World Cup CHECK | Iran – The dream of the round of 16

“After the draw, everyone agreed with me that we are in the toughest World Cup group because we have to compete against two title contenders. “Nevertheless, it is our duty to do better than in the past,” said Queiroz about his goal for his third World Cup finals in a row. Before working in Iran for more than seven years, he had already led his home country Portugal to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The Iranian team has only managed one victory in World Cup history: on June 21, 1998, they won 2-1 against the Americans in Lyon. This memorable success over the team of the Islamic Republic's "arch enemy" was celebrated exuberantly, because for the majority of the approximately 80 million Iranians, football is a very welcome distraction from the rather dreary everyday life of the majority of the population.

The coach is the star Since Group B includes Morocco alongside the reigning European champions Portugal and former world champions Spain, Russia should at least achieve their second victory at a World Cup finals. The heart of “Team Melli” is the defense, which only allowed five goals in the entire qualification. And ex-Real Madrid coach Queiroz can now apparently rely on his defense chief Masoud Shojaei for the World Cup, as he appears in the provisional 35-man squad. On the instructions of the Ministry of Sports, the team captain had no longer been part of the squad since August of the previous year because he had played with his club Panionios Athens in the Europa League qualification against the Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv. In Iran, such behavior is seen as breaking a taboo because of the political hostility towards Israel, which was recently even questioned by a national sports legend.

None other than Rasul Chadem, the first Olympic champion in freestyle wrestling in the 1996 kilogram class in Atlanta in 90 in the Islamic Republic that has existed since the political overthrow in 1979, resigned as head of the Iranian wrestling association at the end of February because of his home country's anti-Israel policy. The 46-year-old publicly complained that it was unacceptable for athletes to spend years preparing for international missions only to then not be allowed to compete because of politics.

Iran's football icon Mehdi Mahdavikia, who scored the winning goal in the historic World Cup victory over the USA, had already criticized Shojaei's exclusion on his Instagram page last year. “Hopefully the day will come when politics leaves sport alone,” wrote the former team captain and current HSV youth coach.

Football

Italy

International leagues

International

Winter sports

Hockey

Tennis

Other sports

Motorsport

Cycling

Watersports

Events

Favorites

World Cup CHECK | Iran – The dream of the round of 16

Suggestions

Comments (0)