Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #309: Arya Allahverdi on Iran, player unrest, a starting XI & Iranian football

Episode Date: August 17, 2022

Arya Allahverdi, who runs the Gol Bezan podcast, joins the pod to discuss an Iranian national team that's had its share of controversy, mostly surrounding the coach, Dragan Skočić, who was sacked and then un-sacked this summer after a poor friendly against Algeria. But Iran has several talented players, particularly in the attack, and Allahverdi thinks they'll come out and play at the World Cup, especially against the U.S. He also gives his preferred starting XI.If you want to skip straight to the part where we talk about current Iranian players and their weaknesses, around the 40:00 mark Arya starts giving his preferred XI, and then some discussion of a likely tactical approach.support Scuffed on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedand then join the Discord: https://discord.gg/X6tfzkM8XU Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedAlso, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.comAnd check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the scuff podcast where we talk about U.S. soccer. Our guest today is Aria Aalverdi, an Iranian living in Glasgow who runs the Gold Bazan podcast, which is focused on the Iranian national team. You'll find the link in the show notes, check it out. Welcome, Aria. Thanks a lot, Adam. I appreciate your time for having me on your show. Hopefully we can speak about some good things related to this World Cup in November. I'm excited. First of all, what does goal Buzan mean? I mean, I think I know what goal means, but what does Buzan mean?

Yeah, so goal, just means ghost the way you pronounce, you'd spell it in the Spanish language. Bezan, well, it's kind of hard to just put Bézan. Bizan is like, it means to hit, but it also means to like, in this phrase, it would mean to score a goal, you know, to strike a goal, to score a goal. So it's more like a phrase. So essentially, it's like the source.

score a goal podcast if you were to put it in English. Okay. We just keep the farcy. Let's get right into it. What was the whole deal with the coach, Scotchich, being fired and then unfired a week later? I'm not even sure that's an exactly correct characterization, but can you clear that up for us?

You know, he was, yes, he was dismissed, you know, the board of directors in the Federation of Football of Iran decided to sack him or dismiss him, including the sports ministry, which is the governing body of sport within Iran, they also chose to dismiss him from his position as a national team head coach of Iran. What happened was, you know,

they had a meeting with him as well, the head coach, Coach H, for the directors. They chose to keep him just because they felt like it was a little bit too risky. Also, on the 30th to, on the 30th of August, there's going to be an election for the president of the federation of football. So they're going to re-elect someone for the president. And then, you know, essentially, whoever does come in, you know, may then choose to also dismiss Scotage.

That could happen. You know, right now there's three candidates. There's Mejdi Todd, who was the previous candidate under when Carlos Kerr was in charge. Also when Mark Rulamots came in, the coach before. for Scoti, he then lost his position. But he's saying that if I come back, I might bring back Carlos Keros. So that's his kind of position. If the current president, who's actually just a standing president,

because the previous one got sacked, the whole other story behind that, the current one is just an acting interim president. His name is Majedi. He's probably going to keep Scotish, if he gets a, job and the other one is a guy called Aziz Muhammad who used to be the head of the league organization in Iran and I don't think he would get it

to be honest with you so we'll see what happens so the Federation just chose to they sacked him initially and they said you know what no we're going to just keep him we'll keep him just now until this presidential vote happens and then we can kind of go on from there but it's a bit

silly because then you're you're about two months away from the World Cup and you're still talking about a potential coach getting sacked from the World Cup. You know, if you were going to do it, you should have done it a lot earlier. They've left it very late. And now we're in a position where we still don't know if we're going to have the coaches as our head coach in the World Cup.

What's the, I mean, what's the problem? They seem like Iran qualified quite easily. And what was the problem that led to this dismissal? Yeah, so what happened was essentially the players, national team players divided on social media and a lot of it was down to half of the team didn't like scotchage that could be because of the training sessions the lack of quality that wasn't in training sessions could be because they felt like he wasn't up to standard in terms of you know the previous game we had against algeria we played really badly and i know

people are going to say yes the training camp wasn't up to par the federation didn't provide for us but ultimately we played really badly. And some of the players don't feel like we're up to the level and we're going to go out to the World Cup of people that might lose. Half the team support him. And a lot of those players that support him are players who really came into the national team because of Scotchich or because at that time when he was in charge,

they kind of became better players at their club level and Scotritch gave them a chance. They don't want to not support a coach who has been helpful to their careers. Also, one of the biggest, bigger names that is in favour of Scotchurch-Stiang is Sardar Osmond, who plays for Barre-Levacruz and Germany, and he is kind of the leading figure in that group who people are a little bit shocked about, kind of hard to get into why, a few reasons why, I don't really want to get into it because it's a little bit political, but ultimately he supports him.

You know, I think when the Federation saw the divide on social media between the players, they're all posting stories on Instagram, they very quickly saw that we might have to change this coach because we can't be going into a competition with half the team not wanting this coach. Where does Mehdi Tarimi fall on that? So he's also on the kind of the against coach each side. You can even see from his interview that you were mentioning off-air with Ferrisipur. You know, he doesn't seem to have a big interest in this coach. So Asmon is pro-Scochage and Tremi is anti-Skotch.

But they have come out recently and they've tried to kind of rehash it and say, you know, this is all, you know, we play as a team, you know, we have to play for the country and all that. I think that's a little bit of force in my opinion. I do think there is still this divide in this team. there are players such as Hoy Safi who's actually the captain of the team who I honestly don't believe he really wants him to stay

and I think one of the reasons why this sacking initially happened was down to him you know voicing is concerned he's a left back right he's a left back center midfielder plays in Athens in a aka Athens in Greece and I think a lot of it was down to him and also maybe even Jan Balch

a lot of these players I think voiced their concerns after this game against Algeria. And I think the Federation tried to act. But I think they just really quickly realized, you know, we can't, first of all, we can't actually afford anyone. We can't actually bring in anyone new just now. And we have to wait until the new president comes in. But they couldn't sack him.

I think it was impossible to do that. But, you know, there's, I think it's a valid reason. I think it was a valid reason to, in my opinion, to potentially look into sacking him. because in my opinion, once you lose the dressing room, it's hard to regain that. It's hard to regain that because you're going into a competition that you need your players to be about your side.

You can't have players, like, you know, look at the situation of France. Was it 2014 World Cup? Not mistaken, 2010 World Cup. They lost, the whole team was against the coach. Now, I'm not saying that's going to happen here, but you need players on your side, especially players like Tarimid, like Jahang Baksh, like, is that to Loh.

hey, all these players who are top players with this team, they can't be posting stories that are, I'm not saying against the coach, but are allegedly against the coach. I'm not going to put words in anyone's mouth, but, you know, it's quite clear. That was how it was interpreted. That's how it was portrayed.

You know, that's how it was interpreted. You said you didn't want to get into the reasons that Asmoun supports coaches because it's a little bit political. Are you talking about, like, real politics or like soccer politics? No, no, no. So, yeah, soccer politics, people. So it's a little bit more. in that sense, you know, because there's a couple of reasons why.

The first reason is this is a little bit more hearsay. Osmond has just signed a deal with a supermarket chain in Iran called Haft. And this supermarket chain, the agent of Scotich, his agent, his name is a guy called Frasbash. That chain is linked to this agent. Osmond is making money. Now, great, I'm happy for him that he's making money and he's got this sponsorship.

But people are saying that this agent being involved with it or linked to it has a link to him supporting Scotchich. Potentially, that could be wrong. It could also be because this is my opinion. This is my opinion.

I think the reason why Osmond's support Scotchich in this situation was mainly because of, I think it's the freedom that he has. under Scotschich compared to let's say Carlos Kuros Kuros, very strict you know, he's going to make sure

every player is not messing about in training you come, you don't you're not late to training, you show up in time, all these things. Whereas I think under Skowich may be that discipline that level of organization has gone out the window a little bit and maybe that suits Osmond

potentially if he's the kind of guy that could suit him. So I think he has a a little bit of... He kind of has a little bit of a sur. He's got like a surfer vibe. So, you know, I think that kind of helps him. So it's a little bit, it's hard to really decide. I think, I personally think that's the reason why.

Some people are saying it's because of this sponsor he has. I don't know, mostly. Now, Osmond is from, like, the north of Iran up by the, by the Caspian Sea, right? And, and Taremi, I don't want to make something out of nothing here, but Teremi's from the south. Yes. On the Persian Gulf. Yeah. What are the cultural differences between?

those two parts of the country? Oh, you're asking the wrong person. I mean, look, I'll try my best. Obviously, I'm not born in Iran, so I can't really speak for anybody. But in the south of Iran, for sure, there's a really big football culture. There's a really, you know, they really love football down. They're not saying not in all the football on the north. The course they do, but in the south, they really love football.

There's a really, everyone's very connected to the game in a deeper, deeper way. the north of Iran of all the teams like Tehran and Tabi's you have Tehrokor Estéglal these teams are very high level teams of course

in the league standings but culturally speaking the South is known for having a deeper connection to football teams like San Antonio after Abadon we know that they used to be sponsored by Nike

because they have this connection to Brazil and they had almost the same Brazil jersey with the Nike sponsorship with their own logo a few years, not anymore but a few years ago and they had that connection to Brazil and they love Brazilians. It's just this thing that goes on. What was the name of that club again?

Can you say it one more time? Sanata, Sanat, Sanat, so S-A-N-A-T-A-T and NAF-T-N-A-F-T. They have that kind of connection. to that side of the world. And, you know, as I said, being from the south, I think he has a lot more connection. Whereas Osmond, being from the north, I don't know.

I'm not from the north north. I'm just from Tehran. My parents are from Tehran, so I don't really have a connection to their football either. But, you know, there's been some great players that come from the north of Iran as well. So I hope that answered your question. I can't really get into my...

I mean anything is helpful So Andre asks Andre from the Discord asked What do you think about Canada canceling The friendly a few months ago Look for us It wasn't great for our preparation standpoint Because we needed that game

We needed that game for ourselves We were also Deprived of a game against Ecuador Because that was going to be played in Canada and ended up just playing one game in Qatar and it was a really bad camp and things didn't go that well and obviously this whole thing with Scotchich happened

as a result of that so we lost it's all Canada's fault it's not no no I mean blame Canada look it's quite political I personally speaking don't get into that much of the

whole real side of politics when it comes to it but ultimately it was quite a political situation that that happened Canada had their own reasons. They organized the game. It was actually them who could propose this game

to Iran. So ultimately if they take the hit because they organized it, they asked for it, they were going to host it. So they take the hit for canceling it. And I'm sure there's going to be some fines going forward for them. But then

from Iran's perspective, both countries should have known that this game is going to have a lot of political tension behind it. There's always going to be something, no doubt about it. And I think they should have studied that a little bit more, a little bit naive of them to go straight into this,

preparing this game, organizing it, one week out, and then canceling it. There should have been more thought into this game, for sure. It wasn't. It was very, you know, we're just going to go and play the game. There's no politics. Because let's be honest, me and you can both be honest here. There's a lot of politics.

in football. Always has been, always will be. And this one was particularly very political. And it ended up being that a game got cancelled and both teams lost a preparation deep into that kind of FIFA international break because of politics. And now Iran went into this last camp with only one friendly that they lost because it was a terrible camp and we couldn't even get players at the top of their game, top of their level, physically. So both countries have to take responsibility here.

But, you know, it was a bit of a shame, I think, for the fans. Because it would have been a good game. I think it would have been a good game. A lot of Iranians were going to go. I was going to go as well. But, you know, ultimately both countries have to take responsibility. Yeah. I mean, Canada's Federation is kind of in a shambles right now.

Yeah. their players went on strike. And then, yeah, right around the same time. I think even if the game was going to go ahead, the game was still going to, it would have still got cancelled. Because that game that replaced it around game, but got cancelled as well because the player went on strike.

So, you know, regardless, I think the game was going to get cancelled, which shows you how badly prepared the Canadian, Canadian Soccer Federation was. They offered the game, and then they cancelled it. And then the game that actually replaced it also got cancelled. So you know what I mean?

Yeah. Yeah. It's an absolute joke, but it is what it is. So, so Trent Graham asks, how are fans and, you know, the press in Iran treating the run-up to the match with the U.S. Because, you know, there's geopolitics with Canada, but there's just as much with the U.S. as we all know between the U.S. and Iran. Does that sort of discussion come up a lot? Is that, is it going to be like a people marking that on their campaign? calendar in a special way compared to playing

you know whales which I'm sure there's not quite as much animosity there you know I don't know I mean I was born 97 so I don't really remember the last time I played the US obviously I don't think

there was as much I don't know you can tell me I don't know if there's as much back then maybe there was maybe there was yeah there was yes there was so I I would imagine there is I don't really like to go into that side of things.

It doesn't really bother me because I'm just here to look at the football. But ultimately, there's no line. This group is very, very interesting from an Iranian perspective, considering we have England, we have USA, and we have Wales who are still part of the United Kingdom. So there is this kind of link to, as you say, geopolitics. But with this whole Scotia situation, with us losing our last friendly match,

I think the focus for us anyway, has gone back to the football because we're saying, you know, yes, there's this whole storyline that you can create in media, but do we still have a strong enough team to go and compete? You know, are we good enough?

Because we haven't seen like we are in the game against South Korea, of course we had players missing, we had this game against Algeria, it wasn't a great camp, but we still lost it, you know, are we good enough from a footballing standpoint?

That's what's going on in our minds just now because the politics, in my opinion, can take a back seat because this team needs to rethink itself a little bit. We will get into that. We will get into that stuff, for sure. But let me just break in a little bit and say, we just recap the 1998 game on our podcast, you know, like behind a paywall. So note to everybody who's listening, you can listen to that today if you become a scuffed patron. There was a ton, so we go through like the geopolitics leading up to the game.

There was a ton of press coverage. I think on both sides about that. The interesting thing is, I mean, the U.S. had just imposed like a full trade embargo on Iran. Yes, yes. The thing is, when you watch the game, you get no sense of that from watching the game. You get competitors who clearly respect each other. What's that? And that's what I meant when I was asking you was there a lot of politics.

they might have been before, but during the game, not as much. And I think that's what, to me, anyway, that's what matters. You know, there's always going to be tons of media coverage on this. And, you know, maybe it hypes the game up. Maybe it gets more eyes on the game, on the fixture. Even if you look at England against USA or England against Wales, those games are also going to have a lot of eyes on it for various reasons outside of football, you know.

But ultimately, you know, when we go on, we step on the pitch, in my opinion, I don't think those things are going to really matter as much, you know. So, sorry, you're saying. You're right. You're right. All right. So back to the football. Iran and the U.S. have a similarity in that they both qualify from relatively weak confederations, you know, Asia and Kankakeaf.

And then they have to go to the World Cup and face kind of a different level. We talk about this a lot with the U.S. team. but how does Iran prepare for that? How do you think they're going to handle that transition from playing Lebanon to playing England? Yeah. And it's the same for the US. I don't want to start this off of saying, you know, like being all boasting and all that.

But we did win our group, which was really good because it shows that we are still a top tier team in Asia. And regardless of the opposition, we're still going to go out there and beat those teams. even though we didn't actually perform to the standard we expect of ourselves, we still won and that was important, you know, and that's the first thing. Now, in terms of what you're asking, is it preparing us for a World Cup? Absolutely not.

And I think this is one of the things that some of the fans are upset of Skowchich for is in some of his interviews, he keeps on saying how, you know, I won all these games and I don't get the respect from the fans. and we totally agree with him. You know, he's right. He should be getting a lot of respect for how we won these games and qualified so easily. But, you know, the two games that mattered,

we didn't perform well. Now, obviously there was reasons for it. The second game against South Korea, which was a very bit of tough game, we had about five players missing through injury, suspensions and whatnot. The first game against South Korea was different story.

We had everyone available. It was in Ozadie Stadium in Tehran. We drew that game 1-1. We were maybe the better team, but we did draw the game, and it wasn't a particularly great performance compared to how we used to perform against them in the past, where we used to beat them, and they had no chances of scoring against those defenses were very solid.

The second game, when we played in Seoul in South Korea, we were all over the place. And, you know, some people are saying, as I said, players missing. We didn't have, like, the whole team missing. ultimately we played a decent lineup, it wasn't like we had some random farmer

from the Iranian League starting. We had to do a good team. A good team starting. It wasn't terrible and we played really badly in that game. That was a bit of a wake-up call. And I think Skowchich, ultimately, yes, he won these games against UAE and Iraq and Syria, but

we're not well prepared as a nation to say that when you go up against England, we're going to, we can guaranteed that we're going to get a draw or a tie or whatever it may be. In the previous campaign, you know, we had a lot of good friendlies. We had funnities against Turkey, against Tunisia, against Algeria. Bear in mind, we actually lost two of those games. We lost against Turkey, 2-1, and we lost against Tunisia. I think it was also 2-1 or maybe 1-10. But the games were of an

intensity that it prepares you for a competition. That when we went against Morocco, we were ready, we're physically in great condition. That game against Algeria didn't do that because we were very poor, you know, like, you know, really poor. It was, it was terrible to watch. You know, the game against Turkey in 2018, we started really badly, but we ended the game on top when we started just, you know, really do a lot better as the game went on. Same against Tunisia. I think Tunisia, we actually scored an own goal, but we didn't actually perform that badly in that game, whereas against Algeria had a really bad performance. We actually beat Algeria as well in 2018

as it was played in Austria. It was in March 2018. And overall, we had a sense of, you know, we can go in this World Cup, we can get a result against Morocco, could do something against Spain and Portugal, maybe get a draw. And we did.

We got a draw. We got a tie. And we got a win against Morocco. Say it was lucky, sure. But ultimately got the three points. and we only lost 1-0 to Spain with a lucky goal. So, you know, we knew that that could happen. That was in the back of our minds.

But now, you know, I'm not certain that going into 2020 that we can for sure get the same level of results and performances this time. But that's not to say it can happen, you know, because again, looking at our team, we have players who are playing at a very high level. Tarami, you know, one of the best goal scorers in the world, not just in his league, but also in the world when you compared all the leagues together.

So very good goal score. You have two fantastic number nine. Osmond, maybe not statistically doing that great just now, but he's a very good goal score. I watched his game on the weekend. He didn't score, but he was getting in really good spots, creating a lot for his teammates. He's good.

And they work very well together, both of them. Do they. Do they work very well together when they play together. They haven't actually played together for a long time. In fact, except the last time against Algeria, which doesn't really count, in my opinion. But they've not played together that much recently. So what they do, they're very good. And, you know, that is a – that's probably one of the things that Scotich has been able to identify in his run as head coach.

who's been able to say, you know, this team, their strength is Osmond and Tournament. Can we get the ball to them as much as possible? And we have done, but at times it's been a little bit like, is that our only way of playing? Is that all we're doing? Is that, are we only going to score goal by getting the ball with Osmond and Tournament? What if they're both injured? You know, so I think sometimes attacking-wise, it's been a little bit one-dimensional. and it's not good enough, you know, because this team has a lot of other great talented players.

You know, of course, Osmond Tourne were the most popular ones. But we've got players like Wadiah, who plays in the Belgian League. Jahan Bash, who's one of our top players, who hasn't performed great at club level, but he's also been fantastic in qualification. What club does he play for? He plays for Feinard in the Eridivese in other ways. And, you know, of course, someone called those playing in Brentford and the Premiers, in the Premier League isn't starting for the club

but still playing in a great team. So I think we have to be positive in the sense that we have these players who are creative, but this is the reason why some of the fans are not happy because they don't feel like we're playing at the level we should be playing it. No, that makes sense. So before we get into really some more detail in the lineup,

because I do want to talk about Osmond and Terami and these other guys more, I have to ask about Adele for Dosset Poor. I was struck in that interview you mentioned earlier by how confident he was interviewing Mediterremi on a yacht in the Persian Gulf, quite a setting for an interview. It's like a two hour long interview on YouTube. And so I didn't watch the whole thing. But you can watch the whole thing if you want.

And there's subtitles in English. The interviews in Farsi, of course. But I was struck by how he said to Taremi, hey, you, You used to miss a lot of sitters or even like you have the tendency to miss a lot of sitters. And Tremi just nodded his head and he was cool with a journalist telling him that to his face. You would never see that in a like soccer interview in the US. What's going on there? Who is this guy for Dossipur?

Okay. So first of all, first of all, first of poor, he used to have his own show in the Iranian state TV called Navad, which means 90. It's just called 90. Okay. basically it was a very popular show for many, many years, maybe over 20 years, I don't know, time frame exactly, but he had a good old show when he interviewed players and brought on people from various parts of the game. Ended up getting cut from TV, very, you know, very just poorly, the way the Iranian State TV went about it, which is really poor, the way to cut him off TV and just kind of dismissed him.

and it wasn't good. A lot of the players liked Ferrispoor because he was honest. He portrayed our game with a lot of honesty. He didn't really want to show what issues our game had and bring it to light. And a lot of people looking around don't seem to do that.

So they cut him off air for various reasons. I think there were some pressures from above as well. But the players, reported him and the players wanted him back on either in his own platform or on TV again or whatever it may be and as I said he did actually create his own platform recently called Football 360 that have just recently started the last six months and he's doing some more interviews of players and he's the kind of guy who you know as you said is quite it's quite honest he doesn't He says what he sees and Tariami a little bit also on the same angle.

He's also a little bit of a guy who is honest and he will say whatever he feels as well. So I feel like that was a good interview to do for him because it meant that they could be, you know, honest, unfiltered and just, you know, say what they want to say. I will be honest though. some of the things that Tarami said in that interview in my opinion were a little bit too much if you saw it he was kind of he was going on a little bit too much of a ramble about how he fails the national team

isn't that good I mean a player shouldn't really be saying that in my opinion it's not up to you you can say it off in your own private life but you shouldn't be coming on media and going on about it but as you said all the difference he mentioned how he wasn't finishing chances many of that person in Iran.

He didn't really score that many goals that he could have scored. He missed a lot of open goal chance and then told him that. And he agreed. And I think he can't really disagree because first of all, it is true. He did.

And second of all, they're pretty close friends. So I don't think he would have taken it personally. Maybe if I said it to him, he would maybe take it a little bit more personally, maybe. okay yeah I guess that the interview was happening like right at the tail end of all the like all the hollow-blue about yeah that was why they did it as well they did you know it was quite clever from

all the first support to do it at that time but in my opinion again they shouldn't have gone into that much depth you know a player a player shouldn't be going into that much depth but you know that's the kind of interviews that fair support does well that's what you know that's what the people want yeah unfiltered Sami from the Discord asks, is there a particular player who plays in Iran or somewhere else in the Persian Gulf area and is thus not very well known to us who we should look out for coming at the World Cup? You can mention as many as you want, but maybe two or three. How about that? Okay.

The Persian Gulf Pro League, first of all, it's not a particularly high-level league. It's not terrible. There are some good players coming into. like, for example, Percibole just signed Locadia, who used to play for Brighton-Hov-Alpane in the Premier League. Estelle-L have just signed a couple of players that were in the national team,

Meta-Ga-Di, Mohebi was playing in Portugal. But for me, talented players, such as, oh, God, such as Yossin Salmani, who's currently the captain of the U-23s of Iran, he plays for Sepahon he's a talented player a good attacking midfielder number 10

who you think he'll be on the roster for the World Cup he was in the roster for the qualification and he was obviously part of the you know

U23 Asian Cup but I don't think he'll be in the roster but he's one to look at maybe could be trying to think of really like I'm just because honestly most of our players who start play abroad.

There's a couple of players such as Vait Amiri who plays in Percibly but he's an older player He's an experienced head Vydaimiri plays for Press Police Other than that What's his name again?

Say that name one more time Bahid Amiri Okay He plays for Perci police Okay Who else? You know why Let me jump in say

So Percipolis and Estalalal are both big clubs in Tehran, right? Yes. And Sepahans, a big club, but it's not in Tehran. It's an Isfahan. Is that right? Yes, it's an Esfahan, yeah. That's right.

It's not a big club, though. It seems like they do pretty well. No, it's a very big club. It's also a big club. The biggest clubs in Iran are press put in Estabal, Sepahon, Terakor, who is in Tabriz who did north of Iran. You've also got clubs like, recently clubs like Golgohar, who is,

kind of re-emerging, you know, as a big club because they've got a lot of good players signed for them. So there are some good, but there's not, there's no, there's no, like, team from the very bottom of the league coming up to win the league, except having said that, maybe five, six, seven years ago, not exactly sure when it was.

Kind of a similar Leicester City situation. A club called Estelle Lhousetan, who plays in, the kind of south of Iran as well. They won the league very spontaneously, and now they're like, they're nowhere to be seen. I think they're like in a fourth or third tier of Iranian football.

Wow. So, yeah, and the way they did it was, I think it was actually, no, it was the same year as Lester when they won the league for the Premier League. It was the same year as them, yeah. But other than that, usually just get the top teams to win it. You ask the question, I'll come back to it. There's one player who's very talented, who's looking to, who will definitely be part of the roster.

Won't be a starter. His name is Saleh Hardoni, who plays for Estegloid, the right-back. Currently, our right-back position is a little bit upward debate. We have one player called Moharrami, who plays with Dina Mozagreb, who, of course, are a big club in Croatia. But he hasn't performed particularly good at national team level. but he's a good player very good player when he plays regularly for Dinau Zagreb he's very good

he's also very quick and attack minded but you know he can be a little bit suspect defensively Sully Hardony is a similar kind of stature to him quite short quite quick but also very very technically good and someone

who's got a future ahead of him for sure but I don't think he'll be a starter honestly other than that there's not there's no one else. Our goalkeeper, Baron Van, has just returned to Peres Police.

He was playing in Portugal, also in Belgium, before that. But other than that, we have pretty much a full lineup of foreign-based players. So, Hosseini is going to be a starting centreback, right? He plays in Turkey.

That's a, no. No, that's not guaranteed. Because in qualification, he didn't even start any game, except the last the last two games against South Korea and Lebanon. The rest of the two starting centrebats were Khalil Zadeh, who plays in Qatar, and Kanani, who plays in Qatar as well.

Actually, he played for the same club in Al-Ahali in Qatar. And those two were the starters, whereas Majid Ossini was a sub, and he played the last two games. It was actually quite impressive in those two games. He's a good player. He's actually one of my favorite players as well. but it's not guaranteed that he'll start and he's actually been doing really well

in the Turkish League for Kayseri sports so hopefully he does I think for me he should be a starter he actually played against Portugal and Spain in the 2018 World Cup and he was very impressive and that was like his I think it was like his fourth

cap against Spain it was actually on his birthday as well and he played really well against Spain and he played it also really well against Portugal But then he had a bit up and down in his career moving to Turkey. Then he had some contractual issues. But he's kind of regained his form. So hopefully he will be a starter.

We'll see. Can you say the names of his two competitors that you mentioned one more time? So one of them is Kanani, Kanani Zadegan, Hossein Kanani. And the other one is Shojah Khalil Zade. Okay. Yeah. They both play in Qatar, right? They play for Al-Ahali in Qatar.

are they just yeah they're both teammates there i see so a little bit of chemistry there yeah and they also played together previously in press police so there's a lot of and they're like they're very close um they're a bit of a cat they're both like two like really strong characters as well uh they have a lot of people who there a lot people who don't really like them because they're a little bit out there you know they're a lot about out there and they do things on social media that I looked a bit. Actually, Canoni was suspended. He's actually currently

still suspended for one more friendly game for Iran. He'll miss our next game. Should we get into it? It's a little bit. Yeah, no, I mean, yes. A long story, but we'll get into it. It happened this time last year, almost.

Basically, a voice recording got leaked on Instagram of Canoni. the other centreback the younger one of the two he was a leaked voice message

sent to a girl who during a national team camp he had invited her to to have an intercourse with her in the national team bus so he had invited someone to come

and have intercourse with him in the national team bus and that's how he sweeten the deal right there. That was leaked and I don't think it actually happened. The deed wasn't wasn't,

it didn't actually happen but it was leaked and of course, you know, that's, you can't be doing that during a national team camp, you know,

calling people organizing things that are, you know, a little bit on the not so, um,

uh, right, right, well, we can identify a little bit. I don't know how much you, how closely you follow the US team, but the,

the, but we had similar situation. One player, Weston McKinney, kicked out of a camp. Yeah, you know about that. All right. Yes. And I think it happened also with the English national team as well,

with Foden. And was it Greenwood? I'm not mistaken, a few years, a couple years ago. They had actually met up with girls during a national camp. And then Greenwood completely fell from Grace, right? Well, Greenwood then just took off to another level and it just went crazy.

But, you know, Foden was, and then I think they were kind of a, they apologize and it was okay but can only got suspended uh you know he actually got suspended too friendly is is that a serious i mean the maybe a character but the feeling i think in the u.s is that iran is a sort of pious like a more pious culture than than the u.s is that a greater offense in iran than it would be here because we know people like kind of laugh about it the main problem with mckenny was that he was breaking covid protocols and yeah well yeah that was that was also the kind of one of the main arguments was it was the COVID protocols because it was during COVID.

What you're asking is the people, Iranian people, probably same as Americans, just find it funny. Like it's a bit funny to them because it is pretty funny. It was funny to me and I was listening to it. But in terms of the government and the people that decide these things, yeah, for them, yeah, it's a little bit more serious. And I think there's a little bit more, you know, deep-rooted seriousness that goes on with that. but for us it was a bit of a funny situation but it is serious because you're you know

you're doing something that you shouldn't be doing and it's a bit it's a bit disrespectful to the rest of the team you know but there's what it is is Amir Abidzada is he related to the goalkeeper back in 1998 it's his dad yeah that's his dad it's his dad so

they're both goalkeepers and he he plays his trade in in Spain in the second tier of Spain, Pornford, Do you think,

do you think it'll be him who starts or, um, Behran Vand? Up to now, the starter for the national

team has been Abadada, especially through qualification to the latter stage and the last friendly against Algeria, Abad Zada was a starter.

Bairon Vand before him was undisputed starter. No doubt about it. He was always like, you know, our best compared as Bairan Van, but the problem of Bairon Avand is

when he went to Antwerp in Belgium and then he moved on loan to Boa Vista in Portugal his career dipped majorly and he had a lot less game time had really poor performances

he didn't actually play he's not played a game since December of last year 2021 so you know he's he's not in the best of conditions right now but he still plays for the national team here and there,

sometimes. But unless his performances grow, since he's just joined Perse police again, then I could see him being a starter. But again, he's playing in Spanish football. But he has had his mistakes. He had a massive error against South Korea.

The last game we played against South Korea and he played really poorly against Algeria as well so his performances haven't been up to up to par and it's kind of hard because this situation between them two has been we can if you look at our podcast we speak about it all the time who is going to start and for me personally speaking Baron Van should be a starter for us but he's not performing and then Abadzadah is a good goalkeeper he's a good he's good he's got great ball playing abilities as well but he's not performing to the highest level for the national team. So it's kind of a dilemma for the coach,

but I don't know, it'll be hard. I think Barrow Man should be a starter in the World Cup, personally speaking. Okay. Who do you have across the back line? So the right back is definitely going to be Moharrami, unless something happens to him. He's quite injury-prone. It would be him at right-back.

And I think the formation that we will go with, whether people agree with or not, will probably be a 4-3-3, maybe a 4-4-2, we'll see. A lot of the fans currently are looking for us to play a 3 at the back, but I don't see that happening, being honest with you. So Mojaharami will be right back, I think two centrebacks, in my opinion, should be Canoni, you know, our good friend, Kanani, just had that thing I was just speaking about,

and Hosseini should be, I think Chalianzada isn't a bad player, but he's a bit of a liability sometimes. he's also a little bit hot-headed. I don't really trust him and he's a little bit older as well. So for me, Karen Nehousseni, the left-back situation for Iran is probably the most debatable,

debated one, because we don't have a clear left-back. We just don't. We don't have anyone who's good at club level and at national team level. Everyone who's played there has been kind of sub-par.

Milad Mohamedi is the guy who we all want. wanted to be our starting left back who plays his trade also in Athens, A.K. Athens in Greece. He's at the right age. He's got everything you want from a left-by.

He's quick. He's kind of similar to Anthony Robinson in a way. But he just seems to be in not the right place mentally. Whenever he plays for that, he just keeps on making really bad mistakes and giving away the ball.

And he just doesn't seem to be in the right space of mind. But for me personally, he would still be our starter. The current starter left back is Omid Nur Afghan who he's someone who he just, not a lot of fans. He doesn't have a lot of fans. Not everyone really likes him because he's not a bad player, but he's someone again, he's a bit hot-headed and defensively can be very suspect, can give the ball away in bad areas of the pitch. For me personally, he shouldn't play, but the current coach likes him

because he's, I don't know, maybe a little bit taller and he's got, you can head the ball, so maybe that's the reason why, but for me, it should be Mirad Muhammad at left back. Going into the midfield. Hasafi, Hasafi has also

deputized at left back, as I mentioned earlier. Yeah, yeah. Haisafi as well, yes, but personally speaking, he is not really a left back. if I'm being honest. I always consider him to be more of a central midfielder. Even if you ask him, I think he would say that himself as well. The reason why he plays at left back is because he's a little bit more experienced.

He's played there before in his career, but he's always better in the middle. He's not really quick, so he doesn't really have the ability to go 1v1 against fast winners, so you don't want to play at left back. But he has played there. I don't think he'll play there for us. We'll see. I doubt him. He actually played there.

To be afraid, he did play there in our last game against Algeria. That game was a mess. That was a mess. It was an absolute mess. I don't think he should be playing there.

So does he start in the midfield then? No, no, no. I don't think he should even start, to be honest with you. It's not because he's not a good player, but he's, as I say,

he's a little bit older now. He's not, he's not, whenever, if you're watching play, yes, he's the captain, yes,

his experience, he's got the most caps in the team, but he's not like an effective player. He doesn't give you anything. You know what I mean? Other than just passing the ball about, he's not really going to give you anything spectacular and special. Okay.

He doesn't really have that about him. Just a guy who just stands there and just passes the ball around. I don't see him starting for us. But you never know. You never know. The experience factor could play his side. But for me, no, I wouldn't start. In the midfield, in my opinion,

and I think a lot of Iranians as well side is atollahi who's our kind of our buskets type player he is by far our most talented footballer by far like even better than

Osmond and Tarami when it comes to talent and potential level you know he is by far way ahead of everyone else because of first of all he was signed by Athletical Madrid

when he was 16 years old. You went to Athletical Madrid when he was 16 in Spain. He actually trained with the first team with Diego Simeone. And back then he was an unbelievable talent. Like, you know, if you watched him, you would be like, this guy's going to be special one day. But I think going there at 16 years old was a bit of a downfall for him

because he didn't really grow as a man. You know, he didn't really grow as a man, didn't really become the kind of, guy you want him to become from the leadership standpoint moved to Russia with Rostov and played in Amkar Pirm and a few other clubs

then he went to England with Nottingham Forest and he got hit with a lot of bad injuries when he was there and a lot of bad injuries actually as like back to back injuries and his career dip

big time you know in terms of the ability level but he's regained his form a little bit not as much he went to Qatar this last last half season kind of had a poor time there but hopefully he gets a move this summer and then regains his

form because in my opinion he is our best player in terms of potential Osmond tournament of course our best players when it comes to like scoring goals and all that but when he plays and he plays well it links everything together so he would start in the midfield

is he a hard man is he good at tackling or is he You said he's more of a buskets type. He's like a mix between buskets and poggbite. He's great technically, but he's also very good defensively. He's very tall. He's about six foot three. Technical abilities is fantastic. The only problem that he has is his pace.

He's very slow. Very slow. I think even if you ask him, he'll probably say himself. And he's put on some weight. So he has kind of lost that mobility a little bit. But from a technical standpoint, is great shooting distance-wise, it's great defensively heading,

all these things, it just needs to look at improving his physicality. The way you describe him reminds me a little bit of Karim Bagheri. 100%. That's the kind of player that he was, I suppose, modeling himself on him and Jowad Nikonam, who is our most cap player.

But he hasn't reached those heights, so you can't really put him in that discussion right now because he hasn't reached those heights, but he has a talent level to get to that to that standard. So yeah, he would be our number six in defensive midfielder. Then the two ahead of him,

the two number eight, so the two central midfielder's. Again, it's a debated topic because we have a few kind of players there who can do a job for us, similar to Hawaii Safi, can do a job, but they don't really have anything going for them in terms of are they going to be creative,

are they going to be able to keep the ball? currently Ahmad Nurulahi who plays his trade in the UAE in the Emirates for a team called Shab al-Athi

he's a guy who he's hardworking you know kind of similar to I don't know like McKinney or or like a Musa you know he's a very hard working player you can get up and down you can do all that

all those things but when it comes to producing anything meaningful in the final third is not a particularly he isn't that guy he is not like he can't do that he's not going to be able to create anything and sometimes you need that kind of player

in the team which is important of course it's important but you know you also need a little bit of quality you need someone who's going to be able to keep the ball and pass it you know get it back regain possession I don't see

norahee as a player who can do that but I think he's a player who we can rely on as I said for the hard working aspect so maybe he starts but for me personally speaking I want to see someone go do's start who plays in Brentford

who's a very important player for us alongside him I would have Viad Amiri who I mentioned earlier plays in press with older player but very hard working great technically speaking has all

all the aspects to his game ticked just a little bit old that's the only problem he has and he's just coming off a recent injury as well so we'll see how that goes but he's a very good player for us by the amiri so i would have the midfield three amyri someone goduss and behind them is atollahy and in the front three it picks itself really in my opinion there's three players who are great at club level and they should start and that for me is tarimi osmond and syad manish al-ahar sadmanesh who plays in the hall city umpian

a good friend of mine as well someone who I really have a lot of belief in going forward he's a very young player but he has so much talent he's really quick he works really hard he can score goals he needs to score more goals in my opinion but he can score goals

done it before when he was playing in Ukraine more of a winger than Asmone he's more like a winger he is more of a winger he is more of a winger and in this national team more often than not you will see Tari me play a little bit deeper than Osmond almost as a left winner as well

at times because you can't play them together all the time because they're too similar you need to play them a little more separated. So for me for me I'll ask to start in my opinion you know some people would disagree say he's too young not experienced but for me

he plays in the Hull City first of all a great team in a championship really building a great team out there in England but he's also a very good player so I don't see why you shouldn't start. Considering also in the championship, there's a lot of US national team players,

a lot of Welsh players, and a lot of English national, well, not English national, but players who could potentially go to an English national team in the future. There's a lot of young, good, talented players playing in the championship who can go into the national team in the future.

So I don't see why you wouldn't start, you know. But then also, of course, there are players like Jahan Bax, as I mentioned, very experienced, very good, when he plays for national team. Pauli Zadez, plays for Charlevoix in Belgium. Also good, also very good player,

technically great player. I can't see him starting. I saw a clip of him. He did like an amazing run in a game. Towards the end of qualifying, maybe I forget it. I think it was against Syria. Was it? Yeah, and then.

Maybe against Iraq. And he had an easy pass to Tremi for the goal. And he tried to try to. do he tried to shoot it himself and didn't put it on frame he is that kind of guy yeah unfortunately for him he's become a bit of a trickster which frustrates people because just like just past the ball like what are you doing but to remi wasn't that ability no and rightly so he shouldn't he shouldn't be doing that but he has that ability you know sometimes what his idea can be fantastic in games you're like

you're almost like how is he not playing at a higher level and then sometimes he has games where you're just like why is he doing these things like why is he being so

you know why is he trying to do this he's a little bit older now should be able to be a little more advanced in his way of thinking but he still seems to do things that you would only see from a 16 year old

immature you know a little bit immature but he's a good player you know and I I want him to go somewhere else. I think he's been at Charlevois and Belgium for far too long and he should be going somewhere else.

But he made a mistake last summer. If he hadn't signed a new contract, he would have left on a free this summer. But the club and his agents made him sign a five-year deal with the club. And the problem is, they said to him that if you sign this deal, you know, it's great for us financially because we'll get a transfer fee and you can leave, you know, anywhere you want. But let's be honest, they only did that because they wanted to keep him and they want to sign him on a long-term deal so that if anyone does come in for him,

they need to give really, really high offers. And he's basically been, in my opinion, he's been scammed by his club, you know, to stay because he shouldn't have to. done that. It should have just said, no, I'm leaving, but it made him sign the deal. Well, too bad. I appreciate you giving us the starting, that's starting 11, though. That's really helpful. Yeah, we finally got. Yeah, we got there. No, that didn't even take that long. So let me ask a couple more things. Maybe I'll take one more swing at the geopolitics question. I know for you, it's not that important. But if you can sort of, you have a better sense of

what it's like for the Iranian people than I do, I would guess. Was that victory in 98 especially sweet because it was the U.S. who, you know, has done a lot of things that Iranians don't like? And will this game have extra meaning for Iranians because of that? We interviewed Glenn Davis. I watched a little bit of that. I didn't watch the whole thing, but a little bit, yeah. So he mentioned how, you know, he was driving in Los Angeles and he turned a corner and there was a sea of Iranian people cheering and going crazy in the streets because of this victory against USA.

Of course, there's a lot of Iranians in L.A. You know, there is and that's going to happen. But there was a particularly big crowd in L.A. for that victory, which isn't normally going to happen for any other victory. so that that kind of showed the yes there's a little bit more on the line for this kind of fixture because of course there's this tension between both countries

there always has been for many years and when they face them in the in a big like the Royal Cup there's going to be a little bit more you know if we win the game there's going to be this massive you know celebration if we lose the game people are going to be quite upset

because we've lost the game against someone who again is very close to us politically but for the players I don't know if it's like that I would hope not I would hope the players take it like any other game

but for the fans yeah there's no doubt I can't pretend it just not there of course there's going to be something extra for them Is it the same against England or even more so or less so that's a good question

I don't know maybe less so because there's less Iranians I mean to be fair there's a lot of Iranians in London as well but I would say a little bit less

so because also England are expected to win the game you know we can we can say you know US Iran similar level national teams whereas England we're not expected to beat them so if we lose to

them it's not going to be like the end of the world if we beat them, of course, it'd be fantastic. We'll be all elated. But because of the football thing, I think it kind of dampers it down a little bit. That makes sense. Like, for example, I'll give you an example. Like, you know, like the wrestling game, you know, what you call it, amateur wrestling. Oh, yeah, like Olympic wrestling.

Olympic wrestling. whenever Iran faced the USA and that if you ever watch the crowds it's kind of crazy you know it's kind of mental and I think actually one of the US wrestlers Justin Burroughs

he always says how how much he likes it because it goes to another level whenever Iran against USA are facing each other in wrestling the crowd is always very very good from an atmosphere and it's not like

hostile it's very you know It's just a great atmosphere. So I think, as I said, because they're at the same level, from a quality standpoint from both national teams, there is this feeling of we could win this game and it's also great because it's someone who's, again, close to us politically. Whereas against England, for me anyway, I feel like they could beat us. They probably should be us.

and of course it would great if we would win but you know let's just be honest they're way ahead of us so we can't we can't really put that political side of things at the forefront at all because it doesn't really make any sense they're way ahead of us when it matters

no that makes sense can we expect to see a lot of Iranian fans in Qatar it's not that long of an airplane flight Yeah. Yeah. I mean Qatar World Cup is an absolute mess

when it comes to the ticketing situation. I'm not going, like, the tickets are ridiculous. There's no way to stay. There's nowhere to stay. No way to stay accommodation is just extortionate. But there should be a lot of Iranians that are going to travel from Iran over

to Qatar. The diaspora had people who are coming from abroad. Maybe less so. Maybe. Maybe they will be quite a lot. But maybe less so. But we'll see. I think there should be a lot of Iranians coming from Iran directly to watch the game.

Is there, is the national team or is Iran in these games against, well, I guess against England probably you will sit back and try to absorb pressure. But what do you think the approach will be against the US and I guess I don't really care that much about the Wales game? What's the approach going to be against a team like the US where the idea is that the levels are somewhat similar. Is Iran going to come out and play? Yeah.

I think for me it's a difficult one because here's the thing. The US national team, looking at the US national team from my perspective, they have a great core of young players and they've got a team that seems to be growing all the time

and they've got players playing in great clubs all over the world. But we haven't seen. seen them all play together that much. You know, we haven't seen them have an undisputed striker. You know, of course, they've got a good midfield with McKinney Adams and

Eunice Musa, but you haven't seen them always perform at the highest level together. For example, you know, so I think even the centerbacks, you know, there's not a guaranteed centerback pairing for the US, if I'm not mistaken. Even potentially the fullbacks, you know, there's not a guaranteed... I think the fullbacks are more guaranteed

than the centerbacks. Maybe, yeah, maybe more, but, you know, there's not, so we, so we as the Iranian fans don't really know what to expect from them a little bit, because obviously, because of that, the selection thing. And then for us, you know, we, here's my opinion, right? I believe if we, if we had prepared ourselves properly, if we had a good training camp in the summer, and if we had done a, a little bit better in qualification.

In my honest opinion, we should be beating the US, in my opinion. I'm not trying to cause any controversy here. I think we should be beating the US, also because of the experience we've had at international level with two Royal Cups, two previous World Cups,

performed really well in the last World Cup. On paper, Iran should really be beating the US when it comes to it. But we haven't. We haven't prepared ourselves properly. We haven't done well in qualifications. from a performance standpoint. And there's this whole divide

with the team and the coach and all these things. And I think it's really brought our level down where I think that we can't guarantee a victory against the US anymore. So we have to go into this game with an approach that we should be trying to, of course,

win the game, but very cautious because the US have players like Pulisaking and Wea, who can be very effective in the final third and our defence hasn't been able to deal with that against teams that are of a good level. Like, for example,

Hyun Mons, like for South Korea, honestly just destroy our defence in that game against South Korea. Players like Rashid Gazal, who plays for Algeria, was running through our defence. Like, it was nothing. Like, there was no one there.

And a guy like Gazal, who's not even that consistent of a player at a club level, you know these are players that are similar to the US national team standard and we we didn't look good against them so you know the US national team should be optimistic in the sense that Iran are having these issues and behind the scenes there's a lot of problems with the coach but Iran in my opinion should believe in themselves we should believe in ourselves that we have good players but there has to be cautioned there now because there's no guarantees. I'll tell you something about the US team. They've been, you know, I think you're right that it's a young group

that sort of hasn't quite coalesced yet. That's definitely true. But the games where opponents have come out on play against us, you know, have pushed forward, maybe tried to press us a little bit, tried to possess the ball and attack that way. we've looked much better in those games than when the opponent sits back

and sort of dares us to unlock their low block and I feel like if Iran if Iran does that it's going to be a real challenge for the US to break up I don't think we'll do that I don't think we will sit back and defend the full game like we did in the previous two World Cups because I don't think we have that approach anymore

you know because in the last two in the last World Cup and the last two Royal Cups we've played Argentina we had to do that because first of all the quality of the team wasn't up to the standard. We didn't have a good striker or we didn't have a great goal scorer. There wasn't really that much creativity in the team. So we kind of had to be a much more defensive-minded team. This time around you've got players like Tarnaby Osmond who were playing at a good level, scoring goals.

So we can afford to go out and try and keep possession, try and press high, win the ball back early, do these things that are more positive from an attacking standpoint but as you said that could play into the US national team's hands so you have to be more cautious as well because if they win the ballback you know what

how is it going to be are you going to try and counter press win it back again or you're going to all drop in and defend as a unit which I think Iran will do I think as I said we won't set back the full 19 minutes and defend but I think the

from a tactical standpoint defensively we will have to come back and defend as a unit as a team but then when we won the ball back as I said before they will try in my opinion

from what I've seen to try and keep possession to try in as much as possible for straight the US national team or even the Welsh national team to come out and get the ball from them to go and score goals but that will come with a good coach, somebody who can guarantee us, you know, good training sessions,

which from what I've been hearing, this coach, which has not been doing enough of. And, you know, it's a little bit to be debated, but I think we have the quality for it, but it's not, you're not showing it for sure on the pitch. man it feels like anything can happen it's just a big roll of the dice yeah i think i was saying this before to some of my friends i think this game against the u.s will be so back and forth it will be a very back and forth game it could even be quite a high scored game maybe two two two three three that kind of standard i think i think both teams will will believe they should win the game and I think they will go to that approach that they're going to try and win the game.

And I think as a result, they will give up a lot of goals as well. You know? Yeah. So we'll see. We'll see. All right. Let me ask two more questions about Iranian football and then I'll let you go. I appreciate you taking so much time.

Oh yeah. Yeah. Can you speak a little bit about the legacy of Ali Dai and like how he's, how he's leading goal score in the world, international goals score in the world for a long time until Cristiano Ronaldo came along? What's his legacy in Iran? For us, he is kind of our R9, Ronaldo. He's a phenomenal.

And beyond that, when he retired, he has become a bit of figure in this sport for other reasons. He went into coaching. And there was a time where his legacy was definitely dampered because he became the national team head coach. in this said 2010 qualification which we didn't actually qualify for for the World Cup

and that ruin his legacy a little bit because everyone thought that I do a guy who had so much experience played so much great football abroad was important for a game why was he so bad as a coach you know he shouldn't be bad as a coach come on he's an experienced guy

but then I think even himself would admit that he came into it too early he was too young. He hadn't really gone through the coaching process and that kind of ruined that side of things for him. Yes, he had club football experience. He went into club football in the Iranian League.

But also, it wasn't particularly successful for him. It wasn't bad. He actually did produce some plays. Even the guy we just mentioned, Woli Zadir was produced by Ayadai, was actually found by him. And he has done that for our football. But overall, hasn't had a great

successful career as a coach. But then beyond that, you know, as an ambassador for the game, as an ambassador for our football and for FIFA, he is very important for our game because he speaks to truth. He actually did an interview with Ferrisipur recently as well. And he's someone who, I think, very rarely says anything that isn't true. you know, okay, some people don't like him, whatever it maybe could be because they're not a per se police fan

or they don't like him because he wasn't good coach for the national team. But there's no doubting that from an ambassadorial level, he's very important for our game. And he, as he speaks the truth, he says what he believes is is always going to be beneficial for the national team

even he currently said in his interview with Ferdt's support that he doesn't really think that Scotich is the kind of guy to take us to the World Cup and he believes that the current coach should be the coach we had before at Carlos Quiro shouldn't

and with a lot of the fans of our game they also believe that too they think that Carlos Quiro should currently be our coach and he was sad he wasn't sacked but he wasn't given the contract that he should that he deserved you know these are all debatable things some people disagree with that but i think you know he he has this um this voice that people are attracted to because he has also that background of having played so so much football

for our national team at club level so um great mustache too which i'm sorry to see he no longer has and also like people like um gary neville uh speaking of about him as well saying how much like how scared he was of him and he played up against him and all these things you know he has this aura about him for sure um but as i said he had he had this time of of his legacy being dampered which isn't great for him but he started to kind of gain it again um and yeah that's that's that yeah he was sacked from persepolis pretty quickly when he was managing them too, right? From them and the national team.

And actually recently as well when he was coaching at Saipa, he wasn't sat, he was sacked, I think for saying something. I don't know what he said exactly. I can't remember, but he was sacked for, I think he was saying something against the club or whatever it was and he got sacked.

So he has this, the coaching side of things hasn't been the best for him, but he's very well respected. I mean, the players love him. and I think there has been people saying, you know, you should come back and coach the national team. Personally speaking, I think it could help from a mentality standpoint because we need a leader, someone who can take this team and just lead them and bring them together.

But I think long term, you know, that doesn't really work long term. It could be a good short term, you know, just a quick fix, but it's not a long term thing. So that's a national team doesn't need that. We need someone who's going to be a long-term project coach. And Adelaide, you, in my opinion, wouldn't provide that. Okay. Hey, how do people find you? How do people find Gold Bazan?

Can you give us the quick rundown? Now, first of all, I appreciate your time and having me on. It's really nice of you to have me. Yeah, to check us out. It's on Twitter, Instagram, at Gold Bazan, G-O-L-B-E. Z-A-N and then our website Globalizanpodcast.com

also on YouTube and all other podcast platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc. And yeah, that's it. Okay. Hey, thanks, man. I really, I appreciate it. What a pleasure. And good luck against Wales in England. No, I appreciate it.

Obviously, look, it's going to be great for us to face the US. We played them in 1998. We beat you guys. but it's a different story now the US national team is a lot stronger than it was back then Iranian national team also is a lot stronger so I think it's going to be a great game

I'm looking forward to it but I really hope that Iran come in prepared because we I think we owe it to ourselves we had a great two campaigns and we owe it to ourselves to have a good third campaign I think the US are going to come in

with not qualifying for the last World Cup of the last two was not mistaken and they're going to be ready. Last one. Yeah. Last one. So, you know, we want, we want to see this game being a really kind of fireworks game and I'm expecting that to have. Hey, by the, I forget to mention the friendlies. You must be happy about the friendlies against, that are reported against Uruguay and Senegal, right? You guys are going to play in Austria. Reported, but not not confirmed. Yeah. Yeah. It will play it in Austria. I'll be going to those games, hopefully, if they happen. And yeah, they're good games.

I think we need those games for our preparation. So yeah, let's see what after it. Okay. All right. Good luck to you. Thank you, Aria. Thanks a lot, man. We'll see you.