Iran coach Carlos Queiroz ramped up the pressure-cooker atmosphere on Monday by claiming that the training pitch in Incheon, 27 kilometres west of Seoul, was not up to the standard of a nation that hosted the World Cup with Japan in 2002. “The quality of the grass is not good,” Queiroz said according to the Korean media. “It is not what you expect from a country that has hosted the World Cup,” added the former Real Madrid coach. South Korea head coach Shin Tae-Yong said he would not get involved in pre-match mind games but retorted: “People know how we were treated when we visited Iran last year. I don’t want to engage in his psychological game. I think they’re getting good treatment here.”
Last October, South Korea lost 1-0 in Tehran, a fourth successive defeat at the hands of Queiroz, when the Taeguk Warriors were also unhappy with the state of their training pitch and at their base being located too far away from the stadium.
And the row is just the latest in a long history of ugly spats between the two nations. Four years ago the then Korea coach Choi Kang-Hee complained of substandard Tehran training facilities and declared he would enjoy eliminating Iran from the 2014 World Cup in the return match in Seoul.
Queiroz demanded an apology saying Choi had “humiliated the Iranian citizens.” Instead of apologising, Choi predicted that Queiroz would watch the World Cup on television. When Iran won 1-0 in Seoul to qualify, Queiroz was accused of making rude gestures towards the opposition dugout and the Iranian players were pelted with water bottles by the home crowd. Prior to that, in 2009, Iranian captain Javad Nekounam had predicted that the Azadi Stadium in Tehran would be “like hell for the Koreans” ahead of a World Cup 2010 qualifier.
Queiroz also said he will not allow “external factors” to influence his decisions as Iran head coach and maintains that Masoud Shojaei was let out of his squad to face South Korea for football reasons. Iran, who have already qualified for next year’s World Cup finals, travelled to Seoul without veteran midfielder Shojaei, who, along with compatriot Ehsan Hajsafi, featured for Greek club Panionios against Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv in a Europa League playoff on Aug 4.
The Iranian government does not recognise the state of Israel, and athletes from the country who compete against their Israeli counterparts have been banned in the past from representing Iran. “Hajsafi and Shojaei have no place in Iran’s national football team any more... they crossed Iran’s red line,” the country’s deputy Sports Minister Mohammad Reza Davarzani.
The move prompted FIFA to ask Iran’s FA to provide further information on the situation. FIFA’s statutes ban political interference in its affiliated national associations, which can be suspended if the rule is breached. If a country’s FA is suspended, it means both the national team and its clubs are barred from international competition. However, with Hajsafi named among the 23-man squad to take on the Koreans at Seoul World Cup Stadium, Queiroz said Shojaei had been excluded for purely sporting reasons, though he did not elaborate on them.
World Cup 2018 Asia zone qualifying remaining fixtures
(all kick-off times GMT):
Today: Group A: China v Uzbekistan (in Wuhan, 1200), South Korea v Iran (in Seoul, 1200), Syria v Qatar (in Melaka, Malaysia, 1200).
Group B: Japan v Australia (Saitama, 1035), Thailand v Iraq (in Bangkok, 1200), UAE v Saudi Arabia (in Al Ain, 1630)
