This Isn’t Your Baba Bozorg‘s Team Melli:
A Breakdown of Iran’s Group in the 2022 Qatar World Cup
By Danial Golforoush
With the World Cup around the corner and all the teams playing their final friendly games in preparation, Iran’s group has seen some surprising shifts which has made many Iranians hopeful for the nation’s first ever progress to the playoffs! Even though Iran’s Men’s FIFA ranking (22nd at the time of writing) is the lowest within the group, the recent on-the-field performances begin differently. Clearly the ranking does not tell the whole story as some teams are more dominant in their continental tournaments which translates into earning more points. Compared to the previous World Cups, especially the 2018 World Cup that saw Iran coming 1 point away from progressing into the playoff rounds, Team Melli’s chances are much higher to earn the second or even the first spot!
England National Football Team (The Three Lions)
FIFA Ranking: 3rd
Head Coach: Gareth Southgate
Key Player: Harry Kane
Without a shadow of a doubt, the Three Lions are one of the contenders for the gold in this tournament. This is a team full of experienced and recognized players who have achieved great things on the biggest stages at the club level. The combined value of the players within the team beats the likes of Portugal, Brazil, and Argentina at $1.47 billion. With that in mind, even after 6 years, Gareth Southgate seems to still have a tough time with selecting the right formation and combination of players. The pressure of being THE footballing nation, underperforming for the last few decades and coming second in the 2020 Euros, has given the British media the platform to flourish and question the team. Additionally, some of their star players have not hit their best form or are not used to functioning in the formation set out by Gareth, who has been playing a 3-4-3 for a number of years now. Even though England has a number of quality players in every position, their defense and midfield lack a cohesiveness that translates into not converting possession into buildups. This lack of transitional quality, player form, and team structure was clear in their recent Nations League 3 – 3 draw against Germany and their 1 – 0 loss against Italy. Even though the Three Lions are going into this World Cup without a victory since March 2022 against Ivory Coast, they are still the favorites to go through to the playoff stages!
Iran National Football Team (Team Melli)
FIFA Ranking: 22nd
Head Coach: Carlos Queiroz
Key Player: Mehdi Taremi
On paper, Iran has some of the least recognizable names for the average football fan, but certainly they have the best head coach of the bunch. Carlos Queiroz—who returned to Team Melli in early September 2022, taking over for Dragan Skočić—was the head coach of Iran from 2011 to 2019 before leaving to coach the national teams of Colombia and Egypt. Queiroz’s CV is full of star-studded roles, including assistant manager to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United in the early 2000s and head coach of Real Madrid, the Portuguese National Team, as well as the national teams of Colombia and Egypt. Iran’s managerial and team camps have been in turmoil since the departure of Queiroz in 2019 with bad appointments, failed salary payments, underwhelming performances, and—up until recently—lackluster form. However, this is where the might, experience, and charisma of Queiroz comes into play. Although he is still familiar with the squad from his previous campaign, he defeated the 12th place and full force Uruguay by a goal and drew with the African champions Senegal! The results may seem average at best on paper, but on the field the players showed an attacking tactical and technical intelligence that was lacking the previous years. This is thanks to the likes of Mehdi Taremi, Sardar Azmoun, and Jahanbakhsh who have gained solid European experience in the past few years and are now at the top of their game! The biggest obstacle that Team Melli will have to face is not what is happening on the field but the off-field events. The recent protests in Iran have gone into new levels, with some of the players speaking against the regime and others not reacting to it. The divide that this had caused within the team is not something far-fetched for Quieroz to transform into passion and perseverance on the field. His years of experience with big egos and agitated dressing rooms will be key for Iran’s success.
United States Men’s National Soccer Team (USMNT)
FIFA Ranking: 13th
Head Coach: Gregg Berhalter
Key Player: Christian Pulisic
Having not qualified for the last World Cup after losing 2 – 1 against the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, the USMNT has to prove that all is not lost here and that football has a place in the U.S. With the majority of players under the age of 23 and a number of starters for the biggest teams in the world, the expectations are higher than usual this time around! Before, the likes of Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey, and Landon Donovan were the only recognizable names; however, this time around there is a list of players who play a crucial role in the biggest clubs around the world, including AC Milan, Leeds United, Chelsea FC, Juventus, and Borussia Dortmund. Much like Iran and England, USMNT is facing its own issues. Due to the youthfulness of the group, many of these players lack the experience of playing in a World Cup and that is just the nature of youth. We will probably have a very different conversation next time around! But most importantly, the star player of the team, Christian Pulisic, has not been performing or at times even playing for the past two seasons. This means that coming into this World Cup, if Pulisic does not hit top form, his team has to rely on less experienced and prolific players for goals, assists, and the general threat. The USMNT is coming into this tournament with a devastating 2 – 0 loss against Japan (in which they lacked any sort of control over the game) and a 0 – 0 tie against the 56th ranked Saudi Arabia.
Wales National Football Team
FIFA Ranking: 19th
Head Coach: Robert Page
Key Player: Gareth Bale
The Wales National Team are coming into this group expecting to tag along with England and go straight to the next round of the games and understandably so. They have a great mixture of experience and youth in their team and recently they have been a dark horse of some sort in tournaments, famously reaching the semifinals of UEFA Euro 2016 before again losing to the eventual champions, Portugal. Before 2016, Wales had not reached any major international tournaments for 58 years! Wales’ performance will be heavily reliant on the LAFC star Gareth Bale, who at 33 may be beyond his peak, but as one of the best players to ever play the game, he has always performed for Wales and in his recent interviews he has mentioned that he is aiming to finish the MLS season with peak fitness and top form! Wales is coming into these games off the back of two back-to-back losses to Poland and Belgium, 1 – 0 and 2 – 1, respectively. What has been admirable about Wales in the past few years is that they play to their own strengths and do not try to match the other team’s playing style too much. With the reliance on the speed and agility of Dan James and Neco Williams on the left, the experience and possession control abilities of Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen, and well… Bale on top, Wales will not be an easy game for anyone!
Now What?
With all this in mind, going into this World Cup, most of the Welsh, English, and American players will be traveling across the world after an October full of matches, with some of them playing up to 9 matches within the span of 4 weeks! Iran’s National League will be taking a break after the October 7th game week for Team Melli to focus on preparations. More importantly, while many players from the other teams have to play in a new time zone and harsh weather, most of the Iranian players are already playing in the same time zone and similar weather conditions at times. Put simply, fatigue will be less of an issue for Iran compared to their opponents. Often the form of each team is thrown out the door when we start a new tournament and that is mainly due to the timing and atmosphere of the competitions, but in this case, since the games will be played in the middle of the season with little to no break for some teams, extra preparations and slight advantages will have a more significant role to play. Hence why Iran’s chances of proceeding to the playoffs is not that far-fetched!
