 At the end of the season, he was sacked from the team due to his weak results and finishing the season in the 6th place.IRIFF appointed Ghalenoei as head coach of the Iran national football team on 17 July 2006 to succeed Branko Ivanković.After finishing first in the qualifying round 2 points ahead of South Korea and then finishing first in the group stage of the final tournament in Malaysia, Iran lost to South Korea in the penalty shoot-outs of the Quarters Final match and was eliminated from the 2007 Asian Cup.