Interview With Iran U-23 Coach Rene Simoes

In November of 2005, Rene Simoes took over Iran’s U23 team which will be competing in the Asian Games later this year and shortly thereafter will begin to the battle of qualifying for the 2008 China Olympics.

Last time that the Iranian football was represented in an Olympic tournament was the games in Montreal (1976). Iran did qualify for the 1980 Moscow games but didn’t participate.

Simoes’ resume includes a number of bright spots. He led Jamaica to their only world cup appearance in 1998. He led the Trinidad and Tobago national team. He coached Brazil’s women national team to a Sliver medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics and has coached in many other countries as well.

Unlike some of his counterparts, Simoes understand the value of a good relationship with the press. That is a tall order for any coach in Iran.  

This article first appeared in www.lastkick.com

You have coached national teams in your prior jobs. In Iran, you are responsible for the U23 team. What brought Rene Simoes to Iran?

Coaching one team by itself does not excite me. Not even at club level. As a coach, I would like to make a long lasting impact wherever I work. When I originally met with the Iran’s Football Federation (IFF), I talked about a “Project” that would link Iran’s U15, U17, U20, U23 and finally the national team. My philosophy is to establish a “Vertical Integration” among all age levels in a country. Players in the U15 will grow into U17 and so forth.

It is important that a country establishes a program that could recognize this philosophy and move the players through the system as they grow older and gain more experience. Implementing this “Project” is what brought me to Iran not just running a U23 team.

Was there a goal, or set of goals established up front to measure your success in Iran?

Several goals were understood. Winning the Gold Medal in the Asian Games is one such goal that I have. Qualifying for the Olympics is another. Contributing to the success of all youth levels (U15, U17, …) is also part of the “Vertical Integration” that I mentioned earlier.

Have you had the type of freedom from the Iranian Football Federation (IFF) that you need in selecting players and staff?

I have had total freedom in selecting my U23 players and I selected 52 of them for phase I. If the IFF pressures me to bring in a specific player against my wishes, I would quit.

What have you and your assistants been doing over the last month and what is your preparation plan for the Asian Games?

As mentioned earlier, we selected the 52 players. For the Asian Games, we will take that list down to 20 players. Early September, we had all the players participate in physical tests. Iran has a very good facility for this purpose. We tested them for velocity, agility, reaction and reflex, speed and strength.

From September 22nd – 25th, we will get the players together in a camp to review our plans for the Asian Games. We need to stay in touch with the players yet we realize that they play for their clubs and we respect that.

From October 3rd - 5th, we will have another mini-camp. Then we will fly to China and Korea to play against their U23 teams.

Do you visit other cities (other than Tehran) to watch teams play? Non-Tehrani teams play very differently at home vs. when they come to Tehran as visiting teams.

I agree with your statement. We need to see how players from outside of Tehran fare at home. We go and visit other cities for matches.

Have you personally done that? Visiting other cities that is.

Yes. Last year, I went to Isfehan and Anzali to watch games. Also, I believe in taking our U23 camps to different cities in Iran. The team belongs to the people and they deserve to see their team.

You have been talking about the integration of other age groups in “the Project.” Will you have any U21 players in the U23 team? Also, who will be your 3 senior players?

The list should always include U21 players. I expect us to take 7 – 8 U21 players to Qatar. These players will then be involved for the 2008 Olympics qualification games. We will also have 3 senior players.

Have you settled on the 3 senior players?

To a certain degree, yes. We like Jalal Hosseini (Saipa defender), either Oladi (Perspolis) or Daghighi (Saba Battery) as a striker and Nekunam if his club would release him for the games.

Would you consider any of the current national team players who are under 23?

Kaebi and Maadanchi.

In your discussion about the “Vertical Integration”, you mentioned working with the national team. What was your relationship with Branko and how is your relationship with Ghalenoi?

At first, when I came to Iran, Branko was worried that I would want to take away his job. Then, he realized I was here to work on my project and not to replace him. From that point on, we had a great relationship.

As for Mr. Ghalenoi, I do understand that he needed to bring in his own people. The two of us met before my recent trip to Brazil and after I returned. We talk about the players. Things are working much better now.

When recently several U23 players were invited to the national team who had no chance of making the final roster, Iranian sports papers wrote that you were not happy. Is that true?

Not true. In fact, I gave the list of those invitees to Mr. Ghalenoi. We do work together. Going back to the “Vertical Integration” concept, you should always include players from the immediate lower age team in the training camps of the higher age teams so that these able players could get the needed experience.

When you signed your contract with IFF, was there any discussion in regards to expanding your role to include the national team?

Well, they asked me to wait until after the world cup. They said 'let’s see how Iran performs'. They said I did have a chance for the head coaching position.

Who were “They?” Did “They” include Daadkan (Former head of IFF)?

It was the federation and Daadkan was a part of it.

So were you disappointed when you were not selected once Branko was gone?

No comment there. You have a good coach and I work with him.

When does your current contract expire? 

December of 2006 (after the Asian Games)

Are you currently negotiating with IFF to extend your contract?

I will fulfill my contract. At this point, there are two elements that would impact my contract extension:

1) How well we perform at the Asian Games 2) The IFF election in October (when a new IFF President would be elected)

My preference is to have a long term contract with the federation. I will not stay in a place where I am not wanted. 

How would you describe your relationship with Darioush Mostafavi (Interim head of IFF)?

We have a normal relationship and so far, we have no problems.

Iran’s U17 took an early exit recently from the Asian competition. What are your thoughts about that? 

I think the quality of the players was there. However, a coach can’t give players international experience. These players were getting their first international competition experience there. This team will gain more experience over the next two years by the time they get re-assembled for the U20 tournament.

Mr. Mostafavi is absolutely convinced that in January this team would need to be on the road. I'm preparing a program that will have U-13, U-15 and U-17 teams travel to all tournaments around the world in order to gain relevant experience.

What formation would you like to use for the U23 team? 

A winning formation. For me usually that is a 4 – 2- 2. I like to have 11 forwards when attacking and 11 defenders when defending. The formula is very simple. There is only one ball. If we hold on to it, control the ball, pass around, our opponent can’t get the ball and can’t attack us. When the opponent has the ball, we need to pressure them and force them in giving it up and prepare for transition.

Given the fact that Iran has won the last 2 Asian games, do you feel any pressure?

Definitely not. I like the pressure that comes along with expectations. The winning history in this tournament shows that we play comfortably there and should do well. On the other hand, Iran has not qualified for the Olympics for close to three decades.

Do you expect a “Gold” medal in the Asian Games?

We have the quality required to win the “Gold.”

Iran is grouped with India, Hong Kong and Maldives. By all accounts, this is an easy group. Are you planning to watch these teams in action prior to the tournament?

We (assistants and Simoes) plan to watch as many live games as possible. If not, we will get their films to analyze them and feed the films into our computers. We also plan to watch other strong Asian teams in live tournaments.

What coaching challenges do you have in Iran? What are you doing about these challenges?

 I think I can mention four challenges.

1) Language – As a coach, it is important to express yourself well. I use an English translator (vs. a Portuguese which is Simoes’s home country language). One reason I do this is because in every team, there are a few players who understand some English. Additionally, I conduct all my interviews in English. I also have started to learn Persian. I have a private Persian teacher who visits me in my hotel two days a week. Also, one day a week, I go to a language institute to practice Farsi.

2) Culture – I try to learn more about Iran’s culture. For example, I drive myself in Tehran. They offered me a drive but I wanted to feel and understand the daily behaviors of every day Iran. By going through these experiences, I understand my players better on and off the field.

c) Age – In Iran, there is a tendency that players of closer age stay together and form groups within teams. The tendency is to believe that just because you are older, you are wiser. From what I hear of the World Cup, you had the same problem there with older players forming a group, younger ones together and so forth. We can’t have this divided mentality.

d) “Just Play” – Iranians feel that playing football is just having the skills and techniques. They want to keep the ball. I had the same problem in Qatar and Trinidad and Tobago. There are many factors for success. Every detail has to be worked out on and off the field. We need to prepare them to play as a team on the field but also help them off the field with their diet, exercise, personal difficulties and so forth. Helping players off the field would result in our success on the field.

You coached Brazil’s women national team to the 2004 Olympics silver. How different is it to coach the women vs. the men teams?

These are two different mentalities. With men, you explain the strategy, they practice and they shower and leave until the next practice. With women, you explain the strategy, they practice, then you spend a long time after the game going over details of what happened, how that happened, why that happened. Women pay a lot more attention to details and when coaching them, I had to be a lot more specific in what each person’s role was with much more precise instructions than men. I grew a lot as a person and as a coach by working with women teams.

As my last question, how is your relationship with the tough Iranian sports media?

 So far so good. We are not ‘enemies’ and should not be perceived that way. We need to be partners. If our team succeeds, it is good for the media. The national teams’ programs belong to all Iranians and we have to communicate to them via the media. I believe that the federation should keep the press up to date on what is going with our programs.

We should not hold back. We need to dream to be champions of the Asian Games and Asian Cup. We must not dream of failures. We need to dream, plan and attempt to succeed.

Sometimes then these dreams turn into reality.