Roger De Sa waits on Iran’s FA to see if he and Queiroz still have a job

Roger De Sa’s future with the Iran national team is hanging in the balance. He says he will resume talks with the country’s football federation after the festive break.         

The former Orlando Pirates and Bidvest Wits coach is back in SA from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

De Sa was Iran coach Carlos Queiroz’s assistant and their collaboration did not yield the required result of getting the team to the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time in the country’s history. Team Melli lost 6-2 against England, beat Wales 2-0 and lost 1-0 against the US to end third in Group B.

De Sa and Queiroz have Mozambican parentage and have worked together for some time. Earlier this year they took Egypt to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon where the Pharaohs, led by Liverpool talisman Mo Salah, were defeated by Sadio Mane-led Senegal.

Twelve years ago, the duo coached a star-studded Portugal at the 2010 World Cup in SA.

“We are not sure about our future with the Iran national team, but we will resume our talks with the federation in January. We hope to continue with the team next year,” De Sa said.

De Sa has already started working as an analyst on pay channel SuperSport’s World Cup panel. “After the World Cup, I will go on holiday for the rest of December,” he said.

Queiroz and De Sa took over Iran only in early September, replacing Croatian Dragan Skočić after Mehdi Taj was elected as Iranian FA president in October, returning to the position he held from 2016 to 2019.

De Sa said the limited time they had with the team, and a tough group, always made for an uphill battle in Qatar.

“We were drawn in a very difficult group and our players were always going to find it very tough. We also did not have enough time because some of our players were arriving days before the games started.

“It was a different World Cup with so many different dynamics compared to other tournaments. Our team was made up of mostly local players, but it was an important learning experience for the boys playing against England’s superstars they see in the English Premier League, the stars of the US and against players such as Gareth Bale [of Wales].

“We wanted to make history by qualifying for the knockout stage but we could not get over the line. It is very humid and the tempo of the matches is dropping [in the latter stages of the tournament]. There is air-conditioning at the stadiums, but it is switched on only during matches. Some players are going to start struggling and that’s when you start seeing the big boys coming out on top.

“Fatigue is creeping in and teams with depth such as Argentina and France are stepping up,” De Sa said

De Sa, alongside the refereeing duo of Victor Gomes and Zakhele Siwela, were the only South Africans flying the flag on the field in Qatar.