TEHRAN – Carlos Queiroz of Portugal has signed a two-million-dollar contract to coach Iran through to the end of the 2014 World Cup, Iranian media reports said on Monday. “Carlos Queiroz has signed a contract with the Iranian football federation to coach ‘Team Melli’ up to the end of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil,” the ISNA news agency said.
Iran’s English language Press TV channel said on its website that the Portuguese coach will be paid “an annual salary of about two million dollars”. ISNA quoted Queiroz as saying on arrival in Tehran early Monday: “I am here in Iran to help the team make it to the 2014 World Cup. This is my most important aim and I hope with everyone’s help we can make it.
“I know about expectations. One thing I can tell you is that everyone thinks that they can reach the four and win the World Cup. But let’s be realistic. How many have won the World Cup? “We need to plan for the near, mid and long terms,” he said after inking the deal in a press conference shown live on state television. Queiroz said it was “time to work and not to make promises”.
“You need to put together talent, organisation and order. The better you put them together, the more chances of success,” the former Real Madrid boss said. “Everything is open and I need the support of Iranian coaches. “Coaching is about adaptation. If you can’t adapt, then you cannot work. After working in different places, I have good chances of adapting in Iran.”
“I worked with players from different continents. I dream of working on the moon,” an enthusiastic Queiroz said. Queiroz takes over from Tehran-born US national Afshin Ghotbi, whose contract was not renewed after Iran were knocked out of the 2011 Asian Cup by South Korea. The 57-year-old twice former Manchester United assistant boss was most recently coach of Portugal, whom he took to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
He was sacked from that role in September 2010 after a disciplinary feud sparked by a six-month ban for insulting officials from the country’s anti-doping body.
