Saeed Azizian, in an interview with the sports reporter of Tasnim news agency, said about the conditions of the Esteghlal football team: Esteghlal chose its head coach a little late. Sapinto is a good coach, but he should be given the facilities. His job is very difficult because Esteghlal won the championship last season without losing, and everyone wants nothing less than a championship from this coach. If Sapinto comes second with Esteghlal, they will not accept it. An example was Persepolis, which despite winning the championship for several years when it finished second, the fans put pressure on Yahya Golmohammadi as to why their team finished second. In Esteghlal, with a failure, everyone’s voice is heard, because their expectations have risen.
He clarified about Persepolis: Persepolis has made many purchases, but there is no guarantee of success. Until the games start and the teams do not fall into routine, we cannot make a definite statement about this matter. It is difficult to work in our football, because nothing is certain in advance. From hardware issues to software debates, we have so many problems, let alone say which team will win.
The coach of the former goalkeepers of Esteghlal and Persepolis said about the situation of the goalkeepers of the national team: We have good goalkeepers. Alireza Biranvand has played in the World Cup, but now we have to see what kind of situation he is in. The goalkeeper must play in his club team to have a ready body. Biranvand has returned to Persepolis and can regain his fitness. Amir Abedzadeh is a very good goalkeeper and can follow in the footsteps of the greats. He is young and still has work to do and should play more matches. Seyyed Hossein Hosseini was the best technically in Esteghlal and he is also a good boy from a moral point of view. I have worked with Hosseini and he is really good technically and has good perseverance. However, Hosseini has played mostly in the club team and has not played much in the national level. He should be used in the national level to get his strength. We have other good goalkeepers like Akbari.
“I hope the national team shines in the Qatar World Cup.” Azizian said: I request the authorities to think more about the national team. The national team represents 80 million people, but the World Cup is a showcase where the world can see Iran, so the national team should be supported more than before.
Azizian, who was part of Mahmoud Fekri’s technical staff in Esteghlal in the second half of last year, said about some of the statements made by Siavash Yazdani, the defender of Blue Poshan, that Fekri and the head coach of the team Parviz Mazloumi should talk about his words.