text by our iranian collaborator Mahdiar Ghaffari

The eagerly awaited press conference was held today between 10:30 to 12:00 in Iran FA building, with the spanish trainer Jesus Candelas Rodrigo (presented as new Technical Director), Abbas Torabian (Head of Futsal Committee) and Ali Sanei (Head Coach) attending it.

As known Jesus Candelas is appointed as Technical Director for all futsal national teams. The duration of the contract is one year, with option to be renewed.

He will work as an advisor to the head coach of the national team Ali Sanei. During the World Championship he will also analyze the matches of Iran and their rivals.

ALI SANEI:
"I will use his ideas. He may make us some advices and we will decide to choose one or some of them. He will help us in trainings as well and if it is necessary we will use him as a trainer in practice during trainings."

ABBAS TORABIAN:
"His aim is not only to supervise the men's senior team but also to monitor the activities of Under 23 and Under 19 teams as well as women's national team. As part of his job, he is expected to travel to different cities to see league matches. He will also organise different futsal clinics and training courses for local coaches since we believe that it is a must if we want to have a high-quality league."

JESUS CANDELAS:
"I am aware that in last few years Iran has played very close matches against Spain and Brazil, which are in my opinion the two main candidates to win the World Championship. Russia and Paraguay are the other two strong teams, being improved significantly recently. Then, there are other teams such as Portugal, Italy, Argentine and Ukraine. Iran have to prove its high quality as a candidate among these teams to reach final stages."

"During last three years, I have never had an offer as interesting as the offer I received from Iran. It is a challenge that I really love it. I have been always looking for such an opportunity and that is why I left Spain and I am here now."

"When I found out that Iran and Spain are in the same group in the World Championship, I had a strange feeling. I have been working in Spanish futsal for many years and now I am the technical director of Iran. It is very important for me to beat Spain and go to the final rounds. In the group stage match, the pressure on Spain is much more than on Iran, because everybody expect them to win. For us, it is important to qualify from our group and then I prefer that we win against Spain in semi-final or final."

"Each country has its own style of playing. Everybody knows Iran with its talented players. I think the new generation of Iranian players play a modern futsal in compare with the past. I believe the solution is not to define a Spanish or Brazilian model for Iranian futsal. We should not copy, we should improve! We need to know the Iranian style well enough and then try to minimze the weaknesses and maximze the strenghts. It is also important to be creative in defence."