World Cup 2018: Iran

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Iran will be participating in their fifth World Cup finals this summer and will be hoping to make history by progressing beyond the first round of the tournament.

Team Melli first made an appearance at the World Cup back in 1978 but were eliminated from the tournament having failed to win a match. In France 1998, Iran made history by winning their first game at the World Cup, defeating USA 2-1 in what was a tense match given then political situation at the time.

However, Iran failed to build on that victory and in 2006 and 2014, they failed to win a match, going out at the group stages and registering just 2 points.  Do this current crop of Iran players have what it takes to win a match in Russia?

Iran came through the AFC qualifying section, starting their campaign in the second round.  They were drawn in a group with Oman, Turkmenistan, Guam and India.  As expected, Iran had little difficulty topping the group and progressed to the third and final round of qualifying.

The draw for the third round was kind to Iran and they avoided teams including Japan, Saudi Arabia and Australia.  Their group consisted of South Korea, Syria, Uzbekistan, China PR and Qatar.

South Korea were the biggest threat but Iran were head and shoulders above every other team in the group.  They finished 7 points clear at the top, winning six and drawing four of their ten games and remained undefeated throughout the entire qualifying process.

Iran conceded only 2 goals in their ten group matches, which shows they are a well-organised team, who are difficult to break down. The man in charge is Carlos Queiroz, who has tremendous experience of coaching around the world, including assistant manager to Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and the head coach position at Real Madrid.

The Portuguese boss knows how to organise a team and while his conservative approach has led to some criticism in Iran, he has led them to the World Cup finals as a team who will be tough to break down.

The main problem will come in the attacking third and Iran scored only 10 goals in their ten third round qualifying games.  They recorded four 1-0 wins and three 0-0 draws, with Sardar Azmoun finishing as the leading scorer with 4 goals.

Azmoun and Alireza Jahanbakhsh will be the key players for Iran in Russia.  The Latter enjoyed a great season with AZ Alkmaar, scoring 21 goals and recording 12 assists from the wing.

Unfortunately for Iran, they have been placed in a group with Spain, Portugal and Morocco.  All three will be a good test but Spain and Portugal are going to prove extremely difficult to defeat.  However, the first match is against Morocco and Iran must win this match if they are to have a chance of finishing in the top two places.

Even if Iran can pick up one win, it would be an improvement on recent World Cup performances and Team Melli may be forced to settle for that.