Daei threatens to quit Iran post

April 30, 2008

Iran coach Ali Daei has thrown his countries chances of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa into doubt by threatening to quit his role as manager of the national team.

Daei, who has scored more international goals than any other player, only took over the job in March but launched a bitter tirade against the FA on Tuesday, revealing he is still waiting to sign a contract.

After a difficult start to their 2010 Qualifying campaign, Iran - who reached the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals - face a make or break four game period in June to determine if they’ll reach South Africa.

However, relations between ex-Bayern Munich forward Daei and the national federation head Ali Kafashian have reached an all-time low.

“If Kafashian does not have time to talk with me about friendly matches and my contract, then I am not free either,” Daei told the Hamshahri newspaper.

“I have not won my honour so easily that I can lose it this way,” he added. “If things go on like this, we should think about something else and they could appoint someone else who they like.”

Among the criticims levelled at Daei is his continued involvement with Iranian club side Saipa which many believe will distract his attention away from the job of reaching South Africa 2010.

Media have said that the federation is waiting for the current Iranian football league season to end to sign a contract with Daei. However the football authorities played down the row with Daei and said the failure to sign a contract was unimportant.

“Daei has been busy with Saipa and Team Melli during this time and the fact a contract has not been signed is not a sensitive issue,” said the deputy head of the Iranian football federation, Mehdi Taj.

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