli in the American invitational 4 side tournament , which Iran is invited to , might not be approved by Queiroz due to logistics!
Namazi was speaking during the International Congress on Science and Football currently being held in Tehran and attended by world football dignitaries including Sepp Baltter , the head of FIFA. When quizzed further on the issue of Team Melli friendly preparation games, Namazi said “We have to wait for the World Cup draw which is held on Dec. 6th , before deciding any participation and arranging of friendly matches” thus reflecting Queiroz belief of identifying Iran’s group teams, and based on the style of those teams, appropriate friendly matches would be arranged.
On the opportunity of playing USA and another yet to be named team in a 4 side tournament , Namazi already dropped a hint that Iran might not take up that invitation due to the distance and logistics.
With Queiroz refusing to take part in the WAFF competition which will be held at the end of the year in Qatar thus depriving the team from much needed practice for many fringe players, and mocking playing against Thailand and Kuwait matches in the AFC Asian Cup 2015 qualifiers as a joke as far as World Cup preparations is concerned , and now the possibility of refusing a lucrative friendlies in the USA against quality teams is looming , it is not clear what is in Queiroz mind when it comes to his vision of friendly matches and preparation for the World Cup. Unless the Portuguese coach comes up with a master strike and arranges friendlies with quality European teams between now and the actual World Cup tournament , Team Melli will be running out of options and might seriously end up playing in the World Greatest football tournament without proper and meaningful friendly matches.
The irony of the matter is that Queiroz has always complained about the lack of friendly games and quality opponents. In his two years reign as the head coach of Team Melli , Iran has played games with mediocre teams such as Madagascar and Palestine. In those two years , Iran played only once against a team that is higher ranked than itself in the FIFA ranking and that is Tunisia in 2012. The only friendly in 2013 was against Oman which it lost.
Judging by track record, it is hardly unlikely that Queiroz , Kaffashian and co are able to line up meaningful oppositions anytime soon. Queiroz has already spoken abut Iran’s isolation (…) and the sanction as pretext for not finding quality teams. As it happened , Iran played two top world class teams in Brazil and Russia , right before he took over. The sanctions was very much enforce then as well.
List of Iran opponents and their average FIFA ranking in friendly matches under Queiroz.