FRANCE 98 – MatchQuotes

Match Number 12 YUG – IRN Quotes

Slobodan SANTRAC, YUGOSLAVIA team coach (Group F)

News from SAINT-ETIENNE, Saturday 13 June

How are you going to approach the match on Sunday 14 June against IRAN?

“We’re always a bit worried before the first match, as we have a high opinion of our opponents and always take them seriously. Considering the results from the first matches, all the teams have opportunities to snap up. I want my team on Sunday to use all its flair and know-how against IRAN. But the truth will be found on the field.”

What’s the latest on the line-up?

“As things stand, I don’t think that Dejan SAVICEVIC (8) and Nisa SAVELJIC (14) will be in the team. I’ll name my team on the day of the match.”

What do you feel about playing your first match at SAINT-ETIENNE on Sunday 14 June?

“What’s important is not what I think, but what my players think about the stadium and the atmosphere. They need to be in the condition they were in when they played the friendly against NIGERIA.

You said IRAN were an easy opponent, do you expect them to be a walkover?

“I never said that IRAN would be easy to beat. I’ve never split teams into ‘easy’ and ‘difficult’. IRAN is a team to look out for. Just as we have, IRAN fought the qualifiers and came out on top. They deserve as much credit as we do.”

Numerous Yugoslav trainers have worked in IRAN; how can this help the Iranians in the Sunday match?

“The influence of some Yugoslav trainers is clear in IRAN; we find excellent technical grounding in both squads. IRAN plays a similar game to YUGOSLAVIA “

Jalal TALEBI, IRAN team coach (Group F)

News from SAINT-ETIENNE, Saturday 13 June.

• Could you give us the starting line-up of the team that will meet Yugoslavia tomorrow?

“At the moment the line-up is not definite. I will name my team on Sunday June 14 after training which will end at 11:00 am. Only two players are uncertain – goalkeeper Ahmad ABEDZADEH has only a 30% chance and midfielder Reza SHAHROUDI has a 90% chance of playing in the match.”

• How will you approach this match?

“Despite a certain nervousness, which is always the case for an opening match in a World Cup, everything will sort itself out after the first quarter of an hour. We are lucky to have a good team spirit, we don’t fear anyone and we fully intend to show what we are made of. The most important thing is to play a great match, to participate. The players just can’t wait.”

YUGOSLAVIA can be good or not so good. This match will be the same as any other.

• What are your impressions of the pitch at the stade Geoffroy-Guichard in SAINT-ETIENNE?

“It’s a small stadium, with a short pitch which means the players will have less space to manoeuvre themselves. However, it is very well laid out.”

• What are you hoping for from this World Cup?

“Like all the other teams, we are hoping to get through to get to second round, but beyond that, we’ll have to think about the future. This World Cup should be a good thing for the whole group and the players ought to get a maximum amount of experience for the next international competitions.”

“This was the first time in twenty years that we’ve played in the World Cup finals. Today, we performed brilliantly, even though this defeat is a great disappointment. I congratulate my players who in my eyes played superbly. We knew from the start that YUGOSLAVIA was very strong and very technical. Don’t forget that many of their players play in European clubs. YUGOSLAVIA has made the most of this rich experience. I congratulate the coach and all the players on the YUGOSLAVIA side. Our mission isn’t over. We still have two more challenges to take up, the first against the USA, the second against GERMANY. We intend to fight, and to play as fairly as possible. If we have to go down, we’ll do so fighting. “.

“I was very pleased with my team’s victory. Before the match, I told my players that IRAN was a strong team. But none of them believed me. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the way we played. IRAN played as we expected them to. We were very slow in the midfield and we made of a lot of errors in finishing. We weren’t on top of the Iranians. They were more active and more aggressive in the tackles. Despite everything, our team is well bonded, even if many of the players play in different clubs throughout the world. We had to work a lot to overcome these difficulties, all the more so because we’ve had to go through a difficult period. As we’ve always done until now, we ‘re now going to study the next match and then worry about the one after.”

Dejan SAVICEVIC (8)

“What do you want me to tell you? I’ve two points to make: the victory and the three points from the victory. In the game, it is only the result that counts and I was very annoyed we couldn’t manage to score. We could also see all our weaknesses, which will have to be ironed out for the match against GERMANY and we’ll have to play better. As far as I’m concerned, I knew well before the match that I wouldn’t be able to play.”

Savo MILOSEVIC (17)

“It was very difficult because IRAN were playing with eight in defence and they were very quick on the counter-attack. We played slowly as the surface was very difficult. What’s important is to have won the first match, but also the future. What we can learn from this match, is that there are no weak teams. We still have a lot of work to do.”

Vladimir JUGOVIC (7)

“We achieved our objective: a win. Our first half wasn’t that great, but we played well in the second. The Iranian players surprised us in playing well. It wasn’t an easy victory, we’ll try to correct our mistakes for the next match.”

Sinisa MIHAJLOVIC (11)

“The most important thing for us is to have won this match and to prepare for the one against GERMANY. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t one of our better matches for sure. We kept the ball for too long without going forward and made too many short passes. I’m delighted to have scored from the free kick even if I do often score like this. I couldn’t strike very hard as I was suffering a bit from my leg.”

Dejan STANKOVIC (20)

“

Our intention before the match was to win, so it was important to make the first step. The Iranian players somewhat surprised us. We’ll now be more at ease for the rest of the competition.”

Darko KOVASEVIC (22)

“We won our first very difficult match. We could see that IRAN were a difficult team to handle. They defended hands and nails and posed us a lot of problems on the counter-attack.”

Dragan STOJKOVIC (10)

“One goal to nil is fine, the first match is always more important than the others. Psychologically, this victory came at the right time. We weren’t any under special pressure in this match, but it’s quite clear our game wasn’t up to the usual standard. We had hoped to score in the first half and the fact that this didn’t happen was a bit worrying. IRAN played a defensive game, they had seven in defence and we had a lot of problems in breaking down the wall they’d built up in front of their goal. That’s how we found out that all the matches are going to be difficult and over-all, there’s no real favourite. I felt very weak physically, I had heavy legs. It’s for the good of the team that I was substituted. In the end, new blood was very beneficial, and also Perica OGNJENOVIC (21), coming on in the second half was crucial. He’s a quick forward, the kind of player who can tip the balance at all times.”