In an interview with the sports reporter of Tasnim news agency, Sirus Dinmohammadi said about the performance of Esteghlal football team with Ricardo Sapinto four weeks after the start of the premier football league, he said: foreign coach should be judged after the sixth or seventh week. I met Ricardo Sapinto at the unveiling ceremony of the World Cup Cup and talked to him. Honestly, I liked his character. After the events of the Esteghlal match against Melvan Anzali, some people criticized him, but he was angry with the behavior. The work of the Red Crescent boys was not right and they should have sat on the sailors’ bench, not the visiting team’s bench.
He further added: Sapinto still has room to get familiar with Iranian football and will fit in more easily over time. It is not right to judge him now and I hope that from the sixth week onwards he can do his job more easily in Esteghlal and achieve what he wants.
The former defender of the Esteghlal football team stated that Sapinto believes that the blue-clad team defended more last season, but his thinking is to play an attacking game. Esteghlal’s style of play last year was different from now. The players are the same players as before and last year they played with the technical staff system and now they need time to play with a new mindset. Sapinto’s words are correct and he needs time to implement the offensive system and they should give him more chances. We are still at the beginning and nothing is certain.
Dinmohammadi said about the disorder in the unveiling ceremony of the World Cup in Tehran’s Milad Tower: Maybe the changes in the federation did not have an effect, because the way of work was the same as before. Such a ceremony should be held in order. Recently, everyone wants to take selfies and post stories, which causes chaos.
In response to the fact that some people believe that Javad Khabani, the host of the program, caused disorder by inviting everyone, he said: Khabani wanted to invite everyone, but this incident caused disorder. When the unveiling was done, I left the hall. Those who were present at the World Cup were invited to this ceremony and maybe some people wished to take a picture with the cup. Some of them wanted to take selfies and post stories on Instagram! I don’t just mean ordinary people, and unfortunately some veterans are also looking for these jobs.
The former player of the national team and Esteghlal continued: I am worried about the national team to participate in the World Cup. I see a strange lack of planning for the preparation of the national team, because the schedule of the preparatory games is not known, nor is it clear whether the technical staff of the national team will be stable or not. The discussion of changing the head coach is very difficult. The fact that Ivic was taken before the 1998 World Cup in France and we played well in the World Cup is a guarantee that it will work for the current national team as well. Skocic has known the team and if he stays, we should support him to gain high confidence.