Iran Olympic coach confident of finding chinks in Australia’s armour

AFC - Iran Olympic team coach Croatian Vinko Begovic is confident of finding chinks in the armour of big-winning qualifiers Australia when the two clash in the second round qualifying for the Olympic Football Tournament Beijing 2008 on the last day of February.

While Iran qualified automatically for the second round, Australia notched up an awesome 12-0 (11-0 and 1-0) win over Chinese Taipei in the preliminary qualifying round to enter Group D which also has Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Speaking to www.the-afc.com about the February 28 home encounter, Begovic said: “Australia are a strong team. Beating Chinese Taipei 11-0 is an unexpected result. But we are going to find out the reasons behind their surprisingly narrow 1-0 win in the second leg.”

“We will send a technical staff to study them (Australia) when they play in the Lunar Cup in Hong Kong,” added the Croatian who has coached Iran Pro League giants Persepolis in the past.

The history of rivalry between Australia and Iran goes back to 1973 when the senior teams clashed in the World Cup playoffs with the team from down under triumphing. However, the two were destined to clash twice more in 1977 and 1997 with Iran winning both playoffs and qualifying for the World Cup.

“The first match is always difficult,” said Begovic. “Iran has not qualified for the Olympics for a long time now. It is time to end the long wait. This is a long campaign (second round) spread over six home-and-away matches.”

Begovic, however, will be forced to do rely on a brand-new squad as most of the players who helped the team finish third in the Doha Asian Games last year are now over the age-limit set for the Olympic Games.

“Most of those (Doha Asiad squad) players are now overaged. We will really miss them because that was a great team. Our players against Australia will be totally different though I will be expecting a lot from Adel Kolah Kaj and Merhdad Oladi,” said Begovic.

“To lend stability to the team I will invite old-hand Hossein Kabi. He is an experienced player and has played in the World Cup.”

The coach also pointed out that with the Iran Pro League in full swing he could not assemble the players for adequate preparation. “Lack of time is our main problem. It is impossible to have all the players in a training camp. We have one training camp in Dubai and only one warm-up game against our UAE counterparts on February 20. But I am optimistic.”

Iran last qualified for the Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980 but boycotted it. The last time they played in the Games was in Montreal in 1976.