We will need strong opponents to prepare our team: Edmond Bezik

Tehran Times – TEHRAN, Former Iran national football team striker Edmond Bezik believes that the current situation of the Iranian football federation suggests that nobody should expect significant success from the national team in the 2022 World Cup.

Iran is in Group B of the World Cup with England and the U.S., which kicks off Nov. 21 in Qatar. But while Iran’s rivals and other Asian representatives such as Japan and South Korea have established their preparation program with high-profile warm-ups, Iran just has confirmed one friendly match against Canada for the next month in Vancouver.

“Every coach has his own philosophy about team preparation. The ideas of Dragan Skocic should definitely be respected,” said Bezik in his interview with Tehran Times.

“However, the question is: with the current situation of the Iranian Football Federation, can the plans of the head coach of the national team be implemented? Most teams have already arranged matches, and we will have to find the strong opponents to prepare our team,” added the head coach of Persepolis’ U23 team.

The interim president of the Football Federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI), Mirshad Majedi, has said they will only announce the friendlies once the details are finalized.

“The Iranian football community hopes for a greater urgency when the soccer federation meets to choose a new president in the upcoming months,” he added.  

Bezik sees a big challenge ahead of the national team: “The current condition of Iran national team is like a club that does not have a general manager. Can we expect accurate planning and implementation of programs in such a team?”

“The big problem of the FFIRI is that there is no proper budget to set up appropriate fixtures in the build-up to the World Cup. Also, this federation has no ability to communicate with the top football federations.

“Iran has been drawn into a difficult group. We should not have high expectations from our national team because we have tough matches ahead of us and the conditions for preparing the team are not good,” Bezik concluded.