World Cup 2010 Qualifiers; Iran drawn in Group 5

One advantage Iran will benefit from in Group 5 is the close proximity of their opponents to Iran, hence the away legs of their fixtures will not involve tedious flights to the far east which often involves flight changes, add to that the time difference and such away fixtures tend to take a lot out of the players before they even kick a ball.  The world cup draw has been kind to Iran’s Team Melli for a change, I expect Iran to finish in the top two teams in Group 5 and progress to final round qualifiers.

So far so good, but when was the last time a Team Melli campaign went without complications?  Islamic republic of Iran Football Federation (IRIFF) is yet to elect a president after their FIFA ban of November 2006 for Government interference in the sport; Team Melli has not had a coach since the sacking of Amir Ghalenoei after Asian Cup finals failure last July, world cup 2010 qualifiers will commence in February 2008, that does not give Iran much time to prepare for the campaign.  Any appointed head coach will probably have to recall players from Iran’s world cup 2006 squad despite players such as Mahdavikia and Hashemian being on the wrong side of 30, there is simply not enough time to put a new team together.  Whilst the experience of such players will be a telling factor at qualifying stage Iran cannot continue relying on them for world cup finals in 2010.

There is no time to waste, Team Melli needs a head coach and not just any head coach, lessons should have been learnt from disastrous consequences of appointing an incompetent coach such as Amir Ghalenoei.  It is time for Team Melli to benefit from expertise of a quality European coach, there are many talented players in Iran, but Team Melli has been under-achieving for years due to failure of coaches and IRIFF.  Will history repeat itself with yet another heart-breaking tournament for Iranian fans?  The election of IRIFF president and appointment of Team Melli’s next head coach should soon answer that question.

World Cup 2010 Qualifying Groups, AFC Region

Group 1: Australia, China, Iraq, Qatar

Group 2: Japan, Bahrain, Oman, Thailand

Group 3: South Korea, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Jordan

Group 4: Saudi-Arabia, Uzbekistan, Lebanon, Singapore

Group 5: Iran, Kuwait, UAE, Syria