Sports Minister Soltanifar comments on recent Team Melli losses and hopes for Olympic berth

Tasnim – TEHRAN, Iranian Sports and Youth Minister Masoud Soltanifar said that back-to-back defeats against Bahrain and Iraq in Word Cup Qualifier matches hurt the pride of the Iranian people.

Iran lost to Bahrain 1-0 in October and was defeated against Iraq 2-1 last week.

The results mean that Iran is third with six points, five points behind Iraq in Group C of the 2022 World Cup Qualification.

“Two losses against Bahrain and Iraq hurt the pride of our nation but we still have a chance of qualifying for the next round as the top team. Many experts believe that we didn’t use the full range of our capabilities in the last two matches,” Soltanifar said.

“We still have a chance to qualify as the group leader. The football federation and the ministry will try to arrange friendly matches for Team Melli ahead of our (next) matches in World Cup qualification,” he added.

Soltanifar also said they have paid the salary of Marc Wilmots and his coaching staff.

Commenting on Team Melli Omid, Soltanifar insisted that the Iran football team must qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games.

Iran have not been in the Olympics since the 1976 games in Munich.

The Persian have a tough task to book a place in the Olympics since the team have been drawn with defending champions Uzbekistan, China, and South Korea in the 2020 AFC U23 Championship.

The competition will be held in Thailand from Jan. 8 to 26 and the top three teams of the tournament will qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics men’s football tournament.

“We want to participate at the Olympic Games after 44 years. Iran football deserve to participate at the Olympics since we have so many talented players,” Soltanifar said.

“Volleyball and football teams should take part at the Olympic Games along with Basketball and we will support our teams to accomplish this,” he added.