6/4/2006
Kaveh Mahjoob, footballmedia.net

Just a day before Iranian national team’s scheduled flight to Germany, I had a chance for a few minutes to speak to the Iranian head coach. This interview was conducted exclusively for footballmedia.net and goal.com in the morning of Saturday, June 3rd Iran’s time.

Kaveh – Mr. Ivankovich, there is a lot of news in the press about Mahdavi Kia’s injuries. Everyone would want to know his condition. How is he? Will he make it to the Mexico match?

Branko – Mahdavi Kia’s back injury is of concern. He is in Germany under care. We should know more in a day or so (Saturday June 3rd or Sunday) about his condition. We hope and expect him to make it for the Mexico match.

Kaveh – I understand about Kia’s condition and his day to day status. How about Ali Karimi and Freydoun Zandi? How are they doing?

Branko – Karimi’s injury still bothers him but he should be ready in time for Germany. Zandi’s hamstring injury has improved and I expect him to be fine too.

Kaveh – So, as far as the injuries are concerned, you seem confident about these guys making it for the Mexico match?

Branko – On Kia we will know more. Other two should be fine. Others are alright.

Kaveh – Over the last week, Iran played two matches against Croatia and Bosnia – Herzegovina. What is your assessment of these two games?

Branko – Our performance was satisfactory. I saw many young players perform in the international level. I saw good performance from the team and of course we achieved good results. These games gave us great confidence. The team believes in itself and we will be ready.

Kaveh – I agree that we had good results and there were moments of great performance but we also exhibited serious defensive lapses. I am sure they made you concern too. What are your thoughts on that?

Branko – Well of course I am concerned about the defensive problems but these were warm-up matches and we have learned from these lessons. We will take appropriate and corrective measures to fix these problems. We know what they are and we know how to fix them.

Kaveh – Let’s talk about the great young and new players in the national team. Maadanchi (left midfielder) certainly blossomed and others did well in limited opportunities.

Branko – Maadanchi looked very good and I was happy to see his performance. I was also pleased with Taymourian (defensive midfielder) and Shojaei (offensive midfielder). Others did well, too. These guys came through with the opportunities they got.

Kaveh – What was your evaluation of Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh’s (central defnder or defensive midfielder positions) performance?

Branko – Sohrab played very well against Bosnia.

Kaveh – Are there any chances for any of the new players to break in to the starting lineup?

Brnako – Yes. We have 8 more days of work. If they keep it up, it is possible.

Kaveh – What is the team’s mood as you are preparing to leave Iran?

Branko – They are excited and anxious to get there (Germany) and start practicing. They will be fine by the Mexico match. We will be fine by that time.

Kaveh – You will sit on Team Melli’s bench as her head coach in about a week in a world cup match. What is in your mind at this point? How will Iran perform?

Branko – We are traveling to the world cup with high hopes and high ambitions. We are confident and believe that this team could get good results and is capable of playing very well. We don’t fear anyone and are optimistic. You will see good games from our team.

Kaveh – Thank you Mr. Brankovich and good luck to you and your team in Germany and have a healthy team.

Branko – Thank you.

Kaveh’s Note: Five weeks ago, I had a long interview with Branko Ivankovich. Then, he was tense, distant and fed up with the press. I felt like he expected his words to get twisted and be misquoted. He didn’t exhibit the confidence a head coach would need before the world cup.

This time, a week away before Iran’s match against Mexico, I spoke to a new Branko. He was confident, relaxed, measured and at ease. He wanted to assure me that he understood Iran’s shortcomings and had plans to rectify them.

Like many, I still have my concerns but Branko’s confidence should get channeled to his team and that would be most important.

In the world cup, teams would not succeed just because of their depth of talent and how good they look on paper. Otherwise in the 2002’s world cup, Senegal would not have defeated France and USA would not have been victorious against Portugal. In the history of world cup, we have many examples of high-spirited teams defeating higher quality opponents. Team’s mental preparation is as important as physical training and readiness. In the past tournaments, the 2002 Asian Games and the 2004 Asian Cup, Branko prepared his team well both physically and mentally.

At this stage, the best thing Branko could do for Iran is to inject some of the confidence he feels to his team. It seems like he is prepared to do just that.

Kaveh can be reached at Kaveh_Mahjoob@hotmail.com