CALLED ON IRANIAN FANS TO SUPPORT ESTEGHLAL CLUB.. SCHÄFER: AL AIN’S POWER IS IN THEIR GROUP PERFORMANCE AND SWIFT TRANSFORMATION FROM DEFENSE TO ATTACK
The German coach, Winfried Schäfer, has confirmed that his team is facing an important challenge when playing against one of Asia’s best teams. “I have read certain English-language reports on refereeing at the Iranian level as well as the Premier League. I believe it is not fair to point fingers onto the referees in the football world. In the first game against Al Ain, the problem was not in refereeing but in the players of my team. I did that explained that to them during the previous training sessions. Personally, I will continue to support all referees and thank God I am not a referee.”
He went on to say: “My players enjoy genuine personality and deal with all the circumstances with professional mentality. They cannot be negatively affected by the messages addressed by certain means of media as definitely the referee is part of the game and he might commit mistakes. We should not blame him for the mistakes committed by players and coaches in football matches.”
Schaefer called upon the entire Iranian fans to get around Esteghlal in their match against Al Ain, stressing: “I hope to see the stadium full of ideal support and cheers, because Esteghlal Tehran is representing itself only in their top clash match against Al Ain, but it bears the responsibility to defend the reputation of the Iranian football.”
As for the scenario he will adopt against Al Ain, he said: “We will adopt the method of high concentration in all lines and will not be in rush, but we will focus since the kickoff of the match to maintain our goal in order not to concede any goal. Following that we will exert high pressure on the opponent because Al Ain team is strong and always play easy and simple football. We should have perfect contact in the pitch and not to leave open spaces to be exploited by the opposing team.
Commenting on the extent to which he benefited from the absence of Brazilian Caio Lucas, he said: “We have analyzed the performance of Al Ain well, and the danger lies not in a particular name, but the real danger of the competitor is in their collective performance and swift shift from defense to attack. I do not think that the absence of Caio Lucas will be influential, although he has good potentials.”
by the end of the pre-match press conference, the Head Coach of Esteghlal addressed a message to the Iranian fans supporting the team against Al Ain, to be careful not to use any laser beams or fireworks because this may lead to disastrous results by the end of the match. He signed off: “We will postpone our celebrations until the end of the match.”
