2018 World Cup (June 2018)

While Iran impressed in qualification with its chain of victories and clean sheet streak, however, it was dealt a blow in the draw for the World Cup having been placed in the same group as Spain and Portugal, with Morocco completing the foursome. In preparation Iran played a number of teams, none too impressive with the toughest opponent being Turkey, achieving four wins (against Sierra Leone, Algeria, Uzbekistan and Lithuania) and two losses (against Tunisia and Turkey). Blending youth and experience, Queiroz somehow balanced tactical decisions with popular decisions although by dropping defenders Jalal Hosseini (while his namesake Majid Hosseini would survive the cut) and Ghafouri he raised eyebrows. Without a national team game in two years, Teymourian’s absence was understandable. Another surprise omission was Rezaei who had a great season in Belgium, scoring 16 goals although that could be attributed to the presence of other strong attacking options such as Azmoun, Ansarifard and Taremi. Beiranvand remained first choice in goal although Amir Abedzadeh, son of former national team captain and goalkeeper Ahmad Reza, also made the squad. In spite of not playing a role in the qualifiers, European based midfielder Ghoddoos was selected in spite of interest from Sweden’s national team. The inclusion of an in form Jahanbakhsh, leading scorer of the Dutch League, was a given while Shojaei would make history by becoming the first Iranian to go to three World Cups. In spite of spending most of 2018 injured, Dejagah made the trip to Russia as did Ghoochannejad.

 

Once again off the field problems created tensions for the team. Adidas, while not sponsoring the team due to sanctions, instead gave a discount for them to buy standard uniforms (the simplest white tunic, with no symbols, drawings or anything else to catch the eye) while leaving the customization of them to the Iranian officials. On a similar note, right before the World Cup Nike announced that they would not provide cleats to the Iranian national team. Iran held camp and made its final preparations in Turkey before finally heading to Russia.

 

Being the underdogs against Spain and Portugal, Iran’s opening group stage game against Morocco would become a crucial fixture with anything but a win practically assuring a first round elimination.

 

Morocco started at a frantic pace, having four good opportunities inside the opening 10 minutes. Amine Harit pulled a half-volley wide, Ziyech completely missed the ball when an inventive freekick routine saw the ball rolled to him on the edge of the penalty area, Younes Belhanda sent a diving header wide and Ayoub El Kaabi shot off target. The chances kept coming for the African side as Belhanda had an effort blocked in a goalmouth scramble with Beiranvand saving Mehdi Benatia's follow-up strike. 

At one point Iran lobbed the ball into the Moroccan box, it bounced around a bit, and then both teams frantically signaled to the referee: Iran wanted a penalty and Morocco a handball. Neither one was given. Iran had the best chance of the first half when Azmoun was put clean through, with only Morocco keeper Munir Mohamedi to beat but the chance was wasted as the keeper denied him and also saved the follow-up attempt from Alireza Jahanbakhsh. 

In spite of bring on attacking players Taremi and Ghoddoos, Iran did not muster a single attempt in the second half. A half-volley from outside the box from Hakim Ziyech stung the palms of a diving Beiranvand as the game edged towards the final 10 minutes without a breakthrough. 

Going into injury time, Morocco's Sofyan Amrabat conceded a needless freekick by fouling Ghoddoos near the corner flag. Hajsafi whipped in the freekick which missed its target, Taremi, and Bouhaddouz could only steer the ball into his own net for an unlikely Iran victory. 

The 1-0 win was only Iran’s second World Cup win since a 2-1 win against the US 20 years earlier. After the match Queiroz would hail Iran’s opening World Cup win as “beautiful”.

With Ezzatollahi now back from suspension, Iran faced Spain. 

 

More than 20,000 Iranians filled the Kazan Arena with an astonishing level of support. With six players strung across in a line in front of Beiranvand, Iran presented a solid red defensive wall which Spain struggled to penetrate. Iran sat back, frequently putting all 11 men behind the ball, and Spain continually probed for a breakthrough. 

Silva unleashed a 30 yard free kick that was deflected on target, but right into the arms of Beiranvand. Silva found himself in space in the Iranian box and unleashed a goalbound shot, but at least three defenders launched themselves at the ball, deflecting it away. 

Diego Costa tussled with Beiranvand, who, after the Spaniard launched a verbal flurry in his direction and stepped on his foot, went down as if he had been hit by a sledgehammer. Spain came out from half time determined to quell the resistance. Busquets nodded a corner kick over to Pique whose touch seemed goalbound until Amiri saved it on the line. Busquets’s subsequent long range shot was saved by Beiranvand, who then scooped the ball away from Vasquez. 

Then Isco blasted over. Against the run of play Iran nearly took the lead when the ball fell to Ansarifard who hammered a shot into the side netting. But after 54 minutes Costa barreled into the box, twisting and turning. Rezaian tried to tackle him and clear, but the attempted clearance ricocheted off of Costa’s knee beyond Beiranvand’s reach and into the net. 

It seemed like Iran had equalized after a freekick when Ezzatollahi fired home in a goalmouth scramble but the referee brought the premature celebrations to a shuddering halt by referring the incident to the video assistant, who informed him the linesman was right to notice offside in the buildup. 

Queiroz afterwards revealed that such had been the tension, a member of his staff had collapsed during the VAR hiatus and was taken to hospital. Iran got lucky when during a penalty box scramble Costa and Gerard Pique repeatedly kicked the ball almost literally on the Iranian goal line but were foiled by Rezaian and Ezzatollahi who all but fell on top of the ball.

Jahanbakhsh was sent on the field to give Iran an offensive spark. With time running out Amiri nutmegged Pique before floating a perfect cross toward the back post. Taremi flew in and headed the ball from the edge of the six-yard-box but it went over. 

Iran would go on to lose 1-0.

Going into the final group game, Iran still firmly had its fate in its own hands where a win against Portugal (or even a tie in case of a Spanish loss against Morocco) would qualify it to the next round. 

 

Iran started off looking tense due to the importance of the game. Early on Ronaldo cut inside the Iranian box on the left, switched the ball onto his right foot and drilled it low and hard but was denied by Beiranvand’s upper body. After a mixup between Beiranvand and Ezzatollahi, with the player sliding in to clear just as his goalkeeper was approaching to scoop up the ball. Instead the loose ball fell to João Mário who shot over, prompting Beiranvand to shove Ezzatollahi in the chest and yell some choice words at him. 

Soon afterwards Beiranvand spilled what should have been a routine cross and was lucky the ball broke to his own player. Iran threatened from a freekick but Ezzatollahi’s firm header was straight to the Portuguese keeper. With minutes left till the break, Quaresma curled a superb shot with the outside of his boot across the keeper, past Beiranvand’s diving arm, and into the top corner from the edge of the area. 

The goal, just before halftime, led Iranian heads to droop and briefly quelled the endless din of vuvuzelas inside the stadium, where Iran fans predominated. However, they were buoyed soon after the restart. But minutes after the restart, Ronaldo had a leg clipped by Ezzatollahi just inside the penalty area. 

The referee was having none of it and in a pre-VAR world Ronaldo’s reputation for falling easily would have meant that was the end of the matter. But after seeing the replay the ref had no choice but to award Portugal the penalty. Beiranvand, who had looked dodgy all night, made amends with a brilliant save, starting off in a position behind his goalline and bouncing forward saving Ronaldo’s kick. 

The saved penalty drew tremendous cheers from the Iranian fans and spurred the team on to a period of attacking. Substitute Ghoddoos scuffed a low shot just wide of a post but for the most part Portugal were in control and the great roars that accompanied every Iranian attack became less frequent. Late in the game as they jockeyed for position, Ronaldo appeared to elbow Pouraliganji and he went down prompting a VAR review. 

The Paraguayan referee, Enrique Cáceres, reviewed footage of the incident for what seemed like an eternity before eventually showing a yellow card to Ronaldo. Queiroz, ranted at FIFA and the VAR system afterwards, suggesting Ronaldo should have been sent off. “Elbow is a red card in the rules, the rules doesn’t say if it’s Messi or Ronaldo,” he explained. Iran appeared to be resorting to looking for unlikely penalties: three times in the second half Iranian players went down optimistically in the area. Then came Iran’s fourth penalty appeal deep into stoppage time for a handball that intercepted Azmoun’s header. It hardly looked more promising than the previous three shouts but was referred to VAR and eventually given. Ansarifard fired a perfect penalty into the top corner. 

With time running out one last attack saw Taremi burst into the Portuguese box but with the goal at his mercy strike the ball into the side netting. 

As the whistle went and the teams settled for a 1-1 tie, the Iranians fell to the ground dejected, their World Cup adventure over.

 

Iran roster: Beiranvand, Mazaheri, Abedzadeh, Cheshmi, Mohammadi, Pouraliganji, Khanzadeh, Montazeri, Hosseini, Rezaian, Hajsafi, Torabi, Ezzatollahi, Ebrahimi, Amiri, Shojaei, Dejagah, Ghoddoos, Jahanbakhsh, Ansarifard, Ghoochannejad, Taremi, Azmoun. Coach: Queiroz