Carlos Queiroz warns that Iran is far from the required level

[shahname]

The problem here is that it really doesn't surprise anyone when CQ says domestic players are not on the required level. We all know that the level of our domestic league cannot be compared to the likes of LaLiga or Premier league.

The case in my opinion is more of a principal one. Do we want TM to represent the best of Iranian football as it is in any given time or do we want to treat TM as an island or a club that is trained on levels that might compare to the bests of the world but not Iranian football??

If TM should reflect Iranian football, then making these long TM camps and taking the players away from the clubs 40 days is not the way to go. We should much rather work on improving the level of our domestic league. The only problem here is that IR much rather will spend billions of dollars in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Djibouti etc than using them on sports or the infrastructure of the country. Nevertheless I think it will give a false impression of Iranian football at the WC if we treated TM as a club and gave CQ the players months before the tournament.

And by what CQ is saying, we all have to lower our expectations cause by the look of it, our chances of advancing to the knockout stage from group B in the WC are quiet narrow.

[Keano]

The problem here is that it really doesn't surprise anyone when CQ says domestic players are not on the required level. We all know that the level of our domestic league cannot be compared to the likes of LaLiga or Premier league.

The case in my opinion is more of a principal one. Do we want TM to represent the best of Iranian football as it is in any given time or do we want to treat TM as an island or a club that is trained on levels that might compare to the bests of the world but not Iranian football??

If TM should reflect Iranian football, then making these long TM camps and taking the players away from the clubs 40 days is not the way to go. We should much rather work on improving the level of our domestic league. The only problem here is that IR much rather will spend billions of dollars in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Djibouti etc than using them on sports or the infrastructure of the country. Nevertheless I think it will give a false impression of Iranian football at the WC if we treated TM as a club and gave CQ the players months before the tournament.

And by what CQ is saying, we all have to lower our expectations cause by the look of it, our chances of advancing to the knockout stage from group B in the WC are quiet narrow.

Well said, very true. However these are long term plans and require time to achieve (With competent federation and system) however right now and at this time TM needs as much time as possible to improve these domestic players fitness, and 40 days CAN make a difference in overall conditioning and fitness.

[KasraKhan]

I don't know why CQ wants to stop the league.
He complains about the fitness of IPL players but
he sure knows that 85% of his starting line up are
made up of the players from overseas.

I think Beiranvand, and maybe Hosseini, Ghafouri
and Karimi are the only players from IPL that have
a chance of starting for his team in WC. Maximum 3
out of 11 starters will be from the domestic league and
that includes a keeper.

So his issue with IPL and their level of fitness is a red
herring. He is trying to lower the expectation level of the
fans since he knows our chances are very low in making
the next round as his promised goal was after TM qualified
for WC.

The other point is players like Rezaei and Ansarifard were marginal
players in IPL but became top scorers in the Belgium and Greece leagues
which tells me IPL is not that far behind some of the 2nd and 3rd rate
EU leagues. I don't think the EU clubs did a miracle on their fitness to
get them to that level.

Karim was tearing up the IPL for several years before he went to Europe.

[Sly]

He couldn't really do much bro... fitness is a 3 month thing, not a long term issue. If he worked with them for 7 years non-stop and left them alone for 3 months, they would end up in worse shape than what's going to happen now.

Plus, you don't want to commit to 100-200 players in a 7 year period for fitness training when only 20+ are going to the world cup and you won't know that until the last minute.

It's not like the guys are in a wheelchairs... they're fit but just not at the level they need to be for the WC... considering he did wonders in 3 months last time around, I think it can be done again.

Well, I hope you are right bro. After all, putting up a great show in the WC is all we all want.

[Roozbeh-G2006]

Keano jan, maybe I'm mistaken. It wouldn't be the first time

But my blind neighbor's grandmother who doesn't know what football is and that doesn't know that Asia is a continent and not another name for China also knows that our players (the majority to some extent) do not have:

- the required stamina,
- basic technique (receiving balls, passing, shooting, turning, etc.),
- tactical knowledge,
- ability to read fast pace games,
- stay cool under pressure,
- professional attitude (Hashemian, Kia, JB, etc aside)
- etc.
- etc.
- etc.

Our players most of the time do what they do and achieve what they achieve based on their God given talents, "gheyrat" and "ab goosht".

However, what you also can call this and people who defend CQ blindly is: being hypocrites and applying double standards.

He knew this for the last 7 years, what did he do (not so much he could do). We knew this since WC 1974 (nothing has changed, yes there are advantages as there's always improvements whether you want or not but compare it to Japan, Korea, Turkey, Belgium, etc.).

When Karimi started criticizing IFF everyone was on the bandwagon of insulting him and saying that he shouldn't create "hashiye" so close to the World Cup games.

When CQ does it everyone is full of praise and saying that he is right in what he says. As if it takes more than half a brain cell to have the same conclusion. And even with that half a brain cell it wouldn't take 7 years and multi millions of dollars to come to that conclusion.

What CQ is doing to me, and which a lot of people are blindly and full of bias praise is acting like a spoiled little girl = Nagging, crying, throwing a fit, and making a scene. Instead of acting like a highly paid, experienced professional (although you might ask yourself whether that works in Iran or not).

And we are defending that with a straight face arguing that it is the only thing that he can do. Well hell no, it's not! And with that logic, acting like a spoiled little girl when a little girl doesn't get what she wants is also the only thing that she can do. Does that make it ok? if it was we wouldn't call them spoiled little brats would we?

Even assuming that it is the only thing that CQ can do (in which case we are wasting our money), is it OK for him to do so. I guess it depends on your standards as it's a opinion.


He didn't have to give the domestic players any playing time for anyone to see that there's a difference between them and our legionnaires (if anyone needed that to understand it they must quit breathing for a minute or 3 right now).

To me what he is doing is creating excuses for his failure (and that is probability, however small, that Suadis will start calling us 9-0ers after the games with Spain and Portugal). He either will later blame the bad result on IFF and say see I said so or in case of a miracle he will say see my warnings helped.

Either way this NOT a mature way of working. You do this tomorrow at your office see if they will extend your contract.

Again what did he achieve by acting like a spoiled little brat? Is he going to make our players even 20% better in the next 40 days if he gets what he wants (if anyone reads this and this yes, please fight the urge to reply as it is an impossible thing and you only embarrass yourself).

He, just like any other National Head Coach has one thing to do: do your best with the material, facilities and possibilities you have been provided and stop embarrassing the federation and country that is paying you richly during every interview.

But then again I very well may be wrong.........

Babak Agha, you start by saying maybe I am mistaken and end with I very well may be wrong. This may be because you are being humble fair enough but your lack of conviction in what you are saying shows deep down you think CQ may actually be right. We have qualified for the fifth time and this is the first time we qualified twice in a row and both under CQ. Do you blame him for wanting to push that much further this time and try our chances of getting through to the next round? It is possible: one win against Morocco and two draws. If we can hold Argentina and messy for 90 plus minutes spain and portugal, become possible too. But our players need that extra time training together to increase our chances. I vote for that.

[DireStraits]

Maybe it makes sense that the players are 3 days with CQ and 3-4 days with the clubs. They will play the games for the clubs and train with TM at
the same time.

[Bagg10]

Any chance CQ is doing this not only to get some more time training the players, but also play mind games with our opponents?

[beri486]

Karim was tearing up the IPL for several years before he went to Europe.

Not according to his Wiki page.

Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2012 Saipa 131 (56)
2012–2013 Persepolis 31 (8)
2013–2014 Tractor Sazi 28 (14)
2014–2015 Osasuna 16 (0)
2015–2017 Panionios 44 (14)
2017– Olympiacos 29 (14)

He was a bust in Perspolis and Terkator which is why he was traded.
He has become a star in the Greek league which
tells me the level of that league is not that far above IPL. And he has
done very little for TM.

Same story with Rezaei(not Rezaeian as another fellow mistakenly commented)

2009–2012 Foolad 33 (1)
2012–2015 Saipa 69 (12)
2015–2016 Zob Ahan 34 (11)
2016–2017 Esteghlal 28 (7)
2017– Charleroi 26 (12)

He is doing far better in Belgium than Esteghlal where he was the main
forward. Again the same conclusion.

[JamB]

Not according to his Wiki page.
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2012 Saipa 131 (56)
2012–2013 Persepolis 31 (8)
2013–2014 Tractor Sazi 28 (14)
2014–2015 Osasuna 16 (0)
2015–2017 Panionios 44 (14)
2017– Olympiacos 29 (14)
He was a bust in Perspolis and Terkator which is why he was traded.
He has become a star in the Greek league which
tells me the level of that league is not that far above IPL. And he has
done very little for TM.
Same story with Rezaei(not Rezaeian as another fellow mistakenly commented)
2009–2012 Foolad 33 (1)
2012–2015 Saipa 69 (12)
2015–2016 Zob Ahan 34 (11)
2016–2017 Esteghlal 28 (7)
2017– Charleroi 26 (12)
He is doing far better in Belgium than Esteghlal where he was the main
forward. Again the same conclusion.

IPL better than Belgium league? Shows that you have never watched a Belgium league match in your life. Dont ever infer that again, please.

[KasraKhan]

Not according to his Wiki page.
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2012 Saipa 131 (56)
2012–2013 Persepolis 31 (8)
2013–2014 Tractor Sazi 28 (14)
2014–2015 Osasuna 16 (0)
2015–2017 Panionios 44 (14)
2017– Olympiacos 29 (14)
He was a bust in Perspolis and Terkator which is why he was traded.
He has become a star in the Greek league which
tells me the level of that league is not that far above IPL. And he has
done very little for TM.
Same story with Rezaei(not Rezaeian as another fellow mistakenly commented)
2009–2012 Foolad 33 (1)
2012–2015 Saipa 69 (12)
2015–2016 Zob Ahan 34 (11)
2016–2017 Esteghlal 28 (7)
2017– Charleroi 26 (12)
He is doing far better in Belgium than Esteghlal where he was the main
forward. Again the same conclusion.

From the same Wiki page that you cite:

In the 2011–2012 Iranian Pro League season, Ansarifard scored 21 goals and made 5 assists for Saipa, becoming the league's top scorer.

And...

Ansarifard scored seventeen goals for Tabriz's reds during his spell at the team, fourteen goals was in the league, making him the season's top scorer for the second time in his professional career.

[Z Joon]

[PersianBoy9]

Great, Branko wont be giving up this fight easily and this wont go well if they dont decide ASAP.

[Roozbeh-G2006]

Football is like theatre and it is mostly up to the audience to decide whether a play is good or bad. And very obviously people who watch football passionately are very capable of telling who is playing good and who is not. Our top league players maybe good enough to compete against each other but they are not good enough to compete against the top league players of countries that win international trophies. It is so obvious to everyone. What Mr Afzely is saying would be justified if he could produce a team that meets those top standards otherwise no respect is due I am afraid unless he wants to be vindictive. The other two head coaches in this vid are covering their own backsides basically because they are from supposedly those countries with better standards and supposed to be helping our league to improve.

[Ari]

Actually Winnie Schäfer looks very cooperative by saying he wants to talk to CQ about that matter.

[webmaster]

This is just another mind game with whoever the master is playing for whatever purpose or plans he might have. Don't read too much into it. He is playing his regular chess.