October 30, 2020
Dragan Skocic has won his first match as the new coach of the Iranian national soccer team, beating Uzbekistan in a friendly match played October 8 in Tashkent.
Skocic, pronounced sko-zik, was named coach in February, but all matches since his appointment were canceled until now, first owing to the coronavirus, but with the more recent cancellations unclear.
The score was 2-1. Sardar Azmoun scored the first goal for Iran in the 43rd minute. Mehdi Taremi scored the second goal on a penalty kick in the 50th minute.
Uzbekistan scored its only goal two minutes later.
Skocic wants several friendly matches to help him test out players and prepare for the remaining games of the Asian elimination round for the 2022 World Cup. Several friendlies have been scheduled. But except for the Uzbekistan game, all have been canceled so far, leaving Skocic with little to go on.
Skocic, 52, a Croatian, first came to Iran in 2013 and has coached four professional clubs in Iran since then.
All the World Cup elimination games have been postponed until 2021. Iran is not doing well. Skocic arrived with Iran having won two and lost two games, leaving it in third place in the five-team Group C and out of the Cup finals if it doesn’t pick up the pace in the four remaining matches.
Meanwhile, because of the coronavirus epidemic, the start of play in the Persian Gulf Professional League has been delayed yet again, this time from October 31 to November 6.