12/21/08
Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

Over the weekend rumors spread that Ali Daei had quit his position as the head coach of the Iranian national team. A few newspapers and news agencies reported this with various degrees of certainty. One or two went as far as claiming that they had confirmed this with “reliable” sources within the Iranian Football Federation.

According to these sources Daei had resigned due to his frustration with the IFF’s lack of proper planning and chronic disorganization. The coach’s frustrations reportedly reached their boiling point before and during the team’s trip to Oman for the Muscat tournament.

IFF officials were quick to respond and did their best to quench the rumors.

IFF vice president Mehdi Taj told reporters that these reports were pure rumors. “This is not the first time that we hear such rumors. This time they seem to have started by a few tabloids speculating on some of the conversations rotating around the postponing of the league matches”, said Taj referring to some criticism directed at Daei and his reported influence on the IFF decision to postpone the league a couple of extra weeks to accommodate the national team’s schedule.

IFF president Ali Kaffashian reiterated Taj’s comments in a different interview and called the reports nothing but rumors.

“There are no disagreements between the head coach of the national team and the federation. Ali Daei will continue his efforts to prepare the team with full force”, said Kaffashian.

Daei’s assistant Houman Afazeli responded to the questions regarding his boss’s resignation by pleading ignorance. “I know nothing about this. The Daei seemed satisfied with how things went during the Oman tournament and returned to Tehran with the team without any problems”, claimed Afazeli.