6/8/2006
SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press Writer

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany (AP) — Branko Ivankovic will likely quit as Iran's national coach after the World Cup regardless of how far the team progresses in the competition.

"I have faced unrelenting criticism in the media over tactics, choice of players, and everything else for over four years," Ivankovic said in an interview Thursday.

"Even if we qualify for the next phase, the attacks on me will continue," he said. "Enough is enough."

Ivankovic, 52, first came to Iran as an assistant to fellow Croat Miroslav Blazevic, who had led Croatia to third place in the 1998 World Cup in France. He also took part in that tournament as Blazevic's aide.

Ivankovic took over as Iran national coach after the squad failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.

He forged a new national team by blending older, experienced internationals with a bevy of talented young players from league clubs. This paid off in 2002, when Iran took third place in the Asian Cup in China, losing to the hosts in the semifinal.

The same year, the team won the West Asia Championships which groups national teams from the Middle East.

Prior to that, Ivankovic led Croatia's Rijeka first league club and Bundesliga's Hannover 96.

Although Iran participated in two previous World Cup tournaments — in 1978 and 1998 — the current team is widely regarded as the strongest side the country has ever fielded. It faces Mexico, Portugal and Angola in Group D.

"We respect our opponents as excellent teams, but we too are fully prepared and anything can happen in our group," he said.

Ivankovic said that he would prefer to lead a league club, possibly in the Bundesliga, "where my job wouldn't literally be on the line every time we played a match."

"I have not yet decided where I will go after the World Cup, but there are several offers out there," he said.

His criticism of the Iranian media was echoed by captain Ali Daei, who noted that there were 20 sports dailies in Iran, as compared to only two in Germany.

"Of course, when you have so many newspapers, not all are real experts in soccer," Daei said.