This question has been on and off raised since the ouster of former head trainer, Mayeli Kohan, yet this man whose perception of the modern football equaled a second division club could accomplish the third spot in the latest Asian cup held in UAE back in 1996.

I am not trying to blame or give credit to him but I want to emphasize the scope of so many talented players in the country. Yes it is true that there are a large number of useful players in Iran but without a solid discipline and good organization they will not make it to the top.

I have always been following the Iranian football development both on internal level and international one andever since the Takhte-Jamshid league started off in the early 70s, Iran had both internal and foreign coaches.

Even at that time the lack of standard football pitches was quite obvious and the country side players all dreamed of joining the two major Tehranian clubs namely Perspolis and Taj. Football is not like Tennis that can be played on clay or cement. The only surface to play football on is the green grass something that is of rare phenomenon in our country.

The coach plays an outstanding part in leading a soccer team, especially one in the shape and calibre of the Iranian national team who had never in the past introduced so many professional players in the international leagues, but it should not be omitted that even the most capable musicians require a well experienced conductor to produce the music in pleasent harmony.

The coach should create an optimum atmosphere where all the players tend to give their highest performance, in other words each training session ought to be regarded as crucial as a match in the tournament.

Football like all the other sports is no longer a mere physical game and the psycological aspect of it has now been more and more explored. The coach is obliged to see that his players are both mentally and physically prepared for the game. To do this there must be a medical advisor a physiotherapist always at hand both during the trainiong hours and at the time of the game.

I am not sure if the national team possess a medical advisor right now but there was a doctor always available when Iran was qualifying for the world cup of 1978 and Mr. Heshmat Mohajerani was in charge.

Now let us have a look at the formations of the game. In the 70s, the team was strictly led by 4-4-2 formation. This is an European style of play very much popular in England. As I understand the Iranians have been used to the 3-5-2 formation which is often applied by the Italians. You have got 5 mid fielders and three defenders. Two defenders are to stop the two opposition strikers and one has a free role either move forward aqnd fulfill the duty of a skipper.

Hasheminasab did that well while playing for Perspolis but surprisingly he could not perform as a skipper in the national team. One mid fielder has the obligation to help the defenders when the pressure gets heavy on the defence line. Karim Bagheri is a genuine example for this. He performed his task almost to the perfection against Yugoslavia. Two mid fielders should pass the ball from the both sides, left and right. Mahdavikia scored the second goal against US moving 30 meters from the left side and he had another escape from the right side of the pitch and passed a free ball to Daei who faced the keeper but could not finish.Now we have got another potential player by the name of Karimi. He is young, fast and ambitious perhaps too ambitious. In the semi final match at the Asian club championship he did dribble on numerous occasions to no avail. Karimi is a great play maker not a striker in my book.

One of the crucial things any coach has to bear in mind is that he must adapt his formation to the style of the opponent. He cannot afford to apply the same formation against all the teams. Iran needs no foreign coach as things are for now and Talebi is entitled to lead the present team at the Asian cup in Lebanon. Should he succeed to bring back the cup to Iran where it belongs then he has the right to remain in his office up to the world cup 2002.

Faramarz Bagheri S.

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