SF News – Iranian media brag about thier Football (Soccer) team’s 7-0 win yesterday against Palestine in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium in preparation of the upcoming match on October 11 against Bahrain, in Group E qualifier for Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup Football games.
The qualifying match will also be held at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran next Tuesday.
Coach Mazen Khatib of the Palestinian team told reporters after the game that they were missing two main players in the team, “One was not allowed to leave Palestine and the other, his Football Club did not give him permission to play.” Nevertheless the Iranian team, Mazen agreed, is a powerful team in Asia.
Khatib, when asked what did he expect the result of the game to be, responded, “The fact that we were able to come to Iran to play, from both Football and political perspective, it is a win-win situation for us,” he added, “It took us 24 hours to get to Tehran and we even risked being arrested and imprisoned.”
Mazen Khatib did not elaborate on reasons why the Palestinian team could wind up in jail instead of Azadi Stadium for the game.
It took us 24 hours to get to Tehran and we even risked being arrested and imprisoned.
–Palestinian Coach, Mazen Khatib
After the game some Iranian players complained that the Palestinian team did not resemble Bahrain in any way.
“Palestine team was very weak and it would have been much more fruitful if our team would play one of our own national league team instead,” said the Iranian Malavan coach, Pour-Gholami.
Iranian player, Ali Karimi, considered the match to be too easy for the Iranian team and said to evaluate the Iranian national team, “We need to play with more powerful teams than Palestine to find our weak points.”
“The three points we would achieve by wining Bahrain are very important to us and it will give us a better chance to rise to the next stage,” said Karimi stressing the next week’s match against Bahrain.
“Even if we don’t win the game next week,” Karimi tried to reassure Iranian Football fans, “It would be no problem and we would still have a chance to move on to the next stage in the qualifying games for Brazil 2014 World Cup.”
Coach Carlos Queiroz, considered the match to be a good practice for the Iranian team and said that he enjoyed the game.
“We were able to achieve our goals during the game,” said Carlos Queiroz, former Portugal national team coach who is now heading the Iranian national team for the 2014 games in Brazil.
Queiroz told reporters last Sunday that his team is “well prepared to face Bahrain national football team in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.”
Iran has already attended the World Cup games three times in the past.
