PLDC - Tehran, After Esteghlal's victory over Rah Ahan, Javad Nekounam had a few words to share.

The Team Melli captain said, "It's a pity. Everyone was wishing that we make it to the World Cup, and now that we did, our camps are being cancelled one after another. Thank God that our game against Thailand is official (AC 2015 qualification) and they can't cancel it. If we don't play any good friendlies prior to the World Cup, we can't expect to win any games nor get results that will be pleasing."

He continued, "Without the proper preparation, we will remain the same team that we are and stay on the same Asian level. The officials must be held accountable.

The players, the technical cadre, and the federation have all done their part and taken Iran to the World Cup, and now we are in need of a budget. The promises that were made haven't been kept, and we are moving backwards. Everyone wishes to go to the World Cup so that more resources become available, and we have made it to the World Cup and our resources have become less! I think if it was possible, the whole thing might have even been cancelled!"

The veteran midfielder clarified, "We can't expect to play professionally against the best teams in the world when we have no support; the officials must be held accountable."

Team Melli coach, Carlos Queiroz, was in the stadium watching Esteghlal's match against Rah Ahan today. For a few seconds he had closed his eyes and some have said that he was sleeping. Nekounam responded, "I think he is upset that his plans have been cancelled. He must be thinking that he has to choose his squad without any preparatory camps and that we are going to the World Cup to have fun (instead of going to compete).

With a few words about today's match, Nekounam concluded, "After our match against Buriram United, we didn't have enough time to fully recuperate, but it seemed that Rah Ahan's players were not 100% instead of us. With our efforts we were able to end the match in our favour."

By: Arman Tamjidi