SAO PAULO -- Iran will earn the respect of soccer fans around the world with their performance against Nigeria in their World Cup opener on Monday, according to the team's American goalkeeping coach.
Iran are among the lower-ranked teams in the tournament and head into the Group F match at Curitiba with only one previous victory at a World Cup, against the United States in 1998. They also face Lionel Messi's Argentina and Bosnia-Herzegovina in group play.
But keeper coach Dan Gaspar said Saturday the squad was fully focused on Nigeria and that his lesser-known players, who he said would be a "mystery team" for their opponents, would be playing with pride on the game's biggest stage.
"We are probably the team that is the least recognised, the least known of all the other 31 teams," he said, after the team's final training session at the sports complex of Sao Paulo club Corinthians.
"But the one thing that I can guarantee is that after 90 minutes we will earn the respect of the Nigerians, we will earn the respect of the football fans and the world will begin to recognize the level of play that we have on our team."
The 58-year-old from Connecticut is in his third season as goalkeepers coach of Iran.
"I believe they find me more interesting. In three-plus years working in Iran, I have never have had any issues as a result of my nationality, Portuguese-American," he said. "I have been impressed by the Iranian hospitality and kindness."
Gaspar was coach at the University of Hartford from 2005-11, leading the Hawks to 36 wins, 46 losses and 21 ties and finishing no higher than third in the America East Conference. That stretch interrupted a longtime career as an assistant to Carlos Queiroz, the Mozambique-born Portuguese.
The pair worked together with Portuguese soccer's governing body starting in 1993, then moved on together to Sporting Lisbon, Major League Soccer's New York-New Jersey MetroStars and Japan's Nagoya Grampus Eight. Gaspar was goalkeeper consultant when Queiroz coached South Africa during qualifying for the 2002 World Cup and worked for Portugal's national team under both Queiroz and Luiz Felipe Scolari, currently in his second stint as Brazil's coach. When Queiroz was hired by Iran in April 2011, Gaspar followed.
Gaspar was accompanied on Saturday by two Farsi-speaking defenders -- Amirhossein Sadeghi and Pejman Montazeri.
"We will definitely try to make our country proud," Montazeri said through a translator. "Our first and main objective is against Nigeria and we have to focus on that."
For Gaspar, that determination is shared by all of Montazeri's teammates.
"The players are confident yet humble," Gaspar said. "This team is prepared to sacrifice, to suffer, to fight with humility and represent Iran the best possible way."