Iranian minister: Ease up on soccer team

DPA - Iran's culture minister yesterday called on local media to refrain from criticizing the national football team ahead of next month's World Cup tournament.

"I myself was a reporter and I know it is hard to expect from you not to write what you believe is true, but the pre-World Cup phase has started and it would be better to refrain from criticism and just think of supporting the team," Mozhammad-Hossein Safar-Harandi said during a meeting with sports editors yesterday.

The local press is especially critical of national team coach Branco Ivankovic. It has accused the Croatian of playing an over-conservative defensive system and not exploring the full potential of the players.

"We (journalists) should stand like soldiers united behind the team and leave any criticism to after the World Cup," the minister, who is also in charge of press affairs, was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying.

He referred to Greece in the 2004 European Championship and said that the Greek team won the competition because it had the best morale among the participating teams.

"We know that we can of course not win the title (like Greece) but still we can gain a lot of national pride from the World Cup, and should also not ignore the enthusiastic sentiments of almost 70 million Iranian fans," Safar-Harandi said.

Ivankovic told ISNA yesterday that all players were fit, even Vahid Hashemian.