Of the green arm bands, Ghotbi told The Associated Press, “It was a mistake and a very disappointing night for me because it took the concentration of our players away from doing their job, which is to make people happy with performances and victory. Had the team won that game, Iran would have gone to the World Cup. That would have been the best thing for the Iranian people, no matter who they thought the president should have been.”
Ghotbi said, “The national team belongs to the people and from the head coach all the way to the ball boy, nobody should use it as a vehicle to express their political views.”
Ghotbi, who was born in Iran and reared in Glendale, California, said, “I have an Iranian heart, the spirit of an American and the football brain of a Dutchman.”
And now he will have a team of Japanese. He had previously announced he was leaving Iran to coach a professional club in Japan, Shimizu S-Pulse, once the Asian Cup ended.
Ghotbi said he took on the job as Iran’s national coach 21 months ago with high hopes of more than winning games. “I felt working for my country will give me an opportunity to influence people and give them hope in the darkest moments, halt the pain and make people proud of their country.”
He brushed politics aside. “Who am I to decide what the country should be doing politically,” he said. “That’s why I went into sports. It made life simple. It was just a ball, two goals and 22 players.”
As for Iran’s future in soccer, Ghotbi said, “Iran has a lot of issues to work out if it wants to compete at the highest level.” But he did not detail those “issues.”
He said that Iran’s soccer officials “have my views and experiences on paper.”