DPA - Iran's culture
minister yesterday called on local media to refrain from criticizing the
national football team ahead of next month's World Cup tournament.
"I myself was a reporter and I know it is hard to expect from you not to
write what you believe is true, but the pre-World Cup phase has started
and it would be better to refrain from criticism and just think of
supporting the team," Mozhammad-Hossein Safar-Harandi said during a
meeting with sports editors yesterday.
The local press is especially critical of national team coach Branco
Ivankovic. It has accused the Croatian of playing an over-conservative
defensive system and not exploring the full potential of the players.
"We (journalists) should stand like soldiers united behind the team and
leave any criticism to after the World Cup," the minister, who is also
in charge of press affairs, was quoted by the ISNA news agency as
saying.
He referred to Greece in the 2004 European Championship and said that
the Greek team won the competition because it had the best morale among
the participating teams.
"We know that we can of course not win the title (like Greece) but still
we can gain a lot of national pride from the World Cup, and should also
not ignore the enthusiastic sentiments of almost 70 million Iranian
fans," Safar-Harandi said.
Ivankovic told ISNA yesterday that all players were fit, even Vahid
Hashemian.
