Ivankovic: Ukraine is known in all the world

Komanda - Iran head-coach Branko Ivankovic:

"We are very happy to play against Ukraine. Your team is known in all the world. Ukrainians are quite strong an opponent and this game will be useful for us... We know your football. I remember times when Oleh Blokhin was a star, and his coach was great Valeri Lobanovsky. I know also the new generation of Andri Shevchenko and Serhi Rebrov.

How optimal is your squad?
I haven't decided on the roster yet. We should see one of our best players -- Mohammed Kaliew, so the squad will be named only before the game.

You have visited Kyiv before...
I was here twice as Blazevic's assistant. Croatia lost 0;1 in the first game, and drew 1:1 in the second. This second game gave us a trip to World Cup 1998 and it was even more plasing as Dynamo Kyiv was on a rise then, beating Barcelona 7:0 in two games...

How seriously do you approach this friendly?
This is first of all a friendly game. We want to check our abilities against a strong opponent. We are facing Asia Cup soon and we need to be well prepared by then. This is a test for our team.