PFDC - MANAMA, Shortly ahead of Iran's crucial World Cup qualifier in Bahrain (Wednesday, 19:00 Tehran Time), Iran coach Branko Ivankovic talked to Bahrain's Football Federation's official site about the upcoming match, the future of the Iranian team and his friendship to Bahrain-boss Srecko Juricic.

The interview was translated for PFDC by Amir A.

What can you tell us about your team's preparations for February 9?

We've been training for two weeks, but without the foreign based players who are going to train with us now. I am happy about their recent performances in training as they are in a good shape. We have also seen the local based players defeat Bosnia 2-1.

The group is a tough one. Are you confident of qualifying to the World Cup?

I am very confident about reaching Germany 2006 as you can see my players have reached this level. Our opening match against Bahrain is very important, especially as they have shown themselves in the preliminary qualifications as well as the Gulf Cup in Doha. In addition, they have a great coach who I know really well.


You've coached a young team for a long time, what are your strategies with them?

Iran is a young team that has already made a big use of their tough games against Jordan and Qatar. In the three years that I've coached Iran, my aim was to get Iran to a high level with good results. Iran is currently ranked 20th worldwide, next to very strong teams and we have many young talents for the coming years. 15 players from the Olympic team have already been invited, aged 20 to 21. We have also made a use of our recent friendlies versus Germany, AS Roma, Panama and eight of the used players there were from the Olympic team.

How would you describe Bahrain?

Bahrain is a strong team that worked hard in the past few years to become one of Asia's best. They also got the fourth place in the Asian Cup and were close to reaching the final. They've developed at international and Asian level.

However, some are saying that they havent been doing well since the Asian Cup, especially after their Gulf Cup results. Do you agree?

No, Bahrain had great results in the Gulf Cup especially against Saudi Arabia,one of Asia's strongest. They also encountered a very tough team in the Semi Final (Oman), but their over confidence affected their performance and lead them to a loss. Then they were able to defeat Kuwait for the third place. So Bahrain didnt do bad and the Gulf Cup itself including players' injuries and feelings before and after the game changes the teams' performances especially the contenders for the title.

In your point of view,what are the strongest points of Bahrain?

I'm sorry I have to keep this to myself. But you can say that they have a strong midfield and attack with good players.

And who are the good players?

Again I cant say this.

Strecko Juricic developed Bahrain, and he's your local friend. What can you say about him?

He is like my brother, I've known him for about 20 years and we're very close friends. He has a great personality on and off the field. He's a successful coach with good thoughts that has coached in the UAE league, where they sack coaches every year, or less than a year! To be honest with you he is the best coach in developing Bahrain.

You are both coming from the same country,but will encounter each other. Is this something good or bad?

We grew up in one country and graduated from the same school. However, this isn't an issue here because every coach can learn about the opponent's performance and style of playing. So the abilities of the coaches vary depending on the team they are coaching. Therefore whoever the coach is, if he's not able to select the best team then he cant prove himself successful. Every coach's way of thinking will be different with a different team.


You can say that this football school has brought two coaches that have been getting successful results with their team. So you and Iran, Musovic and Qatar, Strechko and Bahrain, are still at a different phase than the world's best. What is the reason to this?

I agree to a certain point. This has come from controversial things like changes in politics and war that affected Western Europe. However,Croatia has shown excellent results in France 98 with the third place and has also qualified to Euro 2004 in Portugal and gave difficulties to bigger teams. These results have come from Western European coaches.


What are your thoughts for the coming game in a few days?

Generally I respect every single opponent and prepare my team in all ways for the conditions because football wont be a success over the paper, it's rather on the performances and success on the field. I think it will be a great match and hope the result will be satisfying to all the fans, with a friendly spirit and strong competition by both teams.