Can Queiroz Take Team Melli Further Than Ever Before?

It will be a fascinating climax to the international football year for Iran’s national side as they are set to make their sixth FIFA World Cup appearance. The build-up and preparations will all have been focused on them trying to make it past the group stage for the first time.

Team Melli have landed in Group B at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, pitting them against England, Wales and the USA. Today's football odds has them as the rank outsiders to make progress through to the Round of 16. But is it as cut-and-dry of a scenario as that?

We take a look at their record against the three nations that they will face at the tournament. More importantly, we ask if there is anything in this initial phase that suggests that Iran can bank a qualification spot. 

Can the experience of Queiroz Count?

On short notice ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Iran turned to former head coach Carlos Queiroz to lead them into the tournament. It is a return to the fold for someone that the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran knows well. 

Queiroz was appointed their head coach back in 2011 and spent eight years in charge. It was largely a positive tenure as well, with Queiroz taking Iran to both the 2014 and 2018 World Cups. History was achieved for Iran in securing consecutive appearances at the biggest football tournament in the world.

2022 sees Team Melli extend that sequence of consecutive World Cup appearances, but it wasn’t Queiroz who got them there. It was Dragan Skočić who did that work. But despite success in reaching the World Cup, reported rifts between the head coach and key players, saw the new president of the Iranian Football Federation Mehdi Taj step in and make the change at the top.

Penalties Bring Queiroz Back To Iran

Carlos Queiroz had initially left Iran after failing to get them to the final of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. After stints with Colombia and Egypt following his departure, it was with the latter that Queiroz was hoping to make an impact at this year’s World Cup.

Queiroz guided Egypt through to the final stage of the 2022 World Cup qualification in the CAF. But the draw there gave them arguably the toughest tie that they could have received. Egypt duelled with Senegal for a berth at Qatar 2022.

The Egyptians were on course for success after landing a 1-0 victory in the first leg at home. But they couldn't close out the deal back in Dakar, losing the reverse fixture 1-0. That meant that Egypt's qualification hopes rested on winning a penalty shoot-out.

It turned out to be a horror show for Egypt from the penalty spot, starting with a miss from Liverpool superstar Mo Salah. Egypt missed three of their four spot kicks taken in the vital tiebreaker, losing 3-1. Queiroz left the Egypt job by mutual consent having failed to get The Pharaohs to Qatar.

Can Team Melli Overcome The Changes?

It opened the door for an Iran return for Queiroz. Iran were keen on a change even at such an inconvenient time and Queiroz knew the Iran setup well. Plus the Portuguese is still highly regarded by fans thanks to those two successful World Cup qualification campaigns,  even though Iran only claimed one victory from their six matches in the competition proper under him.

Queiroz walked away from Iran for the first time with a P100 W60 D27 L13 record. That win percentage rate of 60% is the second-highest of any job that Queiroz has held during his career. Only his time in Portugal with club Sporting CP topped that at a 66% win rate.

Queiroz's managerial career has not been littered with silverware. Despite minor titles with the Portuguese national youth teams, two domestic cup titles with Sporting and the Spanish Supercup title with Real Madrid, it’s been a fairly barren managerial career for Queiroz.

But realistically the target for Iran at the 2022 FIFA World Cup is not to beat the likes of the France, Germany, England, Argentina and Brazil to the title. The big goal is getting out of the group stage.

Iran’s World Cup record is P15 W2 D4 L9. At the last World Cup, however, Team Melli gave a great account of themselves, picking up four points in a tough group that contained European giants Spain and Portugal, plus Morocco.

Iran opened the tournament with a 1-0 win over Morocco, with Aziz Bouhaddouz netting late into stoppage time. They then produced a gutsy effort in a narrow 1-0 defeat to Spain, before rounding out with a draw against Portugal. The four-point haul felt like a huge step forward for Iran. It was the most they had gained in a group-stage campaign at the World Cup. 

Group B At The 2022 FIFA World Cup

Iran’s 2022 World Cup campaign starts on November 21st when they face England in what on paper, is their toughest match. It will be the first meeting between the two nations. 

Beyond that, Iran will be sizing up their chances against Wales on November 25th and then the USA on November 29th. England, despite being out of form, are expected to top the group and are red-hot favourites in today's betting odds to do just that.

But it could leave the race for second place behind the Three Lions, wide open. Iran have met Wales once before, which was in an international friendly back in 1978. Team Melli lost the fixture 1-0. Their record against the USA reads a little better.

Iran holds a W1 D1 record against the USA. The first of those meetings was at the 1998 World Cup, which Iran won 2-1. The second meeting was a 1-1 international friendly draw in 2000. 

Current Form Brings Hope

So there are reasons for optimism for the Queiroz-led Iran at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. A couple of promising performances in international friendlies during their pre-tournament warm-ups helped. Team Melli scored a 1-0 win over Uruguay in Queiroz’s first game back before drawing with Senegal. 

Those were credible performances against other teams who are World Cup-bound. The Iran Women’s team recently climbed up the FIFA World Rankings providing a further boost of inspiration ahead of the men’s efforts in Qatar. 

The return of Queiroz was unexpected, which in turn followed the unexpected removal of Skočić ahead of the tournament. But Iran will be hoping for that ‘new manager bounce’, an uplift in performances teams often have when a new (although in this old) head coach steps in.

Iran will head to the World Cup as the top-ranked team in the AFC. They are currently 20th in the FIFA World Rankings. The Group B draw is not the worst against the USA (16th) and Wales (19th). That’s enough to suggest that despite being group underdogs, Iran are not out of the running in trying to earn their first taste of knockout football at the World Cup. You can find lots of useful information on the World Cup odds at Match.Center.