What is the key to Iran’s success in the Nations Cup?

In an interview with Fars news agency’s sports reporter, Hamid Derakhshan said about the latest situation of our country’s national football team 13 days before the start of the 2023 Nations Cup: Most of our players are experienced and understand the situation well. They should do their best to succeed. On the other hand, all the media, fans and members of the football family should support this team now. Our prayers are always with the team members, but the efforts of the children themselves and their empathy can be much more important than our prayers.

* We must try harder than other contenders

He added: “Now we need our players to show everything they have learned in these few years and come out of this tough field proud.” We know that other teams are much stronger than Iran in terms of facilities and holding friendly matches, and they are all trying to win the championship. We should try harder than them. Maybe the friendly matches of the national team were not very acceptable, but we have capabilities that we should use well.

The former captain of the national team added: The ambiguous thing is that maybe we could not find our weak and strong points due to not holding strong friendly games, but when we approach such an important tournament, we must all support each other to achieve success with the efforts of the players and staff. be achieved

* Playing with Indonesia and group matches is a good opportunity to evaluate the national team

Regarding the meeting with Indonesia and whether it is possible to use the group stage matches against the UAE, Palestine and Hong Kong as good preparatory games before reaching the elimination stages, Darakhshan said: During this time, the teams that played against Iran, something special to our football. They didn’t add and maybe even sometimes they caused some facts of the national team to not be seen much due to the victory against them. This issue is not in the hands of the staff either, because Amir Ghalenoui and his assistants have repeatedly announced that they are interested in playing with big teams. The match against Indonesia is just a light match and for evaluating the team. I hope that the evaluations we get in this match as well as the group stage games will make us reach the elimination stage with a lot of authority and power.

He emphasized: In the Asian Nations Cup, except for the 4-5 teams, the other teams do not have the strength to face Iran, but we should not underestimate any opponent. We must prepare ourselves for heavy and big games. I hope that any problem will be solved by the final games.

* It is not bad to expect a championship from the national team

The former player of the national team said, “Iranian players have a lot of experience and such issues definitely do not affect their morale.” They have learned that in order to achieve success, they must be highly focused in every game and not neglect any opponent. On the other hand, the national team has always been one of the contenders in Asia. The Nations Cup is not unlike the World Cup, where it is Iran’s dream to reach one stage because we have always been one of its contenders. We understand the facts and we know that the national team did not have good preparation conditions, but we cannot exclude Iran from the championship options.

Derakhshan added: If we could not show that we are contenders, we should look for flaws. Many issues are clear and we know where we are lacking. We know that we did not play a good friendly match, our clubs did not do well in Asia this year, we did not plan properly and our facilities are not as good as other competitors, but the potential of the national team is not low. It is not bad to expect a championship from the national team, but we must support it in every way and provide the conditions for it.

In the end, referring to the problems of the national team’s defensive structure, he said: I hope this problem will be solved in the remaining time, otherwise our work will be difficult. Having a good defensive line, considering the strength of Iran’s offensive players, can bring the national team very close to success.

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