Iranian Football in 2023 | Carlos Queiroz Exits, New Head Coach?

Glad you are back 🙂

I think as much as CQ helped develop Iran as a football nation, he had major flaws to how he approached games. I don’t want to beat a dead horse but the way we approached the USA game was night and day to how we approached Wales. I know USA has more quality than Waleos but overall that left a horrible taste in my mouth. I hope whoever the next coach is can instill a winning mentality among our players and approach games properly. We can start by finally winning a trophy in the Asian cup hopefully, and actually advance in the group stages next time around because at this point it would be our 7th world cup and it would be embarrassing not to advance

I am extremely grateful for what you guys do, but I genuinely don't understand what the long term vision of Gol Bezan is? How do you guys plan to monetize this brand when it's positioned for Iranian football fans that speak English. It only really targets the 1st and 2nd Gen Iranian diaspora (like myself), and generations beyond that tend to have less of an affiliation with their Iranian background intertwined with the fact that most Iranians immigrate to North America, where football or as they call it soccer tends to be down on the list of sports they engage with.

I know you guys have no obligation to respond to a random "Ali" 😂 but as someone who's prob listened to every single podcast to the very end, I am rather confused to how you guys are producing this level of quality consistently for so long. Muuuch luv to y'all 🤍

Guys! I love your podcast! However, I do disagree with a few opinions:

1) How can you believe that players should not have a say in who the manager will be? In club football, that is more valid. But for a national team? The social and economic dynamics are very different. There are so many examples throughout World Cup history where the "wrong" manager (no matter the resume) for the players, ended up in disaster for a WC campaign. France in 2010 and Mexico from this past WC are two instances.

2) If Iran had beaten Argentina in the WC, our fans would be just as elated, and arrogant when bragging.

3) if Amir Ghalenoei (AG) becomes head coach, we will lose a lot talented options for TM. I can't believe you guys think he is the best option because he will "crack the whip". LOL! You speak like old-school Iranian parents who scream at their child to study 24/7 to get into a top medical/dental/engineering school, and beat them like it's still the 1950s.
There are so many inter-related problems with hiring AG:
a) I don't think he has smiled in many years. We have a team with some jubilant personalities, and among them are top talents, such as Azmoun. I bet too many of our top players would refuse to play. And then we would be left with primarily PGL players? Do you guys think we could win with a TM composed of mostly PGL players? I don't think we could win the Asian Cup.
b) This isn't 2006, when AG last coached TM, and the world of football has changed. The concept of "Total Football" that started with Ajax is popular, and for good reason. It demands players of any position to have the skill to keep the ball, the endurance to run off the ball constantly, and the IQ to know where to be based on what is going on at any particular moment (i.e. you don't just stick in the defensive third for the whole game just because you're a fullback). Has AG adjusted? I genuinely don't know, but if he plays good old 1970s English long ball? We would be screwed.
c) I don't care what he has done at Gol Gohar, and neither should you. It's the PGL, and without being hyperbolic, I am willing to bet I can go ask the current college and semi-pro players I know to form a practice squad, and take them to beat Gol Gohar. Aside from the top few PGL teams, I have zero faith that most of the clubs in the league have the talent and tactical awareness to do much against teams from better leagues, and that definitely includes MLS. And umm.. I am not sure MLS even rivals the Turkish Super League, so umm.. you extrapolate from there.