Jahanbakhsh: I'm fit and raring to go

Dubai: Islamic Republic of Iran star Alireza Jahanbakhsh has declared himself fit and ready to play in his side's group-deciding AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 tie against Iraq at Al Maktoum Stadium on Wednesday.

He is yet to feature in UAE 2019, and hasn't appeared for club side Brighton and Hove Albion since the first week of November, but the star told the-AFC.com he is physically ready to join his Team Melli teammates for the all important clash.

Thankfully, my condition is great, and I’ve trained with the team in the past couple of days," said the 25-year-old.

"I have no problem to play this game, and I am ready. It’s up to the staff to decide whether they want to use me or not."

While Carlos Queiroz will welcome the return of one of his side's key attacking weapons, even in Jahanbakhsh's absence they have managed to win both of their opening matches, racking up seven goals in the process.

Those emphatic victories over Yemen and Vietnam have sealed Iran's place in the Round of 16 already, but winning the group remains important, as it could deliver a much more manageable set of knockout stage opponents.

A draw is all that's required to achieve that objective for Jahanbakhsh's side, but he insists they will be chasing another win.

"This is one of the most significant games for us," he declared.

"Certainly, when we started the tournament, we wanted to progress one game at a time and, thankfully, the first two games were great. This game is significant because we want to stay top of our group, and because in our path we need the confidence that a good result would provide us.

"We’re faced against Iraq, this adds to the importance and attractiveness of the game. Both teams have six points, but to be honest, it makes no difference to us.

"It’s one of the games that we must face and it’s one of the games that we’re focusing a lot on. Hopefully, we’ll face it with strength."

The last meeting between the two sides in this competition was their classic 3-3 draw in 2015 quarter-finals in Canberra, with Iraq prevailing on penalties after a chaotic period of extra-time.

Just 21 at the time, Jahanbakhsh's career has gone from strength to strength in the four years to follow, but - even with an Eredivisie Golden Boot and a record transfer to Brighton to his name - it's clear he hasn't forgotten about what was a painful elimination.

"Surely, the events that occurred in that game, us being down to 10 players, and the conditions that we were faced with, made it really hard for us," he said.

"Despite all these obstacles, we played very well against Iraq. I still think we should have qualified for the next stage, but sometimes football doesn’t smile upon us, and we were eliminated.

"However, we’ve entered this tournament with more experience. Surely, our experience at the World Cup can really help us out, with all the games that we’ve had. The current Iraqi team has a couple of players from the last Asian Cup team that eliminated us, so we know their squad.

"We do not want to make any mistakes this time, we want to be completely focused, and be present in this game even better than before, so we can get the best result."


Source: the-afc.com