Under the leadership of Dragan Skočić, Iran qualified for the 2022 World Cup but just some weeks prior to the prestigious event, former Real Madrid coach Carlos Queiroz was appointed the head coach of Team Melli.
"When the family calls you home, all you do is simply just show up. Fully committed to your duties and ready for the Mission. Let’s do it together Lads! To the future! Thank you so much, Team Melli,” The newly-appointed coach tweeted after accepting the position.
Mozambique-born coach Queiroz, 69, who led Iran at the World Cup in both 2014 and 2018, will coach the team in Qatar, where they are due to face England, Wales, and the United States in Group B at the tournament which begins in November.
Queiroz’s efforts, as they have been at the past two World Cups, are focused on Iran and attempting to lead the nation to the knockout stage for the first time.
It is worth mentioning that the country has never advanced to the knockout rounds in five previous World Cup appearances.
Team Melli booked their spot at the tournament with a minimum of fuss, finishing top of their qualification group with eight wins in 10 games.
On September 23, 2022, as their preparation for the showpiece event in Qatar, Iran faced Uruguay.
Queiroz made a winning start to his second stint in charge of Iran as Mehdi Taremi's second-half goal earned his side a 1-0 win over fellow World Cup qualifiers Uruguay in Vienna.
“Well done lads. Team cohesion with all playing the game with a winning mentality. We must use what we learn in this game to improve our Football, always trying to be better,” the head coach tweeted after the victory.
On September 27, Headed by Carlos Queiroz, Iran met Senegal. In the end, the two teams shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw in the friendly match.
After the match, the head coach wrote on his Twitter account, “Lads, a good camp, two good performances and two great results: First, we learn a lot with the help of our opponent's great players and teams. Second, our identity grow up as a Team with the difficulties we faced and the sacrifices we did for Team Melli Pride.”
Also, the coach said in October, “I think Iran and Japan are the most likely Asian teams to get through the group stage of the World Cup.”
The well-traveled Queiroz, who also served two stints as Alex Ferguson's assistant at Manchester United, was in charge when Iran qualified for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and stayed on in the role to lead the country in Russia four years later.
Iran posted their best performance at the World Cup in 2018, winning against Morocco and drawing with Portugal to miss out narrowly on a place in the knockout rounds.
Queiroz remained in charge until the 2019 Asian Cup finals, where Iran was knocked out of the competition in the semi-finals by Japan.
The teams managed by Carlos Queiroz, especially the Iranian national team under his guidance, played very defensive football, with a great organization in defense, which made it very difficult for the opponents to score goals against them, sportmob.com reported.
While managing Iran, his main playing system was his famous 4-2-3-1, however, at times we saw his team play with 4-3-3 attacking and 4-1-4-1 playing systems too, the source added.
Queiroz is the only coach in Iran’s history to have led the national team to two World Cups in a row. Now, the question is: Will Queiroz be the first coach to lead Team Melli to the knockout stage for the first time?
The FIFA World Cup will take place in Qatar from 21 November to 18 December 2022.
The ‘Persian Leopards’ in Group B of the tournament will face England, the US, and Wales.
Iran football team became the 14th team to book their place in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Moreover, the ‘Persian Leopards’ became the first Asian team to book their place in a major competition.
Iran, No. 21 in the current FIFA world rankings, will kick off the World Cup campaign in Qatar against fifth-ranked England on November 21.
Reported by Amin Mohammadzadegan Khoyi