PFDC - Friedrichafen, PFDC correspondent, Mansoor Ansari, had a phone interview with Human Afazeli, Branko's assistant, from Team Melli's camp in Germany. Below is the summary of the interview:

Mansoor: Thanks Human for giving me the time as it is very late out there. Mehrzad Madanchi was injured recently. How is he doing?

Human: Madanchi is in good shape and the injury was not serious. He practiced with the team and we are expecting him to start.

Mansoor: How are other recently injured players doing?

Human: Kia and Hashemian have recovered. Karimi is still having pain at times but should be ready to play. They all have recovered from the injury but the fitness level is not there yet. Unfortunately the problems occurred too close to the start of the tournament, and there is simply not enough time for them to get completely fit. We also have Saba players that are very tired coming out of IPL and ACL competitions. The problem was reflected in Iran's second half against Mexico.

Mansoor: Did Branko really ask them to move back?

Human: Not at all. To contrary, he had asked Kaabi and Nosrati to move the team forward from the wings. They just didn't have it in their legs and no matter how much asked, players were standing still in the middle and not moving forward. This is the problem we are facing and there isn't much we can do in this short time. If we put pressure in training for conditioning of the players this close to the games, it would reflect more negatively in their energy level during the game. We have to move on with what we have and aim for the best.

Mansoor: There were some rumors about an incident in half time and inside locker room. Is that true?

Human: We are used to these kind of rumors. Nothing unusual happened in the locker room.

Mansoor: Speaking of rumors, there is a short interview printed in Iranian newspapers about one of Branko's analysts, Zlatko, to call Branko coward and too small for Iran's national team, and he has left the camp.

Human: He is still in the camp and that is a good indication of the authenticity of the news. I heard it too and I questioned him. He denied such saying and said he only referred to an argument he had with Branko after the game. The rest are fabricated by the papers.

Mansoor: Let me turn to most talked about player in Mexico's game, Ali Daei. Is he going to start?

Human: I believe he will not be part of the starting line up. Branko is looking into making changes in the line up and formation, and this will be one of them.

Mansoor: How about Mexico's game? Many fans question why he was not substituted despite being ineffective?

Human: Daei was in the list of the players to be changed. Madanchi was first sent in to bring more energy and movement to the wing. Daei was also listed to be changed but with the goal conceded, we had to quickly adjust. We sent an offensive player for a defender, and moved Madanchi back to pair with Borhani in order to bring more offense to the left. The plan was for the wings from both sides to move forward and send in long balls  for our forwards. We needed both Hashemian and Daei for this. Unfortunately, the wings had difficulty passing from the layers of Mexican defenders.

Mansoor: How is Zandi doing? Is he gonna play in left wing?

Human: He is fit. Zandi might be moved to central midfield as we need faster players for the wings. There are still two days left to the match, and there might be some changes to the plan based on the practice sessions.

Mansoor: How about other reserves?

Human: Khatibi is one of the players that we see suited for this game, so depending on how the game goes on, we may see him in the field.

Mansoor: How about our match against Angola. Are you gonna go to see the Angola match?

Human: Yes, I will be there to watch the match from the stadium. I did go to Portugal-Angola match as well, to analyze both teams.

Mansoor: Thanks for the time. I know it is very late there and you have a trip to catch tomorrow. Good luck with the game.

Human: Thank you. It will be a tough test for our players.