PFDC - The following is a translation of an article published by Iran Varzeshi.

Faraki: “Our game against Bahrain didn’t make the coaches too happy but our players did achieve something difficult in Manama, Daei is not as energetic anymore,“

Hossein Faraki, Branko’s main assistant spoke to reporters about the Iran-Bahrain match. He said: “ all of us, including the federation, the coaches, the players, the media and the people were 100 % sure of a victory against Bahrain but a 0-0 draw against Bahrain, a team who’s outstanding performances in the Gulf Cup had shocked everyone, was a satisfying result for us. Many of the players told me after the game that they were not pleased with their individual performances, but with a bitter memory that has been in every players mind from 4 years ago, we managed to work hard for a draw in Manama and not repeat the embarrassing story of the 3-1 defeat again.

Faraki continued by speaking about the criticism in the Iranian media after the draw: “I don’t know why people except so much that they think Bahrain are an easy team to beat and I hope this criticism is a useful tool to our coaching staff, our coaches do their best and we still need the Iranian people to be behind us since the actual thing [World Cup] hasn’t even started and we are just at the start of our path to Germany. I don’t want to use this as an excuse but a better pitch and better conditions overall could have helped us get all 3 points, but another main reason for the result and our rather poor performance was the fact that the team coordination was very poor and we wasted many opportunities because we have players playing in Europe whilst Bahrain had all the players in their last 6 games. Regarding criticism about the national skipper Ali Daei, Faraki added: “Daei is ageing and unfortunately he can’t perform like he used to when he was younger due to his age. He couldn’t perform as well as he usually does because the Bahraini defenders were marking him closely and he wasn’t able to perform at his best, however with Daei in the squad, you can always sense goals.

After being asked about Zandi’s starting position against Bahrain, Faraki said: We all wished that Zandi could have joined our training camp in Iran but unfortunately, due to club duties, he had to join us in Manama just before the game. He is a very good player and I’m happy that he easily fitted into the team and I thank all the players for their emotional support towards him. We were happy with his performance and I’m sure you will see the best of him for Team Melli in the near future.