Hossein Abdi, the head coach of the Iranian U23 football team, stated that his team's heavy and unexpected defeat against North Korea is an unacceptable result.
During the Asian Games, Iran initially took the lead against North Korea but ultimately lost 4-1. Because they finished below North Korea on goal difference, the Iranian team was eliminated from the group stage and could not advance to the quarterfinals.
Abdi addressed the fans, saying: 'First of all, I apologize to my dear people. This result is unacceptable to me. This is the first time we have faced such an outcome in an official match at this level. I believed we could achieve a different result.'
He added that the team could have achieved any other outcome besides this and apologized to everyone who expected and hoped for advancement to the next stage.
The Iranian U23 coach criticized the players' mentality, noting: 'My feeling was that the players went into the game with the mindset that we had already secured qualification for the next round. But frankly speaking, North Korea was one of the teams we expected to face a difficult match against from the start. The Koreans played very good football, and they deserve congratulations.'
Abdi expressed disappointment that the team failed to maintain the advantage in what seemed to be one of the toughest groups of the tournament, where it was unclear until the last day which teams would advance. He noted that they failed to show the expected performance or earn the necessary points, and apologized to the nation once again.
In conclusion, the coach expressed hope for improved results in the future, believing that this experience will help the team choose a more correct path. He emphasized that players must realize that nothing is decided until the match is over, and no result is guaranteed until the final whistle blows.