Tag: Omid Team

Barazay "Kranjcar is the perfect coach for Omid Team"

The Captain of Team Melli U-23 , known as the Omid Team , has spoken to ISNA about the aspirations and the prospects of the team.

Behnam Barazay , the current Rah Ahan player and the Captain of the U23 team , believes in strong preparation games " unless we play against quality teams for our friendly games to get the big experience , I am afraid we will not be able to qualify for the Olympic Games."

The young striker , is also confident that the Croat coach Zlatko Kranjcar is the best candidate for the Omid team " He has coached at different levels, his record is quite good , he coached in Iran and his approach is professional. I believe he is the perfect coach for Omid Team."

"Although many players prefer to work with Iranian coaches, and I am one of those players , as communication is easier , however a coach in the class of Kranjcar can make a big difference." Barazay added.

Regarding the recent failures specifically in the Asian Games in Incheon, Barazay said " The players were under tremendous stress after the Asian Games. In the Qatar camp , quite a lot of work was done on the psychological aspect but fear of losing still causes a lot of stress."

About his own future career and whether he will follow his teammates Alireza Jahanbaksh and Sardar Azamoun in to Europe,  Barazay Did not want to think about that for the time being although he received an offer from an Arab team. " All my concentration right now is on the form of my team Rah Ahan. I have  not succeeded in gaining the full confidence of Hamid Estili yet. My goal is to do that. I need to get it right here in Iran before thinking about abroad and becoming a legionnaires"

The situation with the appointment of Kranjcar took another weird twist when it was decided that a committee within the football federation will have to examine the Croat coach resume and give its seal of approval before the coach can be appointed. This development cam up aright after Ali Kaffashian and Habib Kashani confirmed the appointment of the ex-Sepahan Esfahan coach as the head coach of the Omid Team. Many observers are suspecting some interference by the Ministry of Sport who always claims that they have no role in appointing coaches for National Team , but in reality they exert pressure on the FFIRI and Kaffashian to pass their own candidates.

  Behnam Barazay Behnam Barazay

Zlatko Kranjcar on the brink of signing for Omid Team

Jafar Kashani , the Manager of Iran’s Omid team (Olympics) has announced that his federation and Zlatko Kranjcar are on the brink of signing a contract for the appointment of the Croat , formerly Persepolis and Sepahan coach , as the head coach of Iran’s Olympic team. “I am very confident that it is a matter of days for the final contract to be signed. From my side, I am fully satisfied with the outcome of the negotiation and quite pleased by the way that Kranjcar has negotiated the contract with us. He is a professional man, with high degree of integrity and values. He is not the opportunist type who negotiates even the minutest of detail regarding money or payments. Kranjcar has declared that if he fails to take Iran to the Olympics, he will resign his job with expecting any compensation or severance pay.”
Kranjcar watch Omid Team in Qatar alongside Kashani
Kashani and Kranjcar met in Doha where the Omid team is setting camp. Kashani concluded that “as far as I am concerned it is a done deal; however, I am not the only person in the federation. The process needs to go through the right channels before it is finalized, sealed and delivered.” Kashani refused to disclose the financial deal but said it is not very far from what Vingada was getting. The proposed contract will be for 21 months until the Rio Olympics.   "Omid Team ", translated into English  means "Hope Team". It refers to the Olympic or the U23 team.