Iran will face Yemen on Monday in Abu Dhabi in Group D.
“I know we are in a good position when we talk about the (FIFA) rankings. But tell me one thing, how many teams from the top five, as per the rankings, reached the World Cup final in Russia? What counts is what you’re able to do on the day, on the pitch,” said Queiroz.
The Iranian side has been together for over three weeks now with a camp in Qatar before they headed for the UAE last week. And Queiroz sounded confident of his side’s chances here.
“We are in the final phase of our preparations. We are in the taxiway and moving toward the runway. We want to ensure that everything is fresh and ready when we take off on Monday.
“The team is completely focusing on the first game against Yemen. Right now, that’s all that matters for us. We respect them, and we know that even they come with an ambition to qualify. We want to have a good start to the competition,” Queiroz said.
“It’s been a long journey for us. And inshallah, we will play as many games as possible here at the Asian Cup. But it’s important to have a good start, but moreover, this is not about how we start. It’s about how we finish. But every big achievement starts with a small step and that we need to be consistent going forward too.
“We must be ready, in our journey, to face some wonderful moments and also moments that won’t be that easy. We need to be mentally tough here,” the Portuguese Tactician added.
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