Selección de Irán para el Mundial de Qatar 2022: historia, convocados y estrellas
Iran's national team arrives at the World Cup in Qatar with one of its legends, Portugal's Carlos Queiroz, as national coach after leaving Colombia just months after the start of qualifying for Qatar. It will be the third time he has coached Iran at a World Cup, having done so in 2014 in Brazil and in 2019 in Russia.
Coincidentally, Queiroz failed to take Egypt to the World Cup and lost the Africa Cup of Nations to Senegal on penalties.
Matchday 1: England-Iran. Monday, 21 November 2022 at 14:00 Spanish time. Khalifa International Stadium (Doha).
Matchday 2: Wales-Iran. Friday, 25 November 2022 at 11:00 (GMT). Ahmad bin Ali Stadium (Al Rayyan).
Matchday 3: Iran-United States. Tuesday, 29 November 2022, 20:00 (English time). Al Thumama Stadium (Doha).
Iran are one of the strongest teams in Asia. The team known as the Princes of Persia have played at the FIFA World Cups in Argentina (1978), France (1998), Germany (2006), Brazil (2014) and Russia (2018). In all of them he lost in the first round and has two victories in total.
His most important trophy haul is in the Asian Cup where he is a regular in the final rounds. He won the tournament three times, has finished third in five, including the last one in 2019 in the United Arab Emirates.
Their most important historical player is Javad Nekounam, a former Osasuna striker who scored 39 goals in 151 appearances for his national team. Prior to that, Ali Daei scored 109 goals in 149 games.
The squad for the Qatar World Cup will largely be those who have helped Iran qualify in recent years. Of particular note is Mehdi Taremi, the 30-year-old Porto striker who has 55 caps and 22 goals to his name.
Another standout is Ponferradina striker Amir Abedzadeh, who has 11 Second Division appearances to his name. Ehsan Hajsafi, the AEK Athens left-back is the captain after 114 caps.
Iran tried to play a friendly match against Russia before the start of their participation in the World Cup, but FIFA refused them permission to play it. In the end, their opponents will be Nicaragua.
