Jun 18, 2006, 17:22 GMT
Tehran - Iranian lawmakers demanded Sunday that the nation's football coach and high-ranking officials be fired after Iran was eliminated in the first round of the World Cup
Iran booked an early ticket home Saturday after losing its first two games - 3-1 to Mexico and 2-0 to Portugal.
Head coach Branko Ivanovic and all those responsible in the Football Federation of Iran (FFI) 'should be fired for inability, insistence on wrong tactics, ignorance of experts' opinion and humiliation of the people's national pride,' the ISNA news agency quoted the statement by members of parliament.
The demand was sent to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a football fan who had planned to visit Germany if the team had reached the second round or further.
The Iranian sports press has mainly blamed Ivankovic and his main mentor, FFI President Mohammad Dadkan for the debacle.
'Goodbye Iran and probably also goodbye Branko Ivankovic,' Iranian state television said after the game against Portugal, which was watched live by almost 80 per cent of the 70 million Iranians throughout the country.
'What remained is the broken hearts of the fans,' the daily Sports Khabar wrote in an editorial, while predicting the immediate end of the Dadkan-Ivankovic era.
Former deputy FFI head Mohammad Khabiri told ISNA that Ivankovic was unqualified to lead the team in an international tournament.
Football experts said that Iran's high expectations of reaching the second round increased psychological pressure on the Iranian players, who had no previous World Cup experience with exception of Hamburg SV midfielder Mehdi Mahdavikia and skipper Ali Daei.
Another defeat against Angola and returning with zero points would be a record low for the Iranian team in its World Cup history, as the 'Persian Stars' could at least gain one point in the 1978 games in Argentina (draw against Scotland) and three points in 1998 in France (2-1 against USA).
Daei, a former Bayern Munich striker who used to be a hero in Iran and even received the Iranian badge of merit in 2004, is also expected to have a bitter exit from the national team.
Daei, 37, is blamed for imposing himself into the team and depriving younger players of chances to play.
State television further predicted that the number of Iranian fans in Leipzig for the Angola game on June 21 would be considerably less than during the first two Iran games in Nuremberg and Frankfurt.
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