Where are the friendlies?

There are less than 150 days, 147 to be precise, left to the World Cup and the Iranian Football Federation (IFF) does not seem to feel any urgency in scheduling friendly games to help prepare the team.

To most Iranian fans’ dismay, last month the IFF announced that they will only schedule four friendly games. The excuse they offered was lack of sufficient time and a busy club football calendar.

Of the four promised games, only one has officially been announced; the game with Ukraine scheduled for March 1. That’s about 45 days from now.

Granted that we Iranians are not exactly known for our planning skills, but come on, this is ridiculous even with our standards!

As we approach June 11, the day we kickoff against Mexico, the only thing that gives me some comfort is that Mexico seems to struggle with problems of their own.

If I still lived in Brooklyn, I’d pick up a six-pack of good cerveza and walk over to the store across the street where my buddy the store owner, a Ticos fanatic, would gladly share it with me while we both commiserated over the ineptitude of our football federations.