Is it just me, or has the recent dilemma over Team Melli’s coaching situation (or lack thereof) been a total embarrassment for Iranian football (soccer) fans?
First, the Iranian Football Federation (which has itself been recently involved in a controversy with FIFA over government involvement in its operations) announced that they were close to agreeing on a contract with Javier Clemente, a Spaniard who formerly coached the national teams of Spain and Serbia, along with a number of Spanish clubs. Iranians everywhere were ecstatic that an experienced manager who had once led Spain on a 31-match winning streak from 1992 to 1998 would finally take the helm of a troubled Iranian football team. Team Melli had been coachless for months, and still reeling from its lackluster showing at the 2007 Asian Cup.
But things seemed too good to be true, and negotiations broke down in Tehran after Clemente, somewhat arrogantly, refused to live in Iran. “To be a coach of Iran, you don’t have to live there,” he said. “Videos work just as well in Tehran as they do in Zarautz (Clemente’s hometown).”
Imagine if a candidate for coaching a top European national team remarked that he wouldn’t have to actually live in the country to be successful. Whether correct or not, his demeanor would be deemed patronizing and possibly offensive to the fans, team, and the nation.
Furthermore, are “homegrown” Iranians unsuitable for the top job in Tehran? After all, Iran does have at its disposal leading international goalscorer Ali Daei, Iranian-American coach of Persepolis Afshin Qotbi, and other knowledgeable individuals to fill the vacancy. Surely they would be more committed than a Spaniard who would be trying to manage the Iranian team from a beach town in Spain.
But, alas, the IFF today managed to continue the tradition of recruiting foreign coaches for Team Melli rather than homegrown talent by finally convincing Clemente to live in Iran for the duration of his coaching job. After his initial refusal, I’m skeptical of how committed Clemente truly is to the Iranian national team. But after six months now without a coach (including a humiliating home draw to Syria earlier this month to open their 2010 World Cup qualifiers), Team Melli is finally ready to move on from this mess, and it’s about time.
-Kevin
9 comments
This guy… did he want to have web-casted coaching sessions to the national team? Is that why he said Videos work just as well in Iran? Wow!
You know what else you mentioned that is particularly interesting is that there is always a huge preference for foreign coaches, and more often than not, it seems like foreign coaches have done better with the team than Iranian ones (this is just from my memory not statistics). I would not necessarily attribute their better performance to their individual skills as coaches but rather to the more open reception and acknowledgment of first, Team Melli Players, the IFF, the Media and public opinion. For some reason, when the coach is foreign, they have a halo above their head and they are naturally more trusted and free to do their work. This is not something that’s unique in soccer. There is this feeling of seeking approval, acknowledgment, and in this case guidance from the outside. In Iran the international Olympiads are huge, if an Iranian referee is selected to ref an international event, it’s a big deal, and if some scientific study comes out to agree with something written in the holy book, it somehow makes the book more holy.
It might be a natural reaction to being labeled as a “Third World” country, but its effectiveness is unknown.
Okay, so I don’t necessarily disagree with your comments, but I have to play devil’s advocate here.
I don’t think the fact that Clemente wanted to coach by going back and forth was insulting rather than how the fact that he wanted to coach in this fashion unfolded. At first he signed the contract, then went to Spain to supposedly get things together to come go back to Iran and then suddenly he says he’s not coming back and that he will coach from his home town (at least this is what the news reports made it out to be).
Let’s not forget recent history, however. I was unaware with Clemente’s track record, which was by the blog posting has proven to me that Clemente is a top flight coach, but another high, arguably best coach ever also did part time coaching. Who is it you might wonder…none other than Guus Hiddink. Now I call him arguably best coach ever because look at what he has done with the teams he has coached. He took Netherlands to the semifinals of the WC in 98…okay okay so its the Netherlands. But he did exactly the same thing with South Korea just 4 yrs later in 2002, and cmon South Korea is no Netherlands. Now he is coaching Russia and they’ve made the Euro Cup Finals this summer beating out England, including a game in which they beat England in an upset 2-1. His win percentage is 57% and lost percentage is only 21%. But, what is most striking is Hiddink’s goal differential, a whopping 1.03 per game (wins and losses both). That is a tremendous statistic.
Now this is what I wanted to point out the most. He took Australia to the second round of the WC 2006 WHILE HE WAS STILL COACHING PSV Eindoven. He was PSV’s coach originally and signed up for the Australia job in 2005 concurrently. Australia didn’t do so bad and PSV lead a successful Champion’s League campaign losing to AC Milan in the semis.
Point being that it can be done it’s just that in Hiddink’s case Australia wanted him so badly they were apparently willing to share him while Clemente was trying to trick his way into a part time job. Not very classy, but definitely not something unheard of either.
Toodles,
Abdol
Thanks for the comments. Borhan, I definitely see that hiring foreign coaches is another manifestation of seeking “guidance from the outside” by so-called “Third World” countries. This extends past the realm of sports into issues of self-confidence and desires for modernity and Westernization. And Abdol, Guus Hiddink is a particularly relevant counter-example that I should have mentioned. But in countries with a slowly emerging football infrastructure like Iran, where professional league matches (mainly the lower divisions) aren’t publicized too well, and where there is much raw talent that hasn’t been fully developed yet, maintaining a presence in the country, I think, is extremely important, if for nothing else but scouting/training purposes.
Well after all the debates about Team Melli’s coach and IFF going back and forth with Clemente, an Iranian coach got the job! No not Ghotbi (Persepolis’ coach) who was the top choice among the locals… to everyone’s SURPRISE Ali Daei was announced the new coach of Iran’s National Team!!!
I’m sure this will bring about some serious controversy, but I also believe that Ali Daei was able to prove himself as a capable coach last year when he took Saipa FC all the way to the Pro League Title.
I’m glad we now HAVE a coach, and waiting to see how Daei will put his experience to work.
Okay so wow, what just happened there? I talked to Iran today. Apparently, the news broadcast at 2 pm announced Ghotbi the coach and then 6 hrs later the evening broadcast announced Daei? Was Daei even one of the ones being considered? Can you say screwed?
Ehh, just another reason why I stopped caring about this team anyway. We shoot ourselves in the foot everytime. Go EGYPT!
abdol
PS might sound like a stupid question but my comment came out written really really badly but i didnt right it that badly in the first place. a lot of the stuff i edited and deleted out or reorganized showed up in the comment. i dont know if it was me being spacy at 4 in the morn or a problem with the posting process.
Oh and also even if Hiddink did coach two teams at once whatever bc he is khodaye morabiya so whatever he wants to do he can. Despite Clemente’s track record the way he handled the Iran job was classless and he came off as a complete bum so props still goes to you Kevin. Alas, if only Hiddink could coach Iran. The next best option would have been someone who served with Hiddink and knows farsi…oh wait that would have to have been Ghotbi in South Korea (2002) but they chose Daei over him!
Just posted a new poll on iranican’s main page to see how everyone feels about this…
Put your votes in.
Yeah, this awkward situation only shows the complete lack of organization within IFF, and the various pressures exerted on it from within the Iranian government.
I’m really not sure what happened with your post, Abdol.
I do agree, however, that Ghotbi is probably a better candidate (in terms of skill level) than Daei. But at the very least, Daei will command a lot of respect with the media, IFF, and of course, Team Melli’s players.
Not sure how much command he will actually respect. I mean remember during the world cup how there were multiple camps, the ali daei camp vs the ali karimi camp. From what I’ve heard for the longest time dating back a decade there has always been factions within team melli. I was talking with one fan from Iran who has made a habit of following them to every tournament and he said even back in the Asian Cup in lebanon there were issues that were evident to those who hung out around their hotel. I went to 2 of the Iran games in the last world cup and especially the angola games people were cursing ali daei. I remember they even broke the windows to some of his stores in Tehran.
Things maybe different though. In the Syria game people were chanting his name in response to Iran’s poor performance. Whatever happens look for the Iranian media to create issues and divisiveness where they don’t exist. And of course the IFF will continue being the politically run mafia it has been of late.