Iran's Chances to Advance in World Cup According to Betting Companies

Football World Cup 2022 is scheduled to be held on November 20, and Iran was the first team that qualified for it. This is Iran's third time qualifying for the world cup in the last three chances. Unfortunately, the team has never crossed the group stages in any of those times. But this time, the squad is much stronger as it has qualified after dominating group C. Check out the following article to know more about the team, its history, world cup squad prediction, and information on how it got qualified. 

Iran's Soccer History

Football is not connected with the ancient history of Iran. One of the reasons for this is the fame that Chogan (known as Polo in the current era) had in Iran. Its first official football team came into existence in 1920. In the same year, it joined the Asian Football Confederation or AFC. Later, in 1948, the Iranian football team became a member of FIFA. Though, the team could not be able to take part in major competitions till the 1970s.

International Track Record of Iran

Iran's football teams were called Melli before the revolution in 1979. At that time, this team was strong enough to secure three Asian cups consecutively in 1968, 1972, and 1976. The national team of Iran has also secured the title of Asian Games Football Winners four times. In 1978, Iran qualified for the World Cup for the first time. Unfortunately, they got lost after a shocking match against Scotland.

Iran did not get qualified for the world cup in the 1980s. The reason behind that was the war against Iraq that has made football in Iran suffer a lot. It was unfortunate that Iran did not qualify for both the 1990 and 1994 world cups even after the renaissance. 

Due to a disappointing performance against Ireland, Iran could not qualify for the world cup in 2002. After this loss, the manager at that time which was Miroslav Blaxevic was replaced by Branko Ivancovic. After that, the team qualified for the 2006 World Cup, facing Mexico, Angola, and Portugal. Iran also secured a position in the 2014 and 2018 world cups. As per the latest news shared by Iranshartbandi.com currently, Iranian players are playing in different clubs of different leagues, such as La Liga, Premier League, and Bundesliga.

World Cup Odds of Iran

In the group play of the Fifa World Cup, teams from group B will face each other according to the round-robin format. According to this format, two teams from the top of the group will advance to the next round. Whenever a team wins a match, it will get three points. A draw between teams will give one point to both teams. Each win will give three points to the team, and a loss will give no points at all. The ranking of the teams in group B is according to the following sequence. 

1. England
2. USMNT
3. Wales
4. Iran

This ranking is determined according to the following criteria:

• Number of goals that teams scored in group matches.
• The combined number of goal differences among the group matches.

If, after applying these criteria, teams are still at the same level, their ranking is defined by using the following rules.

• Number of points that teams gained after playing head-to-head matches.
• Goal difference between teams in head-to-head matches.
• The number of goals that are scored in head-to-head games.
• If a player from any team gets a yellow card, it will lose 1 point according to the fair play system criteria.
• A red card or 2nd yellow card will end up cutting 3 points.
• The direct red card will end up deducting 4 points.
• If a player gets a yellow card and then a direct red card, the team will lose five points from the fair play system criteria. 

If teams are still level even after applying all of the criteria mentioned above, then the ranking will be identified by drawing lots.

Group B Fixtures

In Group B, Iran is going to face England, Wales, and USMNT. Viewers can watch these matches on the live broadcasting of Telemundo and Fox. The schedule of those matches is mentioned below. 

• Iran Vs. England will be held on Monday, November 21, 2022, at 8 a.m. ET. The match will be played in Khalifa International Stadium.
• Iran Vs. Wales will be played on Friday, November 25, 2022, at 5 a.m. ET in Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium.
• Iran Vs. USMNT will be played on Tuesday, November 29, at 2 p.m. ET. It will be held in Al-Thumama Stadium.

Predictions on Iran's Lineup

Dragan Skocic has already declared the list of his finest men that will be in the lineup of Iran's football team representing Iran in the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022. The team is in excellent form as it dominated its group fixtures by winning 8 matches from 10 games. According to Dragan, the final team will include the following players.

• Alireza Beiranvand - Goal Keeper
• Hossein Hosseini - Goal Keeper
• Amir Abedzadeh - Goal Keeper
• Sadegh Moharrami - Defender
• Aref Gholami - Defender
• Milad Mohammadi - Defender
• Hossein Kanaanizadegan - Defender
• Farshad Faraji - Defender
• Majid Hosseini - Defender
• Omid Noorafkan - Defender
• Danial Esmaeilifar - Defender
• Ehsan Hajsafi - Midfielder
• Saeid Ezatolahi - Midfielder
• Alireza Jahanbakhsh - Midfielder
• Ahmad Nourollahi - Midfielder
• Milad Sarlak - Midfielder
• Kamal Kamyabinia - Midfielder
• Mehdi Torabi - Midfielder
• Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh - Midfielder
• Ali Gholizadeh - Midfielder
• Mehdi Mehdipour - Midfielder
• Allahyar Sayyadmanesh - Strikers
• Sardar Azmoun - Strikers

Wins That Allowed Iran To Qualify For World Cup Qatar 2022

In the AFC's Group C, Iran competed with Cambodia, Hong King, Iraq, and Bahrain. In this round, it won 6 matches, lost 2, and got 18 points. With these points, it came on top and progressed to group A. In this group, it had to compete with Syria. UAE, Iraq, South Korea, and Lebanon. It also dominated that group by winning 8 matches. So by the end of these two group stages, Iran has managed to collect 14 wins, and the details of those wins are mentioned below. 

Coach of Iran's Football Team: Dragan Skocic

Under Carlos Queiroz, Iran had to face a terrible loss against Japan by 3-0 in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. At that time, Marc Wilmots was assigned as the team's coach. Though, this decision also came with the worst results when team Melli lost again in the first leg of World Cup Qualifiers round 2. That is when Croatian coach Dragan Skocic joined the Iranian team and set a record of 10 consecutive wins in all competitions. The last, 10th match was against UAE on October 7, 2021.

Skocic aims to take the Iranian team forward by using three tactics that are ambition, attack, and pressure. Due to his training, all players of the team are in their best forms and know very well what is expected from them. Skocic's era has become the best time for Iran's team as they know how to change match situations according to their benefit. Though, some critics were still talking about the management of Dragan Skocic, which are quiet now when he manages to grab 15 wins out of 17 matches.