Germany legend Jurgen Klinsmann has become embroiled in a bizarre major row with Iran manager Carlos Queiroz after accusing his side of "working the referee" in their 2-0 victory over Wales.
Klinsmann, who is working as a pundit for the BBC during the World Cup in Qatar, made the comments following Friday's game, accusing the Iran team of gamesmanship and adding that it was "part of their culture".
In response, Queiroz took to social media and described the 1990 World Cup winner's remarks as "a disgrace to football" before calling for him to resign from FIFA's World Cup technical study group.
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The former Germany international, who is the sixth highest scorer in World Cup history, has now offered to speak to Queiroz and "calm things down", saying that some of his remarks have been taken out of context by the Iran boss.
Following Iran's victory over Wales, which saw Rouzbeh Cheshmi and Ramin Rezaeian score in second-half injury-time after Wayne Hennessy was sent off, Klinsmann remarked that Queiroz's side were "constantly in [the] ear" of the officials during the game.
"Carlos fits really well with the national team and their culture," he said. "He failed in South America with Colombia and then failed to qualify with Egypt, and he came in right before the World Cup with Iran, where he worked for a long time.
"It is not by coincidence, it is part of their culture, how they play. They worked the referee. They work the linesman and fourth official, they are constantly in their ear.
"There were a lot of incidents we didn't see," he added. "This is their culture, they take you off your game."
The following day, an angry Queiroz took to Twitter and posted a series of tweets, in which he accused Klinsmann of making a "typical prejudiced judgment of superiority", describing his remarks as "outrageous".
Sharing a photo of the former Germany captain exchanging pennants with Iran skipper Ahmad Reza Abedzadeh at the 1998 World Cup, Queiroz wrote: "Dear Jurgen; You took the initiative to call me Carlos, so I believe it is proper to call you Jurgen. Right?
"Even not knowing me personally, you question my character with a typical prejudiced judgment of superiority. No matter how much I can respect what you did inside the pitch, those remarks about Iran Culture, Iran National Team and my Players are a disgrace to football. Nobody can hurt our integrity if it is not at our level, of course.
He added: "Even saying so, we would like to invite you as our guest, to come to our National Team Camp, socialize with Iran players and learn from them about the Country, the people of Iran, the poets and art, the algebra, all the millennial Persian culture and also listen from our players how much they love and respect Football."
Queiroz said he understood why Klinsmann may not support the Iran team, adding: "Despite your outrageous remarks on BBC trying to undermine our efforts, sacrifices and skills, we promise you that we will not produce any judgments regarding your culture, roots and background and that you will always be welcome to our Family."
In a final tweet, he called for the pundit to step down from his role on FIFA's Qatar 2022 technical study group, saying "we expect you to resign before you visit our camp".
After Queiroz's fiery response went viral, being liked over 17,000 times, Klinsmann extended an olive branch to him, claiming he had not criticised the manager or his players and that his comments had been taken out of context.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Sunday morning, Klinsmann said: "There was stuff really taken out of context. I will try to give him a call and calm things down.
"I have never criticised Carlos or the Iranian bench. Some even thought I was criticising the referee because he didn't do anything about the way they were behaving on the bench.
"All I described was their emotional way of doing things, which is actually admirable in a certain way," he added. "The whole bench lives the game. They're jumping up and down and Carlos is a very emotional coach, he's constantly on the sidelines trying to give his players all his energy and direction."
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