February 07-2014
by Warren L. Nelson
. . . frustrated
Team Melli, the national soccer squad, will not get together to begin training for the World Cup finals until less than four weeks before the finals begin.
Coach Carlos Queiroz complained again last week about lack of support from the government, which is pinching pennies.
A training camp was originally planned for last fall in Portugal, but that was canceled months ago when the Ahmadi-nejad Administration wouldn’t fund it. The new Rohani Administration does not appear to be any easier on the team.
More recently, Queiroz arranged for a camp in South Africa to open April 11. But he canceled that last week. He didn’t blame money for that cancellation, but rather said four of the national team players are playing with Arab teams that will not release them at that time.
“The training camp has been canceled since our key players cannot participate,” Queiroz said. “There is no reason to hold a training camp without your key players.”
He then said he had scheduled a camp to begin May 18—less than four weeks before the June 12 opening of the World Cup finals in Brazil. Queiroz did not say where that May camp would be located.
Meeting with reporters last Wednesday, Queiroz also complained yet again about the lack of funding for the team. “Holding camp without financial support is not logical,” he said. “It could be harmful to our players. After we qualified for the World Cup, an internal voice told me we can make the Iranian people proud. But we are in danger now because we need support.”
At every meeting with the media in recent weeks, Queiroz has warned about impending disaster and said the chances of Iran advancing from the first round of three matches in the finals are dimming.
Team Melli hasn’t gotten together to play a match since last year. And it only has two friendlies confirmed before the World Cup finals, though Queiroz is trying to arrange other matches.
Team Melli is scheduled to play the Guinean national team in Tehran March 5. Queiroz said he arranged that match because Guinea has a number of players with European teams who know the playing style Iran will see when it faces Bosnia in the finals.
The other scheduled friendly is with Trinidad and Tobago on June 8 in Sao Paulo. That will be just four days before the finals begin.
Iran has arranged for its base camp in Brazil to be at Guarulhos, which is a suburb of Sao Paulo.
Meanwhile, Queiroz has opened the door for Ali Karimi to return to Team Melli. Karimi, 35, who is a skilled player but often difficult to work with, retired from the sport in a huff last May, but now says he has changed his mind and wants to return. Queiroz said, “Ali Karimi could return to the national team.”
Reza Ghoochan-nejad, one of Queiroz’s dual national finds, suddenly left his Belgian club team Standard Liege last week and is now with Charlton of England, a major career move upward. He signed a 2-1/2-year contract for an undisclosed sum.
Reports in many soccer news outlets last week said Queiroz had signed to coach the South African national team starting when the World Cup ends in July.
While it is not expected that Queiroz will stay in Iran after the finals, he has not signed any contract with South Africa. In fact, Danny Jordaan, head of the South African Football Association (SAFA), told reporters SAFA has not even held any talks with Queiroz, who coached the South African team in 2001-02. Queiroz led that team into the 2002 World Cup finals but quit just before the finals in a huff, complaining about interference in his decisions.
Team Melli is scheduled to play the first of its three Group F matches in the finals June 16 against Nigeria in the stadium in Curitiba (pronounced koor-ee-chee-ba). That stadium has been in all the soccer news this past week because construction work there is far behind schedule and it looks increasingly unlikely that it will be ready for the Iran-Nigeria game.
FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, has given the stadium owners until February 18 to convince FIFA the stadium will be ready by June. If FIFA isn’t convinced, it will cancel the contract and look for another site for the four World Cup matches that had been scheduled for Curitiba.