Fazeli: Niazmand Deserves to Be National Team's Number One

Vahid Fazeli, assistant to Mehdi Tartar, says it is too early to talk about Persepolis winning the championship.

Vahid Fazeli, Mehdi Tartar's assistant, is quick to talk about Persepolis' championship.

Ambassador Arjan - Amirhossein Azami: There were doubts in the first days when Mehdi Tartar was chosen as the head coach of Persepolis. Whether he can build a good team and get results or not. But he started the league with good results and now he is on the verge of climbing to the top of the table. Of course, Persepolis has a tough road ahead of it until the end of the season, but the fans of this team hope that their team will win the championship trophy if this trend continues. On the eve of Persepolis' match against Khyber, we talked with Tartar's first assistant Vahid Fazli, a coach who was with the current head coach of Persepolis in Golgarh.

In the past years, some Persepolis coaches did not have a good start in this team and were dismissed. At the beginning of the season, were you not stressed or worried about not getting results?

With the efforts of the children who trained with all their heart, we were able to get good results at the beginning of the season. No one can predict the future, but we were very hopeful before the games started that we would start the league in good conditions. On the other hand, the experience of Mehdi Tartar and the technical staff also helped in this matter.

You brought some players from Golgohar to Persepolis and at that time some took a negative stance on this issue. Are you talking about this?

These issues are normal in football, but we did not react. We tried to add players to the team who already had the experience of working with the technical staff and we knew their quality. Naturally, when a coach goes to a team, in order to implement his ideas faster, he may add some players he has worked with before to his new team. This issue has been seen many times in Iranian and foreign football.

What team do you consider to be Persepolis' main rival for the championship?

The other contenders for the championship are each of their own quality and I can't name just one team. All competitors are respected for us, but the biggest competitor of Persepolis is ourselves. We must always have the best quality in training and on the field.

Some believe that the absence of the Asian League, in the situation where Iranian teams have problems traveling, can benefit Persepolis.

As Mr. Tartar mentioned in an interview a few days ago, our team has 25 to 30 good players who can be stars in other teams. Absence in Asia is not a positive point for us, because if we were present in this tournament, we could use all the players.

Oronov scored his first goal of the season in the game against Sanat Naft. Do you think he can return to his prime?

When Oston came back from FIFA games, he had a lot of effort and motivation in training, and I hope that Oronov's motivation will continue and he can help Persepolis.

Pooya Esmi also played at the age of 17. It seems that you have given special importance to young people?

Being young alone is not a criterion and the player must have good technical quality. We have high quality players like Mahmoudi, Sadeghi, Puya Esmi and some other players who can improve in football. But it is important to appreciate this situation and listen to the words of the coaches.

He has shown that he is a stable goalkeeper and many believe that he can become the number one goalkeeper of the national team.

Players who have a positive and strong personality can always make an impact on the court. Payam needs a worthy goalkeeper who has no edge and deserves to be the number one goalkeeper of the national team.

What percentage do you think Persepolis will win the championship this year?

It is too early to talk about the championship and we are going game by game, but all of our goals are to achieve good things at the end of the season. Fortunately, there is empathy between the players, the technical staff and the officials of the club and we all want to make the fans happy.