According to the sports reporter of Tasnim news agency, the Iranian national football team has not yet identified its next head coach after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and the football federation apparently has no decision to clarify this issue as soon as possible. At the same time, it is heard that the management team of the Football Federation is still thinking about the continuation of Queiroz’s presence.
This is while time is passing quickly for Iran’s national football and next year the Asian Nations Cup is going to be held. Where Iranian football can once again assert itself among the powers of the old continent and at the level of world football after failing in the World Cup. In this context, Tasnim’s reporter conducted an interview with Ebrahim Ghasempour, the head of the technical committee of the Football Federation – a committee that, according to him, has been dissolved – which you can read below:
Tasnim: Mr. Qasimpour! Although a month has passed since the end of Iran’s work in the World Cup, the next head coach of the national team has not yet been determined.
Our officials are always sleeping like rabbits. According to reports, Mr. Taj was supposed to have a meeting with the board of directors and make a decision, but this has not happened yet.
Tasnim: What do you think about choosing the next head coach of the national team?
Apparently, according to hearsay and rumors, Mr. Taj still has an opinion on Keirosh and wants to repeat his past mistakes, and the opinion of people and experts is not important. Iranian football loses time quickly and the national team bench should be assigned as soon as possible. I hope they learn from past mistakes and don’t do it again.
Tasnim: Where is the technical committee in this story? Is there still a technical committee?
The technical committee still exists in terms of the administrative structure, and no notice has been issued by the crown to dissolve it, but in my opinion, this committee has been dissolved. When they don’t value the technical committee and don’t hold a meeting with us after they come to the federation, it has no meaning except to close this committee.
Tasnim: What are your reasons for opposing Keirosh’s continued participation in the national team?
Lessons should be learned from the past. Keirosh was the head coach of Iran twice in the Nations Cup, but nothing good happened to us. The national team has advanced to the World Cup twice with him, which has also been experienced with other coaches. In the next round of the World Cup, 8 teams from Asia are supposed to participate, and if we are not going to participate in the World Cup under these conditions, it shows the misfortune and weakness of our football. Queiroz sat on the bench of the national team in 3 periods of the World Cup, but he failed to meet the expectations.
Tasnim: In the 2022 World Cup, many believed that the national team had a high chance to advance.
In this period, the situation was “peeled peaches” for Queiroz and he managed a team that qualified for the World Cup without any problems. There were conditions for climbing and it was not far from reach, but we did not climb due to ignorance of the method and the decisions that were made. Keirosh has passed his exam. He got the worst results in the history of this country with Colombia and did not advance to the World Cup with Egypt and could not make this team the African champion. Nevertheless, the insistence to continue Queiroz’s presence in the national team shows that the bowl is below the half bowl.
Tasnim: Why do you think experts are not used in the selection process of the head coach?
Most of the experts have announced their opinions and the opinion of the people has been determined to some extent. People believe that issues should be discussed rationally. Currently, many experts and people in the country are against Kirosh and they have many technical reasons for their opinion, but I don’t know what is the insistence that he (Kirosh) must be. What good result did we get that we should entrust the work to him again?
Tasnim: In the technical committee, you were one of the supporters of Skocic’s departure and change in the national team. With the events that have happened, if you go back, will you make this decision again?
At that time, our reasons for leaving Skocic from the national team were logical. We announced that we believe that Skocic cannot control the team both technically and managerially. If we go back to the past, I am still against Skocic’s stay, but at the same time, we were against Queiroz’s arrival. At that time, we announced our decision to the technical staff of the national team, but the board of directors and especially Mr. Usoli as the spokesperson canceled our opinion and voted to keep Skocic. After the arrival of Taj, however, the board of directors was asleep and voted for Skocic to leave and Keirosh to come! The board of directors should be asked how they changed their past determination in supporting Skocic and opposing the technical committee and voted for Queiroz’s presence.
Tasnim: You mentioned that there is a bowl under half a bowl about Keirosh, what do you mean?
When we opposed keeping Skocic in the national team, the board’s argument was that if we want to fire him, we should pay him in full, and on the other hand, we should also pay the new technical staff, which was still no guarantee of success. Maybe this is reasonable, but we used to say that it is possible to go to the World Cup with an Iranian coach at a lower cost and have better conditions.
Tasnim: If the national team went to the World Cup with Skocic, wouldn’t it get better results?
You never know what’s going to happen in football. Did anyone think that Morocco would go all the way to the semi-finals, or that Spain and Germany would be eliminated by the Asians and Africans, and that Saudi Arabia would beat the Cup champions in the first leg? Anything could happen to the national team in the World Cup. Maybe we would have promoted with Skocic and maybe we would have gotten the worst result in our football history. On the other hand, maybe we would have advanced with an Iranian coach, and maybe we would have lost badly. Football is unpredictable, but you can make the best decision for the future by examining the conditions.