{"id":11407,"date":"2010-08-09T18:17:46","date_gmt":"2010-08-10T01:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2010\/08\/09\/ghotbi-aims-to-end-afc-asian-cup-jinx\/"},"modified":"2010-08-09T18:17:46","modified_gmt":"2010-08-10T01:17:46","slug":"ghotbi-aims-to-end-afc-asian-cup-jinx","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2010\/08\/09\/ghotbi-aims-to-end-afc-asian-cup-jinx\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghotbi aims to end AFC Asian Cup jinx"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: right;\" alt=\"Iranfan01\" src=\"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/Iranfan01.jpg\" height=\"228\" width=\"354\" \/>AFC &#8211; TEHRAN, <strong>It has been 34 years since Asian football powerhouse Iran last laid their hands on the AFC Asian Cup trophy. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Every attempt after 1976 &#8211; when they won the title for the third  time at a trot with a 1-0 defeat of Kuwait in front of home fans at the  Azadi Stadium &#8211; has fallen flat with Team Melli flattering to deceive,  all under an intense media glare and high expectations of the fans.<\/p>\n<p>The  last edition saw the Iranians top their group with a good performance  but heartache was to follow when they fell to Korea Republic in the  quarter-finals on penalties.<\/p>\n<p>Now national team coach Afshin Ghotbi has expressed his determination to end the long-running title drought. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe  want to win the title in the AFC Asian Cup,\u201d declared Ghotbi after Team  Melli\u2019s first day of training in the Iranian capital. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is our first priority and the number of Iranian fans will also increase if we win the crown.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The  axe seemed set to fall on the 46-year-old Ghotbi after the failure of  Iran to make the 2010 FIFA World Cup Finals but the powers-that-be left  him untouched after a chorus of support.<\/p>\n<p>Ghotbi issued a call to  the football-mad and vociferous Iranian media to lend a helping hand to  the players by ensuring positive coverage. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to create an atmosphere of respect as I want the players to concentrate on football (as the AFC Asian Cup approaches).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe  best example of a team\u2019s failure could be England whose lack of  concentration saw them make an early exit from the World Cup in South  Africa.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll the players are\u00a0normal human beings and sensitive  but a positive coverage by the media can boost their confidence,\u201d he  said.<\/p>\n<p>Iran will play a friendly against Armenia on Wednesday and  Ghotbi believes that the opposition will be strong as the Armenians put  up a solid performance against Spain in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cArmenia lost to Spain 2-1. I believe we will be facing an organised team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Iran have been drawn in a tough group alongside reigning Asian champions Iraq, DPR Korea and UAE for the Doha extravaganza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AFC &#8211; TEHRAN, It has been 34 years since Asian football powerhouse Iran last laid&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22614,"featured_media":11406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c13-team-melli-news"],"views":2919,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22614"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}