By April 4, 2015 Carlos Queiroz of Portugal will have finished his fourth year in Iran as national squad manager and a popular novelty.
Former aid to renowned Sir Alex Ferguson in Manchester United and manager of Portugal national squad and Real Madrid FC, Carlos now is in the eve of his fourth year of career with Iran’s Football Federation; however, he faces challenges very familiar, since he had experienced the same challenges during past few years.
With brilliant performance in the recent Asian Cup of Nations, Queiroz garnered acclaim by Iran’s football lovers; yet he has to handle old concerns once he faced when for the first time he came Iran. A brief review of his one-year career and story in the national team amid his other preoccupations will be rewarding.
World Cup 2014
In June 2014, Iran participated in Brazil 2014 World Cup with Carlos Queiroz as manager. Iran’s delegation flew to Brazil weeks ahead of the games so that it adapts to the climatic conditions and prepares for matches against Nigeria, Argentina, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Iran started with a goalless draw with Nigeria, whom Iran dreaded before the match at least on paper; the second match against Messi’s Argentina was a feat of excellence for Iran, where it aborted Argentina’s chances for goal and had its own scoring odds. However, Messi’s late goal in added times broke Iranian men's hearts and with it, a dream shattered. In the third match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran was far from its rigor in the match with Argentina and lost 1-3, leaving its fans in surprise and going home with single goal and point.
Challenges with Min. of Sports
After the World Cup, came the main battle between Queiroz and the Ministry of Sports; by the end of the World Cup, Iran’s Football Federation had not engaged in serious talks with Queiroz to extend the contract, since it would now have more trump cards against the Portuguese after a poor performance in the Cup. However, the extending contract was of little attraction to the Minister of Sports Mr. Mahmoud Goudarzi and his whole entourage, which rejoiced at Iran’s performance in the World Cup even despite the loss against Argentina and which remunerated the players with rewards, now exerted pressures to Football Federation not to extend the contract, since Queiroz demanded inordinate amounts as his salary.
Kafashian says ‘his heart is not with Queiroz;’ seeks new candidates
The hopes had faded for Queiroz and the interested public as well for a contract extension by pressures from Ministry of Sports and financial hardships of the Federation; even Ali Kafashian waged attempts to find new candidates for national squad management and came close to finalizing Hossein Faraki, Foulad FC manager, who led the team to rule the roost in Iran’s Premier League the last season. Kafashian had once admitted that ‘his heart was not with Queiroz’ for his disproportionately high amounts; however, media pressures and public demands pushed the Ministry of Sports and Football Federation back.
Contract extended, would be cancelled in ‘three states’
Ultimately, in September 13, 2014, Carlos Queiroz went directly to Football Academy Hotel returning from Portugal to sign his extension of agreement till the 2018 World Cup. Surprisingly however, the contract would be annulled in three possible stages; first, Iran’s performance in Asian Cup of Nations; second, after qualification for Russia 2018 World Cup; and third, after Russia 2018 World Cup.
Min. of Sports scoffing at the prospect of Queiroz remaining manager
Ministry of Sports had by then denied opposition to prospects of extension of Queiroz’s agreement with Football Federation; however after the extension, a surprising reaction came from Maziar Nazemi, the head of Ministry of Sports Public and Media Relations Centre, who wrote in his personal website: “This time, Queiroz would prove working for our football better, since he would solely practice managing the team rather than running Football Federation.”
Shock came from Ali Karimi to reserves bench
Once Queiroz became as the team manager, famous names had been speculated by the media as his aides. Apart from Omid Namazi and Markar Aqajanian, others such as Majid Saleh and Ali Karimi managed to sit in reserves bench, however, their incumbency was short-lived. Karimi, who had been nominated and chosen by Federation as one of Carlos Queiroz’s aides, and whom Queiroz hailed before Asian Cup of Nations, stepped down from the position just before departure to Sidney. That time, rumors were on air about his sudden decision to terminate a career with Queiroz.
Cup of Nations restores Queiroz’s popularity
In group stage of Cup of Nations, Iran won all his rivals including Qatar, Bahrain, and UAE, and qualified for the quarterfinals; however, the Australian referee’s slip in judgment left Iran 10-men against Iraq’s 11; Iranians however valiantly fought back two goals in additional times to set the result 3-3, but were defeated in penalty shoot-outs and sudden death. Introducing new young talents such as Morteza Pouraliganji and Sardar Azmoun and excellent performance in games, along with heroic fight in last seconds and Queiroz’s denouncing of referee’s decisions restored the popularity of the team, thus rendering blunt the cutting edge of criticism by many analysts.
Good players, good preparation, good playground
During the past year, Queiroz had been demanding having Sardar Azmoun and Alireza Jahanbakhsh in team’s preparation camp in Austria. They also faced with demand by Under-23 national squad in preparation zfor Olympics qualifiers matches; in his many interviews, Queiroz pointed to Iran’s needs as preparation matches, a good playground, and good facilities in road to Russia 2018 World Cup. However, Football Federation has not yet addressed Queiroz’s demands properly.
SH/LR
MNA
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