Iran, Uzbekistan tie cancelled?

AFC - Iran’s request to postpone their scheduled August 20 friendly with fellow 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification hopefuls Uzbekistan could lead to cancellation of their another crucial practice game.

According to information, Iran Football Association’s national team committee, which met recently in the presence of coach Ali Daei, found the date of the friendly unsuitable and requested their Central Asian counterparts to postpone the match a week later.

Uzbekistan, who have already lined up a friendly with DPR Korea on August 29 in Tashkent, are reportedly unhappy with the development and have started looking for a new opponent to play on August 20.

Uzbekistan team manager Vadim Abramov confirmed the development saying, “We are disappointed and have already started looking for a new opponent.”

“It is not good for any country to ask for a change just two weeks before the match. Anyway, I hope this situation will not affect the relationship between Iran and Uzbekistan football associations,” he said.

Uzbekistan coach Rauf Inlieev was equally surprised with the Iranian request.

“It is really a bad situation for us. Frankly, I did not expect this. For example, we can never expect this to have happened in European football. Iran’s refusal to play on August 20 will have a negative impact on my team,” he said.

Iran Football Association President Ali Kaffashian said that they are still waiting for a response from the UFF.

“We have requested UFF to postpone the match to August 27 or 29. This request came from the technical management of Team Melli who are not happy with the date. We haven’t received any response from the UFF,” he told www.the-afc.com.

Iran’s planned friendlies against Egypt, Spanish clubs Marbella and Malaga and English side Charlton Athletic were cancelled due to various reasons recently.

Iran were drawn into Group B in the final round of World Cup qualifiers along side Korea Republic, Saudi Arabia, DPR Korea and UAE. They begin their campaign against Saudi Arabia away on September 6.

Uzbekistan will play Qatar on September 6 in their qualifying opener. Australia, Bahrain and Japan are other teams in their group.