Iran has officially secured its qualification for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar after defeating Iraq 1-0 on Thursday in Tehran, during the seventh round of matches in Group A of the third and final round of the Asian qualifiers. The winning goal was scored by Porto player Mehdi Taremi at the beginning of the second half (48 minutes), marking the third consecutive World Cup appearance for "Team Melli" and the sixth in its history after 1978, 1998, 2006, 2014, and 2018.
The Iranian team has been the most consistent in Group A so far, achieving six victories and a draw in its seven matches. Iran now has 19 points, two points ahead of South Korea, which also won on Thursday against Lebanon 1-0. Meanwhile, the third-place UAE, which will face Syria later, has 6 points, meaning they will not be able to catch up with Iran in the remaining matches. The winners of each group will qualify directly for the World Cup, while the third-placed teams will face off in an international playoff against the fifth-placed team from South America in June.
The Croatian coach Dragan Skocic was without key players Sardar Azmoun, Mehdi Ghayegh, Majid Hosseini, Ahmad Nourallahi, and Ehsan Hajsafi due to COVID-19. The Iraqi team, which has managed only 4 points in seven matches without any victories, was also affected by the absence of eight players.
Iran became the fourteenth team to qualify for the finals scheduled to take place at the end of this year in the gas-rich Gulf state. After disappointing outings in 2006 and 2014, Iran was close to advancing to the knockout stage in Russia 2018, having won against Morocco, drawn with Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal (1-1), and narrowly lost to Spain (0-1).
