U23 Iran officially missed the Asian U23 Finals
Iran U23 officially missed the 2023 AFC U23 Championship Finals after the latest decision of AFC. Iranian experts expressed concerns about the country's football's ability to qualify for the Olympics.
U23 Iran's appeal failed, football expert points out sad truth
AFC has officially announced the 16 teams participating in the AFC U23 Championship. Previously, the Iranian Football Federation complained after Iran U23's defeat to Uzbekistan U23. However, according to the latest announcement from AFC, Iran U23 is not on the list of teams participating in the AFC U23 Championship. Meanwhile, Malaysia U23, the team that is better than Iran U23 in terms of fair-play index, won a ticket to Qatar as one of the four best second-placed teams.
Iran U23 has never won a ticket to the Olympics. The last time they participated in the AFC U23 Championship (2022), they stopped in the group stage.
The fact that Iran U23 cannot participate in the 2023 AFC U23 Championship Finals has disappointed many football experts in this country. Mr. Pirouz Ghorbani, Iranian coach, shared in the newspaperIran Economist: "We will not be able to qualify for the Olympics for another 150 years. Reza Enayati (coach of Iran U23) is only the second choice. They have looked for 20 coaches but no one accepted to lead the team because they found it unattractive."
"Look at the football around us. Saudi Arabia brought Ronaldo and it seemed crazy. But when we look at the Azadi (Iran) pitch, we can only laugh at ourselves," said Mr. Pirouz Ghorbani.
Meanwhile, coach Ali Asghar shared at length with the news agency.Farsand expressed concern for Iranian football.
Coach Ali Asghar stressed that Iranian football will be like Myanmar if there is no change or improvement. "If the current generation of the national team passes away, we will have bigger problems than the U23 team," Mr. Ali Asghar emphasized before pointing out the shortcomings in facilities as well as the level of coaches.
"Coach Reza Enayati was a good player but has no coaching experience. Obviously we were too hasty. We should have let Reza accumulate 3-4 more years of experience before letting him lead Iran U23," Ali Asghar emphasized./.