In the past few weeks, Team Melli’s coach Carlos Queiroz had a few issues and grievances concerning the status and the preparation of Team Melli for the 2014 World Cup. Issues such as Team Melli camps , friendly matches arrangement , the scheduling of the league , differences of opinions with Club coaches among many other niggling and frustrating matters created an unpleasant atmosphere around Team Melli .
The result of all that led to Carlos Queiroz publically expressing his frustration to the extent of even threatening to quit his job. In an interview, Queiroz said that he is not willing to work under this inauspicious environment or facing the hostility of the people who seem to be working against Team Melli’s interest. Another grim statement came from Carlos Queiroz when he said that it did not bother him one bit if Ali Daei or Amir Ghalenoei replace him as Team Melli coach.
That last statement is the one that really interest us here and right now. Whatever one can think of Queiroz, he is still professional coach who is well aware of his working environment and the atmosphere surrounding it. Perhaps he has heard that Kaffashian and his men are working on their options if Queiroz decided that he has enough and his demands cannot be met by the federation. Queiroz knows that Daei and Ghalenoei, are the closest candidates to the job of coaching Team Melli, in case he resigns. The nomination of those two does not take much intelligence to figure out as the pair coach the two most popular clubs in Iran by far. In this bi-polar football, everything has to revolve the two.
Can the task of Team Melli be safely handed to Ali Daei or Amir Ghalenoei and expect success and honor in Brazil?
The answer is a big question mark. One match on Friday emphasized the vulnerability of Ali Daei’s character and painted a very dim picture of Iran’s footballing legend as a responsible person who can act gracefully under pressure. The episode started in the early few minutes of the game between Daei’s club Perspolis and host Sepahan coached by the Croat Krangcar. The referee, Gharemani , awarded a penalty for Sepahan and then red carded the offending Perspolis defender for kicking an opponent in the box. Whether the referee’s decision was right or wrong is academic and not a subject of our discussion here, it is Daei’s post match conduct and statements that is the subject of interest in this article. What was said by the World highest Scorer in international matches, and a legend in his own right, is certainly a huge concern and puts a big question mark on the character of the person and his ability to be the mentor of Team Melli in the World Cup, if he ever takes over.
Daei , quite well-known for his outburst and a coach who hardly smiles during matches, which is a good indication of amount of stress he endures, has accused the Referee of Sepahan-Perspolis match of bribery. He claimed that he has evidence of Gharemani received bribes from Sepahan and will produce if asked ! A couple of days later, Daei , who many thought was emotional after his team loss to bring such serious accusations at the end of the match was unrepentant. Two days later when it was thought that he has cooled down, the Perspolis coach said he does not care about the consequences of his accusations as long as he tells the truth.
Amir Ghalenoei, again no stranger to controversy and clashes with referees and the media, was at it again after the derby match. When everyone was talking about How dour and boring the top clash of the league was between his team Esteghlal and Perspolis which ended in yet another goal-less draw, Ghalenoei opened fire on all fronts. One of the most interesting targets of his wrath was ‘Navad’ TV show. Ghalenoei said that Navad, which is by far the most popular on Iran IRIB network, and its presenter, Adel Ferdowsipour is the reason for Iran’s football ills and misfortunes! He also told the critics to go and analyze Team Melli if they dare a team which has not played a decent football at all since the takeover of Queiroz!, according to the ex-Team Melli coach. Ghalenoei bemoaned the fact that during his days of coaching Team Melli he was scorned and blasted by the media, similar thing happened to Daei , but no one is concerned with the current poor form of Team Melli.
Such rhetoric, outbursts and wild claims by the two of the most popular Iranian coaches, does not augur well for any of the two to be considered for Team Melli coaching job. When a coach and leader needs to maintain dignity, composure and grace under pressure, those two have shown very little of it and in a scene such as the World cup , where the whole world is watching , it could be truly embarrassing.
This brings us back to Carlos Queiroz. No one claims that Queiroz is perfect but right now he is the best man for the job. Any differences between him and the federation or the league need to be sorted out for the Portuguese to continue all the way to next summer’s world cup. He is tried and tested and compared to the options available from the domestic scene, he is well versed and has better self-control and composure. For the sake of a presentable and respectable Team Melli in the World Cup, it is vital that FFIRI does everything possible within reason and logic, to maintain Carlos Queiroz. Whether the Portuguese man will endure the pressure is simply another question.