footballmedia - Nader Jahanfard:  If we have learned one thing about Ali Daei throughout the years, it is that, in the long run, and often in the short one, he always ascends above standard to prove you wrong!
Daei’s relentless capability to fight back the obstacles in critical moments makes him a preeminent (If not the best), candidate to sail Iranian national team towards South Africa 2010!
He is not a little engine that could. Quite the contrary I see him as a massive locomotive that can be unstoppable if supported!
I believe in him…
Below is my conversation with the newly appointed head coach that took place few hours ago.

Nader,
First of all, congratulations on your new appointment, I could not be prouder Ali jan.

Daei,
Many thanks. I greatly appreciate your well wishes and excitement.

Nader,
I heard that today Afshin Ghotbi came to team melli’s practice to see you. Can you elaborate on this occasion a bit please?

Daei,
Yes, that’s true. Mr. Ghotbi and Mr. Kashani from Persepolis FC showed up at team melli camp today.  Mr. Ghotbi expressed his willingness to help the national team in the future if needed. I appreciated his clarification. It was a nice gesture to offer a helping hand.

Nader,
So far you have selected Mr. Ahmad Zadeh, Mr. Firat and Mr. Gholampour as your crew on the bench. Are they the only ones who are supposed to assist you or you have other names to add into this list?


Daei,
I have also added Mr. Houman Afazeli to this list and after our encounter against Kuwait; I might add just another name into this list to complete it. I will announce his name once things are finalized.

Nader,
In Germany certain characters hovered over the team in the camp and as result, we faced disastrous consequences. We had many official and non-official personalities who roamed around adding into our already existing predicaments. Are you going to stop the history from repeating itself?

Daei,
Nader jan, I am here to put a stop to situations like that. Team melli camp is not a place for many with certain interests in mind and I will “not” permit similar situations to take place again. We are working to have a problem free environment and I guarantee that certain characters will not be permitted around our players!

Nader,
How long are you going to manage Saipa and the national team at the same time?

Daei,
My contract with Saipa ends in another two and a half moths and after that I’ll only be with national team.

Nader,
Few days back your team played a great game against Kuwait but walked away with only a point. Any input on that?

Daei,
That game was very beneficial to us. Not only it was an icebreaker for our team and we showed superiority most of the 90 minutes, also we got to know many of their players who are part of Kuwait’s national squad. We had a comprehensive look at their national team prior to that game, and this encounter confirmed those clarifications. Our teams (Saipa and the national team) are in a very good position now and I am very confident about our chances. We should come out of these games victoriously!

Nader,
I know your new list is out, but few players have expressed their dissatisfaction about you not getting in touch with them through Phone, fax and other means of communication. Is there such a statute to call the players before hand?

Daei,
The national team belongs to Iranian people and playing for it should be an honor for any football player. When certain players are invited, they should willingly come and be flattered, and if not, I am not going to call anyone to confirm. When the list comes out, that means you should answer the call of duty and join. I am certainly not going to send any special invitations to anyone!

Nader,
I see that you invited Iman Mobali to the camp. Do you have any bitterness toward Iman because of what happened between you two few years back?

Daei,
Whatever that happened between Iman and me was football related and it was forgotten and left behind on the pitch that day. If I had any resentment towards him, I would not have invited him. Media made a very big deal about that incident and in reality I never held anything against Iman. He is in the team now because I believe in him. The past is past and in football things like this happen frequently.

Nader,
How is the atmosphere in team melli camp right now?

Daei,
It’s never been better. Players are developing a special chemistry with one another and as I mentioned this earlier, I would not allow anyone to change what is in place right now. You can mark my words!

Nader,
Ali jan, many thanks for your time. I know you are a very busy man these days. I wish you all the best in upcoming games and happy Norooz to you and your family.

Daei,
Clockwise, I also wish you and all Iranians around the world the best of times.
Please let everyone know that Ali Daei is here to get the job done!
Noroozetan Pirooz!


Author’s note:

This afternoon and shortly after my interview with Daei, I received an email from Mr. Mehran Afshar a dear friend of mine who happened to be present at team melli’s camp in Tehran. Mr. Afshar not only sent me few never seen before images of Daei and Ghotbi, he also emailed me a little analysis about the chemistry and atmosphere surrounding the team.
Below is Mehran’s report.

Nader jan,
I visited the camp today to see how Daei prepares the TM. The Turkish coach seemed to be the one designing the exercises, and Daei used to go around encouraging and correcting them on the actions. There was a cold atmosphere in the beginning of the exercises; however, it became warmer as the shooting competition started. (From just outside of the penalty box). It finally leads to five push-ups by all the front players in the first round as losers and five push-ups by the goalkeepers as the losers of the first round!
No one seemed to be bored or unmotivated, and as expected, very high degree of discipline was felt over Team Melli’s camp!
The Ghotbi visit came as a complete surprise, and it energized Daei after Afshin left the camp!
Overall, there is much more in Daei’s team melli that meets the eye, one has to go deeper and study it from different perspectives to get the true and genuine feeling!

Acknowledgments:
Many thanks to Mr. Mehran Afshar for images and the reports. Looking forward to have more of them in the near future!