Current Glentoran coach and former member of TM coaching staff, Mich McDermott shares his memories of WC 2018:
"Mick McDermott recalls 'wee man and Ronaldo' meeting at 2018 World Cup
Glentoran boss flicks through seven memorable photographs from his coaching career
Even now Glentoran boss Mick McDermott has to pinch himself when he reflects on going toe-to-toe with Cristiano Ronaldo at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Two years ago McDermott was a key member of former Iran manager Carlos Queiroz’s backroom staff preparing to step onto football’s grandest stage.
And the rank outsiders went agonisingly close to making history by almost pipping Portugal to a last-16 berth at the global tournament.
A 1-1 draw in Saransk saw Ronaldo and company sneak through at the expense of an Iranian side who had beaten Morocco 1-0 and lost narrowly to Spain earlier in the pool.
“Cristiano Ronaldo and a wee man from Belfast - I’m sure he was wondering who I was,” joked McDermott flicking through photographs of his Russian adventure.
“That game against Portugal had everything - goals, VAR, a saved penalty and a chance to win it with virtually the last kick of the game.
“Portugal were fighting to go through and so were we. We equalised with a late penalty and might have won it at the death but it wasn’t to be.”
McDermott can still see Iranian forward Mehdi Taremi’s gilt-edged chance deep into added time, his close range shot rippling the side netting from seven yards out.
“A chance to make history gone,” he sighed. “When Ronaldo walked past me at the end, I don’t think he was too happy with their performance, but we were out.”
McDermott admits he “gasped” when Iran were drawn with Portugal, Spain and Morocco who had won the African Nations Cup just five months before.
“People talk about the group of death and it doesn’t get much worse,” he said.
“We knew we’d be in for a rough time but Carlos reassured us that in every battle there’d be ways of getting victories. And he was right.”
A memorable 1-0 win over the Moroccans was backed up by a gutsy display against Spain who needed a fortunate goal to scramble a 1-0 win in Kazan.
“We knew it would be a high tempo, possession type game against Spain,” he said.
“In football you can control the man, ball or space. We knew it would be tough controlling the man and ball against Spain, so we knew we’d have to control the space.
“We actually had chances but ended up losing to a ricochet off Diego Costa.
“It was frustrating, but to see our players compete against superstars from Barcelona and Real Madrid was massive for us. We lost the game, but won a lot of hearts.”
Defeat to Spain left Iran needing a win over Portugal to progress to the knockout stages for the first time in their history.
“We had 80 million people in Iran praying for us to get a result and it was a chance to make history,” he said.
“We believed we could get the result we needed, but it just wasn’t to be.”"
https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/sport/...s-wee-18112407
"Mick McDermott recalls 'wee man and Ronaldo' meeting at 2018 World Cup
Glentoran boss flicks through seven memorable photographs from his coaching career
Even now Glentoran boss Mick McDermott has to pinch himself when he reflects on going toe-to-toe with Cristiano Ronaldo at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Two years ago McDermott was a key member of former Iran manager Carlos Queiroz’s backroom staff preparing to step onto football’s grandest stage.
And the rank outsiders went agonisingly close to making history by almost pipping Portugal to a last-16 berth at the global tournament.
A 1-1 draw in Saransk saw Ronaldo and company sneak through at the expense of an Iranian side who had beaten Morocco 1-0 and lost narrowly to Spain earlier in the pool.
“Cristiano Ronaldo and a wee man from Belfast - I’m sure he was wondering who I was,” joked McDermott flicking through photographs of his Russian adventure.
“That game against Portugal had everything - goals, VAR, a saved penalty and a chance to win it with virtually the last kick of the game.
“Portugal were fighting to go through and so were we. We equalised with a late penalty and might have won it at the death but it wasn’t to be.”
McDermott can still see Iranian forward Mehdi Taremi’s gilt-edged chance deep into added time, his close range shot rippling the side netting from seven yards out.
“A chance to make history gone,” he sighed. “When Ronaldo walked past me at the end, I don’t think he was too happy with their performance, but we were out.”
McDermott admits he “gasped” when Iran were drawn with Portugal, Spain and Morocco who had won the African Nations Cup just five months before.
“People talk about the group of death and it doesn’t get much worse,” he said.
“We knew we’d be in for a rough time but Carlos reassured us that in every battle there’d be ways of getting victories. And he was right.”
A memorable 1-0 win over the Moroccans was backed up by a gutsy display against Spain who needed a fortunate goal to scramble a 1-0 win in Kazan.
“We knew it would be a high tempo, possession type game against Spain,” he said.
“In football you can control the man, ball or space. We knew it would be tough controlling the man and ball against Spain, so we knew we’d have to control the space.
“We actually had chances but ended up losing to a ricochet off Diego Costa.
“It was frustrating, but to see our players compete against superstars from Barcelona and Real Madrid was massive for us. We lost the game, but won a lot of hearts.”
Defeat to Spain left Iran needing a win over Portugal to progress to the knockout stages for the first time in their history.
“We had 80 million people in Iran praying for us to get a result and it was a chance to make history,” he said.
“We believed we could get the result we needed, but it just wasn’t to be.”"
https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/sport/...s-wee-18112407
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