Juan Carlos Gómez Perlado returns to the fore. The one who was a physical trainer of the lower categories of the RFEF – he was dismissed in 2018, after more than three decades in office – accepted the proposal of Dragan Skocic, with whom he coincided at UD Las Palmas, and will undertake his first international adventure in the senior team of Iran. “I have been 17 years with the suitcase on my back and I missed it,” he told AS shortly after the news became official.
Gómez Perlado, Segovian by birth and Canarian by adoption, joined the RFEF in 2002 and became part of the technical staff of the absolute during the stage of Iñaki Saez on the bench. Later he got involved in the physical preparation of the lower categories, passing through his hands the bulk of footballers who achieved two European Cups and a World Cup between 2008 and 2012.
Despite its long history, Gómez Perlado only signed with Iran for the next two FIFA windows. The Spaniard will travel to Tehran next Monday and will make his debut with the 'princes of Persia' on March 30 in a friendly against Syria. It will be the beginning of a preparation aimed at the four World Cup qualifying matches that the Asian team will play in June against Hong Kong, Bahrain, Cambodia and Iraq. If the results are positive, Gómez Perlado will extend his adventure in Iran with the goal of being in Qatar in 2022.
Together with Gómez Perlado, the Iranian Federation announced the incorporation of the Croatian Marijo Tot, who will be an assistant in the coaching staff led by Dragan Skocic. The Croatian has the difficult challenge of making forget Carlos Queiroz, who spent eight years in office and achieved 60% victories. With the Brazilian in the band, Iran left great sensations at the World Cup in Russia and reached the semifinals at the 2019 Asian Cup.