Sputnik - With Iran�s football team drawn with 2010 winners Spain and current European champions Portugal in Group B for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, former team members Mehrdad Minavand and Reza Shahrudi told Sputnik that the Iranians would be much better off taking on Panama and Poland instead.




�Which team would be ideal for�Iran is hard to�say. I wish we played Panama and Poland, which are no slouches either, and also the Russian hosts. Facing off�with Spain and Brazil would be a tough call. I hope we will play them in�the second round,� he told�Sputnik Iran.

He hopes that with�players like�Sardar Azmun, Saeed Ezzat Ezatolahi and Milad Mohammadi, the Iranian squad will manage to�make in�into the final eight.
�Overall, I believe that this is going to�be a magic tournament,� he said.


Reza Shahrudi agreed with�his colleague.

�Sardar Azmun, Saeed Ezzat Ezatolahi and Milad Mohammadi who now play in�Russia, could prove a big boost to�our team. They know the Russian stadiums, the local fans and the Russian climate too,� he said.

Commenting on�Iran�s chances of�getting out�of the group stage of�the�2018 World Cup, the head of�the Iranian Football Federation�s press service Ali Javadi said that the Iranians would have preferred to�play in�Group A and face off�with Russia.

�However, we are in�the Group B and will have to�deal with�the best European and African teams.

�Our opening game is with�Morocco which I think is the best African team you can find these days. The opening game is always the hardest. Portugal is the one of�the best around�and Spain won the 2010 World Cup and has a star-studded lineup. These three outfits will be a big challenge for�us, but�we still hope that our guys, or sports officials and all our football fans will keep their fingers crossed so that next summer in�Russia we are lucky,� he said.

In an interview with�Sputnik, Wojciech Kowalewski, a retired Polish football goalkeeper who in�the early 2000s spent five years as�part of�Spartak Moscow FC, said that the Spartak stadium in�Moscow is an ideal venue for�the 2018 World Cup and a very inspiring place for�many football aficionados, including Polish ones.

He has fond memories of�the years he spent living and playing in�Russia.

�It was the best time in�my entire sports career and the most intense and motivating too. It was when I matured as�a player and as�a person even though I had previously played with�the Polish national team. The games I played in�Spartak and at�Shakhtyor Donetsk were a perfect opportunity for�me to�hone my skills as�a goalie,� he told�Sputnik Poland.

He said that during�his life in�Russia he had met people from�various walks of�life and under�all kinds of�circumstances.

�Those were kind and sincere encounters. We talked about�all kinds of�things, including history and things that divide people.

When asked if foreign players and fans will feel safe during�next year�s World Cup championship in�Russia, he said that, all the years he had spent playing in�Russia he couldn�t recall a single moment when he felt threatened as�an athlete or watching a game from�the stands.
�Never once in�my five years in�Russia did I witness a potentially dangerous situation which means that security is on�a pretty high level there. A country hosting the World Cup will do its utmost to�ensure top-not security and Russia is no exception here,� he emphasized.