They call us the powerhouse of Asia but we haven’t won an Asian cup in almost 30 years! They say we have the most talented players in the Asia but we saw them in do nothing in the last world cup and the last Asian cup. Also our Olympic team hasn’t made it to Olympics for past several Olympics. Our European based players are mostly bench warmers and some even don’t make it to the benches! So much with our talents!
It’s sad because we are the most soccer fanatic in the entire region but we are becoming less and less important in the sport. Even Iraq has now achieved more than Iran recently. They just won the Asian cup and back in 2004, their Olympic team came 4th surprising and beating many teams including the Portuguese.
Some want to blame it on the Iranian government and the way things are ran in Iran. But I have a question for those people; how come we are getting results in other sports such as wrestling, weightlifting, and martial arts?
Some blame it on the fact that Iranian people are not good in team sports but how did our youth volleyball team become the world champion and our basketball team is getting better and better?
I know there is investment going on in Iranian soccer. I know many of IPL players get paid well. I know we have foreign coaches in Iran and I know that our facilities are better than Iraqis and many African countries.
So what is it really? I have been on all Iranian soccer forums and no one is there to give good answer on this issue. Everyone has theories but none of them have answer the question. So I know Iranian.com audience often think outside the box so I want to ask that here; If we love soccer so much, why do we suck so much then?
