AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to Qatar: Focus on IR Iran

AFC – KUALA LUMPUR, The main event is just days away from kicking off, as the continent’s top dozen sides gear up for the AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to Qatar.

Over the coming days, the-AFC.com will break down each of the 12 nations still standing, their key men and what it all means in the context of history as they vie for a ticket to the greatest show on earth.

A true powerhouse of the Asian game, Islamic Republic of Iran are targeting a third successive FIFA World Cup appearance and their exceptional strike force makes them one of the favourites to qualify.

Overview

Team Melli entered the June international window with their Qatar 2022 hopes hanging by a thread, but four wins and 17 goals in the space of two weeks ensured a football-passionate nation’s bid for a third successive FIFA World Cup Finals remains very much alive.

The equation now seems simple enough for Dragan Skočić’s side; maintain the sparkling form that helped them overcome Hong Kong, Bahrain, Cambodia and, most significantly, Iraq, and the pressure will be on anyone in Group A to stop them.

Skočić has access to one of the finest collections of attacking talent available to any coach in Asia.

Mehdi Taremi and Sardar Azmoun headline a list of at least six top-quality Europe based strikers, not to mention attacking midfield or wing options such as Alireza Jahanbakhsh, youngster Mehdi Ghayedi and Saman Ghodos, who last week became the sixth Iranian player to appear in the English Premier League.

Look deeper and there is quality, experience and depth all over the pitch, with even the goalkeeper position featuring up to five options that would be good enough to start for many national teams throughout Asia.

Few doubt the ability of the personnel, the question now is whether Skočić can find the right combination to allow Team Melli to become more than the sum of their highly valued parts.

History

Unquestionably one of Asia’s major footballing nations, IR Iran have qualified for the FIFA World Cup on five previous occasions, including four of the last six, with Korea/Japan 2002 and South Africa 2010 the only times they’ve missed the global Finals this century.

Always difficult to beat, especially at Tehran’s imposing Azadi Stadium, Team Melli were particularly strong in qualifying for the 2018 Finals in Russia, going unbeaten throughout their entire 16-match qualification campaign, and keeping a stunning nine clean sheets in their 10 Final Round fixtures.

The Road to Russia, like Brazil and Germany before it, was relatively trouble-free but the classic Iranian World Cup qualifying memory remains the 1997 inter-confederation playoff against Australia, where late goals from Karim Bagheri and Khodadad Azizi silenced 85,000 fans in Melbourne and sent the visitors to France 98 on away goals.

Despite their increasingly regular visits to the FIFA World Cup Finals, the nation is still waiting to break through to the knockout stage, with all five of their previous appearances in the tournament ending in group stage elimination.

Key Players

Mehdi Taremi

Just over two years ago he was playing AFC Champions League football for Al Gharafa, now Mehdi Taremi is the prolific star striker at one of Europe’s most successful clubs, and – even at the age of 29 – it feels like he’s still just getting started.

Swapping Al Gharafa for Portugal’s Rio Ave ahead of the 2019-20 season produced 21 goals in 37 matches in all competitions, earning him a move to giants FC Porto, where he found the back of the net a further 23 times, including the UEFA Champions League goal of the season against Chelsea.

Crucial goals from Taremi against Qatar, China PR and Uzbekistan helped IR Iran qualify for the last global showpiece, now, with even greater expectation on his shoulders, he enters the Final Round hopeful of doing the same.

Sardar Azmoun

As impressive as Taremi has been in recent years, Sardar Azmoun arguably remains the ace in the pack in the Iranian attack.

A superstar of the Asian game, Azmoun has scored 57 goals in 88 matches since joining Russian Premier League champions Zenit Saint Petersburg in early 2019 and has arguably been even better for the national team, taking his career tally to a sensational 37 in 55 matches with seven goals in the second round of the Asian Qualifiers for Qatar 2022.

Team Melli’s opponents will need to get plenty right if they are to find joy against them over the next months but stopping their 26-year-old goal machine looms as priority number one.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh

“More of the same” is the order of the day for both Taremi and Azmoun as they enter the Final Round of Asian Qualifiers, but Alireza Jahanbakhsh may well be looking at the key matches to come as an opportunity to reinvent himself.

A gifted winger, Jahanbakhsh earned a move to Premier League side Brighton after being crowned the top scorer in Dutch football in 2017-18, but issues with form and injury meant 50 league appearances across three seasons produced just two goals.

Now back in the Netherlands, Jahanbakhsh has hit the ground running with three early-season goals in the UEFA Conference League and millions of Iranian fans will be delighted if he can continue that form in the coming weeks.

Group Challengers

There are no easy games at this stage of the Asian Qualifiers, and Team Melli will need to be at their best in their opening two fixtures.

They’ll open the final stage of their campaign at home to Syria, a team they’ve lost only once against in 28 previous meetings, but also the only team that managed to find the back of the net and take points off Iran at Azadi Stadium in Russia 2018 qualifying, with a dramatic 2-2 draw.

Up next is a familiar foe in Iraq, a team they had to beat back in June to reach this stage, but they had been unsuccessful in all of their four previous attempts against the Lions of Mesopotamia, including the match which sent them packing from the 2015 Asian Cup.