Amir Ghalenoei has produced his list for Jordan’s four-nations tournament. Not only this list was quite disappointing for those fans and pundits who liked to see new young faces in an aging Team Melli, but it also included a veteran in Karim Ansarifard who has not been in the picture and has hardly shown the public in Iran any proof of his worth in the Cypriot league. Ansarifard is not even a regular starter for Omonia Nicosia

Since his appointment. Amir Ghalenoei has been facing regular criticism, mainly because he is a local coach. There has been a crisis of confidence in Iranian coaches for a long time, particularly in these few months. The reason is that the fans of different sports have witnessed a decline in performance whenever a local Iranian coach is appointed to coach a team. The worst case was Volleyball, followed to a lesser extent, Basketball, and Futsal. All three sports lost their continental titles under local coaches.

It is a fact that the fans do not trust Iranian coaches. It is a fact that was highlighted in an ISNA poll with the majority losing voting against domestic coaches. It is a deep-rooted problem and has been hidden under the carpet, at least in official media. It seems that talking about it is taboo and the reason is, like everything in Iran, it is the policy of the regime, and one cannot disagree with it. Not in public at least.

SUPREME LEADER SERMON

However, volleyball, which was fast becoming the number one team sport in Iran threatening the domination of football, suddenly hit a spiral dive after Ataei was appointed. His promotion to Volleyball Team Melli and rise in value was right after a ceremonial meeting with the supreme leader in which Ayatollah Khamenei explicitly declared that domestic coaches have much better value for the Iranian teams than foreign nationals.

Sport authorities took that as a Fatwa that needs to be strictly adhered to not just a pip talk from the supreme leader. It has quickly become a perceived policy of maintaining the values of the Islamic revolution through the appointment of Iranian coaches.

Although Ayatollah Khamenei did say that he is no expert in sports and did not interfere in the appointment of coaches in that meeting with the Iranian national volleyball team, who dares to disagree and work independently selecting coaches based on merits, international standards of competence, experience, and ability rather on patriotism or politics?

Right after the free fall of volleyball, pundits mentioned that Behrouz Ataei, the Iranian head coach of the national team, showed that “we have not yet reached a level with domestic coaches where we can compete closely with the world’s volleyball powers, and we need the presence of a skilled foreign head coach so that the domestic coaches can learn and experience major world events alongside him and improve their own technical abilities. Maybe this issue is not pleasant for some, but it is a fact that many veterans and fans of volleyball acknowledge.”

In football, Ghalenoei, or any Iranian head coach is bound by many limitations.  In a bi-polar football culture, his first felony is that he is a Blue so he will have an apparent bias towards Esteghlal players. This has been observed many times over with Iranian coaches, although Daei was an exception during his tenure.

DEMANDS AND PRESSURE TO SUCCEED

Iranian coaches have a fear of defeat and setbacks and that is not entirely their own fault. They are facing masses of supporters and press that demand immediate results. A nation hungry for success that eluded it since the revolution over 40 years ago. There is no time for experimenting and being a maverick. Ghalenoei is no exception. Fear of failure pushes him to rely on the most battle-hardened warriors, counting on the experience of senior players to achieve success.  He has just taken over an aging team, the oldest in the last World Cup 2022, in fact, to increase the average age by adding yet another over-33-year-old player!

It is true that the U23 team, which is supposed to be the backbone of senior Team Melli, has been poorly performing for many years, but under a sub-standard unqualified coach in Reza Enayati, the real potential of the team was never going to materialize. Nonetheless, there were a few good players in that team that deserve a trial and call-up. Only one made Ghalenoei’s list.

POLITICS

There will always be political pressure on the national team. The regime’s interest supersedes any other objectives. Players not showing total loyalty to the regime, will have to be excluded and any sign of political dissent must be swiftly dealt with. Under a foreign coach filtering players based on politics is that much more difficult especially if you have a strong character coach.

DISCIPLINE

One of the biggest shortfalls of Iranian coaches will always be DISCIPLINE. Time and again, the local coaches have failed miserably in self-discipline and that of their own players’. Never mind what they preach in public, the Iranian coaches in general feel obliged to be protective of the players even when committing the silliest or most damaging of acts.

The regional teams realize that Iranian footballers play with strong emotion, and the opposition takes advantage of that even provoking their Iranians whose self-control and emotional intelligence are suspect. This could be a game changer comes major championships like the Asian Cup.

Finally….. Do you think Ansarifard’s call to team Melli is justified?

Here is his record this season. Note that he played only one 90-minute game in the league.

Karim Ansarifard

Club	Division	minutes	games	start	Sub in	Sub out	bench	goals	YC	2 YC	RC
Omonia Nicosia	1.D	277	7	3	4	3	4	1	2	0	0