TEHRAN - Iran’s national football team or Team Melli has beaten the UAE 1-0 in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium, extending its winning streak in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
Iran, which has already won the ticket to the World Cup finals in Qatar, netted one minute before the end of the first half time.
Alireza Jahanbakhsh’s cross found Ali Qolizadeh in the box whose header hit the far post and Mehdi Taremi sent the rebound in with a left drive.
Five minutes into the second half, the referee sent off Sadeq Moharrami for his second bookable foul, reducing Team Melli’s squad to 10.
This however did not help the UAE and they left Iran empty-handed. The win pushed to 22 the points of Group A’s leader Iran.

Iran Climb One Place in FIFA
World Ranking

Iran’s national men’s football team, while keeping its first place in Asia football ranking, has moved up to 20th place in FIFA’s Feb. ranking, up one spot since last ranking.
FIFA has announced its world ranking for the national men’s football team according to which the national Iranian men’s football team has ranked 20th in the world, climbing up one place in the world since the last FIFA ranking.
The Iranian squad has maintained its position at the top of Asia with 1,572.9 well above Japan with 1,549.8.
The Iranians improved their rankings following two wins in a row against the national football teams of Iraq and UAE in the Asian qualifications for the Qatar 2022 world cup recently.
Iran was the first country in Asia to qualify for the world cup after the win against Iraq last week.