IRAN – USA | Tuesday 8pm
Iran seemed destined to finish in last place after their first-leg drubbing against England, but instead – football’s quirks – after just 90 minutes they are the team with the best chance of making it through this round after the heavily favoured English side. The men led by Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz will play, ironically, all for all with the USA, but it is better not to speak of a ‘clash’ because of the decades-long geopolitical friction between the two countries. In any case, it remains a challenge of undisputed fascination, as it was in 1998 when the two teams faced each other in the French World Cup. Returning to the game of football, Taremi and his teammates have gone from the stable to the stars in the space of a few days. Just four days have passed from the humiliating 6-2 win over England to the epic success against Wales, which came in the very last minutes of stoppage time.
Cheshmi and Rezaian are the undisputed heroes of a match that, in any case, could go down in history. Iran showed their usual limitations in dribbling but had twice as many chances as the Welsh and in the end took the three points with merit. A victory that allows Team Melli to also play for a draw: in the standings they have one point more than the Americans and it is really unlikely that in the other challenge Wales – last in the standings at one – will manage to get the better of the English ‘cousins’. A situation that at the same time forces Gregg Berhalter’s national team, the only undefeated team along with England, to consider victory as the only option for snatching a pass to the round of 16. The USA had the great merit of avoiding defeat to Gareth Southgate’s men, who were kept dry (0-0) even though they were fresh from an avalanche of goals against Iran. It was the second draw in a row after the 1-1 draw with Wales.
Iran-USA: latest line-up news
McKennie
Queiroz seems to want to confirm almost en bloc the eleven that did the trick against Wales, despite the fact that midfielders Ezatolahi and Nourollahi have left the field injured. The Portuguese coach’s only major doubt concerns the presence of Azmoun in attack: the former Zenit centre forward should keep company with the irreplaceable Taremi, but watch out for competition from Jahanbakhsh. Hosseini is confirmed in goal.
In the United States Pulisic, the most talented man, will assist the strikers Wright and Weah, while Reyna will start again from the bench, as well as Sargent. Musah and McKennie, two midfield pillars, will start on the 1′ instead, as will Milan’s Dest. Another weapon in the running game will be Aaronson, an interesting 22-year-old from Leeds.
The Prediction
The stakes are high: Iran and the USA, almost surprisingly, are competing for passage to the round of 16 and it would be a historic result for both. Like all potential ‘play-offs’, it is complicated to identify a real favourite, although the Americans have something more in the way of squad and are slight favourites. A tight, low-scoring first half could not be ruled out, with qualification likely to be decided in the second half.
The likely line-ups for Iran-USA
- IRAN (4-4-2): H. Hosseini; Rezaeian, M. Hosseini, Pouraliganji, Mohammadi; Gholizadeh, Nourollahi, Ezatolahi, Hajsafi; Taremi, Azmoun.
- USA (4-3-3): Turner; Dest, Zimmerman, Ream, Robinson; Adams, Musah, McKennie; Pulisic, Weah, Wright.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-2
