http://www.iransportspress.com/cgi-bin/news/fullnews.cgi?newsid1040080598,38309, Below is an with Mehdi Mahdavikia by ISP after his game against VfL Bochum. ===================================== "Iran Sports Press: We like to thank you for giving Iran Sports Press some of you time. Would you tell us a bit about the level of your fitness at the moment, and if you are completely free from all injuries. Mehdi Mahdavikia: I like to say hi to all my fellow Iranians. I had a very difficult time last year as I was out of action for 8-9 months, and as I had an operation on my back which took 3 months for me to recover from. But now I am completely free of injury and I feel very good. --- Iran Sports Press: Over the last 4-5 years, which we have seen a number of Iranian players move to European leagues, we have seen a number of lengthy injuries to most of these players. Injuries to players like yourself, Karim Bagheri when he was with Charlton, Mehdi Pashazadeh, and Ali Daei, just to name a few. Do you think these injuries occur just by chance, or do you think there are other reasons behind them? Mehdi Mahdavikia: I think there are several reasons for these injuries. Of course, injuries happen to most football players but in our case (Iranian players), it is a bit more complicated. For example, when my injury happened we had 3-4 months of very tough and competitive games with the national team, which involved long flights each week and then when I returned to Hamburg, I came back with an injury. I hadn’t had rest for 2-3 years at all. I was playing my time off, and summer breaks with the national team, and the rest of the time I was playing for Hamburg and this lack of rest was a big problem and caused my injuries and I think if I go on a tough regime of fitness training during the winter break of Bundesliga, (which starts on December 14, and lasts for 3 weeks), I shouldn’t have many problems in the second half of the Bundesliga season. But for most of our players, the national team games, and constant long flights, cause our bodies not to recover at all, and the doctors have said the exact same thing. --- Iran Sports Press: Although we are not having any major qualifying games in the next year or so, but this period we will start having the Asian Qualifying games, Asian Games, and then the World Cup Qualifying games. How do you think we can overcome this problem that you just mentioned with all these games coming up? Mehdi Mahdavikia: This is not just a problem for us, but also a problem for the other Asian players who play in Europe as the timetable of the football event in Asia is completely different to the one in Europe. This is causing problems for all the Asian players, and especially us Iranians as we have to play in all our national team games. We can learn from Japanese who are using a good system. They don’t use their top players for those games which are not too important, but we have to go and play in all of our games, and this sometimes causes problems. I think one of the best ways to overcome this is to have a similar football calendar to the one used in Europe, and to hold friendly games at the same time as the European teams are having their friendly games. The Asian calendar has been like this for a long time, and if it stays the same it would put the Asian players at disadvantage, and I hope this changes. --- Iran Sports Press: Do you get time off from your coaches at Hamburg to recover when you play international games with Iran? Mehdi Mahdavikia: Around 2 years ago, we had a friendly game with Japan in Japan, and after the game, myself, Ali Daei, and Vahid Hashemian had to fly straight back to Germany. The flight lasted 12 hours, and then I had to take another plane to Hamburg from Frankfurt. By the time I reached to Hamburg, I only had two days to prepare for our next game in Bundesliga, which was a very important game against Hertha Berlin, which Ali Daei used to play in. The first thing I was told by the coaches on my return was to have a massage and rest, and they even allocated me a room on the ground floor of the hotel, so I didn’t have to go up and down the stairs, and this helped me a lot, and I probably played my best game of the season that year against Hertha Berlin. --- Iran Sports Press: So do you think we will see less Iranian and Asian players moving to Europe now, unless the Asian calendar is changed? Mehdi Mahdavikia: When a team wants to sign a contract with a player, they look at the number of games he might play with the national team for the next 1-2 years and when they see an Iranian player is going to be away for a full 3 months every season, and that such a player would miss 8-9 games, they start having doubts about signing him and would istead, buy a player who can play the whole season. So this problem of being away with the national team for 3 months is very damaging to both us, the players who are already here, and Iranian football. This would result in European clubs not wanting to buy Iranian players and the players already in Europe would start losing their places in the team when they are away for such a long period. Most players have problems when they return to thier European clubs, for example I had 2-3 players who were ahead of me and fighting for one place on the team and I had to work really hard to get my starting place in the team back. --- Iran Sports Press: Despite being out for so many months, you have managed to return to the starting line up very quickly. What do you think is the reason behind your rapid progress since your operation? Mehdi Mahdavikia: I went through a really difficult time last year. 8 months out of football for any footballer is a very long time and especially my case was more complicated. I tried everything I could to gain my full fitness without having the operation and this went on for 4 months but then I realised I had no choice and had to go under surgeons knife. It then took me another 3 months to become fully fit again. I had to work very hard to gain my full fitness again, and I spent my whole summer break in the hospital in Germany, and didn’t visit my parents in Iran at all. My only goal was to get fit again and thanks to professor Nemati, who performed the operation and did a great job, my family who helped me a lot, and my manager, Mr Fazeli, I got through those hard times. --- Iran Sports Press: What’s your main goal with Hamburg this year, and where do you hope to finish in the table at the end of the season, remembering that your team had a very poor start to the season? Mehdi Mahdavikia: We started the season very poorly, and didn’t play well at all in the first 6-7 games of the season. But in the last 5-6 weeks, we have done a lot better and have moved up the table. Hopefully we can do even better after the winter break and finish in the top 4 of Bundesliga. Our main goal is to at least finish in the top 6 and qualify for the UEFA Cup but if things go well, we might even qualify for a place in the Champions League. --- Iran Sports Press: Your current contract with Hamburg will run out at the end of the next season in 2004. Would you like to stay in Hamburg or do you see your future somewhere else in Germany or even somewhere else in Europe? Mehdi Mahdavikia: I haven’t really thought about this issue much. I missed out a whole season in Bundesliga last year and understandably didn’t have any offers at the end of last season. But I have had a good time here with Hamburg. We have finished 3rd in the league once and then we played well in the Champions League. I am going to leave everything to next year and see what kind of offer I will get from Hamburg and then I will have to decide if its good for me to stay in Hamburg or if I should go to other leagues, so it all depends on what kind of offer I get. --- Iran Sports Press: How do you like Hamburg as a city? Mehdi Mahdavikia: Everything is very good here. I am living in one of Germany’s best cities, the team has been good and I haven’t had any problems here at all. --- Iran Sports Press: How is your relationship with the national team coach, Mr Ivankovic, and what do you think of his style of management? Mehdi Mahdavikia: Well, he was the assistant of Mr Blazevic, and I personally don’t know his exact style of management as I have not really played under his management as I have had injuries. But from what I have seen him do with the U-23 team, and the great results we got in the Asian Games, I can say he has done well. I have also talked to him on the telephone 2-3 times about the future national team games. But it is not only the coach that can take Iran forward. There are a lot of other factors involved. Good facilities, good planning, friendly games, are all important. But Mr Ivankovic has done well over the past few months and I am optimistic that we can improve further under his management, if the Iranian Football Federation decides to renew Mr Ivankovic’s contract. --- Iran Sports Press: You just mentioned the great performance of the U-23 team in Busan, especially after beating teams like Korea and Japan on our way of winning the title. Considering we used a very young team, how do u see the future with these players? Mehdi Mahdavikia:Our games in Korea were very good. Beating teams like Korea, Japan, and Kuwait was great. Our youngsters played well and showed we have the potential to have great players in our country. But there are other factors involved in the growth of our football which we don’t pay much attention to in Iran. Look at what we have done since winning the Asian games in Busan. We have had no friendly games and the players have all gone back to their clubs without any further training with the national team. But the players did great and I am very optimistic about the future." +++++++++++++++++++++++ Nice interview by ISP. I agree with Mahdavkia to the max. AFC NEEDS TO CHANGE ITS CALENDAR!
No problem. And yah, it really is a great interview. You can tell from the interview that Mehdi hasnt spoken with Iranian soccer fan for a while. He seems so happy and willing to do the interview. MEHDI MAHDAVIKIA, PALANGE ASIA!!!