{"id":5256,"date":"2017-11-10T16:19:40","date_gmt":"2017-11-10T16:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.talesfromthetopflight.com\/?p=5256"},"modified":"2017-11-10T16:19:04","modified_gmt":"2017-11-10T16:19:04","slug":"world-cup-team-profile-need-know-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.talesfromthetopflight.com\/2017\/11\/10\/world-cup-team-profile-need-know-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup Team Profile: More than you need to know about Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Oh yes, they\u2019re back. Possibly the least ambitious team from the last World Cup (other than England of course) have qualified for the finals in Russia next summer. They were the third team to officially qualify and can only hope for a kind draw when the group stages are decided in December because, if I\u2019m honest, they\u2019re not going to get very far. Nevertheless, here is more than you need to know about Iran.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>How did they qualify?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>They topped their Asian qualifying group and went the whole campaign unbeaten. Says it all about the quality of the Asian teams, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Who will I recognise?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>If you\u2019re not familiar with Iran\u2019s Persian Gulf Pro League then I\u2019m afraid you\u2019re going to struggle but I\u2019m here to help. Those of you who have watched Fulham over the past few years will recognise the name Ashkan Dejagah, he\u2019s the captain of the national team and is currently without a club after being released by Wolfsburg\u2019s second side in the summer. He spent two years at Craven Cottage and almost saved his team from relegation in 2014 but it was in vain as the West London side dropped down to the Championship. Another name, and I\u2019m clutching at straws here, you might know is that of Reza Goochannejhad \u2013 the former Charlton striker was Iran\u2019s only player to score in the last World Cup in Brazil (a consolation against the mighty Bosnia) and is the team\u2019s main scoring threat.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Who should I look out for?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>As with every promising young player from a small nation, Iran have their own \u2018Iranian Messi\u2019. He hails from Rubin Kazan and Manchester United fans might know who I\u2019m talking about. Sardar Azmoun faced United in their thrilling Europa League campaign last season while playing for Rostov. He showed signs of class over the two legs but couldn\u2019t make the impact he would\u2019ve dreamed of. He\u2019s the top scoring player who is currently in the squad with 22 goals for his country and usually leads the line. He\u2019s only 22 and could burst onto the scene in Russia next summer.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Who\u2019s in charge?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Certainly the most famous face in the Iranian squad photo is their manager, Carlos Queiroz, who used to be part of Manchester United\u2019s backroom staff under Sir Alex Ferguson. The Portuguese coach has also spent time in charge of Real Madrid and the Portuguese national team during his eventful coaching career. He\u2019s been in charge of Iran for 6 years and led them to the World Cup finals in Brazil in 2014. His reign hasn\u2019t been without controversy as a long-running feud with Choi-Kang Hee, the former manager of South Korea, climaxed in a fight between the two sides during a game in 2013. And who can blame him, the Korean coach criticised Iran\u2019s facilities and swore that Queiroz\u2019s team would cry \u2018tears of blood\u2019 before that game.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>What\u2019s their World Cup record like?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In brief, nothing special. They\u2019ve never got past the group stage but came so close to holding Argentina to a goalless draw in Brazil. The Argentinian Messi popped up with a late scorcher to beat the mighty Iranians. They\u2019ve claimed just one World Cup victory in their history and that came against the United States in 1998.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>And finally, have they got any chance of winning the World Cup?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Personally, I can\u2019t see it. Maybe it\u2019s the poor World Cup record and the lack of quality players I guess.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oh yes, they\u2019re back. Possibly the least ambitious team from the last World Cup (other than England of course) have qualified for the finals in Russia next summer. They were the third team to officially qualify and can only hope for a kind draw when the group stages are decided in December because, if I\u2019m [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":1326,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[395],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>World Cup Team Profile: More than you need to know about Iran<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.talesfromthetopflight.com\/2017\/11\/10\/world-cup-team-profile-need-know-iran\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"World Cup Team Profile: More than you need to know about Iran\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Oh yes, they\u2019re back. Possibly the least ambitious team from the last World Cup (other than England of course) have qualified for the finals in Russia next summer. 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