Iran’s Kazemi calls for patience on new coach Manolopoulos
As Iran’s basketball team has embarked on a new era under Giannis Manolopoulos, captain Arsalan Kazemi says the Greek head coach will need some time to implement his tactical ideas.
Manolopoulos, who was appointed to the role in August, got off to a disappointing start to his reign last week as Iran fell to a 78-77 defeat against Qatar in a FIBA Asia Cup qualifier in Doha – a first victory for the home side over the three-time Asian champion in 19 years.
In his first press conference after taking the job, Manolopoulos had pinpointed “the high number of turnovers” as Iran’s Achilles’ heel in recent major tournaments, and the vulnerability was on full display again in Al Gharafa Sports Club Hall.
“We had 21 turnovers [against Qatar’s 15] and that is what eventually cost us the defeat,” Kazemi said of his team’s latest setback, adding: “You can’t expect to win a basketball game with such a disappointing figure. The Qatari players capitalized on all of our turnovers, taking the ball and scoring with ease. We will have to work on the weakness.”
The Iranian skipper still showed faith with the new head coach to turn things around.
“He is a decent coach and knows all about the game. He has some finer details in mind, which he’s been drilling into the players during training sessions. I believe we need to be patient with him to fully implement his ideas and get to know our national team inside and out, which will take some time,” Kazemi said.
Kazemi also believes the Iranian team “needs to revise its preparation methods and plans to move towards the modern-day basketball.”
“Unfortunately, we often think that two or three weeks of training would be enough for the team. But in reality, long camps could be exhausting and frustrating for the players. I’m not talking about the European teams, which have completely different conditions, but most of the Asian sides have changed their approach.
“All teams in Asia, from Syria and Palestine to China and Japan, prioritize friendlies over training camps. They play in multiple friendly matches before every qualification window, which leads to more team cohesion. We were the only team in continent to play in the recent qualification window without any friendly games and that clearly impacted our performance against Qatar. I hope that will change for the future games,” added the Iranian captain.
Iran’s first game in the second window of the Asia Cup qualifiers was called off after Kazakhstan refused to travel to Iran over “safety concerns” and was punished with a forfeit loss (20-0) by the international governing body of the sport.
“I’m sure we would have won the game with the support of the Iranian fans anyway, while it would have been a great opportunity for us to gel as a team and for the new coach to get to know his players better,” said Kazemi.
Despite the defeat to Qatar, Iran retained the top spot in Group E of the qualifiers with seven points – one clear of Qatar, with India and Kazakhstan level on five points.
With the top two progressing to the finals in Jeddah next August, Iran is in pole position to advance ahead of the home game against India and the visit to Kazakhstan in February’s final qualification window.