Iran’s Shojaei Warns Teammates of Japan Threat
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran veteran midfielder Masoud Shojaei has warned his teammates to keep their focus on their AFC Asian Cup semi-final meeting with Japan on Monday.
Team Melli will meet the Samurai Blue at Al Ain’s Hazza bin Zayed Stadium and the winner of the match will face either Qatar or host the United Arab Emirates in Friday’s final.
“I’m very happy and proud to be here and we are fully prepared for the game,” said Shojaei. “We can’t wait for the game to start and there’s no doubt it’s going to be one of the best games of the tournament. We will put all the difficulties behind us and we’re happy and proud to play in the semi-final.
“Our only target is to stay focused and prepare for the next game. We take everything game-by-game and we’re only thinking about our next game and that’s against Japan. That’s all that matters for us," he added.
“Of course, our coach is thinking about the analysis of other games, but we’re only thinking about this game. We have played some good teams at this tournament but we haven’t thought about games that we have played before,” the Tractor Sazi midfielder stated.
“We are paying attention to every detail. Qatar and the UAE are great teams and they’re going forward, but we’re only thinking about our own game against Japan and we’re fully focused on that,” Shojaei said.
Iran is appearing in the semi-finals of the AFC Asian Cup for the first time since losing in a penalty shootout to China in 2004 and the nation also fell at the last four hurdle when the tournament was last held in the United Arab Emirates in 1996.
But Shojaei hopes that Iran can see off the Japanese and, eventually, prevail in the final to end more than four decades of disappointment for the country’s football fans.
“We are all very hopeful that we can achieve success, taking into consideration that the UAE and Qatar are good teams and Japan are always one of the favorites,” he said.
“But we all hope after 43 years that we can do this task. We have to beat Japan, but after that we hope we can bring happiness and pride to our people. As I always joke with my teammates, we are hoping we can bring our little friend, the Asian Cup trophy, home,” Shojaei concluded.