Iran coach Afshin Ghotbi has blamed the weight of expectation for his side's 1-0 extra-time defeat to South Korea in the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup on Saturday evening.
Iran came into the competition with the aspiration to end a wait of 35 years to win the prestigious international competition but failed, and Ghotbi has revealed his belief that their disappointment was down to the massive burden of expectations on their shoulders.
“This championship was very important to our players and our team,” said the 46-year-old after the match, according to The-afc.com. “When we reached the second phase we started believing we could be champion and make the people of Iran happy.
“When these two sides meet anything can happen. We tried very hard to get the players to relax and play football, but the Koreans did very well in the midfield and closing down space.
“At half time we talked about it and I think in the second half we improved but not as we would have liked. Again it comes to the importance of winning and I think it got to the players.
“They are tired of not coming home with the trophy for 35 years and they wanted to do this for the people.”
This was the last game in charge of the national team for Ghotbi, who will now return to club football management with Japanese side Shimizu S-Pulse, but he remains confident of a bright future for the Iran national team.
“This team has a great future and a lot of rising stars and I will follow them from a distance,” he said. “I want to thank the Iranian people for all their support over the last three years. There are moments with Iran I will never forget.”
By Subhankar Mondal