Iran duo available for Bahrain clash

PFDC – KUWAIT CITY, Following the goalless opener against Saudi Arabia, Iran boss Carlos Queiroz will now have the full 20-man squad available for the crucial second WAFF tournament group match against Bahrain on Wednesday (15:25 local time).

Veteran defender Pejman Montazeri and u-22 playmaker Mohsen Mosalman (pictured) had both missed the first match due to administrative issues in Iran, but joined the Iranian B-team competing in this tourney on Sunday.

At least Montazeri should be a certain starter against Bahrain, who arrived in Kuwait with their full A team and will be eager to avange the 6-0 thrashing in Tehran and the bitter 1-1 in Manama, where Mojtaba Jabbari scored an injury time equalizer, in World Cup qualifiers last year.

However, anything but a win for Iran would probably mean the game against Yemen next Saturday would be their final match in the competition already, because only the top team of the group will certainly qualify for the semifinal stage.

The best second placed team from all three groups will complete the playoff lineup, but due to all four teams from group A already having collected three points after two rounds, a tie or even a loss against Bahrain would mean Iran could only qualify in case Yemen or Bahrain upset Saudi Arabia.

That comes because only three teams compete in group C and therefore the result against the bottom placed team in group A and B will not be considered.

Meanwhile confusion arose because Carlos Queiroz trained the team ahead of the Saudi Arabia match, but eventually decided not to sit on the bench on matchday but instead observed the game from the ranks in order to have a better overview, as he explained afterwards.

It is yet unclear if the eccentric Portugese will repeat that against Bahrain or rather help his assistants Namazi and Simoes coaching the team from the bench.