The Iran National Team showed that they were more than capable of competing on the World Stage in the 2018 World Cup, almost getting through a group that featured both Spain and Portugal. But after losing manager Carlos Queiroz at the end of the World Cup campaign, the choices on the shortlist for the team’s next manager have lacked the same spark. Instead of the rumoured names of Bert van Marwijk from Australia and French trainer Herve Renard, Iran should aspire to pursue the following managers instead.
Jose Mourinho
Yes, this sounds like a stretch, but Jose Mourinho has proven that he is capable of catching lightning in a bottle. And, perhaps more importantly, he is running out of big clubs that would be willing to work with him, meaning that his time before moving to the international level may be coming up. Mourinho is a manager that works in small doses, with a World Cup cycle being the perfect length of time for a team to employ him. And he'd be a manager on the same tier as the departing Queiroz.
For Iran specifically, Mourinho would be a great stylistic fit given that the team tends to prioritise its defence over its attack and prefers to win matches by the trademark Mourinho 1-0 scoreline than it would by simply outscoring opponents with big numbers on each side. In the international setting, Mourinho would provide the kind of tactics that could keep Iran competitive against even the most high-profile opponents.
Heading into the 2022 World Cup cycle, Iran is considered a longshot to win the tournament, but generally likely to qualify. As of March 27, 2019, the team is at +50000 odds to win the next World Cup at Betway. If they were able to snag a high-profile manager whose tactics work with what the team likes to do, those odds could shorten significantly.
Julen Lopetegui
Julen Lopetegui spent 2018 between two of the most successful footballing organisations in the world, both at the national level with Spain and with Real Madrid at the club level. The problem was that Lopetegui suffered multiple indignities while at each of those stops and has gone from being one of the world’s rising managers to one who exited both of those jobs in disgrace.
Lopetegui may not be anywhere near as good a fit for Iran in terms of style of play, compared with Mourinho, but he might be in a position that is more advantageous for the national team in terms of Lopetegui possibly wanting to take this job. The reason for that is that he could end up not being wanted by any major club or national team for a while, until the issues that he suffered come to pass.
Looking back, it can be argued that Lopetegui shouldn’t have come under fire for taking the Real Madrid job while he was coaching the Spanish national team. After the 2018 World Cup, it would have been more than understandable for him to leave for a job that promised more action in more meaningful matches than what Spain would have seen prior to the Euros. But the drama that did arise could mean that an up-and-coming national team like Iran could secure his services. And with the team vowing to work harder going forward, a manager like Lopetegui could be motivated enough to help them do that.
Bob Bradley
Bob Bradley has been hired to be one of the main managers for Major League Soccer in the United States, but Bradley has proven that he can take underdog teams at the national level to strong performances. He did so with the United States when he took an ordinary American team to the knockout rounds of the World Cup, and he had solid showings as the manager of Egypt when the team performed admirably before Mo Salah became one of the world’s great footballing superstars.
Bradley is unlikely to go anywhere due to the push that MLS is trying to make with Los Angeles Football Club. But if he did want to take on a challenge at the national level, a country like Iran could be a destination that makes sense for him and the team.
No matter who Iran goes with going forward, they look like a contender to progress through the Asian qualifiers to get the team to the World Cup. But if they want to aspire to more than the managerial candidates they've already named, there are plenty of other choices they should take a shot at to get there.