Tat: Iran-Croatia match will be unpredictable / Expectations from national team are reasonable

According to Fars News Agency, one year before the start of the World Cup, the Croatian site “Like Petkovic” conducted an interview with Mario Tat. Read below with Mario Tat:

* A new challenge arose during your coaching career by joining the Iranian national team. How did this collaboration take shape?

The story goes back to 2004, when I met Dragan Skucic as a lecturer and a member of the final diploma committee at the Croatian Football Academy. Nine months ago, I received an invitation from an old friend to complete an impossible mission together. I accepted this offer without hesitation.

* How were you received in Iran?

Iran is known as one of the most hospitable countries in the world. A country with warm-hearted people that make me easy to get along with. Dragan Skucic had also worked in Iran since 2013 and had run 4 clubs in Iran and had a very good knowledge of Iran. Iran is very similar to us mentally and all these issues made me adapt well to Iran.

* What do you think about the World Cup qualifiers?

In Asia, the qualifying competition is a long and difficult one because 40 countries are trying to reach the World Cup. The continent has 5 quotas and 2 World Cup qualifiers. We took over the leadership of the Iranian national team while replacing the Belgian Mark Wiltmos, whose hopes had been dashed. Iran is in third place with only 4 games left. Iran should not lose a single game, but we passed this stage without any flaws. We won 4 and reached the final qualifying round of the World Cup. We have still maintained our unbeaten run so far and have been able to score 16 points from 6 games. We can now say that we are on the verge of qualifying for the World Cup, and with us, South Korea is very close to qualifying. In the other group, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Japan are trying to reach the World Cup.

* Currently, Iran is ranked 21st in the world. What do you expect from the World Cup in Qatar?

Iran’s national team while ranked 21st in the world, which was in 33rd place last year. Iran has now become one of the most powerful and serious teams in Asia. The expectations of all of us and the army of 85 million Iranians from the national team are high and everyone believes that good results can be achieved. Of course, these expectations are reasonable because the players of the national team play in big European clubs such as Porto, Zenit, Feyenoord, Dinamo Zagreb, Boavista, AK and other clubs.

Q: Is it possible that Iran will be in the same group with Croatia?

It is definitely possible that we will meet Croatia in the World Cup. We believe that although Croatia has a better ranking than Iran, that match will be an interesting and unpredictable one.

End of message /

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