Finals represent biggest challenge for Iran coach

Reuters - "Professor" Branko Ivankovic used to be the darling of Iran's football federation and fans, introducing scientific methods to the Islamic Republic and drawing up performance charts on his players.
His critics in the press and in the stands, however, now say his graphs cannot help him and fear his conservative style of play is too predictable.

Iran have a battle on their hands to survive the World Cup first round where they face Mexico, Angola and Portugal in Group D.

Ivankovic himself has hailed his team as the best Iran has ever had, saying: "We feel we can beat anyone".

"I know Mexico and Portugal are the favourites from this group, but we are going to give it a good try. We know we can make it through to the next round," he told Mexico's Medio Tiempo website.

The Croatian, who holds a doctorate in physical education, arrived in Iran in 2001 as assistant coach to his countryman Miroslav Blazevic.

The two men had steered Croatia to third place in the 1998 World Cup in France and Ivankovic had coached Hanover 96 in the 1999-2000 season.

After Iran failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup finals, Ivankovic took over from his former boss and started to clock up an impressive win rate.

Ivankovic became a national hero when Iran swept to victory in the 2002 Asian games, defeating Japan and South Korea. In 2004, Iran came third in the Asian Cup and were unlucky not to go further.

Iran's fourth Croatian coach has defied his critics by cruising to the World Cup finals, again defeating Japan in the qualifiers.

However, Iran's fans are worried that Ivankovic does not have the tactical nous to get them through a tough first round in Germany.

"He keeps imposing the same tactics on the team. Our opponents can read his plans like a book," said die-hard Iran fan Hassan Alizad.

"Excluding sporadic sparks of talent from (Ali) Karimi maybe, Ivankovic's team will bring home nothing but shame from Germany," he added.

Although Iran's football fans may be wavering in their support, Mohammad Ali Dadkan, the head of Iran's football federation, is steadfast.

Dadkan told a discussion on state television not to forget this was the first time Iran had made it to the finals without having to fret about the results of the other matches in the qualifying group.