Tehran
The secretary general of the FFIRI Mehdi Mohammad Nabi in an interview with Mehr News Agency, said “The training camp planned for Team Melli in South Africa and the next one in Austria has not been finalized yet!!”
This statement is in sharp contrast to what the President of FFIRI Ali Kaffashian has confirmed weeks back that the South African camp is definitely on and will be conducted per schedule. Kaffashian even mentioned that he will personally go to each of the Persian Gulf Arab countries where a number of Team Melli members are playing , to seek their release for the training camp..
Mohammad Nabi also added “Despite mutual agreement for the extension of Queiroz contract beyond World Cup 2014 , we have actually not signed any contract yet.”
The claims and counter claims by the members of FFIRI has been the Achilles heel of Iran’s football administration for years. It is always difficult to confirm anything with this federation as the goalposts changes position all the time.
When asked about the status of Team Melli camp, Mohammad Nabi , once again referred to financial difficulties faced by his federation. “We had no intention of canceling the South Africa Training camp because of the unavailability of 3 or 4 players; however the problem facing us is monetary. The camp has not been finalized yet.”
“All the money we got from different sources including the sponsors will only cover the Training Camp in Brazil. Our schedule camps for South Africa and Austria are in doubt unless we manage to get more resources to cover their costs.”
Confronted by the reporter about the whereabouts of 5 billion toman that the federation has received from Team Melli sponsor. Mohammad Nabi confirmed that FFIRI has received the first payment of 5 Billion Toman (approx. US$ 2 million) , from which we paid the coaching staff salaries , some outstanding hotels bills , airlines and utilities department bills. We had to pay the utilities else the FFIRI building would be without electricity !!”
The secretary general of the FFIRI was hopeful that the South Africa camp will be properly financed after the meeting of the “World Cup working committee” meeting which included government representatives.
Nabi denied that he or Kaffashian has recommended the name of Majid Saleh , currently one of Esteghlal’s coaching staff, as the Iranian assistant coach.” We don’t interfere in technical matters and certainly not the appointment of coaches. Queriroz has been in Iran for 3 years and he knows best whom to pick.”
The question that begs an answer is who actually decided on the appointment of Queiroz if neither Kaffashian nor Mohammad Nabi interfere in technical matter!
“Don’t you think that the current status of confusion and uncertainty in regards to Team Melli preparation for the World Cup, including what you just mentioned about the uncertainty of the European camp, while selecting weak to modest teams for practice matches, is patronizing the players and depressing the fans? Don’t you think such poor preparation will have a negative effect and perhaps embarrassing shoreline against us?”.
“If we carry on with our original plans, then there should be no fear from our participation. I believe Guinea was a good opponent despite what many think.” The secretary general responded.
Despite the announcement by the FFIRI that two training camps with as much as 8 practice matches will be conducted by Team Melli , as of now, nothing is for certain. The calamitous affair of Iran’s football continues. Nothing is certain until it actually occurs.