Iran

Iran suffered huge disappointment when they missed out on going to the World Cup in 2002. However, they made it to Germany 2006 with a game to spare.

Though, not everything went their way, they did lose 1-0 to Jordan away, one of the weakest teams in the qualifying group.

Iran World Cup profile continues below

The manager, a Croatian, Branko Ivankovic, has practically rebuilt the squad since 2002 after Iran lost out to the Republic of Ireland in qualifying for the World Cup finals. He has been deservedly praised for improving the team in such a short time, however he decided to retire after the World Cup irregardless of how Iran do.

A lot of the team’s success has come from the three star players Mehdi Mahdavika, Vahid Hashemian and especially Ali Karimi who was voted Asian Player of the Year. Praise must also go to Ali Daei who finished as top scorer in Asian qualifying with 9 goals.

Germany 2006 will be Iran’s third World Cup appearance and they have yet to get through the group stages.

Iran had a poor start to the World Cup when they lost their opener to Mexico 3-1 and after Portugal beat them 2-0 they had no way of getting through to the next stage. Neverthless they fought hard in their third game and came from behind to draw 1-1 with Angola.

Iran Squad:

Player Club Position Caps Goals
E Mirzapour Foolad Ahvaz G 63 0
H Roudbarian Pas Tehran G 2 0
V Talebloo Esteghlal G 1 0
S Bakhtiyarizadeh Saba Battery D 30 2
Y Golmohammadi Saba Battery D 68 4
H Kaabi Foolad Ahvaz D 43 1
M Nosrati Pas Tehran D 43 3
R Rezaei Messina D 42 2
A Sadeqi Esteghlal D 1 0
S Zare Bargh Shiraz D 19 0
A Karimi B. Munich M 90 33
M Madanchi Pirouzi M 5 2
M Mahdavikia SV Hamburg M 89 11
J Nekounam Al Sharjah M 70 12
M Shojaei Saipa Karadj M 2 0
A Teymourian AbooMoslem M 6 1
F Zandi Kaiserslautern M 10 1
A Borhani Pas Tehran F 20 8
A Daei Saba Battery F 146 109
R Enayati Esteghlal F 9 3
V Hashemian Hannover 96 F 27 10
J Kazemian Pirouzi F 25 0
R Khatibi Pas Tehran F 11 0

Iran World Cup profile by Ben Rosenbaum