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Does IFF still intend to send Iran to the world cup?
With less than four months left to world cup 2006 finals I am beginning to wonder if the Iranian football federation still intend on sending Team Melli to Germany!
Days, weeks and months have passed since Iran qualified to the world cup finals but the fans, media and not mentioning the players are still waiting for IFF to start preparing the team for the world cup.
There are regular reports on friendly matches played by world cup finalists but there is no mention of Iran or their preparations for the world's most popular sport event; the world cup finals.
Taking a quick look at our fellow Asian teams' preparations we will observe a rather impressive European type well organised schedule by them on the one hand, and wonder if IFF is still planning to send a team to the world cup for Iran on the other, we will look at the five month period from January to May 2006 (The below fixtures were correct at the time of writing this article on Feb 14 th ):
South Korea
Have played: UAE, Greece, Finland, Croatia, Denmark and Costa Rica
Due to play: Norway and Mexico
Matches cancelled: None
Japan
Have played: USA
Due to play: Finland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ecuador and Germany
Matches cancelled: None
Saudi Arabia
Have played: Sweden, Finland, Greece and Lebanon
Due to play: Syria, Portugal, Iceland, Poland, South Africa, Czech Republic, Romania and France
Matches cancelled: None
Iran
Have played: None
Due to play: Costa Rica
Matches cancelled: Romania and Ukraine
There have also been rumours of Iran playing Argentina, Switzerland, Turkey, Croatia, Czech Republic and Spain in recent weeks and months but none have materialised to date.
Iran are due to play Costa Rica on March 1 st , so far this arrangement appears to be holding, while I would very much have preferred for Iran to play Argentina in preparation for the Mexico encounter in the finals, Costa Rica are probably a more appropriate team for Iran to play against right now under the circumstances. Costa Rica ranked 21 st in the world qualified for the world cup in third place from the North and Central American zone behind USA and Mexico winning five, drawing one and losing four of their qualifying matches, Costa Rica managed a convincing win against USA in the qualifiers but lost both their matches against Mexico (Iran's opponent in WC2006). Costa Rica beat South Korea 1-0 in a friendly last week.
What should Iran be focusing on in the friendly match against the fellow world cup qualifiers Costa Rica? Friendly matches are partly test grounds for new tactics and players and partly to give the regular first team players competitive match practice so that the team plays as a team. With Iran having only one friendly match organised and time running out fast I wonder if Ivankovic has the luxury of time to try out new players!
I certainly agree our squad could do with new faces; Enayati in particular is a player who has done well in the league this season and last but has only been given one opportunity in Team Melli against Macedonia B in recent months. I would like to see more playing time for Teymourian, our defence remains a concern, Golmohammadi has not been the player he once was, he did not do well in Asian Cup 2004 and has remained unconvincing in the back. The question remains however, with so little time and only one friendly match in the pipeline, should Ivankovic spend the scarce opportunity he has against Costa Rica testing new players or should he concentrate on getting the players that already know each other to gel and play as a unit.
I would be surprised if we saw many new faces tried in Team Melli against Costa Rica, certainly with Ivankovic's past record I believe the focus will be on getting the existing team back on track. Iran will be heavily relying on their European-based players in the world cup finals; both Mahdavikia and Hashemian have scored for their clubs in Bundesliga in the last ten days, Iran have skilful players who can do the damage to opposition, our problem remains the lack of planning and preparation by the Iranian Football Federation. Ivankovic will also be anxious about his top players picking up injuries in the next four months that might rule them out of the world cup.
Iran's options remain limited, IFF must explore all avenues, in the absence of friendly matches Team Melli must hold frequent intense practice sessions and training camps, the team can play friendly matches against top IPL clubs, but ultimately Iran must travel and play abroad just as Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia are, since hardly any team is prepared to play in Iran courtesy of Iran's political isolation then it is up to the Iranian authorities to take the initiative and take the Team Melli abroad where they could play worthy opponents, after all FIFA have provided funds to world cup finalists including Iran for just such preparations.
Days, weeks and months have passed since Iran qualified to the world cup finals but the fans, media and not mentioning the players are still waiting for IFF to start preparing the team for the world cup.
There are regular reports on friendly matches played by world cup finalists but there is no mention of Iran or their preparations for the world's most popular sport event; the world cup finals.
Taking a quick look at our fellow Asian teams' preparations we will observe a rather impressive European type well organised schedule by them on the one hand, and wonder if IFF is still planning to send a team to the world cup for Iran on the other, we will look at the five month period from January to May 2006 (The below fixtures were correct at the time of writing this article on Feb 14 th ):
South Korea
Have played: UAE, Greece, Finland, Croatia, Denmark and Costa Rica
Due to play: Norway and Mexico
Matches cancelled: None
Japan
Have played: USA
Due to play: Finland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ecuador and Germany
Matches cancelled: None
Saudi Arabia
Have played: Sweden, Finland, Greece and Lebanon
Due to play: Syria, Portugal, Iceland, Poland, South Africa, Czech Republic, Romania and France
Matches cancelled: None
Iran
Have played: None
Due to play: Costa Rica
Matches cancelled: Romania and Ukraine
There have also been rumours of Iran playing Argentina, Switzerland, Turkey, Croatia, Czech Republic and Spain in recent weeks and months but none have materialised to date.
Iran are due to play Costa Rica on March 1 st , so far this arrangement appears to be holding, while I would very much have preferred for Iran to play Argentina in preparation for the Mexico encounter in the finals, Costa Rica are probably a more appropriate team for Iran to play against right now under the circumstances. Costa Rica ranked 21 st in the world qualified for the world cup in third place from the North and Central American zone behind USA and Mexico winning five, drawing one and losing four of their qualifying matches, Costa Rica managed a convincing win against USA in the qualifiers but lost both their matches against Mexico (Iran's opponent in WC2006). Costa Rica beat South Korea 1-0 in a friendly last week.
What should Iran be focusing on in the friendly match against the fellow world cup qualifiers Costa Rica? Friendly matches are partly test grounds for new tactics and players and partly to give the regular first team players competitive match practice so that the team plays as a team. With Iran having only one friendly match organised and time running out fast I wonder if Ivankovic has the luxury of time to try out new players!
I certainly agree our squad could do with new faces; Enayati in particular is a player who has done well in the league this season and last but has only been given one opportunity in Team Melli against Macedonia B in recent months. I would like to see more playing time for Teymourian, our defence remains a concern, Golmohammadi has not been the player he once was, he did not do well in Asian Cup 2004 and has remained unconvincing in the back. The question remains however, with so little time and only one friendly match in the pipeline, should Ivankovic spend the scarce opportunity he has against Costa Rica testing new players or should he concentrate on getting the players that already know each other to gel and play as a unit.
I would be surprised if we saw many new faces tried in Team Melli against Costa Rica, certainly with Ivankovic's past record I believe the focus will be on getting the existing team back on track. Iran will be heavily relying on their European-based players in the world cup finals; both Mahdavikia and Hashemian have scored for their clubs in Bundesliga in the last ten days, Iran have skilful players who can do the damage to opposition, our problem remains the lack of planning and preparation by the Iranian Football Federation. Ivankovic will also be anxious about his top players picking up injuries in the next four months that might rule them out of the world cup.
Iran's options remain limited, IFF must explore all avenues, in the absence of friendly matches Team Melli must hold frequent intense practice sessions and training camps, the team can play friendly matches against top IPL clubs, but ultimately Iran must travel and play abroad just as Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia are, since hardly any team is prepared to play in Iran courtesy of Iran's political isolation then it is up to the Iranian authorities to take the initiative and take the Team Melli abroad where they could play worthy opponents, after all FIFA have provided funds to world cup finalists including Iran for just such preparations.
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