Iran women prepare for Asian Cup amid chaos at home following US-Israeli strikes
The question about the killing of Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was closed after the women’s national football team coach and captain said they were making “good preparation” for the Asian Cup in Australia.
On Sunday, it was confirmed that Khamenei, who has served as Iran’s religious leader since 1989 and is accused of numerous human rights violations, was killed in US-Israeli attacks.
Tehran has launched attacks against many countries, with the Middle East region on high alert.
The Iran national team is preparing for its opening Group A match against South Korea on the Gold Coast on Monday and will later face Australia and the Philippines in the group stage.
At Iran’s pre-match press conference with coach Marziyeh Jafari and captain Zahra Ghanbari, only three questions were answered when a journalist raised the issue of Khamenei’s death.
The question was asked first in Persian and then in English, and the journalist said: “I would like to know how you feel now about the killing of Ali Khamenei before the match against South Korea and during this tournament.”
Jafari asked the next question, saying, “Okay, I guess that’s it for your question. Thank you for asking. Let’s just focus on the game itself,” before an AFC media representative, who did not translate his answer, responded in Persian.
While the rest of the press conference focused on football, the players also had the opportunity to examine the Gold Coast Stadium and take photos together on the field.
The team had to prepare for the tournament amid a wave of anti-government protests that were met with a violent crackdown in Tehran.
However, both the coach and the captain played down concerns about their preparations.
“We had players playing in the league in Iran and they were prepared for league competitions,” Jafari said through a translator.
“Then we met at two or three training camps and then came to Australia.
“We’ve had two or three full practices here and hopefully we can show you a very good game tomorrow.”
Ghanbari added through a translator: “We had a very good situation preparing our team in Iran.
“We come here with good preparation. We are doing our best to produce a very good match and a good result for tomorrow’s match.”
This is world number 68 Iran’s second appearance at the Asian Cup, which also means qualification for the Women’s World Cup.
“This is my second time participating in this great tournament,” Ghanbari said.
“I believe that this tournament is very good and there are really great teams participating here, very experienced teams participating in this competition.
“We really want to qualify for the World Cup and we know Korea, Australia and the Philippines are tough matches there.
“But we really want to get out of our group and we want to do our best to qualify for the World Cup. We aim to qualify for the World Cup.”
