TEHRAN – Mehdi Taremi was on target as Iran confirmed their spot in the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar with a 1-0 victory over Iraq at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran on Thursday.
Porto forward Taremi scored the winner after 48 minutes to send Iran through to a World Cup finals for the sixth time, and third in a row, AFP reported.
Iran are unbeaten in the third stage of qualifying, having won six of their seven matches, with a draw against South Korea.
Team Melli consolidated their position on top of the Group A table with 19 points, two points ahead of South Korea.
They extended their impressive unbeaten run since Croatian head coach Dragan Skocic took over in February 2020, with 11 wins and one draw.
On Thursday, they recorded their second win over Iraq on the road to Qatar 2022.
The Iraqis struggled for momentum and failed to break down the famed Iranian defense, with the hosts clearly the dominant side on front of their home fans.
Taremi, who only arrived in Tehran on Thursday, picked up an Alireza Jahanbaksh assist after the break sending in a right-footed shot from inside the box.
Both teams were hit by the absence of players following positive tests for Covid-19.
Sardar Azmoun, who plays in Bayer Leverkusen FC, was among the five Iranian players missing, along with eight Iraqi players.
Iran have played in the World Cup finals five times in the past – in 1978, 1998, 2006, 2014 and 2018 – while Iraq’s last and only participation was in Mexico 1986.
Iran has never gone beyond the Group stage in the tournament.
Skocic said he had proved the doubters wrong by turning around the team’s fortunes and securing a spot at the World Cup, and the Croat fully intends to be at the helm during the finals in Qatar later this year.
“I believed in my work from (the) first but many underestimated me and didn’t respect me but I’m very happy because I’ve proved myself,” he was quoted as saying.
“I am under contract with the Iran football federation until 2023 and my plan is to lead the Iran football team in the 2022 FIFA World Cup,” Reuters quoted him as saying.
Skocic spent eight years working in club football in Iran before taking charge of the national team in February 2020, replacing Marc Wilmots.
The Iranians struggled during Wilmots’ seven-month tenure, with the former Belgium coach leading the team to losses against Iraq and Bahrain that put progress to the third phase of the preliminaries in peril.
Skocic made an immediate impact, with Iran winning 10 and drawing one of the 11 qualifiers since the 53-year-old’s appointment, form that secured their sixth World Cup appearance.
The improvements did not come without some drama, however, with Taremi only returning to the squad for Thursday’s game after being dropped for the previous two matches for publicly criticizing Skocic.
Skocic said the margin of victory should have been wider but was delighted to secure progress with three games to spare.
“I am very happy since I could make the Iranian people happy,” he added.
“It took 15 minutes to find our tempo and then we were the dominant team and created so many chances. We could have scored more than one goal.”