maij
02-12-2008, 06:36 AM
Javier Clemente Lázaro, finally accepted to coach Team Melli after signing a 2 year contract with Iran Football federation. After the drama of the event subsided with all sort of rumors floating around in respect of his residency in Iran , Clemente is now ready to take the tough assignment and lead Iran to their fourth World Cup appearance in South Africa in 2 years time.
The match against Syria , where Clemente was watching from the stands , highlighted the magnitude of work that is required by the Spanish coach to enable this team reach its full potential. The man from Basque region, known for his stern and disciplinarian attitude, needs to come in terms with some oddities of Iranian football culture that might be out of the ordinary to him at the beginning.
A period of acclimatizing is a necessary ingredient for his success. Difficulties are in abundance; however, Clemente as a seasoned professional coach should handle this tough situation with a balanced approach.
One of the most difficult issues is to satisfy a horde of hyper critical press & media while ensuring that he meets the aspiration of passionate fans that are hungry for success after decades of under achieving. Qualification for FIFA World Cup in 2010 is the least that the fans expect. The task of qualification, despite its initial thoughts of being a foregone conclusion, proved to be otherwise in the first hurdle against Syria early in February.
Difficulties that Clemente will be facing are diverse and certainly not confined to Media and fans. In Iran’s football, there are many role players and pressure groups mostly behind the scenes but admittedly effective. Alienating them could be detrimental to the working environment of the coach.
In general, most o the foreign coaches, have found that working with Iranians is not awkward and some of them in fact found it a pleasure. However , Clemente should not expect the perfect organization of Western football as he has been used to through his career. He needs to lower some of his expectations and be ready to face new challenges not faced before in other coaching jobs. Obviously, a coach in the class of Clemente has certain tolerances and total chaos that marred the federation since the post World Cup 2006 era will not be tolerated and failure will be a real possibility.
On positive notes, Clemente will have a group of talented players that are ready to perform and excel with proper leadership and professional coaching. Iran has no shortage of talented players however, what has been the Achilles heel of this football is lack of strong leadership, organization and planning. Capitalizing on the pool of talents at his disposal, Clemente can very well turn this team into a force to be reckoned with not only in Regional football, but even at World level.
Instilling discipline and ensuring players stick to game plans, tactic and regularly attend the training practices, will help to create an atmosphere of confidence. Clemente has been known to ignore star players preferring the ones that are effective and add value to the team. He could very well change the culture of football in Iran, if he starts implementing this mentality and demanding all players to perform rather than depending on reputation or names.
The question of familiarity with the players, clubs and legionnaires is a mighty task that requires the assistance of many local coaches. Scouting for talented players is another aspect of the job that Clemente need a good reliable team of assistants for. Careful selection of his cadre of assistants will probably go a long way in easing his task .
Finally , communication. With the availability of Javad Nekounam in the camp , Clemente will have a bonus , but acquiring a professional translator with command of Farsi and Spanish is of a prime importance.
Coaches, regardless to their class, do not have a magic wand to overturn team fortunes. They need time to acclimatize and get familiar with the environment, culture, styles and mentalities; it is unreasonable to demand instant success with Clemente. The common belief is that a coach needs anything up to 2 years to produce a good quality winner team, provided the talents and materials are available at his disposal. Clemente has many assets already. The pressure of time could be a factor, but with proper support of the federation, clubs and the supplementary role players, Clemente’s odds of success in Iran is a high probability.
The match against Syria , where Clemente was watching from the stands , highlighted the magnitude of work that is required by the Spanish coach to enable this team reach its full potential. The man from Basque region, known for his stern and disciplinarian attitude, needs to come in terms with some oddities of Iranian football culture that might be out of the ordinary to him at the beginning.
A period of acclimatizing is a necessary ingredient for his success. Difficulties are in abundance; however, Clemente as a seasoned professional coach should handle this tough situation with a balanced approach.
One of the most difficult issues is to satisfy a horde of hyper critical press & media while ensuring that he meets the aspiration of passionate fans that are hungry for success after decades of under achieving. Qualification for FIFA World Cup in 2010 is the least that the fans expect. The task of qualification, despite its initial thoughts of being a foregone conclusion, proved to be otherwise in the first hurdle against Syria early in February.
Difficulties that Clemente will be facing are diverse and certainly not confined to Media and fans. In Iran’s football, there are many role players and pressure groups mostly behind the scenes but admittedly effective. Alienating them could be detrimental to the working environment of the coach.
In general, most o the foreign coaches, have found that working with Iranians is not awkward and some of them in fact found it a pleasure. However , Clemente should not expect the perfect organization of Western football as he has been used to through his career. He needs to lower some of his expectations and be ready to face new challenges not faced before in other coaching jobs. Obviously, a coach in the class of Clemente has certain tolerances and total chaos that marred the federation since the post World Cup 2006 era will not be tolerated and failure will be a real possibility.
On positive notes, Clemente will have a group of talented players that are ready to perform and excel with proper leadership and professional coaching. Iran has no shortage of talented players however, what has been the Achilles heel of this football is lack of strong leadership, organization and planning. Capitalizing on the pool of talents at his disposal, Clemente can very well turn this team into a force to be reckoned with not only in Regional football, but even at World level.
Instilling discipline and ensuring players stick to game plans, tactic and regularly attend the training practices, will help to create an atmosphere of confidence. Clemente has been known to ignore star players preferring the ones that are effective and add value to the team. He could very well change the culture of football in Iran, if he starts implementing this mentality and demanding all players to perform rather than depending on reputation or names.
The question of familiarity with the players, clubs and legionnaires is a mighty task that requires the assistance of many local coaches. Scouting for talented players is another aspect of the job that Clemente need a good reliable team of assistants for. Careful selection of his cadre of assistants will probably go a long way in easing his task .
Finally , communication. With the availability of Javad Nekounam in the camp , Clemente will have a bonus , but acquiring a professional translator with command of Farsi and Spanish is of a prime importance.
Coaches, regardless to their class, do not have a magic wand to overturn team fortunes. They need time to acclimatize and get familiar with the environment, culture, styles and mentalities; it is unreasonable to demand instant success with Clemente. The common belief is that a coach needs anything up to 2 years to produce a good quality winner team, provided the talents and materials are available at his disposal. Clemente has many assets already. The pressure of time could be a factor, but with proper support of the federation, clubs and the supplementary role players, Clemente’s odds of success in Iran is a high probability.