A look at Iran’s World Cup opponents

Persianfootball.com – TEHRAN, A day after the draw for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Persianfootball.com takes a look at Iran’s group F rivals – their road to Brazil, their coaches, their top players and their previous encounters with Iran’s national team.

How they qualified

Argentina
Argentina qualified in style, topping the South American qualifying group with 32 points out of 16 matches. They won nine, drew five and lost two games, scoring no less than 35 goals while conceding 15.

Nigeria
Nigeria won their group in CAF qualifying with 12 points out of six games and remained unbeaten. However, against Malawi, Kenya and Namibia the Supereagles failed to beat any of the teams twice as they won one encounter and drew the other against each of the three not too prominent teams. They were more souvereign in the later playoffs where Nigeria won both legs and 4-1 on aggregate against dark horses Ethiopia

Bosnia-Herzegovina
Bosnia had very favourable draw for UEFA World Cup qualifying where the eventually topped their group and avoided playoffs. In the matches against Greece, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Liechtenstein they were barely challenged and won eight matches while only drawing once with Greece and suffering their only defeat to Slovakia.

Coaches

Argentina
The Albiceleste has finally found back to form under Alejandro Sabella, an eight-time Argentian international player and former coach of Estudiantes. The long time assistant of Daniel Pasarella overtook the reigns of the national team as his just second head coach job in 2011 and won 19 of 31 games, drew eight and lost four.

Nigeria
In Nigeria Stephen Keshi assumed the manager role in 2011, leading Nigeria to a 2013 African Cup of Nations title. Keshi, who has 64 international caps for Nigeria to his name, has previously coached Togo in three different spells as well as Mali’s national team. Keshi had already led Togo to the 2006 World Cup but had been replaced by German Otto Pfister ahead of the tournament.

Bosnia-Herzegovina
In Bosnia, Safet Susic is leading the team to Brazil 2014. The former Yugoslavia and Paris Saint-Germain midfielder had numerous coaching spells in the Turkey before being named Bosnia-Herzegovina coach in 2009. While failing in playoffs to qualify for the 2012 European Championship, Susic did it better this time around leading Bosnia to a first ever World Cup group stage.

Top players

Argentina
Argentina’s best player also is the best in the world and needs to further introduction – Lionel Messi. With ten goals in the qualifiers he once more proved his superiority. But the South Americans aren’t short of further talent upfront: Gonzalo Higuain scored nine and Sergio Aguero five. With players of international class in every department, the list of players could be extended almost endlessly.

Nigeria
Nigeria don’t have a star-studden squad like in previous tournaments but still have numerous high-quality players in their squad. Veteran goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama of OSC Lille is the backbone, Chelsea mdifielder John Obi Mikel the brain in the team while Lokomotiv Moscow man Victor Obinna and Nigeria’s topscorer of the qualifiers, Emmanuel Emenike of Turkish giants Fenerbahce, are a threat to any defense.

Bosnia-Herzegovina
Bosnia’s biggest names also are attackes. Manchester City’s Edin Dzeko and Vfb Stuttgart’s Vedad Ibisevic scored in and out during qualification. They have established themselves in English Premier League and German Bundesliga. Creativity is added by Roma midfielder Miralem Pjanic and playmaker Zvedjdan Misimovic, who meanwhile is enjoying a second spring in China’s league. Veteran Elmir Spahic of Bayer Leverkusen is the rock in defense where Daniel Davari’s teammate at Eintracht Braunschweig, Ermin Bicakcic is fighting for a World Cup spot as well.

Head-to-head with Iran

Argentina
Argentina and Iran only once met on senior level so far. In 1977 the two sides played out a 1-1 draw on neutral ground in a friendly tournament. Recently the two countries played each other at the u-17 World Cup where the match ended in a surprising but deserved 1-1 draw.

Nigeria
The Supereagles and Team Melli only met once before with the Africans having the upper hand in a 1-0 friendly win in Hong Kong five months ahead of the 1998 World Cup. Iran’s u-17 also met Nigeria in the recent World Cup, suffering a clear 1-4 defeat to the later champions.

Bosnia-Herzegovina
Iran clearly dominate the statistics against Bosnia, who they played no less than five times in friendly matches, having won four and drawn one – the first encounter in 2001. The latest match was held in Sarajevo in 2009, where Iran came back from a 0-2 deficit and an Edin Dzeko brace to eventually win 3-2 thanks to a late goal from Masoud Shojaei.