{"id":12450,"date":"2011-09-30T21:32:42","date_gmt":"2011-10-01T04:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2011\/09\/30\/nekounam-lets-bring-back-glory-days\/"},"modified":"2011-09-30T21:32:42","modified_gmt":"2011-10-01T04:32:42","slug":"nekounam-lets-bring-back-glory-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/2011\/09\/30\/nekounam-lets-bring-back-glory-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Nekounam: Let\u2019s bring back glory days"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FIFA – TEHRAN, It is with a sense of pride that Javad Nekounam pulls on the captain\u2019s armband for Iran, while still ensuring that he maintains the greatest respect for those that preceded him. The 31-year-old is determined to meet future challenges head-on, starting with helping his country to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil\u2122, in what would be Iran’s fourth appearance on football\u2019s greatest stage.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now in his sixth season at Osasuna in Spain, the first-ever Iranian to ply his trade in La Liga spoke to FIFA.com ahead of his nation\u2019s crunch Asian qualifying match with Bahrain. In the Team Melli dressing room, Nekounam has inherited the role of talismanic leader formerly held by players such as Mehdi Mahdavikia and Ali Daei, two veritable legends that the versatile midfield man holds in the highest esteem. <\/p>\n

\u201cThose two names are a shining light for us. They were top players who brought great quality and authority to the team. Their names really mean something \u2013 there\u2019s no-one else like them,\u201d Nekounam said firmly. \u201cNo younger player has yet stepped forward to fill their boots. We have good players, but to reach the heights that those players did, they have to show more consistency. It\u2019s not about performing well one year and dropping off the radar the next. We\u2019ll have to wait and see which players emerge over time,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Attacking adjustments<\/strong>
Since April 2011, the reins of the Iranian national side have been held by Portuguese tactician Carlos Queiroz, and his different approach has begun to have the desired effect on his charges. \u201cThe coach knows that we\u2019re a pretty good team, in Asian terms. Whereas before we focused more on defending, Queiroz wants us to attack more. He believes that is Iran\u2019s main strength, and that we can win more matches that way. He wants us to get into the box a bit more. Frankly, we\u2019re really happy with our coach,\u201d explained the Iran skipper.<\/p>\n

Hand-in-hand with this new style of play has come a clear objective. \u201cWe\u2019ve been putting in this hard work with the World Cup in mind. Our overall goal is to qualify for Brazil 2014. We\u2019ve got some good individual players but we need to refine the way in which we play as a team. We don\u2019t train together very often and it shows,\u201d pointed out the player who started his career at Pas Tehran. <\/p>\n

The coach knows that we\u2019re a pretty good team, in Asian terms. Whereas before we focused more on defending, Queiroz wants us to attack more. Nekounam on Iran coach Carlos Queiroz <\/p>\n

\u201cThis lack of time together and the big difference in the levels of experience in the squad may be noticeable, but Iran isn\u2019t alone in having to deal with these types of problems,\u201d said Nekounam. \u201cWe have a very young team, and we need time if we\u2019re going to return Iran to its glory days,\u201d he added, likely recalling his involvement in the Iran side that took part in Germany 2006, the last time that the Asians managed to qualify for FIFA\u2019s flagship tournament.<\/p>\n

With four points from two matches in Round Three of the Asian qualifying process, the Iranians currently lead Group E on goal difference from Bahrain, the team they are set to face in their third pool fixture on 11 October in Tehran. \u201cBahrain and Qatar are the biggest hurdles in our path. They\u2019re two very similar sides, with good, on-form players. We\u2019re aware that Bahrain will come to defend, are unlikely to attack, and will hope to go home with a point. But we need to win, and I think we\u2019re capable of doing it if we play like we have in recent matches,\u201d said the veteran international. <\/p>\n

In their two previous group games, Nekounam and Co comfortably defeated Indonesia, but were then held to a draw in Qatar. \u201cIt\u2019s a very difficult place to go, but we put in a good performance and when it came down it, a draw wasn\u2019t a bad result. Picking up a point away from home is always useful,\u201d he reflected.<\/p>\n

Settled in Spain<\/strong>
In between national team stints, Nekounam continues to show his battling qualities in the Spanish league, a championship in which he has featured for five seasons. While he did not enjoy an easy start to his career abroad, as adjusting to a new culture, learning a different language and suffering an untimely injury all provided him with tough challenges, today the Iranian stalwart feels perfectly happy in Pamplona. \u201cMy team-mates helped me so much to adapt, and I\u2019ll always be grateful to them for that. After a year interrupted by injury, I\u2019m pretty happy now, because I really just wanted to play football for Osasuna,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Los Rojillos have now recovered from the footballing lesson they received a few weeks ago at the Camp Nou, where they had the misfortune to concede eight goals to a rampant Barcelona. \u201cWhen they score an early goal, it\u2019s very difficult to stop them. That\u2019s when they start to pass, move and create chances. I don\u2019t think there were really eight goals between the teams, but that kind of freak scoreline happens in football sometimes,\u201d he noted. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty obvious that Barcelona and Real Madrid will be fighting it out for first and second place, because they have the best players in the world. For the rest of us, it\u2019s very difficult to put in a real title challenge,\u201d the Iranian admitted.<\/p>\n

What would therefore constitute a successful season for Osasuna? \u201cWe haven\u2019t set any specific goals. We\u2019re taking each game at a time, trying to get as high up the league table as possible. If we finish in the top five, great; if not, the top ten would also be good,\u201d said Nekounam. The central midfielder, who had a short spell in the UAE before arriving on Spanish shores in 2006, does not feel tempted to experience other leagues, and instead foresees an eventual return to his homeland. \u201cMy future? If I\u2019m not still playing here, I\u2019ll go back home. When I retire, it\u2019ll be to Iran \u2013 that much is certain,\u201d he concluded.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FIFA – TEHRAN, It is with a sense of pride that Javad Nekounam pulls on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c13-team-melli-news"],"views":5595,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12450","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12450\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.persianfootball.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}