Deputy Minister for Youth and Sport said that the sports federations whose results were well below expectation are themselves accountable for their performances in the Asian Games. Nasrollah Sajjadi, speaking on a TV show on Friday , earmarked the FFIRI for special mention criticizing the poor performance of the football team. “If this is all what the footballers can offer, then I see no point of this team competing in the preliminaries of the Rio Olympic Games. “

“Other countries reap the awards of their hard work. The football federation is solely responsible for this team and it is obvious that this team was not prepared well.  Being third in a 3 team group is not exactly a matter of bad luck either.”

Iran’s u-23 team was eliminated from the group stages of the Asian Games for the first time in decades after losing to Vietnam 4-1 and drawing with Kyrgyzstan. None of these two teams in Iran’s group made it beyond the next round, which magnifies the ghastly performance by the U-23 team coached by Nelo Vingada.