For Nosrati the time is now
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading...
AFC – DOHA, Having experienced the disappointment of seeing his side go out on penalties in the last two tournaments, Iran defender Mohammad Nosrati is hopeful that Team Melli can finally put their long drought in the AFC Asian Cup to rest in Qatar this year.
Nosrati played for Iran alongside former winners of the Asian Player of the Year award like Ali Daei, Ali Karimi and Mehdi Mahdavikia at past AFC Asian Cups, but he now finds himself as one of the leaders on a team that remains high on quality but lacks the big names of the past.
But just because the team lacks stars does not mean that they are not contenders to win the competition for their first time since 1976, according to Nosrati.
“It was disappointing that we were knocked out of the last two AFC Asian Cups on penalties. But I think that we have brought a really good squad to this tournament and I hope that we can become Asian champions. That is the way that we feel and I know that we can do it,” said the right-back.
Nosrati, who turned 28 on Tuesday when Iran beat Iraq 2-1 in their Group D opener, accepts that he is now seen as a leader in the Team Melli squad.
“It’s a bit of a challenge for me and some of the experienced players in the squad like (Javad) Nekounam, (Iman) Mobali, (Andranik) Teymourian and (Ebrahim) Mirzapour,” he said.
“We must try to help the younger players to build up their confidence for the game. Hopefully, we can do an effective job so that they will do the best for Iran in this tournament. “We have good players in our current squad. Some of them may be young but they have good quality. If you see them play, you can feel that they are good and maybe in the future, they may be as important to Iran as Daei, Karimi and Mahdavikia were before.”
Iran coach Afshin Ghotbi is set to leave for J.League side Shimizu S-Pulse after the tournament but Nosrati feels that the former Korea Republic assistant coach has had a positive impact on the team during his 21 months in charge of Team Melli.
“He’s a good coach and, football-wise, we have learned a lot of things from him because he has a lot of good experience and he has been involved in a few World Cups. He is an experienced coach and he also has a good relationship with the players and I think we can be champions under him as a coach.
“I think we have a good team. In 2004, we finished third and we might have done better if we had better luck and some decisions had gone our favour in the semi-final against China.
“But I think that now we have a very good team and the players are close so I hope that we can do better in this tournament.”
