PORTUGAL-IRAN: Coaches' Quotes

17 June 2006

Luiz Felipe SCOLARI (POR)
This was the best performance by my team in the last seven or eight games. Now we have qualified we can concentrate on other things for the next match. We can look at who has got yellow cards while it will also give a chance for some players to recover.

I think the teams in the World Cup are all even, sometimes they play five or six very good games and then they have a bad day. So we just have to face the game when it comes around. (Whoever we face) we take it, we play it. We were very strong in the first half but we just couldn't score so we continued the same way in the second half and then we scored.

I like the Iranian team. They have very good players, they are physically very strong and very tall . They will become the most important team in that area. We respected the Iran players because they deserved to be respected.

Now we have to continue on and see what happens in the round of the last 16. This was a much much better performance by Portugal than in the first game against Angola. The difference is you have to look at the history - it's the first time in 40 years that Portugal have qualified for the next stage. The first game is always different, there was so much pressure on us.

At the start of the game it was very emotional for me because I saw my family and friends in the crowd and that's the first time I have seen them since they arrived in Germany. I was very happy and showed my emotions. Did I cry? No, maybe I just changed my eye colour.

Branko IVANKOVIC (IRN)
It was an even game. We started to see more mistakes from the Portugal side and we wanted to take advantage. I was trying to make a substitution. Then right at this moment Deco scored this wonderful goal. That was the quality of Deco to make a goal at this moment.

It must have been a big surprise for some people that we did not start with Ali Daei in the team but I needed a faster team and we played very, very well. Because Portugal were so strong it was hard for us and they made it difficult for us to score.

The next game is a life-and-death matter. Angola will be very motivated against Iran but this is the World Cup so you don't really need any extra motivation. It was very nice of Mr Scolari to talk about the Iranian team like that. It was a nice compliment and I really appreciate it.