Mohammad Mayeli Kohan , the ex-Team Melli coach and current Gahar Dorood football team coach, commented on Iran’s Team Melli and the league. He was particularly concerned by the Federation’s league committee decision to reduce the number of clubs next season to 16 teams down 2 from the current 18. The outspoken Maylei-Kohan said “I agree with and I am in favor of any decision that is in the interest and benefit of football of the country. Unfortunately some people are only looking for the their own individual interests and interests of the Club rather than the football as a whole. This is detrimental to Iranian football”
“I hear much talk about this reduction of league team and unfortunately quite a bit of such talk is only to serve personal interest of individuals.”
“At one point there was suggestions that each province should be allowed a representative in the league , but now we are told that we should reduce the number of teams to 16. So , why is this sudden turn?”
“Such vital decision making process should be carried out by a group of specialists and professionals who have long experience in this field. By people who have been around in Iran’s football and know the ins and outs of it. Such decisions should not be based on a whim of one individual and that is the Coach of the national team because he wants to have his players gathering much more often and free them from playing for their clubs in the different competitions.” He added that “we should re-think such decision and use the right experts in this field. It is not at all the duty of Team Melli’s coach to decide how many teams should be in the league.” Carlos Queiroz belongs to country named Mozambique. I like this country and its football but Mozambique has no reputation in the world football hierarchy. However, even in Mozambique, Queiroz will not be allowed to interfere in such issues because this beyond his expertise and terms of reference. But here, we are asking Queiroz about right number of teams in our premiere division, we are sliding down. Looks like he wants us to back to the old times again.
Mayeli-Kohan continued his criticism of the national team coach selection of players and planning. He said ” Every Team Melli game means that we have to stop the league program for several days and sometimes weeks, resulting in interruption of our programs and loss of momentum. While all over the world just two or three days before any match suffice for their national team matches. We produced so many potentially good players like Arash Afshin , Mohsen Mosallman, Mehrdad Jama’ati, and many others, yet our Team Melli coach gets player from mediocre leagues to represent the country. Ashkan Dejagah is one fine player with talent and ability. I don’t think there is any doubt about his value for the team, but then again Queiroz selects players such as Omid Nazari or Atshkadeh just to occupy the bench. In my humble opinion, I don’t even think that Ghoochanehan is anything but an ordinary player the like of him are quite a plenty in Iran. Many people say that the 1996 team was the best recent Team Melli, but with the players that are available now in Iran, we can even have a better team than the 1996 one.”