PLDC - Mansour Pourheidari, ex-National Team and Esteghlal coach, understands
the sweet taste of victory and the feelings experienced by the present head coach of the Iranian National Team, Branco Ivancovic. Pourheidari
himself gained victory for Iran in the Asian Games in Bangkok four years ago.
After the victory of Iran against Japan he said, “I am happy from the bottom of my heart as the National Team was under pressure from various
people for their own personal benefits. Unfortunately, we Iranians are not very patient and we overrate victories. Although great things were
done but I don’t believe in extremism and overrating of things.”
“The truth is that the Youth Team took the last few games really seriously and the necessary communication between the technical staff and the
players was possible. They began to understand each other easily in
these games. When the team became complete and there was coordination the boys began to really perform. If the same thing had happened in the
2002 World Cup matches, we could have qualified to the higher stages.”
“Safaie Farahani (ex-head of Iranian Football Federation) had a strong role in our victory in the Asian Games and I congratulate him. My
complaint of Farahani is that he did not stand up to the pressures against
him and resigned too soon. He has worked hard for football and he must not leave things half done.”