The Croatian Head coach of Team Melli will soon identify his Iranian assistant among five candidates.
Dragan Skočić, has taken over the post after the mediocre tenure of the Belgian Marc Wilmots in which Iran’s qualification for the next round of FIFA World Cup 2022 Asian zone qualifiers is under threat
Skocic will soon be supported by an Iranian assistant coach. There are 5 candidates in the pot for the post;
According to the reports, Karim Bagheri, Moharram Navidkia, Sohrab BakhtiariZadeh, Pirouz Ghorbani, and Vahid Hashemian are the most likely candidates for the job as Skocic aide.
Karim Bagheri: (46 Years) Assistant coach to Perspolis in two separate periods under Golamahammadi and Daei. Bagheri has not achieved FIFA Class certification but has the strongest international background as a player with 87 caps and 50 international goals for Team Melli.
Moharram Navidkia: (37 Years) the least experienced of the lot. Very little coaching experience with Sepahan. Navidkia has a complex sulky character that is not well suited for coaching. As a player, he scored one goal in 25 caps for Iran.
Sohrab BakhtiariZadeh: (42 years) head coach of Naft Masjed Soleiman in 2016, followed by Iran U-23 assistant coach between 2018–2019. As a player, he scored 4 goals, including the goal against Angola in the FIFA 2006 World Cup in 37 caps for Iran.
Pirouz Ghorbani: (42 years) It is not clear whether Ghorbani has any coaching experience in his CV. The former Esteghlal player who retired from football in 2015 with Saba Qom, has not been officially appointed in any coaching position. He played 6 matches for Team Melli.
Vahid Hashemian:(43 years) Selected as an assistant to Wilmots based on his knowledge of German which both Wilmots and Hashemian speak fluently. Hashemian has attended several training coaches courses in Germany and achieved German certification. he managed SV Halstenbek-Rellingen, for one season then Niendorfer TSV in 2013. Hasmeian went to his old club Hamburger SV in 2017 to work in the Academy then became U17 Team assistant coach from 2017–2018 and finally with Hamburger SV (U21) in 2018 as an assistant coach before working with Wilmots.
It is clear from their experience that none of the Iranian coaches have the proper qualification and experience to be of value to the Team. The only advantage is communication which is itself a two-edged sword.