The Predicament of Iranian Football

PLDC - Firstly I would like to congratulate the National team on there success in the Asian Games. But I am unfortunately going to be rather pessimistic in this article as I do not want the Victory in Busan to cover up the problems in Iranian football. In my opinion there is only 1 reason why Iran was not in the world Cup, and why, before the Asian Games in Busan, there was so much turmoil in the Iranian game.
It is down to the players, our young side which conquered in Busan and who had speed, Guile and ability, these young stars are not being allowed to shine at international level due to the older, more famous, and one time better stars of Iran. The Asian Games gave many Iranians the first glimpses of the future of Iranian football. The quicker we get rid of our "golden Oldies" and begin to put faith in our youth, the quicker we will conquer Asia and the world. Imagine the likes of Kazemian, Mobali, Nikbakht and company teamed up with the more experienced members of the team such as Karimi, Rezaei and Mahdavikia. 

It is essential that we rebuild Iran’s football team and couple some youth with some wisdom rather than sticking to the players who have served us well in the past, but are possibly coming towards the end of their playing days. I also believe that the Iranian Football Association should help in the development of young players much more. I recently went to Brazil and Iran for holidays and I was shocked at the difference in facilities. 
In Iran it was Impossible to find 1 decent football pitch to play on, where as in Brazil, football pitches were as common a site as wild cats are in Iran. This is just one example that emphasizes why Brazil is a world Champions and Iran is not. Also, There is such an unbelievable hype around the "re-development" of the Azadi Stadium, instead of glorifying the fact that Iran are Finally redeveloping a stadium, the football association should be building new, state of the art sports arena's such as the Koreans and Japanese did in order to host the world cup. It is obvious that Iranian footballers on the whole, are technically gifted and have a lot of potential, but this potential will never be reached if the basics of the game such as facilities and youth systems are not in place. 

Yours truly

A young Iranian who hopes to see his country succeed!

Kourosh Abedian (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)