Iran’s sensational second consecutive World Cup Qualification has rightfully made them kings of Asia

The Sportsman – MANCHESTER, 108th in the FIFA World Rankings in 1995, but 24th today.

Iran’s rise from a country simply making the numbers to one of the strongest forces in the Asian Football Confederation has been nothing but phenomenal to witness from afar as they gear up for a second straight World Cup campaign.

Managed by former Real Madrid manager and Manchester United assistant Carlos Queiroz, ‘Team Melli’ were second, behind five-time winners Brazil, to confirm a place in Russia come May through the qualifying stages. A 2-0 victory at the Azadi Stadium against Uzbekistan in June once again secured their status among the elite for the fourth time in history – after 1978, 1998 and of course 2014.

Queiroz’ men’s last outing in the major tournament didn’t exactly go to plan. A group including Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Nigeria proved too much as they managed one point from a 0-0 stalemate with the latter, sandwiched in between an unfortunate 1-0 defeat to Argentina courtesy of late Lionel Messi magic and a 3-1 loss to Bosnia.

The Portuguese manager quit a year after due to a dispute with the Iran Football Federation but shortly re-joined to take the reins for another three years. And it’s fair to say his outfit have enjoyed much better preparation this time around over Round 2 and 3 of qualification since all the way back in June 2015.

Round 2 saw Iran shove Oman, Turkmenistan, Guam and India aside in Group D, after 20 points out of a possible 24 were claimed over the eight match days with six wins, 26 goals scored and just three conceded. Iran’s threat was emphasised on a number of occasions throughout – 6-1 and 6-0 wins against Guam and a 4-0 thumping of India were particular highlights.

The Middle Easterners strolled through the third and final round a qualifying just as easily as the stage prior, and arguably in more elaborate fashion. Even though there’s still one game to go, first place has already been permanently obtained ahead Korea Republic, Syria, Uzbekistan, China and Qatar.

The 0-0 draw against closest competitors Korea Republic last month marked an astonishing 12th straight clean sheet for Alireza Haghighi and the set-defensive line of Vouria Ghafouri, skipper Jalal Hosseini, Pejman Montazeri and Ehsan Haj Sani. That streak, incredibly, begun with that six-goal pounding of Guam in November 2015 and has been a key contributor to Iran’s inspirational uprising.

Carlos Queiroz’ side have scored plenty of goals, eight in their last nine to be precise, which is why the immense defensive record has been so important. But, two men have been spearheading the attack and will be relied on to be the main source for goals when the real work in the summer – Rubin Kazan’s new frontman Sardar Azmoun and strike partner Mehdi Taremi.

Azmoun has bagged nine goals since the qualification process started, 26% of Iran’s total sum, while the latter has six to his name. However, it’s a known fact that to be successful in major tournaments you just need to win and the amount of goals scored don’t matter, Portugal’s recent EURO 2016 triumph serves as perfect proof.

After their terrific showing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, Iran have surpassed Japan, Australia and Korea Republic as Asia’s biggest representatives – a crazy thing to think of bearing in mind how low under the radar the footballing country has been for so long. No one’s saying Iran are going to win the big one, no, but their lacklustre record of one win in 12 World Cup games has a great chance of being improved next year.