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Sports
12/07/2007
Ghalanoei plays down dismissal
Iran coach Amir Ghalanoei claimed that a misunderstanding between himself and the referee resulted in his dismissal from the bench during his side’s 2-1 win over Uzbekistan in the AFC Asian Cup on Wednesday.
Ghalanoei was sent to the stands during the closing stages of a tense encounter for apparently throwing a water bottle in the direction of the fourth official.
However, he later claimed at the post-match press conference that there had simply been a misunderstanding between himself and the match officials.
"It was just something that happened in the game. At that time, I was very angry with one of my players who had lost the ball easily and I shouted at him," said Ghalanoei, who became the second coach to be disciplined in the tournament following the dismissal of Qatar coach Dzemaludin Musovic against Japan on Monday.
"But the referee thought that I was complaining about him so that’s why he sent me off."
Despite his controversial dismissal, Ghalanoei was pleased to see the Group C favourites start the tournament with a victory in a hard-fought encounter against Rauf Inileyev’s side.
The Uzbeks took the lead in the first half through a Rahman Rezaei own goal but second half strikes by Seyed Jalal Hosseini and Javad Kazemian helped Iran to claim all three points.
"I thought that it was a good result that we started with, against tough opponents that played very well," added Ghalanoei.
"The Uzbekistan coach prepared his team very well and I think that we had a very good match today.
"And I appreciate the job done by my players who did well in the second half to follow my technical instructions when we changed our tactics."
While Ghalanoei admitted that his side’s performance, particularly in the first half, was below par, he remains confident that they can still go on to lift their first AFC Asian Cup title since 1976.
"In football, there is no should or must, and we say that we must be champions," he said.
"Most of the results in this tournament so far have been very close and it is not easy to predict what will happen.
"However, I promise that we will get better, match by match, in this competition."
The Iran coach also defended his underperforming stars, like Ali Karimi and Mehdi Mahdavikia, who had far from impressive performances on Wednesday.
"Star players sometimes have good games and sometimes not so good games, even big players like Ronaldinho at Barcelona," added Ghalanoei.
"We cannot expect good performances by our players in every match but we have a plan and we are working with a team of 16 players, not 11, who can play in each game."
Ghalanoei was sent to the stands during the closing stages of a tense encounter for apparently throwing a water bottle in the direction of the fourth official.
However, he later claimed at the post-match press conference that there had simply been a misunderstanding between himself and the match officials.
"It was just something that happened in the game. At that time, I was very angry with one of my players who had lost the ball easily and I shouted at him," said Ghalanoei, who became the second coach to be disciplined in the tournament following the dismissal of Qatar coach Dzemaludin Musovic against Japan on Monday.
"But the referee thought that I was complaining about him so that’s why he sent me off."
Despite his controversial dismissal, Ghalanoei was pleased to see the Group C favourites start the tournament with a victory in a hard-fought encounter against Rauf Inileyev’s side.
The Uzbeks took the lead in the first half through a Rahman Rezaei own goal but second half strikes by Seyed Jalal Hosseini and Javad Kazemian helped Iran to claim all three points.
"I thought that it was a good result that we started with, against tough opponents that played very well," added Ghalanoei.
"The Uzbekistan coach prepared his team very well and I think that we had a very good match today.
"And I appreciate the job done by my players who did well in the second half to follow my technical instructions when we changed our tactics."
While Ghalanoei admitted that his side’s performance, particularly in the first half, was below par, he remains confident that they can still go on to lift their first AFC Asian Cup title since 1976.
"In football, there is no should or must, and we say that we must be champions," he said.
"Most of the results in this tournament so far have been very close and it is not easy to predict what will happen.
"However, I promise that we will get better, match by match, in this competition."
The Iran coach also defended his underperforming stars, like Ali Karimi and Mehdi Mahdavikia, who had far from impressive performances on Wednesday.
"Star players sometimes have good games and sometimes not so good games, even big players like Ronaldinho at Barcelona," added Ghalanoei.
"We cannot expect good performances by our players in every match but we have a plan and we are working with a team of 16 players, not 11, who can play in each game."
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