The tough road ahead

If you asked me, I’d tell you that I think there are some people in Iranian football who are trying to set Head Coach Ali Daei up for failure!

In advance of the WC qualifier against UAE, Daei and his players have been very reasonable in assessing UAE’s strenghts. They know this is going to be a tough match and are saying so at every opportunity they get. But many doomsday sayers have changed their tune and now singing their victory songs if it has been won already!

This is a very convenient position to take for Daei critics, because if Team Melli wins, they will claim that it was an easy match, but if they lose, they’ll be well positioned to further criticize Daei and call for his head!

Daei is an old pro. As a player, he has been involved in enough games to know that Team Melli can never take anything for granted against its Persian Gulf opponents. He will have the team mentally ready, but the sad fact is that he is fighting on two fronts, one being the one in AFC Group 2, and the other being Iranian sports media who refuse to cut him any slack whatsoever.

Iran will have a tough task, and my guess is that it will be a dogfight between Korea Republic and KSA untill the very end, but to even buy a ticket to the dogfight Team Melli must first defeat UAE in Abu Dhabi.