IRIB- Iran hopes to surprise Mexico and
Portugal, the two top teams in group D at the World Cup, the Head of the
Iranian Football Federation (FFI) Mohammad Dadkan said Wednesday.
"Mexico and Portugal are definitely better teams but this does not mean that
we would have no chance against them," Dadkan told ISNA news agency.
Iran will play against Mexico in Nuremberg, Portugal in Frankfurt and Angola
in leipzig.
"We have skilful players who could change the course of a game and cause
some surprises," Dadkan said while hoping that Iran would reach the second
round for the first time in its World Cup history (1978 and 1998).
The Croatian Coach of the Iranian team, Branco Ivankovic, also expressed
optimism that Iran could reach the next round.
"We have no pressure and are optimistic that we show a decent performance in
Germany and surprise our opponents," he said on state television.
Iran's World Cup squad is dominated by the German Bundesliga quartet Mehdi
Mahdavikia (Hamburg), Ali Karimi (Bayern Munich), Vahid Hashemian (Hanover)
and Fereydoun Zandi (Kaiserslautern).
