PLDC - Liege, Reza Ghoochannejhad was interviewed about his situation in Standard Liege and in Team Melli and he answered some questions regarding these matters.

Gucci was a crucial part of Iran's qualifying campaign for World Cup 2014 in Brazil. However, when it was suggested that he carried Iran to Brazil, he humbly rejected, "To be honest, I didn't do this by myself. It was a team effort. It is true that I scored a few critical goals, but these games were won by the whole team. The whole team worked together and if our boys didn't try so hard then I wouldn't have been able to do anything either. We worked really hard and fought hard in the last three games. Now, we are happy to have been able to reach Brazil and we hope to show beautiful performances there as well."

When asked whether or not he will be included Team Melli's starting line-up, he replied, "This is a question you have to ask Mr. Queiroz. He has to put together a professional team that will be ready to play in Brazil. I'm sure that Mr. Queiroz will do exactly this. I hope we will have a good team so we can perform well in Brazil too."

The Iranian forward was then asked how he was called up to Team Melli. He clarified, "Mr. Queiroz came to see a few of my games in Belgium. Then he called me and asked if I would be willing to play for Iran. I told him 'of course, it would be my honour to play for my country', and then I went and tried out and ever since then I have been called up for the team."

Regarding his situation in Standard Liege, he said, "You see, my situation is not clear here. I signed a four year contract with this club and three years of it still remain. To me, its important that I play a lot of games, but this club has many players. I have to wait a few weeks and see what my chances are here. If I can get enough playing time here, then I would definitely stay, but if I am not given this chance I would have to try and transfer to a club where I can get lots of playing time. This is what's most important to me."

He continued, "I have had many offers from clubs from Belgium, Holland and other countries.  But for now, I would like to stay and see my opportunity here and its still early for me to decide. If I can't get enough playing time here, I would like to go to a club where I can get enough playing time."

He was finally asked whether he likes to be called Gucci or Ghoochannejhad, to which he replied, "It really doesn't make a difference to me. Most importantly, I would like to make our people happy by winning games with beautiful goals and playing beautiful football. The people can call me whatever name that they like."

Gucci is very humble about his contribution and important presence in Team Melli, but he is clearly the effective striker that Iran has been missing for a few years now. The 25 year old Mashhad native has gave Iranians new hope and has found a special place in everyone's heart.

By: Arman Tamjidi