Morning Express: Will the “big man” of Asian football do a miracle this time?
According to IRNA, Morning Express started its report by referring to the history of the Football Federation and wrote: Iran is one of the football territories with a long history and rich achievements in Asia. The Iranian Football Federation, which was established in 1920, has become one of the football powers in the Middle East with more than 100 years of history and progress.
Iran, especially in the last 40 years, has made great progress and has a history of several consecutive championships in fields and regional competitions, and experienced its first appearance in the World Cup in 1978. This team is ranked 22nd in the FIFA ranking and is the leader of Asia above Japan and South Korea.
However, although the Iranian national team is considered the “big man” of Asian football, when it comes to the world’s first-level football fields, it often does not shine much; This team has qualified for the World Cup a total of 6 times, but has never managed to advance from the group stage.
The Iranians are also facing the challenge of advancing from the group in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but this time in a tense moment on the bench of this team; In fact, the bench of the Iranian national team experienced significant changes within two months. The Iranian Football Federation hired Croatian coach Dragan Skocic, but he was fired after helping the team reach Doha.
Then, once again, the Iranian Federation returned Carlos Queiroz, the former coach of Manchester United, to the bench of the national team. The Portuguese man who led Iran in the 2018 World Cup in Russia will be the “captain” of Iran in the 2022 World Cup.
In this period, the Iranians are in the same group with the teams of Wales, America and England. Despite being lower in the FIFA rankings compared to the other three teams in the second group, they are ready to surprise. Considering that this team has the privilege of being in the cup holding area, Qatar’s weather will not be a problem for the players of this team.
Queiroz has stars in the national team such as Mehdi Tarimi, Sadegh Moharrami, Elhayar Sayadmanesh and Alireza Jahanbakhsh; Jahanbakhshi, who was named the first Asian player to win the title of Mr. Goal of a European league.
In addition to the privilege of being in a neighboring country, the Iranian national team will definitely benefit from the encouragement and support of its fans. It is expected that Queiroz and his students will make history with the strength they get from the platforms as well as the technical and integrated game they provide by advancing from the group stage for the first time.