In an interview with the sports reporter of Tasnim news agency, Ali Asghar, the manager of the village, said about the draw of the Iranian national team against Russia: First of all, I would like to congratulate Ghale Navii as the head coach of the national team, and I would like to tell the members of the national team not to be tired. The game against Russia showed that there has been a change in our national team in these few days. The Iran team pressed from above and unlike in recent years when we played defensively, we presented an attacking show. Of course, we should pay attention to our team’s defense system. The technical staff knows these issues and we have to see what our team wants on the field.
He continued: The self-confidence we had in the goal line and attack line is very high, and we should be able to gain the same confidence in the defense and midfield. This issue can be increased with practice. Against Russia, our team showed that it does not have a powerful playmaker in the middle of the field like in the previous games. For this reason, we would either expose the ball or cross it. Sometimes we wanted to rush the ball to the forward line, which caused the ball to be exposed.
The veteran of our country’s football stated: Russia was looking for its game-making to be formed from the goal line. On several occasions, despite the terrible mistakes, because they had a goal, they repeated this work. In that case, they could get out of the pressure with an under ball, but playmaking was very important for them; This was Russia’s wish. Our desire was to press from the front, but you saw that in several scenes, the opponent came out of the press with several one-hit passes and went one by one. As I said, our midfield are capable people, but they don’t have the necessary self-confidence, which the technical staff will definitely instill in the players. If we bring our defense and midfield to the level of our defense and attack, we have a complete team.
The village manager also said about Sardar Azmoun’s absence in the national team camp: “Ghalenoui very easily responded to this question at the press conference and said, let’s go to another question!” It is definitely necessary to be decisive in these matters. In my opinion, if a player disobeys at any level, the head coach should not pay attention to it. I like the test, but the player must be obedient. This is the national team, and the players, like soldiers, must be at the disposal of their team in any way possible; Unless it is coordinated by the staff. According to Ghalenoi’s words, it seems that the absence of the test was not coordinated by him. God willing, this issue will be resolved, but the greatness of the national team should not be harmed.
He also explained about the preparatory meeting of the Iranian national team against Kenya: I wish we did not lower the value of the national team so much. It is true that it is a preparatory game, but we must know that Iran’s level is not low. We must value ourselves. Maybe there were some excuses in choosing the opponent, but it should not be the case that we bring any team. We know the strengths of our team and look for our weaknesses; But I don’t think Kenya can put pressure on our team. This team has been suspended for several months and cannot help us. In my opinion, I wish we didn’t hold this game at all.