FIFA - Iran coach Branko Ivankovic rejected on
Wednesday suggestions that political tension over Tehran's nuclear programme
was the cause of his team's inadequate preparations for next month's FIFA
World Cup™ in Germany.
"It's nothing to do with politics but everything to do with the fact that
our top players are not available for some time," Brankovic told Reuters.
Iran's football media has been critical of the national team's FIFA World
Cup build-up, with only two full internationals scheduled against Croatia on
28 May in Osijek and Bosnia-Herzegovina on 31 May at home.
Proposed matches against Ghana and Uruguay in late March failed to eventuate
while the Football Federation of Iran was unable to arrange warm-up games
against Tunisia and Czech Republic.
Ivankovic dismissed claims that international teams have been unwilling to
play in Iran because of Tehran's political stand-off with the United States
and Europe.
He said five of his best players had club commitments in Europe and added he
could not start working with a full squad until 20 May at the FIFA World Cup
training base in Friedrichshafen, southern Germany.
"We started training five days ago with players who are in the Iranian
league," said Ivankovic. "We have problems getting the whole team together.
The Bundesliga finishes on 15 May and then, we have to give those players
seven days' rest according to FIFA rules.
"We have a strong group of players but our preparations are not enough. I
don't think there's ever enough time to prepare for any national coach. But
we cannot do anything about it."
Four Iranian internationals play in the German Bundesliga – Ali Karimi (Bayern
Munich), Mehdi Mahdavikia (SV Hamburg), Vahid Hashemian (Hannover 96) and
Ferydoon Zandi (FC Kaiserslautern). Another player, Rahman Rezaei, turns out
for Messina in Italy.
"These are all key players for Iran," said Brankovic, who on Monday takes a
25-strong Iran-based preliminary squad to Switzerland for a training camp.
Included in the squad are record goalscorer Ali Daei and stalwart defender
Yahya Golmohammadi.
Iran play Mexico in Nuremberg in their opening Group D match at the FIFA
World Cup finals on 11 June. They also face Portugal and Angola.
"Our target is to try and get to the second stage," said Ivankovic.
