GOAL - Afshin Ghotbi is the front-runner to become the next head coach of Iran but is he the correct choice?
There is something about the South Korean national team. As many of five coaches at the 2010 World Cup could have connections to the Taeguk Warriors.
Guus Hiddink at Russia and Pim Verbeek with Australia are obvious examples as is current boss Huh Jung-moo. Humberto Coelho is trying to take Tunisia to South Africa and former assistant Afshin Ghotbi could soon be Iran’s main man.
Not yet though, nothing is ever simple in Iranian football. The Iranian Football Federation (IFF) are dithering over whether to appoint the former Persepolis coach or go with someone else.
Ghotbi knows from experience that you can’t be certain of becoming the coach of Team Melli until the contract is signed and the news is officially announced. Until then, anything can happen.
It happened just over a year ago. Ghotbi, then still involved with the title race, was ready to take the job and was just hours away from succeeding Amir Ghaleneoi. Then, at the last minute, Ali Daei got the nod and was unveiled. It was unlucky but that’s football, or perhaps politics and in Iran the two are never far apart.
Daei was a surprise choice but not a strange one. After a playing career almost unrivalled in Asia, the one-time goal machine led Saipa to the title in his first season as coach and was a big-name choice to follow the insipid Ghaleneoi.
Perhaps it was for the best for Ghotbi. Despite having already said goodbye to his Persepolis players he returned to the Tehran club and in circumstances that were not easy, came up with a little last-minute magic to clinch the league title in front of 100,000 adoring fans at the Azadi.
At that moment, Ghotbi’s critics, and there were a good number who weren’t too impressed with the sight of the Iranian-American returning to his homeland after 30 years overseas and being greeted like a conqueror, had to stay silent but his achievement was an impressive one.
The start to the second season was more difficult and citing behind-the-scenes problems, Ghotbi resigned. Time will tell if that was the right thing to do.
Timing is crucial in football. Ghotbi cast a few lines out to the K-League and the J-League but the timing wasn’t right. Not heading east now looks to be a stroke of luck.
He is lucky in another aspect too. Despite the fact that Daei was dumped after five games, the team has six points - disappointing rather than disastrous. The situation is still in Iran’s hands and it has three games to go. Much of the talk in Tehran is how many points the team will need to finish in the third-place play-off spot and of all three games must be won to finish second.
Good results in Korea will be necessary and Ghotbi, with his experience in East Asia, offers an advantage but there are others. He will motivate a team that seems to be lacking that quality. A new coach often has that effect anyway - as does the sight of the World Cup slipping away, but Ghotbi has used adversity to inspire players before.
A six-point deduction threatened to destroy the title dreams of Persepolis last year but when the players were at their lowest ebb, that was when they went on an impressive charge to the title. Similar stuff is required now.
Ghotbi’s tactical acumen is well-known. That is why he was first taken to Korea by Guus Hiddink for the 2002 World Cup, why Dick Advocaat made him part of his coaching staff for the 2006 World Cup and why he was Pim Verbeek’s right-hand man at the 2007 Asian Cup.
His celebrations in the quarter-finals when Korea defeated Iran upset some at home, including talismanic midfielder Javad Nekounam. But Ghotbi is a man who likes to win as did Pim Verbeek when he led Australia to victory over Netherlands recently as did Guus Hiddink when his Russian team did the same in Euro 2008 as would Fabio Capello etc.
The appointment of Ghotbi would probably mean the return of Ali Karimi situation. Daei’s refusal to call the Wizard of Tehran he had made himself available would have not been a huge deal if Saudi Arabia had not come back to win.
As it was, there was no doubt what the 90,000 or so fans in the Azadi Stadium left little doubt as to how they felt about both Karimi and Daei.
Afshin Ghotbi may not be the perfect coach for Iran but for three hugely important games in the space of two weeks, he could be the right man in the right man at the right time.
John Duerden
Asia Editor
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