Iran’s coach hails ‘great achievement’ after second World Cup draw

Coach Amir Ghalenoei said that despite Belgium having Nathan Ngoy sent off, Iran were ‘lucky not to lose’, given the strength of the opposition. (EPA Images pic)

LOS ANGELES: Coach Amir Ghalenoei hailed Iran’s unbeaten start to the World Cup as a “great achievement” that will be remembered by future generations, following a 0-0 draw with Belgium on Sunday.

Having arrived at the tournament under the shadow of war between Tehran and Washington, Iran have drawn both their opening games and remain in with a chance to qualify for the knockout rounds for the first time.

Ghalenoei praised his players for holding Belgium, ranked 10th in the world, to a stalemate in Los Angeles on Sunday despite facing the strain of considerable visa and travel restrictions in the US.

“This is a great achievement. We’ve had two games without losing in the World Cup, with the conditions that we’ve had,” he said.

“We had less than 16 hours to get to do training before the game,” he said after his team was not permitted to travel early to the US from their base camp in Mexico.

“This is a great achievement, and it will be written about in the history of our football, and future generations will talk about this.”

Before the game, the Iranian anthem was booed by members of Los Angeles’ extensive Persian exile community, who oppose the country’s hardline regime. But the team itself was vocally supported by a majority of the packed stadium.

“I want to thank all the Iranians, with different attitudes regarding politics. They supported us, and they gave us energy,” said Ghalenoei.

Ghalenoei said that despite Belgium having Nathan Ngoy sent off in the 66th minute, Iran were “lucky not to lose” given the strength of the opposition.

“I don’t think any team in the world could have really sustained such conditions and played like this – the conditions have been extremely hard for us,” he said.

“Our players are really giving everything, they are playing with their heart.”

In an evenly poised Group G, Iran must secure at least a point in their final game against Egypt, which will take place in Seattle next Friday.

“Tomorrow we need to focus on the game with Egypt. Egypt is a very strong team, they have very good players. Our first and utmost aim is to reach the next round,” said the manager.

Iran midfielder Alireza Jahanbakhsh also paid tribute to the team’s “spirit” and “amazing performance”.

He said the team would draw upon the experience of narrowly failing to progress from their group at the last World Cup, when they crashed out after a 1-0 defeat to the United States.

“Last World Cup, we tried to do the best thing, but very last minute, we couldn’t do it,” he said.

“But now I think the most important thing is we go to recover well to make sure that we are ready for the next game.”