In an interview with the sports reporter of Tasnim news agency, Sattar Hamdani said about the elimination of the Iranian national team from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after losing to the United States: “Playing for Biranvand was questionable for me.” If we had Seyed Hossein Hosseini, who is a brave goalkeeper, or Biranvand was in full health, we would not have received that goal from America. Queiroz took a big risk.
We should not have lost against America
Stating that Iran created good situations against America, he clarified: We should not have lost and we could have climbed from our group. We were playing against a very good team that narrowed the field against England. Our kids really worked hard, but Iran was destined to withdraw from the competition. The World Cup matches are intense and have their own stress.
The difference between Iran and England was not 6 goals
In response to the question whether he considers Iran’s performance in Qatar World Cup satisfactory or not, our country’s football coach noted: We have many structural differences with England, but our difference with the national team of this country was not six goals. Iran has played with bigger teams than England and has not lost against teams like Argentina and Germany in this way. We played very well against Wales and got a good result.
We had a problem transferring the ball from defense to attack
In response to Dragan Skocic’s comment about the big change in the national team’s composition compared to the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, Hamedani told Tasnim: “We messed up in the game against England, and one of the reasons for that was the events of the past 10 months and the lack of empathy in the team.” The recent margins were also the reason for the players not to enter the field with high concentration, but every coach has his own taste and Queiroz saw fit to give these players the field. However, in my opinion, we had a problem moving the ball from defense to attack.
Our players did not make 3 passes in a row
Criticizing the weak point of the Iranian national team in the 22nd Cup, he said: We could have used players who could increase the speed of the game. In all three matches, we did not have the necessary speed, and if the transfer of the ball from defense to attack was accelerated, America could not close its defense like this. We don’t expect to have the ball against England, but the number of consecutive passes by our players in this game did not even reach three. A team that does not own the ball cannot attack.
The national team should be screened
The former national football player of Iran said about the state of the bench of the national team and Carlos Queiroz until the 2023 Asian Nations Cup: Our goal should be the next World Cup, not the Asian Nations Cup. Iran has an old team and the need for screening and skinning is felt. We were the oldest team in the World Cup, but the national teams of the world take advantage of their competent and capable youth and get good results.
Queiroz can start the rejuvenation mission
Hamedani further stated: We should also start this process for the 2026 World Cup and give value to the youth. The federation should decide about the technical staff, but I think that Kiiros can start such a mission and give the field to the youth until 2026.