We Prepared Team with Limited Time, Iran U-23 Coach Ravankhah Says
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Omid Ravankhah, the head coach of Iran’s U-23 football team, says they are ready for the AFC U-23 Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2026.
Iran is set to face Hong Kong in Group I on Wednesday.
The 44 teams were divided into eleven groups of four teams. In each group, teams played each other once at a centralized venue. The eleven group winners and the four best runners-up will qualify for the final tournament in Saudi Arabia.
“We are here to perform well in Asia. There isn’t a big difference between us and our rivals, and we have immense respect for them. The high quality of our rivals has increased our players’ motivation,” Ravankhah said.
“I hope this tournament will be a successful one for us, even though we had limited time. We trained for two weeks, and there was not enough time for coordination, but with the quality of our players we will do our best in the competition,” he added.
Iran will also meet Guam and the UAE on September 6 and 9, respectively.
