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Footballmedia.net - For years, Iran’s Olympic football team has faced defeats, disappointments and neglects. Last time Iran qualified and played in the Olympics, Montreal was the host and the year was 1976. Thirty one years later, Iranian football is in pursuit of another qualification and this time, unlike 1980 when Iran qualified and didn’t participate, participation is the goal.
To state that Iran’s U23 team has not
received sufficient attention over the last few years is being kind.
Clubs don’t generally cooperate in releasing their players to the U23
team. Preparation matches are not regularly scheduled. Iranian football
tends to focus on the U23 team only over the last few months of the
Olympic qualifications campaign, every four years. Otherwise, we hardly
hear about plans and activities for this team.
In January, when Rene Simoes made it clear
that he couldn’t return to Tehran, the search for the next head coach
begun. As it is customary in Iran’s football, confusion became the norm.
Late January, Croatian Vingo Begovich became the new head coach.
This is the fourth time Begovich coaches a
team in Iran. In early 00’s, for four years Begovich led Foolad club of
Ahvaz. In Ahvaz Begovich is credited in introducing Mirzapoor, Moabali
and Kaebi, among others to the national team. He worked well with the
younger generation of players. Many also believe that Begovich played a
major role in revitalizing Golmohammadi’s career. Perspolis was the next
stop for Begovich. This experience started well but ended up with
Perspolis’s internal turmoil and team’s overall failure. In between two
stop over in Dubai and Qatar, Begovich spent last year with Pegah of
Rasht in Iran’s first division. Pegah came within one win to qualify for
Iran’s Persian Gulf League (PGL) and Begovich was then Qatar bound.
On February 28th, Iran had a scoreless
draw against Australia in Tehran for her first 2008 Olympic qualifying
match. In the same group, Saudi Arabia defeated Jordan 1 – 0 to take the
first place with Iran and Australia following with a point each.
Hours later, I caught up with Begovich.
Kaveh – Thanks for taking
the call.
Begovich – You are
welcome.
Kaveh – Let’s start with
the match against Australia. Are you satisfied with the result and how
your team played?
Begovich – Iran played
very well and I am satisfied with the team. We have been playing
together for only a few days. We are still testing and finding
ourselves. This is a new generation of Iranian players. Only a few had
international experiences.
Kaveh – How many practice
sessions did you have with the team prior to the game against Australia?
Begovich – We only held
13 practice sessions and not everyone attended these sessions.
Kaveh – You seem to be
happy with the team’s performance. Who do you think performed real well?
Begovich – The defensive
line played well. Also, our central midfielders played well.
Kaveh – The general
feeling was that Iran played a conservative match. As the game
progressed the team became more protective of her goal than attacking.
The team wasn’t in synch.
Begovich – I am not going
to comment on media’s view. During the first half we attacked a lot. We
didn’t score. Second half, we wanted to move forward but we had to be
careful with protecting our own goal. We couldn’t take too many risks
and place ourselves in danger.
Kaveh – When you were
hired, what was the defined goal for you?
Beogvich – Making the
Olympics. That simple!
Kaveh – Is this your
team? You certainly did not have enough time to put it together.
Begovich – Officially, I
took over this team on January 25ht. At the time we picked the first set
of players from a pool of 25-30 players. By then, I only had seen the
players practicing in two sessions. I also saw a few of the Iran’s PGL
matches. Naturally, my invitees where from the players’ pool and these
games. In Qatar, I did follow Iranian football regularly on TV.
Kaveh – What will you do
differently next to see other capable players that are not in this team?
Begovich – When I have
more time, I will travel across the country, watch matches and look for
young players. Iran is full of talents. Whether you go to Khuzestan,
Gillan, Azarbayejan or elsewhere you’d find great players.
Kaveh – What have been
your challenges in this new role?
Begovich – Well, it is
difficult to get clubs release their players for the Olympic team. I got
some of these players over the last 2 days. How could we play a cohesive
game if we don’t practice together? That is why I am pleased with my
team.
Let’s note that after the World Cup,
Olympics are the most important football tournaments. Why is it that
there is not enough importance given to these games? We need the support
of the Olympic Committee, the Federation, the media and the fans.
President of Olympic Committee visited us
this past week. That was a positive move.
The small crowd that came to see us play
against Australia is the reflection of lack of overall support. This
team needs and deserves support from every group.
Here is one example of support we need. In
which country, do you have your national team or Olympic team play an
official match and then 24 hours later the same players have to play
club matches? The federation should help us in this respect.
Kaveh – You have been
around Iran’s football for a long time. In your opinion, what are some
of the shortcomings?
Begovich –Iran lacks
sufficient football infrastructure. We need more educated coaches to
help the great talents. We also need better planning. With Iran’s level
of talent, if we take care of these shortcomings, Iran would become a
great football powerhouse.
Kaveh – There are players
that have not completed their military services. The talk is that they
can’t leave the country to play in away games. Are you involved in
solving this problem?
Begovich – Over the last
month, I spent a lot of time and energy solving problems that the
federation should solve. I am done doing that. The federation needs to
solve the issues they are supposed to solve and I need to focus on my
team and the upcoming games.
Kaveh - Have you
submitted a plan to IFF? If yes, what are the highlights of that plan?
Begovich – I have given a
plan through June of this year. After the PGL games of this week and
next week, we will take the team and camp in Dubai. This camp will help
us to adjust to the weather in Saudi Arabia (for the road game on March
14th). We will do a similar camp before facing Jordan.
I also want us to play two friendly
matches before every official match.
Kaveh – Have you seen any
films from Saudi Arabia (next opponent)?
Begovich – Not yet but we
should be getting the film of their match against Jordan this week.
Kaveh – Mr. Begovich, I
will be calling you after each match to talk about how much progress the
team and you have made toward reaching “your stated goal,” qualifying
for Olympics. We will call it the “Road to 2008 Olympics” talks.
Begovich – That would be
my pleasure.
During this conversation, twice Begovich
got emotional. The first time was when we spoke about the criticism on
the conservative game plan against Australia. Begovich thought that was
not fair as his team has hardly had time to get together and practice.
The second time Begovich got emotional was
when he discussed the lack of overall attention and support his team has
received over the last month.
Qualification for the Olympics will not be
an easy task. All parties have to work together to provide the
environment that is needed for success. These are the external factors.
Vingo Begovich is in charge of the internal factor and that is how to
turn this group of young men into a professional and cohesive team. In
the past, he has proven that he could work with young players. Leading
Iran’s U23 is Begovich’s big test.
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