Parviz Broumand was part of the Team Melli squad that qualified for the FIFA World Cup 1998. This team was arguably one of the best that represented Iran at such a level. IN Lyon, Iran beat USA 2-1 in a match that gripped the world registering Iran’s first-ever win in the World Cup. “the 1998 team was capable of qualifying for the next round but for poor decision-making by the federation” according to Broumand.
Asked in an interview if he agrees with some voices that Team Melli needs a better coach than the current Croat, Dragan Skocic, Broumand response was emphatic:”
“I do not accept this argument at all,” he said in response to some comments that the team could qualify from the group stage with a coach greater than Skocic. “We are human beings after all and it is not fair to commit injustice. It is true that Skocic became the head coach of Team Melli at a time when our players mostly play abroad and are of higher quality, but it is far from humane to replace Skocic after all the hard work that he has done and especially qualification with such ease.”
“He has worked in a challenging environment and spent time with the national team familiarizing himself and he has no obvious technical problems. Maybe they raise the issue of charisma, which again I say is not a problem. Do not let this unsettling mindset they set up for the 1998 World Cup be repeated again.” Broumand said.
He went on to elaborate further ” The group of players of that era was excellent and unique. We could have advanced from our group in the World Cup, but with a mistake, Ivic was replaced and left Team Melli camp with tears in his eyes and Jalal Talebi became the head coach. In our group, Germany had an aging team while we were capable of getting the result against Yugoslavia under professional guidance”
“Decisions that have been taken in haste and due to some political interference from people not aware of modern football and Team Melli affairs robbed us from this opportunity” Broumand warned.
Parviz Broumand echos the view of many critics who believed that the Federation was hasty in sacking one of the Worlds finest coaches at the time
FFIRI sacked Croatian coach Tomislav Ivic just three weeks before the start of the World Cup finals after the national team lost 7-1 to Italian club AS Roma in a friendly match. The Croat head coach of the team Tomislav Ivic paid for that meaningless loss and was dismissed to be replaced by Jalal Talebi.
The former goalkeeper of Team Melli commented on Amir Abedzadeh being inside the national team’s goal: “Like his father, I was proud of him, not in terms of playing, but because of the feeling I had. When Ahmad Reza Abedzadeh’s son entered the field, I felt that I was the goalkeeper of Team Melli and I felt nostalgic. After many years, another honor was bestowed on Ahmad Reza (Abedzadeh) and this time his son was inside the goal. The respect displayed by Amir after the game going to his father was beautiful. I congratulated Ahmad Reza and his wife after the game with Iraq, and I hope this success will continue for Amir.”