Team Melli will lock horns with China, the Dragons, on Thursday in the quarterfinal of 2019 AFC Asian Cup underway in the United Arab Emirates.
In the pre-match press conference, the renown Italian coach said, "Obviously Iran are one of the top teams in Asia, they played well at the (2018) FIFA World Cup and here too, are physically very strong, organized and have very good quality," AFC reported.
"From what we know of Iran, we know that we must be tactically perfect against them. There is no room for mistakes for they will punish you every chance they get,” added the World Cup winner.
"They are technically and tactically very sound and very good in playing long balls. We must be focused against them," noted Lippi.
"Iran may be ranked higher than us and I would say they are the favorites but nothing is impossible in football,” said one of the world’s highest-paid coaches, adding, "We have been working hard correcting our mistakes and I am confident my players are ready for what will definitely be a very hard match but one which I think we can do well in."
The match will be held at Abu Dhabi’s Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium at 8:00 PM local time.
MAH/PR
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