Iran’s Team Melli qualifications for FIFA World Cup facts

Iran men's national football team, domestically known as Team Melli, has managed to qualify for the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup finals on five different instances – the last of which was at the conclusion of yesterday’s match against Uzbekistan.

The Iranian side, which has so far kept its clean sheet record unblemished at the third round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification tournament, became the first Asian team - and the third team after Brazil and hosts Russia - to secure its place at the quadrennial international football tournament.

Iranian national football team defeated Uzbekistan 2-0 at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium on Monday evening.

Both teams observed one minute of silence in tribute to the victims of the twin attacks targeting the Iranian parliament building and the mausoleum of Imam Khomeini in Tehran on June 7.

Iranian professional footballer Sardar Azmoun (shown in the picture below), who currently plays as a striker for FC Rostov in the Russian Premier League, opened the scoring for the host team in the 23rd minute.

Attacking midfielder Masoud Shojaei could have doubled Iran’s lead from the penalty spot in the 49th minute, but he skied the ball over the crossbar.

Finally, Mehdi Taremi, who plays as a forward for Persian Gulf Pro League club Persepolis, found the back of the net from inside the area in the 88th minute, and finished off the White Wolves.

This is the second time in a row that Team Melli has won the ticket for the FIFA World Cup finals under the tutelage of 64-year-old Portuguese head coach Carlos Queiroz.

On June 18, 2013, Iranian professional footballer Reza Ghoochannejhad Nournia, who plays for Dutch club Sportclub Heerenveen and the Iranian national team as a forward, scored the winning goal in a 1–0 victory over South Korea. The game was held at the Ulsan Munsu Stadium in South Korea’s southeastern metropolis of Ulsan.

The result led to Iran's qualification at the top of Group A for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Years earlier, Mohammad Nosrati, who currently plays for Gostaresh Foulad in the Persian Gulf Pro League and is renowned as a very clever header of the ball, sealed Team Melli’s World Cup 2006 qualification in a 1-0 win against Bahrain at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium on June 8, 2005, with some 80,000 spectators in attendance.

On November 29, 1997, retired talisman striker Khodadad Azizi scored a late goal for Iran to hold Australia to a two-all draw in the second leg of the 1998 FIFA World Cup AFC–OFC qualification play-off, sending Iranian national football team into the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France.

Team Melli made its FIFA World Cup debut in 1978. The 11th edition of the football world championship tournament was held in Argentina between June 1 and 25.

Retired footballer Ghafour Jahani netted the sole and winning goal against Australia in Tehran on November 25, 1977, and booked Iran’s berth in the 1978 World Cup.

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