Qatar 2022/ Iranian National Team is Looking Forward to Exceptional Participation in World Cup, Supported by its Fans

Doha, November 11 (QNA) - The Iranian national team is looking forward to an exceptional participation and a distinguished performance in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, due to several factors, most notably the geographical factor, which makes it a striking force to take on the challenge near its fans and its land and in the atmosphere in which it is accustomed to playing. Iran, which is ranked second in the yellow continent, is participating in the World Cup for the sixth time. It previously participated in 1978, 1998, 2006, 2014 and 2018. The six participation of the Iranian national team comes with great ambitions to reach advanced levels in a version in which the team is provided with its large fans who will come to support the team, as it has a unique opportunity compared to previous versions of the World Cup tournaments. The World Cup draw placed Iran in a challenging group, whose matches will not be without mental tension, nervousness and physical abilities. The team will play with England, the US, and Wales in a challenging Group B, in light of the presence of the England, the champion of the 1966 edition that looking to regain glory again after a long absence. Iran can certainly beat Wales and England, but its match with the US that will be crucial. The two sides met 24 years ago, and this time the match can be decisive in terms of who qualifies from the group. Iran will start its World Cup campaign against England on Nov. 21 at Khalifa International Stadium, before meeting Wales on the 25th at Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium, and then playing the US in the final match on Nov. 29 at Al Thumama Stadium. The Iranian Football Federation chose Al Rayyan Hotel Qatar Mall to be the base of the team during the World Cup, in order to train at Al Rayyan Stadium. Iran qualified for the World Cup finals in Qatar after topping the Group A in the Asian qualifiers with 25 points after winning 8 matches and drawing and losing in one match. The task of Carlos Queiroz, who recently took over the Iranian national team to succeed Croatian Dragan Skocic, will be difficult in the World Cup finals in Qatar. He will have to find a way of realizing the dream of Iranian fans of qualifying from the group stage for the first time. Fans will be relying on Leverkusen’s Sardar Azmoun and Porto’s Mehdi Taremi to lead the team to their first qualification to the round of 16. The Iranian team will rely on the players’ familiarity with the Qatari stadium, the nature of the region as a psychological boost in games. And while the Iranian team faced many difficulties in previous World Cups, it will face in Qatar an easier challenge thanks to the close geographic proximity between the two countries and the ease with which fans can move between stadiums. The Iranian team was unlucky in their first participation when it came out empty-handed in the 1978 edition, which was held in Argentina, but it managed to get its first victory in the 1998 World Cup in France, at the expense of the US 2-1. Throughout the past five participations of Iran in the World Cup finals, the team has not succeeded in qualifying from the group stage, but its sixth participation brings great hope of that. Iran played 15 matches in the World Cup finals during its previous five participations, during which it won two matches, drew in 4 matches, and lost in 9 matches, while it scored 9 goals and conceded 24 goals. On the continental level, Iran has a distinguished record in the AFC Asian Cup finals. The team won the title three times in 1968, 1972 and 1976, and third place 5 times in 1980, 1988, 1996, 2004 and 2019 (shared with the UAE). Iran played 70 matches in the AFC Asian Cup. The team won 43 matches, drew in 8 matches and lost in 19 matches. Iran scored 131 goals and conceding 48 goals. The Iranian team includes many big stars. For example Ali Daei, who is considered one of the best players in the history of Iran, the all-time goal scorer of the national team with 109 goals. He was also chosen in 1999 as the best player in Asia, and participated in the World Cup 1998 and 2006. Mehdi Mahdavikia was another prominent player in the history of Iran. He won best player in Asia in 2003. He is particularly famous for scoring the winning goal against the US in 1998. He is also the most-capped Iranian player in terms of World Cup matches, with six. Javad Nekounam is the most-capped Iranian player at the international level with 151 matches. Ali Karimi is another famous Iranian player. He played 124 international matches, scoring 38 goals. He also won best player in Asia 2004. (QNA)